#augmentative communication

[justanotherstardrop]

theo drew julia using aac

julia is theo's fav along with big bird

[autisticdreamdrop]

we love you AAC users. we love you part time AAC users. we love you full time AAC users. we love you TTS users. we love you part time TTS users. we love you full time TTS users.

[tobytalksaac]

Reminder that AAC device/mobility aid does not ruin your outfit!

[clownrecess]

You do not have the right to touch someone's disability aid without asking, whether that aid be a wheelchair or an AAC device.

"It's just a tablet, though." No, it is not. It is my voice. Touching or moving my device without my permission is like touching my mouth without permission, it's weird, gross, invasive, and rude. Stop.

Pushing someone's wheelchair without permission is like picking them up and moving them out of the way eithout permission, its weird, invasive, gross, and weird. Stop.

[dreamdropsystem]

AACs are important for autistics that deal with communication issues. When your mouth parts don't work (verbal loss/ nonspeaking, semispeaking, selectively mute etc) or hell, you don't want to use verbal communication. And that's valid too.

There are plenty of auties that use both verbal and nonverbal communication. There are plenty of auties that prefer nonverbal communication. And that's okay.

we have semiverbal/speaking and nonverbal/speaking alters, alters who have verbal loss. a little too a lot.

in our life we've been forced to be verbal and that's not okay. our system is full of AAC users.

This is our oc Moon (which we wanna change their name) they're an AAC user and uses a wide range of nonverbal communication: communication cards, a tablet with an AAC app, written communication, printed out communication board, and TTS (text to speech). we project oh them. we mainly use text to speech and AAC apps - Honeylily

please remember it's okay to use AACs

[trans-axolotl]

Avaz AAC is currently having a 50% off sale that will last until October 15th! Instead of being $200, it is now $99. Avaz AAC is a symbol based communication system that allows for customization, uploading lots of vocab at once, communicating through typing, and has several language options.

Image description: a screenshot of Avaz AAC app. It is a symbol based communication system and the screenshot is of a sample communication board with standard vocab. There are folders for food, people, things, places, questions, describe, time, quantity, topics, and action. There are other icons with words like yes, no, want, that, you. Different parts of speech have different colored backgrounds. At the top of the screen there is a space for forming sentences that shows that someone has selected I love you. Both the words and icons are present.]

[salvadorbonaparte]

Any autistic people here who use Makaton or Sign Language or any kind of AAC?

My landlady's grandson is autistic and non-verbal and his family isn't really dealing with it well. I'm also autistic (they don't know that) but don't use any of these but I think he could benefit from something like this and I want to suggest it to the family.

I don't want to seem like I'm just some stranger telling them what to do with their kid but I want to help him. So I'm trying to do some more research.

Do any of you have experience using these? How do you feel about it?

[sicksadstar]

When you say you accept and support autistics you have to support us at all times

when:

• we're semi/nonverbal

• when we need AACs

• when we're having a meltdown

• when we're having a shutdown

• when we need help with hygiene

• we are overstimulated

• we are underestimated

• we are unmasking

• we act "more autistic"

• we stim a lot

• we have intense stims

• we have a tone issues

• we have low/fluctuating empathy

• we vocal/verbal stim

• we stim loudly

• we don't understand something

• we have a hard time relating

[justanotherstardrop]

this user is a full time AAC user

[autisticdreamdrop]

theo drew julia using aac

julia is theo's fav along with big bird

[tobytalksaac]

Reminder not to change topic when you know AAC user is typing!!! Let us add to topic before continuing!

[clownrecess]

I want to talk about the importance of not watching an AAC user's screen without consent.

People watch my screen a lot. When someone watches my screen without my permission, it not only violates my privacy but also makes me feel uncomfortable and exposed. Imagine if someone was watching your thought process for a sentence before you say it out loud, that sounds violating, right? My device is a personal and intimate form of communication, and it's not fair for people to intrude on that.

Secondly, it's incredibly distracting. When someone is watching my screen, I feel like I'm performing. I become self-conscious about every word I type, and it can slow down my communication speed. This can be especially frustrating in situations where I need to communicate quickly, like in an emergency.

So please, if you know someone who uses an AAC device, be respectful of their privacy and don't try to watch their screens without their consent. And if you see someone else doing it, speak up and let them know that it's not okay.

[octobercowboy]

I would like to talk about the spoken word accessibility feature that has been added to the ios 17 update as someone who is semiverbal. I have not talked much on this blog in particular about what semiverbal means for me.

- I have difficulty getting words out

- I have difficulty knowing what words to say or what order

- i have difficulty remembering words and how I am meant to use them

- a lot of my aac use is by looking at words in sentences to copy and paste to create my own

- another part of my aac use is simply looking at words until i can figure out what i need to say.

all personal experience divulged, pros and cons

pros:

- it is free for apple users

- easy look up (i do not have to find an app, it is built in by triple clicking the home button once on (for me))

- you can save frequently used phrases

- you can copy and paste into the text box

- it allows me to communicate in more languages as i know how to write better than talk

- as someone who can verbally speak at times i was able to create a voice that sounds like my own speaking voice

Cons:

- there is no photo/word display/buttons

- there is only an empty text box

- difficult on high need days when need to scroll through words to find thought

As it is so new I don’t have a lot of experience with it but I can update you as my experience continues. I saw nobody talking about this and thought I would share my personal experience

[dreamdropsystem]

we have the constant need to stim, for so many reasons and that's hard to say, but it is okay. if you stim constantly, a lot, some, a little, or none at all you're still valid and it's okay to stim.

[aiartwerk]

Sexy Afro-Futuristic, Cyber Women Art 3. By AI_ART_WERK

[dreamdropcompanions]

☆ - Cheese and Knightly reminding chu of important stuff - ☆