#aac help

[autiboards]

call for help from AAC users ! would like input

Hello! am doing well , not much need for AAC anymore since I only need it when am sick and am doing better now . anyway am doing a thing for TAFE , is a pretend library event about AAC for abled children to teach them how to be polite . here is what I have . is there anything am missing ? ( taken from notes app )

under cut because is long .

aac, just like me!

time allotted: 2 hours age demographic: 5-9 years capacity: 15-20 children + 1 adult per child/family guest speakers: 'elliot', a 10 year old aac user and service dog handler. 'candace', a speech therapist who specialises in aac. order of activities: acknowledgement of country/going over behaviour guidelines (see handout)/visual schedule of event, story time - a day with no words + this is how we talk, conversation about what aac is, meeting elliot (he talks about how to show active respect to aac users in conversation), hand out aac booklets (tobii dynavox my first aac booklet), meeting candace (she teaches the kids how to use their booklets), open conversation time where kids practice using their booklets, go home (kids keep their booklets).

stylistic choices: all powerpoint slide text and handout text is made up of screenshots of aac sentences (using proloquo2go). this allows children not yet confident in reading to understand what is being said, as well as introducing everyone to symbol based communication.

handout: clear instructions, positive language (as in saying what we do, not what we don't do). draft text: There will be things here that we may not be used to. Can we say what some of those things are? The words we use are simple, and each word has a picture. We know that these things can help people who might be different to us, so that everybody can enjoy our time today.   One of our visitors has a service dog. A service dog is a dog that helps our visitor with their health. The dog is working. This means we don’t pat her or call out to her, because that can make her stop helping our visitor. Instead, we have our hands in our own bubble, our voices off, and our focus on our visitor.   One of our visitors might take a long time to say things. Instead of chatting with each other or trying to guess what they will say, we wait patiently and keep quiet so that they know people are listening. If we talk when our visitor is typing, that's interrupting.

[itsharkx]

anyone know how to fix this?

i have 2 "page" in this folder so i can scroll but it won't let me put a button from one page onto the other and then it also fuckes up all the buttons order!!! so frustrating

edit: OMG I THOUGHT I FIGURED IT OUT BUT IF I ORGANISE ONE IT FUCKS UP THE OTHER IM SO PISSED

edit2: mum thinks its cos it wasn't ment to handle this many buttons/folders ☹️

[puppyfag-luna]

How do you overcome shame and embarrassment in regards to using the aac? I type things out but then stop before speaking it bcs shame and anxious and then just don't say stuff or write it in the notes

Hi!! I am sorry you are having a hard time. I am actually still really new to AAC, so I am also putting this in the tags and leaving it open for anyone who might have some extra input.

Being worried how we will be perceived and treated by others is a crappy feeling, and I know it all too well. I am in therapy right now learning how to let myself express my needs and even demand that they are met. It's hard because advocating for ourselves can feel so scary, and unfortunately not everyone is going to respect our needs.

- Practice practice practice. If you have a safe person(s) you can practice with, use your AAC with them often, even if you don't "need" to be using your AAC to speak at that time.

- Make up scenes. This can be with your safe person, or you can play pretend with a stuffed animal. Pretend you are chatting with a friend about your day, you are at the doctor talking about a new symptom, or you are ordering take out.

I'm kinda at these two points right now. This is getting me used to using my AAC, knowing where my buttons are, and making me realize new buttons/folders/organizing I need to do. Feeling comfortable with the layout of your AAC will help.

When you go out to use it in more public settings, start small. I have tried mine out at a small cafe with good success. I think a library would be a safe spot too. You can look for businesses that you don't normally go to. Sometimes I feel less pressure trying to talk to people I probably won't see again/I can just never go there again if they were dicks. I live near the downtown area and plan on practicing at some of the gift shops in the middle of the week when business is slow.

LGBT groups don't automatically = disabled friendly, but if you are LGBT yourself it might be worth scoping out your local groups.

You can also add some self advocacy buttons on your AAC board. I use this image library a lot if you haven't been to it before: https://aacil.neocities.org/Self-Advocacy/self-advocacy

I also saw someone talk about printing this onto little flash cards to keep with them:

💬 19  🔁 2395  ❤️ 2661 · i made this instagram post !!! there isn't as big of a community of AAC users on instagram so I thought I would shar

(note: I don't think you are obligated to explain the what/why of your AAC, esp if they are being rude ofc.)

I hope some of this helps! And I hope you have a good day. :] Remember you deserve to have your needs met!

[the-crystalized-cosmos]

Starting To Use/set up AAC. What buttons suggest Have? 

[ojiro-s-hellish-site]

Japanese AAC user tip:

This came from a close friend of mine who communicates natively Japanese, she uses an AAC device to do so (The device she uses has 3000 picture slot thingies o this tip only works if your device has at least 48 slots)

She said that due to the lack of non-English devices/apps made for the nonverbal, she ended up having to hand type the romanized version of the Hirigana and Katakana (Like type how they would be pronounced in English, an example like "Wa" for the japanese symbol of "わ") and then she would click each box to make a sentence. Yes, this method is slow and it is time-consuming but it is decent at non-English language communication.

This was the Hirigana picture she used to help her type in the romanized versions, I don't know what she used for the Katakana (When I ask her or if she tells me, I will add it to this post)

I hope this tip helps out any Japanese AAC users.

[moved-blogs-to-ludic-phosphenes]

ATTENTION AAC USERS OF TUMBLR!!

is anyone able to help out with set up ideas/ideas for buttons/folders?

im trying to set up one for us rn, as at times we have verbal shutdowns (no known verbality disorders), and i, as a host, have decided that we need to better accommodate ourself in life.

photos, videos and/or descriptions of how your aacs are set up will be really good!! ofc never share more personal things, but still any ideas will be good!!

if it matters, we have diagnosed autism, adhd, depression and severe anxiety. we also use the Cboard AAC app on our phone and ipad, but also use the webapp version to make the tiles (as it uses accounts, or you can be a guest on it, and with accounts it means that things transfer across devices) :3

[themurdersc3ne]

Can anyone recommend good AAC products/resources ? We are semi-verbal and struggling to communicate more and more each day due to various mental and physical factors . Pls help /advice :’3

[thebl00dym00nsystem]

Does anyone know how to use Weave chat? We finally downloaded it and it’s so confusing, how do I edit things? How do I make a board??? Help please