My presentation went wonderfully! These are some of the questions I got asked.
I would like to thank you for providing me with these very thoughtful questions! I have been speaking to various university classes for years, and these are some of my better questions, and I’m truly impressed. It was my pleasure to prepare answers. If you think of something else as we go, please feel free to get our attention, so you can ask your follow up question. I am going to be programming these questions in the order they were presented.
As an AAC user and an advocate, what is one thing that you want all SLPs to know or be aware of that may not be taught in the classroom?
When I was going to school, I was often assigned to a team made up with my parents, special education teacher, speech-language pathologist, occupational therapist, physical therapist and any personal care attendants I may have had. I’m not going to say you need to become best friends with everyone, but you should at least attempt to establish a good working relationship with other team members, letting you have the ability to problem solve. Sometimes you may find the occupational therapist and physical therapist have an answer you’re looking for. Other times, you may have the answer they’re looking for themselves. I’m sure you have heard the saying “It takes a village”. In this profession, it does. I have to mention at times, progress is slow, but when something finally clicks, it’s the most rewarding.
How has your disability and access to communication/AAC affected your relationships (family, friends, romantic, etc.) at different times in your life?
I must say I have very few outside friends, and I haven’t ever been romantically involved with someone. I feel when people see my wheelchair and communication device, they sometimes assume a mental delay, and they don’t want to deal with it. It’s unfortunately where we are in society. People would rather think of themselves before anyone else.
However, I do have lots of friends on Facebook, where I usually engage in lively discussions. Sure, social media has its drawbacks which I’m sure you know, but I feel it has leveled the playing field for people with disabilities. The only thing is we need to watch out for bad actors, and I have been considering coming up with some training courses to address this.
What advice would you give to SLPs or have worries or fears about working with AAC?
I want to mention the speech-language pathologist in middle school. I was going to upgrade to another communication device in eighth grade, and at this time setting up a communication device took a lot of work. So, in fairness to myself and her other students, she asked for my mother’s assistance, letting me carry on at a quicker rate. Luckily, our school district agreed to pay my mother for her time. It took around 50 hours to load everything in. Luckily, most communication devices nowadays come with a preloaded vocabulary reducing the time commitment in the beginning. When I get a communication device today, I only need to program in people’s names and other vocabulary that’s very specific to me.
My point is feel free to ask for assistance at times instead of piling on, which affects the quality of service. Again, it takes teamwork and communication.
In a perfect world, I would have AAC Specialists, who’s responsibility would be to work right with speech-language pathologists and the end user. They could do all of the customizations, freeing up the speech-language pathologist to focus on teaching the user on how to use the communication device effectively. I believe we would have a lot more success stories.
What was/were the best service(s) or type of service(s) you received in school? What kind of services do you wish you had access to throughout your life that would have been helpful?
I went through school during the time when inclusion was a fairly new concept. Therefore, I often say I had the best of both worlds. I was included in classes I demonstrated strength in, and went down to the special education classroom to focus on subjects I needed extra attention with.
Don’t get me wrong, inclusion is a wonderful concept. However, I feel at times we get too excited over political correctness, when we should be really focusing on long range goals. Let’s face it, we are only in school until either age 18 or 21, and some of us will hopefully have 60 to 70 more years to live. In a perfect world, I would focus on someone’s happiness and success, capturing their talents.
What helped you while you were transitioning from high school to adulthood?
I feel like I have already answered a portion of this with my last answer. According to me, we could improve the transition between school and adulthood simply by asking the student what they want to achieve post school. Let them answer, and then we could possibly provide them with a road map with little milestones along the way. I’m sure you are taking the similar approach, and taking this class and hopefully passing is one of your milestones. My point is it should be no different for a student with a disability. Everyone wants happiness and success in life!
Is there anything that is still restricted when it comes to using your AAC device? Is there anything you would add to the device?
I like the current enhancements found in my communication device these days. However, I wish communication was faster, especially for those of us needing to deal with muscle tone or muscle tightness. Let’s face it, we are living in a high pace society, and a lot of us want to compete. I’m sure technology is going to keep advancing, and we will see a breakthrough allowing this to occur. Your instructor probably remembers the day when there was no Amazon, and today we probably see at least one of their delivery trucks in our neighborhoods on a daily basis.
What do you hope to see in the future related to AAC devices and services?
I would love to see programs get instituted, where they can get a greater number of communication device users to succeed in every aspect of life. For years, we have been discussing the lack of employment opportunities, and now with more companies offering remote work opportunities, I feel this is our time to act.
I have personally checked out the online courses Google is offering to learn how to code. Coding is a skill set communication device users could easily do with great success.
We need to learn how to create our own opportunities. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. We need to empower communication device users, and allow them to create their own destinies. Giving people ownership helps on multiple fronts.
Have you ever been in a situation where a stranger approached you to ask about your disability or AAC device? How did you feel about that?
I have always welcomed any type of question. Some of my better questions have been asked by children, where there are no limitations. I’m often asked why I allow such a thing. I say children are our future, and it’s easier to educate them now than it is going to be in forty years.
The only time I’m embarrassed is when someone prays over me in public. I was once in a restaurant, where this happened, and people at other tables were getting uncomfortable as well. Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer to handle such situations.
Have you ever been in a situation where you were talked about in a room that you were present in as if your disability affects your intelligence? How did you feel about that?
This is the one thing that bothers me the most. When people see the colorful icons on my communication device, they quickly assume I have some kind of mental delay, which is far from the truth. Again, there’s no easy way to handle such a situation, other than to strike up a conversation to change attitudes.
Can you give us an idea of how a typical mental health therapy session would work in terms of having a response ready or having to be “on the spot”? Do you have recommendations for individuals who use AAC and their SLPs about how to support the best access to and use of these services?
I have attained mental health services periodically over the course of my life, mainly to help deal with certain events like my parents divorcing, which was a huge change. Since communication is slower for me, I have learned to write letters beforehand to help direct conversation, which has been very beneficial. My therapists have appreciated this, being that communications have gone smoother, and we were able to identify and work through things faster.
Anthony Arnold
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Communicators In Action