experience of using AAC devices? Come and talk to me!

[geekgirl]

Dd2 (9, DS) will hopefully be getting an AAC device some time this summer - we had a meeting with the Dynavox rep this morning and were all really impressed - dd2 loved it and took to it really quickly, so we're getting one on loan in a couple of weeks.
I am very excited for her - her speech intelligibility is very poor, she has severe oral dyspraxia and whilst she has improved thanks to intensive speech therapy, she is still very difficult to understand.
She uses a lot of non-verbal communication and to be honest I don't find her lack of clear speech as problematic at home as one would think. However, I think being able to communicate more clearly at school will make a big difference to her life. My worry is that she will become too dependent on the Talker, give up on speaking herself and just let the device do it all for her, which isn't the plan... I don't know anyone else whose child uses an AAC device, is there anyone here who has experience of them? We're also going to get a Liberator on trial for a fortnight, and then decide which one to go for.

My DD2 has a Dynavox DV5. It's fab! She uses it mostly at school as we get by at home with non verbal comm, Makaton and her (increasing) vocabulary, however she has severe speech delay and her speech is very hard to understand (apart from NO )

We've found the DV5 has actually encouraged her to talk, it's acted more as a supplement to her speech than a replacement. It was great when she started school that she had a 'voice' as she had no speech at all then. Her 1-1 is very experienced with AAC and encouraged her to use it especially in group work or circle time, as well as programming it with the reading books, spellings and subjects they do at school.

She came home from school one day in Reception (she's now Y1) and we had a whole 'conversation' about dinosaurs. It was lovely

thanks folks! Sidge, did your dd get the hang of the Dynavox quickly? I've downloaded the Scope material on AAC so will have a trawl through that... I was really impressed with the Dynavox rep, particularly the support they give to school.
Circle time is a biggie for us, too! At the moment dd2 and her TA prepare a couple of sentences beforehand, but with her speech intelligibility being so poor, having an AAC would transform things for dd2 in those kind of situations.
It's really good to hear your dd uses it in addition to speech - does she do it naturally or did you encourage her in some way? I was wondering whether to ask dd2 to repeat what the Talker says

Look up Communication Matters, a great organisation based in Oxford specialising in AAC information, research and support. £10 for a parent to join, well worth it. HTH

Agree about Communication Matters.

I am just putting together a tap to talk for ds1. And I've jiggled all his visual aids around, so I produced a communication book (with static pictures) in an A4 folder and then a traditional PECS book to match it. Very different than his previous PECS books- it is crammed with symbols. His spontaneous use of both has rocketed since I did that. Am hoping to make the Tap to Talk match the communication book as well. So he'll have many ways to find the same thing.

Be intresting see how the trials go ds will be going to speech unit but we have appointment with. Salt in June and she has asked for a salt experianced in aac o be prsent

thanks for the info about Communication Matters

I just hope nothing changes in terms of funding . Our SALT said that there is generous funding for AAC here at the moment and that it won't be a problem 'as things stand at present'. Am now envisaging George Osborne raiding the AAC pot here .

ds is another who seems to have been encouraged to speak more since having his device, he has a MyTobii P10 Eyetracker, sometimes he will repeat the word after the device has "spoken" and it seems to be helping.

She did get the hang of it fairly quickly, despite learning difficulties and some physical difficulties - she can't do a strong pointy finger due to her hypotonia but with the DV5 you can change the sensitivity settings so the screen doesn't need too much of a push/touch.

The speech/AAC balance shift came gradually, I noticed that she was trying to talk more and more and they said the same at school. I didn't really push her too much as she just couldn't speak, not for want of trying but the whole apraxia thing made it too hard for her. It's like the words are in her brain but she couldn't make them come out. The Dynavox seemed to give her the push to speak, she liked to copy it and I think she gained so much confidence from finally being able to interact with her peers to some degree.

She gets minimal SALT but the Dynavox was great for her.

I have worked with children who have used dyynavox in the past and they have been great. I also found recently -(probably better for older kids or teens) that there is an application you can buy for iphone I think it is caleed proloqu or something similar. There is a demo of it on you tube but not seen it in "real life"
Good luck hope your child gets the communcation aid they require