Foundations for Functional Communication

Overview:

Imagine the fear of your child growing up unable to interface and communicate with the world. As parents, we are very in tune with our own child’s gestures, expressions, movements and vocalizations, we are skilled at translating those subtle signs into words. Without the parent acting as interpreter, the child is silenced. This fear is true for far too many of us who are parents of children with a wide range of special needs, children whose foundation for communication is not well known and may not translate well with the larger community.

Personal experience has taught me never to underestimate a person’s ability. Fostering a sound communication strategy among the very young can prevent frustration for the individual and provide earlier/easier interaction with their community. Augmentative communication encompasses methods used to supplement or replace speech and writing for those with impairments (sign language, gesture and picture based systems).

Recent advances and popularity of mobile computing platforms such as smart phones and tablets means that electronic augmentative communication has become much more accessible to the average consumer. It is my belief that these devices along with currently available software can be integral in building early communication systems for many of these children.

Why fund this project?

In short, the funds would be used to purchase and provide early access to equipment, training, education, funding advocation services and support for families prior to school age.

The ultimate goal of this program is to have non-verbal children up and running with a functional communication system before school. It is my opinion that we are missing the opportunity to tap in to a child’s abilities by waiting until school aged programming. For many kids, the path to an electronic augmentative communication device is long. Pre-requisite skills are needed, referrals have to be made, waiting lists upon referral are long and the cost of traditional devices is largely prohibitive. If funded, this project will build the bridge between families and therapies by building family capacity to implement communication programming within a supportive framework. Funds from Aviva would make it possible to provide the kind of technical and therapeutic support required to tap into an individual child’s world and bring forth their abilities. Additionally, support for families will be provided, helping promote other funding programs and providing assistance and avocation to access those resources.

Imagine what these children could do and what their teachers could teach if they arrived at school on day one with this foundation and a functional communication system in place.