AUGMENTATIVE AND ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION

WAYS TO COMMUNICATE:

Sign language

Body language

Eye contact

Texting

Facebook

Postcards

Emails

Writing

Sounds

Touch

Drawing

Moods

Symbols

Tellagami

Voice

Expressions

Listening

Pictures

Stories

Physical

Pictures (photos)

Poetry

Text to speech
humming
tones

WHAT IS COMMUNICATION?

Communication is a way to relay a message to another

 WHAT IS AAC AUGMENTATIVE AND ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION? enhances

 AAC is the ability to transfer thoughts, ideas and emotions to another person other than oral speech.

Possible signs and symptoms of communication challenges may include:

• No or limited purposeful verbal speech
• Difficulty expressing needs and wants
• Echolalia (Repeating a word or phrase that has been previously heard)
• Loss of words that the child was previously able to say
• Inability to identify objects (poor vocabulary development)
• Difficulty answering questions
• Limited attention to people and objects in the environment
• Poor response to verbal instructions

http://ca.dynavoxtech.com/conditions/autism/

WHO IS A TYPICAL USER OF AAC?

• those who can not communicate using speech
• those who can not be understood clearly
• those who are deaf 
• those who have parkinsons, ALS

WHAT ARE 3 CRITERIA FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION?

• message being relayed
• message being understood
• message being recognized 
• you need a common language
• you need a communication partner
• joint attention

EYE OPENING MOMENT: Today was an excellent example of how one can communicate using alternative ways of communicating. I introduced Tellagami to my class, they had 20 plus min. to explore and experiment with it. One student, created a character from her favorite book, and the character introduced all the other characters. Great Book Review tool.  Another student, created a character, who resembled himself, and typed in a message, on how others see him, and how he feels when others will not let him join conversations. Very insightful. And another student who has a very difficult communicating orally (Autism and Apraxia), used Tellagami to hum a tune. His way of expressing how happy his was in the moment. Who would have thought by just introducing a fun simple app that there would be so many ways of students being able to communicate to their teachers and peers.