Gillian’s specialism is in Augmentative and Alternative Communication, drawn from 25 years working within a regional AAC team in Fife, before joining CALL Scotland in 2011. Through this she has built experience from developing a multi-agency AAC partnership, carrying out assessments, implementing support services, delivering training and contributing to AAC projects. Having worked with people with complex communication support needs of all ages - children and adults - her key area of interest presently, is supporting pupils to access learning and communication, through technology.
Posted by Gillian Mcneill on the 10th May, 2023
Category AAC Communication Aids
At CALL Scotland we are aware that many services in Scotland providing AAC are being asked to provide a Data Protection Impact Assessment(DPIA) for data protection regulation. The good news is that Scottish Government have recently made a shared document available for those working in health to use.
Posted by Gillian Mcneill on the 11th April, 2023
Category AAC Symbols
Children and young people with communication difficulties can have a wide variety of needs and teachers may need support on matching needs to AAC. This blog provides guidance, as well as information on creating communication activities and opportunities for using AAC in school.
Posted by Gillian Mcneill on the 9th January, 2023
Category AAC
Communication Matters, the UK wide organisation for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) have recently announced that nominations are open for the national AAC Awards 2023. Held every two years, the purpose is to celebrate and recognise contribution to the world of AAC by either an AAC u
Posted by Gillian Mcneill on the 27th September, 2022
Category Symbols Books for All
In today's blog we have information to share on our new accessible Clicker Writing Resources available now for download from our Symbols for All website. These form part of an array of resources created by us for anyone with young children with additional support needs, to provide...
Posted by Gillian Mcneill on the 2nd March, 2022
Are you an AAC user or a parent, carer or family member of an AAC user living in Scotland? Have you accessed or tried to access AAC support and services since March 2018? If 'yes,' a new AAC engagement group would like to hear about your lived experience of using AAC and accessing AAC servic...
Posted by Gillian Mcneill on the 7th October, 2021
Spooky season is upon us and, in the best of Scottish traditions, it's time to come together to tell spine-tingling tall tales, sing spooky songs, and share our best nerve-jangling jokes. This is a great opportunity for children, young people and their families in Scotland to join in with ...
Posted by Gillian Mcneill on the 13th September, 2021
The CALL Scotland AAC iPad App Wheel resource continues to be one of our most popular, with over 87,500 downloads since first publication in 2014. For this reason, we consider it important to keep it as up to date as possible and so here’s the 2021 version 2.2 update, ready for you to download...
Posted by Gillian Mcneill on the 8th September, 2021
Today’s blog focuses on our second set of accessible writing resources, newly created by the CALL team, to accompany this year’s Bookbug Picture Book Prize books. These writing activities can be downloaded and used by anyone who has a copy of the latest Clicker software. Our p...
Posted by Gillian Mcneill on the 22nd June, 2021
AAC* iPad apps come in many varieties, enabling simple to full support for communication and there are many to choose from. It can be tricky however, to know what to use and so CALL Scotland have been helping with this, by providing a reference of recommended Apps through our Wheel of Apps. Thi...
Posted by Gillian Mcneill on the 14th May, 2021
This is the second blog in the series aimed at helping you identify which of the sessions to attend in our ASL and Technology conference on 16th June. It's easy to sign up (£5 admin fee), with sessions of interest to those supporting Assistive Technology and Augmentative and Alternative Co...
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