AAC Awareness Month 2020
AAC Awareness Month 2020
ISAAC International
The ISAAC Research Committee hosted a number of events in October to mark International AAC Awareness Month. The first was a 30-minute webinar, presented on October 7th, on AAC and Decision Making by Janice Murray PhD, FRCSLT, Professor of Communication Disability (AAC), Manchester Metropolitan University.
https://www.callscotland.org.uk/professional-learning/webinars/WEB177/
Submitted by Beata Batorowicz on behalf of the ISAAC Research Committee, is a project for AAC Awareness Month being conducted at the Centre for AAC, University of Pretoria in South Africa, in collaboration with Future Africa (UP) and UNICEF. This project focuses on the development of health education materials for persons with severe communication disabilities. Persons with severe communication disabilities, caregivers, health care professionals, and postgraduate students worked together on the development and dissemination of these materials. For more information, click here.
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Australia
Assistive Technology Australia celebrated International AAC Awareness Month 2020 in October by posting on our Facebook AAC-related topics on the first three Mondays, followed by a Zoom open house on October 26th. Our subject experts, Caytlin Weir (ATM & AAC user) and Aparna Baskshi (OT) reviewed the questions we received over the three weeks and shared their thoughts.
Assistive Technology Australia hopes to increase AAC awareness and add value to people’s choice and decision making. Like and share our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ILCNSW.
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Chile
Hello from Chile! We held a Zoom Webinar on October 1st to talk about AAC and motivate the community to learn about AAC and how to teach AAC. We will share successful experiences in CAA and quick communication boards to print, in order to let people know that those who require AAC can start now.
– submitted by Claudia Marimon Rigollet, Buenas Practicas de CAA, ISAAC Member from Chile
Egypt
As a starting event for the AAC Awareness Month in October, I would like to share with my colleagues and ISAAC members, and people who use AAC around the world, these photos from the first day of the Communication Disorders Course at the Training Center of the Right to Live Association, Cairo, Egypt.
With all precautionary measures in place, we explained the concept of alternative communication and hologram symbols as emoji communication, and the next day continued with a workshop in tool manufacture.
Please enjoy these videos compiled during the Communication Disorders Course – courtesy of Yvette Abdel Malek.
December 20, 2020 – I would also like to share with you my experience working in AAC workshop with university graduates studying their Speech Diploma in Ein Shams University. I lectured about how to communicate using AAC with people with CCN.All participants did great job making AAC material..board for needs..schedules..daily life books..with very simple tools. They enjoyed doing and working in teams.
اشاركم خبراتى مع متدربين خريجى جامعات فى ورشة عمل عن استخدام طرق تواصل مع أشخاص لديهم صعوبات تواصل ويصمموا ادوات التواصل من لوح احتياجات.جداول كتب حياة يومية .قصص
فى دبلومة تخاطب بمركز ارشاد تربية عين شمس.الكل يعمل فى فريق ويتنافسوا فى منتجهم وهو مبسوطين جدا.وانا سعدت بحماسهم وتعاونهم
ربنا معاهم فى شغلهم فى هذا المجال
– submitted by Yvette Abdel Malek
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ISAAC-Español
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ISAAC-Israel
Please enjoy this video from ISAAC-Israel, created in celebration of AAC Awareness Month.
– submitted by Adi Ne’eman
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ISAAC-Taiwan
ISAAC-TAIWAN and Chung Shan Medical University cooperatively spread out several short versions of “AAC Introduction” and “Myths for Dummies” posted in Facebook (@CSMUSLPA) beginning in October 2020. These were prepared by undergraduate and graduate students and mentored by Professor Meng-Ju Tsai from the Department of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology at Chung Shan Medical University in Taiwan.
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ISAAC-UK
The Communication Matters Sessions: A Series of Twilight Presentations for AAC Awareness Month
ISAAC’s UK Chapter (Communication Matters) hosted a series of virtual events throughout October (for AAC Awareness Month) to help raise awareness of AAC and vital funds for the charity. Our main source of funds comes from running events and the pandemic has had a huge impact on our income and our members this year.
