Tech to Talk Speech Therapy

29/11/2022

Are you ready for Christmas? 🎄🎁🎅

This morning, one lovely lady was beaming ear to ear when I suggested she write a letter to Santa! She used her eye gaze device to create her ideas, I said out loud how I could write them down, she looked at me and smiled or used her device to say "yes", and here is her final letter! ✉️

Send a letter before December 2nd with a return address and you'll get a response back from Santa himself 🎅❤️🎄📨📮

07/10/2022

Had a fantastic time sharing knowledge about AAC with this great team at Kid Speak! We love sharing our skills to a proactive group of Speech Pathologists 💬🤓

Yesterday we put a pause on therapy sessions so our SPs could attend a training/ team day!

We had the brilliant Jade from Tech2Talk visit us. She provided training on all things AAC and we are super excited to put our learnings into practice! 💡💚

30/09/2022

One of our favourite times of the year! Day 1 of Motor Mouth Camp has been fantastic! Full of favourite things (sensory play), yucky things (icky science experiments), and communication things 💬

10/05/2022

We're excited to follow along Izzy's journey in being able to access mainstream reading books, just like her peers 🤓📚

Literacy is such an important skill. Not just for our neurotypical learners, but more so for our individuals with complex communication needs. If you can T-Y-P-E a word, you have access to E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G you want to say!

First ever post and I thought a picture is worth a thousand words!

This morning, my 4 year old daughter, Isabelle, told me that she wanted to read a story. Izzy chose these symbols on her PODD;

"Picture" "story" "me"

I was speechless, overwhelmed and terribly proud. So, I helped her open "Look to Read" software (I will share a video of Izzy using this software next week) and SHE read a few pages.

Now, for a bit of context. Izzy has Rett Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder which affects speech, coordination and use of hands. At this stage, she is non-speaking and uses a Tobii Dynavox eye gaze computer to learn and communicate her thoughts, feelings and ideas.

It is just so strange and wonderful how things work out sometimes.

You see, I have been thinking of starting this campaign to raise awareness on the need to convert mainstream books to eye gaze technology and hopefully, other Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) formats, so children with complex communication needs can read books on their devices.

I set this page up a week ago and haven't touched it since. To be honest, I was worried about taking the plunge but I just needed a nudge and my amazing little girl gave it to me.

Since this morning eye gaze conversation, I am even more passionate about proving that having access to a wide range of read along mainstream books, with the difference that the user can read at their own pace and independently, would hopefully help people of all ages with significant disabilities read and write on their devices.

It is still early days but I am currently reaching out to experts, researchers as well as organisations to work together how we can achieve this.

We won't be able to do this without community support so please, follow our journey and share this page. ☺️

Marie & Izzy

22/04/2022

Verbal Referencing - Say what you see! Say what you do!
This is something I consider as a core strategy to teaching communication skills, especially for those with complex mobility needs.

Verbal referencing is an explicit way of telling the communicator:
⭐ How you are interpreting their movement and what this is communicating to you ("you're nodding your head up and down, you're saying YES!"
⭐ How you want them to communicate something to you ("I nod my head up and down to say YES")

These are both crucial to teaching someone how they can better communicate with those around them.

What are your favourite go-to strategies?

02/04/2022

💙 Today is World Autism Awareness Day!

This definition of Autism is my favourite for its simplicity in recognising that individuals who present with a spectrum of traits, all have the same fundamental needs.

People with Autism can often present with speech and language delays in early years, or may use minimal spoken words later in life. Alternative communication systems are a vital part of aiding and developing functional communication with those around them.
Communication is KEY to an enjoyable and meaningful life!

Shout out to my little boy in the background wearing a korowai (traditional Māori cloak) to represent his whānau (family) 💙

24/03/2022

What is AAC?
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) reflects all the different ways we communicate other than speech. You use AAC stratgies every day too in gestures and writing!

People with disabilities may have minimal or no speech, so a range of AAC options to suit all of their environments is a MUST! This is where an AAC Specialist can provide support on making sure the right options are explored 💬

21/03/2022

21/03/2022

Let's talk about the things we do at Tech to Talk Speech Therapy 💬

💜 Support people with disabilities - often those with complex needs (including communication, mobility, medical, and behavioural needs)
💙 Provide access to communication to all ages
💜 Assess, trial & recommend the right communication tool(s) for all environments
💙 Train the people around the communicator (home, school, workplace) on using their system(s)
💜 Individualise the communication tool(s) to meet your needs
💙 Explore alternative access when pointing is not the best method for all situations
💜 + so much more!

Appointments are still available for a limited amount of time! Reach out for more information 👋🏼

16/03/2022

Today is Swallowing Awareness Day!

Like breathing, swallowing is essential to everyday life. Humans swallow at between 500-700 times a day, around three times an hour during sleep, once per minute while awake and even more during meals.

Swallowing difficulties (known as dysphagia) are very common for people who have minimal speech because the muscles used for talking are also used for eating and drinking!
Connecting with a Speech Pathologist is an important step in developing safe swallowing skills. Please reach out if you have any questions!
Speech Pathology Australia

15/03/2022

Every AAC Speechie has Autism Awareness month flagged in their calendars as an opportunity for people with complex communication needs to access more affordable alternative communication apps!
Keep an eye out for TD Snap/PODD and TouchChat sales too 👀

SAVE THE DATE - The most popular AAC app - Proloquo2Go will be 50% off soon! Along with Pictello, Proloquo4Text and Keeble this is an unmissable opportunity to expand your AAC toolset. https://assistivewa.re/3sGD6lN

[A graphic featuring five icons surrounded by illustrations of hands reaching for them. Four icons are the app icons for Proloquo2Go, Proloquo4Text, Pictello, and Keeble. The final icon is a symbol of a tablet with a play button on it, representing video on demand. In the center of the five icons is an elongated white bubble with large text reading 50 percent off 29 March through 4 April 2022. The top right has the AssistiveWare logo. The bottom left www dot assistiveware dot com]

14/03/2022

COMING SOON!
April, 2022
📍 Perth, WA

25/02/2022