OpenAAC

AAC Awareness Month is upon us yet again! This year, just like every year, there will be discounts on AAC products, training materials on best practices, and thoughtful posts to help people rethink their mindset and approach when it comes to AAC.

While all of this is important, we want to make sure that we don't lose sight of the purpose of all that work and research. This month we will be highlighting the people who use AAC themselves. Some people are proficienty with AAC and continue to advocate and raise awareness. Some are just barely getting introduced to AAC and are hitting personal milestones. Some are somewhere in the middle and still pushing through in spite of difficulties and setbacks. ALL of them deserve to be celebrated! Check back through the month or follow us to see the new spotlights as they are added through the month!

Morgan

Morgan is a late-diagnosed autistic who just learned they are autistic two years ago at the age of 48. In delving into all-things-autistic, they discovered the wealth of AAC options available now. As a child, they often craved finding non-speaking ways to communicate, but the cost of AAC at the time was prohibitive and no one else in their life knew ASL, so that wasn’t an effective communication tool.

Since learning about the new world of high tech AAC, they have been focusing on AAC as a special interest for these last two years. Their main focus in terms of AAC itself is researching the efficiency by taps per word of 50 page sets across several different AAC programs by hand tapping out 50 different sentences and counting the taps it takes for those sentences. Through this process, they have been able to develop increasingly efficient page sets and build knowledge about the principles that help make page sets more efficient. In fact, a 105 grid home page they created in Weave Chat was adopted by Weave Chat as one of the home pages available by users because it was recognized by Weave Chat as being a quality home page.

They’ve recently been highlighted as an adult AAC user gestalt language processor/gestalt cognitive processor in the online Gestalt Language Processor conference held in the UK, helping others build understanding of the importance of Gestalts and the importance of access to AAC over the lifespan.

Becca

Becca uses eye-tracking AAC as her primary means of communication. She has been a strong self-advocate for many years, volunteering to participate in a Rett Syndrome panel and driving her own educational experience based on her personal and medical needs. Becca currently serves as the president of her church youth group. She was particularly proud of getting through The Scarlet Letter last year for school, which she really enjoyed, and she hosted her own art gallery over the summer.

Becca typically only selects one or two words at a time to express her ideas and requests, then uses yes/no to hon in on a specific target, or to get to the full message that she wants to express. For the last year she has posted weekly prompts to the Rett Syndrome community encouraging communication opportunities for the many people with Rett Syndrome who don’t haven’t been given enough chances to make decisions and express their opinions.

Keagan

Keagan is a fun loving teen who loves Joan Jett and uses AAC. She has sought to normalize AAC by sharing her poems, making fidget pocket clothing, and making the Prescott community as inclusive as possible for everyone, especially for those who use nonverbal communication. Through her families Making a Difference Program, they raise funds to place AAC boards in public places (like Prescott/Prescott Valley Dutch Bros., several parks, public libraries, restaurants, and the Prescott Regional Airport), recognize local folks who make a difference monthly, and even hosted an AAC focused international fashion show with model Madeline Stuart.

Cristian

Cristian has advocated for himself in a dangerous living situation. He also giving presentations to teachers and SLPs, including presenting at AAC in the Cloud. He teachers people how to use AAC, and how to help people learn AAC. He enjoys making films about his life, assistive technology, and communication. He also likes mariachi music and surfing.

Andy

Andy loves having communication with people with his AAC. Loves being a part of communications with everyone; doesn’t want to be left out.

Kristin

Kristin has used AAC her whole life. She has a PhD and is currently writing her second novel discussing AAC use from the perspective only an AAC user can have. She is also an accomplished eye gaze artist and a fierce advocate for AAC users!

Kristin faces all the challenges of being an indpendent adult navigating the world including hiring staff, working, authorship, caring for a home and her beloved cats all the while using AAC and using it well!!!

Kasie

Becoming an AAC user was such a game changer for Kasie. She was able to tell me she loved me. Her progress has been extraordinary, she really caught on quickly to using 24 word chat and is now on 60. Kasie currently used the NovaChat 8 device and we also have TouchChat Wordpower on her iPad.

Krista

Krista is a phenomenal role model, parent, advocate and mentor to other AAC Users. As an AAC User, she has supported parents, teachers, SLPs, classroom aids, day program staff and other users of AAC in modeling AAC and sharing her journey. Krista is also enrolled in an SLPA program where she will soon become the first full-time user of AAC who is an SLPA. She is honestly already doing the work and will finally have the credentials to be paid what she deserves for her hard work. Krista is an international presenter who has generously shared her journey from a young girl and now into adulthood.

