News - Communication Interaction Team

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)

Augmentative and Alternative Communication is a set of tools and strategies that an individual uses to aid communication. AAC can take many forms such as; speech, a shared glance, text, gesture, facial expression, touch, sign language, symbols, pictures and speech generating devices. Everyone uses AAC to help them get their message across but for children, young people and adults with complex communication needs AAC provides a means to ensure they have a voice.

A group of professionals from across the whole of Devon have worked with parents and carers to create an interactive training programme that provides an introduction to AAC.

The training focuses on the following areas:

• What is AAC?
• AAC Themes and Myths
• Where can I find out more?

This FREE online training is suitable for parents/carers and professionals and can be accessed from:  

Find out more about the Augmentative and Alternative Communication course

Mind your words

RCSLT is delighted to announce the launch of Mind your words, a new free online course to support all those working with children and young people with mental health needs.

The aim of this course is to improve understanding of children and young people who have both mental health needs (or social emotional and mental health needs - SEMH) and Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN). This is made all the more important during the Covid-19 pandemic, as research suggests it has had an effect on everyone's mental health, including children.

This online training highlights the links between mental health and communication and outlines how professionals can work together to remove communication barriers and help these children and young people achieve their potential. The course consists of 15 modules, of which the first five apply to all settings.

The five core modules explain what speech, language and communication needs are, what social, emotional and mental health needs are, and how to recognise them; then how they are inter-related and what are strategies you can put in place. The remaining modules look in more detail at ways you can support children and young people, including getting support from speech and language therapy, working collaboratively, modifying risk assessment and de-escalation techniques, becoming a communication accessible service and much more.

To access this free resource please visit the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists website

Supporting Children and Young People with DLD

To ensure that more children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) are identified and supported, I CAN is offering a series of free webinars for teachers, SENCOs and school leaders throughout the autumn and spring terms 2020-21. The webinar presentations will also be available to watch, and download, after they have been delivered. Please sign up! Find out more about the webinars.