AAC Awareness Month: The Introduction

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       

                                         users) (Please join in! More information here.)

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!