Completed

Spotlight Presentation on Augmentative and Alternative Communication for Children with Complex Communication Needs

On Saturday 29th September 2018, the St Francis of Assisi Special Needs Center was so proud to be able to facilitate its first workshop. In collaboration with The Right Start Early Intervention for Autism (www.rightstartTT.com), the workshop – entitled ‘UP, UP AND AWAY!’ – was “A Spotlight Presentation on Augmentative and Alternative Communication for Children with Complex Communication Needs” and it was hosted at The Right Start’s location on Carlos Street.

The workshop was offered completely free of charge to parents, teachers, caregivers, pediatricians and Occupational Therapists of children with special needs. It featured Speech-Language Pathologist Ms Krista Hadeed, MS. CCC-SLP, as the keynote speaker.

Session A was open to professionals only, and among the objectives of this session were:

  1. Recognizing who can benefit from the use of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices
  2. Identifying types of AAC communicators
  3. Identifying various access methods
  4. Sharing proven (evidence-based) implementation strategies

Session B was for Parents and Caregivers, who benefitted from learning about:

  1. The difference between ‘speech’ and ‘language’
  2. Identifying ‘no tech’, ‘low tech’ and ‘high tech’ AAC communication methods
  3. Some of the myths and barriers associated with the use of AAC devices
  4. Proven success  resulting from the use of AAC communication methods

The workshop – the first of its kind here in Trinidad & Tobago, was attended by approximately 45 parents, caregivers, teachers and medical professionals.

A follow-up workshop is now in the planning stages.