Tobii Dynavox Core Words, AAC and Pathways Power Academy!

Hello!

Lovely to have you here, an exciting first blog post for me today!

Last Thursday I went to the Tobii Dynavox Core Words, AAC & Pathways Power Academy event in Leicester. This was my first event as a student Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) - eeek! It was great to see fellow DMU student SLT's on the day, as well as meeting some lovely SLT's. 

Since the wonderful Jules (from Wheels for Words) came and talked to us at uni in a workshop last year, I have felt so passionate about AAC (Alternative Augmented Communication) and the difference this can make to make to people with communication difficulties. In particular ensuring that we as professionals presume competence when working in this field. So, when Jules shared the event I was very excited to go and learn more!

Bethany Diener, an SLP (Speech and Language Pathologist) was our main speaker during the day, alongside the other 3 fab members of the Tobii Dynavox team. Their knowledge and expertise were clear to see and the information was so accessible to each person at the event. 

During the day we had the opportunity to have some 'hands on' practise on the Tobii Dynavox software: Snap plus Core First, Pathways, and Boardmaker. It was great to hear of the specific research that is informing the current work and the other developments within the company. It's so important to me as a student SLT to be able to access and read research so I can deliver and recommend evidence-based practise. 

The wonderful Stickman Communications
card for people who use AAC!

Trying out Snap + Core First Quick Fire
software at the Power Academy!

My main 'takeaways' from the day are:

• Ensuring as SLT's we are including both novel and formulaic language into AAC systems as 70% of what we say is formulaic language (Altenburg, 1990) – novel language is language we use that we formulate word by word, and formulaic language is memorised chunks of language eg metaphors, phrases and stories.

• Reinforcement of the idea that there's no such thing as 'too impaired', too young, or limiting people to just what they can they can do or needing to prove they can use the system. AAC is for all. 

• Again, importance of constant modelled language, generalised over all environments. Ensuring that a person has access to their AAC device all the time; we are able to communicate our thoughts, feelings and ideas all the time – so should people who use an AAC device #allthewordsallthetime

It was an absolute pleasure to meet and chat to Bethany and share mutual SLT/SLP thoughts. Bethany was hugely encouraging to us all and passionate about AAC.

As a benefit of attending the conference, our accounts with Tobii Dynavox were upgraded to a professional account which gives us access to Snap plus Core First software - an invaluable tool for a student SLT. I can’t wait to have a go and prepare for meeting a client who needs AAC in the future!

I would really recommend the Tobii Dynavox Power Academy events, not just for SLT's but teachers, OTs, SENCOs, parents and carers. The Power Academy was free to to attend, and refreshments were provided.

So, it's a big thank you to the Tobii Dynavox team, a huge thank you to Jules for the recommendation (and AAC inspiration) and thank YOU for reading,

From an, ironically, almost voiceless (thanks to a nasty sore throat) speechie! 💬




More posts from me soon, once I've got assessment season out the way...in the meantime you can follow me on twitter for more speech and language therapy fun at @SpeechieAtDMU, see you there!