Andrea Lee
Speech and Language Therapist
Andrea Lee is a Specialist AAC Speech and Language Therapist with 25 years experience working with adults and children who use AAC in Yorkshire, UK. She is particularly interested in symbol vocabularies, how these have developed over time and how symbol AAC can be personalised to reflect an individual's communication style. Alongside this interest, Andrea is a trustee of Blissymbolics International and Chair of Blissymbolics UK. Andrea also authored and delivers the Elklan 'Support children and adults using AAC' accredited training course.
MY SESSIONS
Who chooses MY words?
This presentation was co-written by Andrea Lee, a Speech and language therapist and Jamie Preece, an AAC user who uses symbol communication to express himself. Communication aids are supplied with a range of template vocabulary options. The clinician will match a template to the user with regard to the display and the type of language. Further decisions then need to be made around the vocabulary available; often categorised by child, teenager, adult vocabularies or sometimes by the clinical condition such as aphasia or MND vocabularies. Most AAC software is designed to be personalised by adding or deleting words and topics to suit the individual. The question raised here is the inherent bias created by both the default of the vocabularies supplied and the perpetuation of that bias through the potential different characteristics, cultural identity and judgements of the person doing the editing. This presentation will demonstrate the process of customisation from an AAC user's perspective.
Jamie will share his own symbol-based vocabulary and why he felt it was so important to make his vocabulary reflect his personality and his communication needs.
Personalisation of the vocabulary for Jamie is an ongoing journey and he will share some of the strategies he uses to overcome his literacy and visual difficulties and ensure that he is in control of any changes made and that his vocabulary remains relevant. Jamie feels his vocabulary now reflects his identity and allows him to express his personal views, blend into his varied social communication groups and communicate in a range of forums where he would have been restricted by a standard vocabulary. He feels that many AAC users he has met do not have this level of customisation and that this holds them back from expressing their personality and developing social communication skills.