Several months ago I had the privilege of meeting a gentleman who had a great sense of humor. These people must completely rely on another method to make all of their ideas, wants, or needs known. Technology can be used to help a person with ALS to communicate so they can be an active participant in their family and community life, become more independent, and make medical decisions. The inability to speak is frustrating, emotionally devastating and one of the most challenging obstacles to manage successfully. Some individuals will completely lose their ability to speak and to use their hands. Most people with ALS experience difficulty with speech and movement during the course of their illness. Users can customize pages and personalize lifestyle information by using their own pictures, adding words, phrases and select text-to-speech or record their own voice. I designed and created APP2Speak™ ( ) an inexpensive, easy-to-use AAC software application for the iPad. One type of picture communication boardįrustrated that there wasn’t anything currently available that was appropriate for her situation, I set out to create something myself. In addition, she did not like the cartoon characters and stick figures that were used to depict a want, need or category. They were too complicated for her to use and very expensive. We found that the AAC systems available did not meet her needs. My patient and I discussed AAC, (also known as speech generating devices), but after many trials of different systems, we were back to square one the picture communication board. I stood there and watched my patient become annoyed and I experienced it too.Īugmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is a solution to replace and/or assist in everyday communication situations. The picture communication board did not have speech output. Her family could not see what she was pointing to and there was silence. My patient tried to position her picture communication board toward the camera and pointed to pictures. She and her family became frustrated while trying to communicate using Skype. I recognized a major gap in communication when I was providing speech therapy to a 68 year-old speech-impaired patient. We are excited to welcome her as a guest blogger to ALS Connect.Īs a Speech Language Pathologist, I have experienced the joy of my patients’ successes as well as my share of frustration that I could not help them achieve more. Strongly motivated to make a difference in people’s lives, she currently devotes the majority of her professional time to providing speech therapy services in healthcare facilities and in home health environments. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech Language Pathology and a Master of Science degree in Speech Language Pathology from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, IL. The thing I love most about all of these resources are that none of these things are high-tech.They are all simple, affordable and free options available to teachers, SLPs and parents who are looking to broaden communication in their day to day.Gina Baldwin is a licensed Speech Pathologist with over 30 years of experience in the field. I combine all of this with my Core Word of the Week resources from The Autism Helper Membership and I have everything I need to plan and implement Core Language within the classroom (PS – if you aren’t a member, get on the waitlist! The member exclusive resources and training videos are AMAZING!!). I use this along with their Core Word of the Day Planners. I printed every single one and have them ready to pull out for our core language word of the week. Saltillo’s ChatCorner has a ‘Let’s Teach Core’ resource with handouts for each core language word. It’s easy to use and won’t be forgotten or pushed aside. With the poster hanging up like this and the table right next to it, it’s almost as though the poster has a seat at the table. Sometimes I feel like learning materials take over a space and the AAC or core board gets pushed to the side. By having the poster at eye-level and within reach of students, it’s always accessible during lessons. This is a one-on-one table that we use for direct instruction. We hang these posters up around the classroom and in instructional areas. Don’t have a Saltillo poster laying around? They are free to download on their website! This poster is Word Power 60, but there are other downloads as well, including different language choices. Then we matched the pieces together to make an interactive poster. Then we took another, laminated it, cut out the word pieces, and put velcro on the back of it. They passed on two of these free posters to us! We took one, laminated it, then put small velcro pieces on it. Our Saltillo rep is outstanding, and our SLPs have a great relationship with them.
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