October might be my favorite month of the year. I love the
multicolor leaves, the edge of cool in the air, salted caramel mochas, all of
it. And, as a bonus, it’s AAC Awareness Month!
AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication, if you’re
new to this) is actually a topic that could use some increased awareness. People
may be unable to speak their thoughts for a wide variety of reasons; and while
some people use AAC 100% of the time, other people can use verbal speech for
much of the time but need to switch to AAC when their ability to speak becomes
inaccessible, which also happens for a variety of reasons. My first
introduction to AAC was in learning about Stephen Hawking, but “that guy with
the computer voice in a wheelchair” was kind of all I knew . . . until I had a
child who couldn’t speak.
In celebration of AAC, and in the spirit of raising
awareness, I’ll be doing a month of daily AAC related posts. In the spirit of maintaining
the illusion of organization, each day will have a theme and there will be a
lot of sharing of external resources. Here’s the breakdown of what you can
expect each day:
More Resources Monday
. . . AAC articles, links, and resources from around the web
Take-a-look Tuesday . . . AAC related videos to check out
I-Wrote-something Wednesday . . . a new AAC related blog post from me (I know the title's a bit of a stretch. Alliteration is hard.)
Throw Back Thursday . . . an re-run of my most popular AAC
pieces
#AACfamily Friday . . . a compilation of pictures sent in by
AAC users (and supporter of AAC
We-have-a-life-too Weekend . . . in which nothing gets posted here, because we are too busy. (But
there will still be AAC stuff shared on the blog's Facebook page
over the weekend!)
An easy way to spread the word about AAC is to talk about it
on social media, and here are a few FB background pictures that I saw going up
yesterday, in case you’re interested in grabbing one:
from me
from PrAACtical AAC
from PrAACtical AAC
And a little profile pic, too:
from PrAACtical AAC
Two announcements:
1. If you remember a great AAC article, website, or blog
post that you read, one that really taught you about AAC or shaped your opinion
on complex communication needs and AAC, please share it with me (here, on
Facebook, or via email: uncommonfeedback@gmail.com)
I’m on the hunt for the best of the best to compile and pass along!
2. If you’re on Facebook, now would be a good time to follow
our blog’s Facebook page, where I will be sharing other AAC stuff that comes
across my newsfeed. It gets updated a bit more frequently than the actual blog
does, and there are some great conversations that happen there, too.
Happy AAC Awareness Month!
1 comment:
Here are a couple blog posts that stick out for me:
http://emmashopebook.com/2014/07/03/emmas-presentation-at-the-icare4autism-conference/#comments
If you're not familiar with Emma's Hope Book, it's a blog written mostly by Emma's mom, but now that Emma has learned to type to communicate, some of her writings are posted as well. It's an amazing blog!
I'm guessing some of SfY blog posts might already be on your short list, but this is one of my favorites.
http://www.speakforyourself.org/2014/02/22/accept-behavior-towards-non-autistic-child/
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