“The CM Sessions” had both academic and social elements, and was held every Thursday afternoon in October (1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th). All the resources were available online for 30 days. Presentations from a range of speakers associated with AAC included a keynote speech from the ISAAC President 2018-2020, Meredith Allan.
There were also be innovative presentations from Gail M. Van Tatenhove (Speech-Language Pathologist in Florida), Gloria Soto (Professor in Special Education in San Francisco), Catia Crivelenti de Figueiredo Walter (Associate Professor in Rio de Janeiro) and several organizations in the UK, including ATtherapy (an independent speech and language therapy service), the Seashell Trust (a national charity for children and young adults with communication needs), and some personal stories from members who use AAC. Last, but not least, there were several short presentations from AAC supplier companies about their latest products.
To find out more about these virtual events, please visit https://communicationmatters.org.uk/what-we-do/the-cm-sessions or contact the Communication Matters Office at admin@communicationmatters.org.uk.
– submitted by Emily Campbell
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ISAAC-US
ISAAC’s US Chapter (USSAAC) was pleased celebrate AAC Awareness Month. in October. We had several activities happening. First, USSAAC President Yoo Sun Chung, Ph.D. created an AAC Awareness Video. Secondly, On Wednesday, October 14th from 7pm-8pm, Stephanie Faso, MA presented a special AAC Awareness Month webinar. The webinar was entitled, “A Discussion of Empowering Autonomy and Self in Individuals with AAC Needs.” Next, we invited people who use AAC, their families, and other USSAAC members to submit videos stating their favorite part of being a part of USSAAC. We created two USSAAC virtual backgrounds for the videos, which will be posted on our Awareness webpage. Finally, USSAAC Vice-President for People Who Use AAC and Their Families, Tracy Rackensperger, Ph.D., addressed AAC awareness in the age of COVID-19 in the SpeakUp! blog.
– submitted by Yoosun Chung
Malaysia
Your Communication Matters Speech & Language Therapy will be promoting AAC awareness in Malaysia via 2 main activities:
1. An interview on AAC with BFM: The Business Station, Malaysia’s only independent radio station, will be aired on the October 21st, 2020 (Wednesday) at 4.05pm (GMT+8). It is entitled: Health & Living: Using Aids for Communication Challenges. This interview will also be available as a podcast on https://www.bfm.my/podcast
2. A webinar entitled Symbol-based AAC: Exploring TalkXpress, GoTalks and Proloquo2go will be conducted on October 29th, 2020 (Thursday) from 10am – 12 pm (GMT+8). This webinar targets Malaysian/Singaporean parents and professionals who work with individuals with complex communication needs and will feature local case studies. For more info, please visit: https://ycmspeechandlanguagetherapy.business.site/
– submitted by Deborah Yong, SLP, AAC Specialist
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Singapore
SPD’s Specialised Assistive Technology Centre (SATC) team has mapped out a month-long journey to create more awareness of AAC:
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Week 1: A video introduction to AAC and how it helped two individuals communicate better with their family and friends.
Week 2: A compilation of videos from our “Bonding-Moments Competition” featuring our clients using AAC to interact and bond with their friends and family.
Week 3: Get to know Team SATC through a fun video of an interview by Elfred, our young and fun-loving AAC user.
Week 4: Catch our 2-part webinar, streamed ‘live’ over Facebook on Friday, October 30th, on ways to communicate with persons who use AAC. There will be Q&A sessions where a panel consisting AAC professionals, a person who uses AAC, and a caregiver will answer questions about AAC, its use in different scenarios and assistive technology in general. Details soon!
South Africa
The Centre for AAC (CAAC) at the University of Pretoria in South Africa aims to provide research and training to improve the lives of people with severe communication disabilities. Initiatives for AAC Awareness Month 2020 can be found on the CAAC Facebook page, here.
Official Sponsor in support of International AAC Awareness Month 2020
