International AAC Awareness Month

Posted by Gillian McNeill on the 30th September, 2020

Thursday 1^st October marks the beginning of International AAC Awareness Month, celebrated around the world each year, with the goal of raising awareness and to inform the public about the many ways in which people communicate using different communication systems and aids. CALL Scotland are joining many others in holding events to raise awareness amongst our networks, provide a range of learning opportunities and to help realise the vision of people who use AAC.

Here’s our diary of events running through the month, from today…

• 30 September - we are starting nice and early with our first of 2 free webinars – SpeakUnique: Personalised Synthetic Voices for AAC Devices, which is available to view live today or tomorrow from our archive. SpeakUnique is a voice banking service launched in June and Alice Smith - Speech and Language Therapist, will explain the different voice banking options, who may benefit, how the personalised voice is accessed and what devices it may be used on.
• 7 October - the second of our webinars is - AAC and Clinical Decision Making, presented by Janice Murray, Professor of Communication Disability, Manchester University. In this webinar she will focus on summarising the I-ASC explanatory model developed from the decision-making theory that emerged from the UK research project, 'Identifying appropriate symbol communication aids for children who are non-speaking: enhancing clinical decision making'.
• 8 October - the first of our online learning workshops is Choosing and using Symbol based communication apps on the iPad, presented by Joanna Courtney, Specialist Speech and Language Therapist at CALL. The purpose of this 90-minute interactive workshop will be to develop knowledge and skills in app selection and supporting use, with an opportunity to view our top recommended apps and compare features.
• 29 October - the second of our online learning workshops is - Choosing and using Text-based iPad communication apps for young people and adults which I will be presenting. This too is a 90-minute interactive workshop, but with a focus on text-based apps for those who have basic to more advanced literacy skills. Aimed at anyone involved in AAC and supporting its use in education, health, third sector or community.

Also, available throughout October, in fact all year, are our AAC online learning modules.

• The first series of 5 short modules – Introduction to AAC, are ideal for using in awareness raising for people without any previous specialised knowledge of communication disability, or of communication aids.
• The second more detailed series of 7 modules – AAC in Education, is written for staff and students working in education, and addresses many aspects of how to introduce and support the use of AAC in educational settings. We encourage you to share these during awareness month and beyond.

And finally, if you have an idea for a webinar, online training workshop, resource or any other AAC awareness raising activity, please get in touch with us to chat it through. #AACaware20