Krista is a single mother, college graduate and phenomenal role model for many AAC users here in Arizona and abroad.

While in school, she still presents nationally and internationally, and works as an AAC mentor to several professionals who work with AAC users. She also still finds the time to reach out to friends with a quick text to ask how they are and say “I love you.” She is the definition of perseverance and kindness.

Penelope

When Penelope regressed due to Rett Syndrome, we initially feared she could no longer understand or express herself. She struggled with frustration and frequent meltdowns, and it was heartbreaking to see her try so hard without success. However, when we introduced an eye gaze device, we were amazed to discover that she is far more intelligent and aware than we had ever realized.

Watching her struggle to speak, knowing the words were just out of reach, was incredibly painful. But with her AAC device, a whole new world has opened up for her. She can now tell us what she wants, make choices, show her love, and, most importantly, demonstrate that she is capable of communicating in her own way. We never would have known that our sweet child, non-verbal and living with an incurable neurodevelopmental disorder, could express so much. She is bright, brilliant, and her resilience fills us with awe every day.

Communication is the foundation of connection, and it’s why so many children thrive when given access to an AAC device. Every time we engage with Penelope through her device, we are reminded that she has as much potential as any other child. Her disability may mean that unlocking that potential looks a little different, but it’s there—waiting to be discovered. AAC is a lifeline that gives her the chance to shine in her own way. Every child should have that same opportunity—to be heard, to be seen, and to show just how much they’re capable of.

Jaron

Jaron has grown leaps and bounds over the past couple of years. He is dedicated and enthusiastic in learning to read, write, share stories and pray with others. He recently completed a mission where he was given opportunities to give talks, bear his testimony and give the opening prayers. Jaron is sound proud and excited to have opportunities to communicate with others. He now volunteers for opportunities to speak publicly. Jaron has gone from 1-word communication exchanges to 3-4 words more consistently. With time, he prepares much longer sentences and talks. He loves writing letters and cards to friends and family. Whenever anyone is sad, sick or going through a tough time, he says, “We feel” and frequently asks about them. He looks forward to opportunities to meet others and always displays a BIG smile when greeting others with a vocalization of “HEYYY” combined with the use of AAC to say, “What’s Happening!?”

The first word Jaron learned to spell (independently and spontaneously) with word prediction was “kindness.” This truly speaks to his heart and compassion for others.

Jaron will be presenting and attending for the first time at an AAC conference this year at Closing the Gap 2024. He will be sharing his journey with sharing, storing and saving narratives to share with others.

JT

JT is learning to access his device independently. He is also learning to use it to say hi and interact with others instead of only requesting items.

JT is a very intelligent little boy, but people often underestimate him because of his communication difficulties. As he learns the best way to express himself, he’s going to rock the world.

Mateo

Mateo is doing a lot of amazing things to educate people about AAC, but I think the coolest thing he’s doing is visiting classrooms and talking to kids about AAC, disability and inclusion. He’s talked with over 1,500 students in grades K-6. He’s telling his story and talking about himself so kids see he’s not really all that different. He has hobbies, interests, a job and dreams about his future. He is asked questions about his experiences, such as teasing, and he shares his stories about school and how he learned to use his SGD. He’s proud of who he is and loves to meet students just learning to use AAC. He is teaching peers how to be good communication partners and just plain good friends. Moreover, teachers and other educational team members see firsthand what’s possible when everyone works together and really believes in a student.

Mateo is incredibly outgoing. He loves meeting new people in the community and is happy to talk to anyone about AAC. He sparks conversations at the grocery store, in the library and at the airport. He’s so glad his SGD lets him connect to others.

Himani

Himani was educationally neglected in her school. She was denied access to general education and there were no expectations that she would ever communicate. In Spring 2020 Himani was asked to type on a computer. Without anyone touching her or the computer she was able to type a three word sentence. It took her 45 minutes or longer to write a sentence at first. Over time her hand strength and dexterity improved and she was able to communicate well using the app Proloquo4Text.

In the next year she would move to using a Unity PRC device, which increased her communication speeds even more. Since then Himani has made several presentations in settings from her class to large conferences. She has worked as a PRC Ambassador. Himani and her mother and her local librarian have developed AAC Awareness Month programs for their community and started two ongoing programs for AAC users - Story Time for AAC and an AAC social group. She also maintains all As in general education. She hopes to one day be a psychiatrist.

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