Terry Gibson

They are taking part in the 1 Voice DVD making project and hope to make a DVD ourselves.

They need to do our AAC DVD making project before October, so that they can show our DVD at any fundraising events they organize for October, and to the press and TV for wider publicity. They hope that our DVD project will be filmed and shown on TV to advertise our contribution to AAC and the upcoming ISAAC event in October.

Michael, who is 17 and uses a Pathfinder, wants to invite some friends from school to make a DVD with him that will give the children an opportunity to learn for themselves what AAC could be doing for them. Most of these children don't have any AAC but they will be using a communication book, word + symbol flashcards, word wall words, alphabet and letter-blend cards to make their sentences.

They want the kids to say whatever they want to say.  The kids will do as much of the planning and design as possible (flyers, invites, planning meetings, funding applications) and be fully involved in all stages of the project and the making of the DVD (scripts, creation of storyboards, props and animation scenes, recording, editing and title production).

They'll document and evidence their contributions so that they can be accredited for their work with an ASDAN Youth Award.

When they present the final product to the schools and the public they will be proving the benefits of AAC, their ability to benefit from it, and the importance of them accessing a core vocabulary, as they ll as having had fun and producing a DVD that is worthy of offering to ISAAC and Communication Matters for awareness raising and raising funds.

The DVD is also intended as a teaching tool to demonstrate to children and their support workers how to navigate the communication book, take out the embedded flashcards for sentence building (flashcards that are Velcro'd on top of each word + symbol in the book), put the cards back in their places, and use a set of WWS Grids that they 've made as a replica of the book, and set of Clicker Grids designed as a filing cabinet, both with the same words, for speaking, reading and writing.

Our flashcards are double-sided with PCS or Widgit on one side and LLL sequences on the other so anyone can SAY a message by flipping over the cards for their messages and using Michael's Pathfinder to say it.

They aren't set up for scanning and switch input but they will have Perspex eye-gaze frames with symbols for our friends who can't use their hands to join in.

Boinx iStopMotion will be used to capture shots of the kids' sentences and for their names, the titles and credits. They 'll probably do names and titles first while they get used to communicating with the kids and they get used to using our materials to make words and sentences.

If our materials prove useful they 'd like to share the files so all participants can have their own copy, as can anyone else interested.

The underlying motives of our project are to:

1. Raise people's expectations of non-verbal children by proving on DVD that they do have something to say and that they can use AAC to say it.

2. Show how important the 500 most frequently used words are by measuring what % of the kids' utterances they re found in our 500-core-word AAC materials.

Some barriers that prevent this from happening currently are:

1. Some AAC systems do not provide the full range of core words

2. Some AAC systems do not provide these words as separate items.

Children cannot read, write and chat spontaneously from an array of only pre-stored phrases and sentences and topic / subject specific nouns and adjectives.

Core vocabulary, more commonly referred to as Basic Sight Vocabulary' (Dolch) in schools, is compulsory schooling for 'normal' kids so from the angle of inclusion they propose that our non-verbal kids have a right to access the same words as their verbal peers and deserve the opportunity to prove their ability or otherwise to 'speak' read and write like their verbal peers, which they will not be able to do without these words.

They believe that access to a core vocabulary of individual words should be written into the UN Convention and local AAC Policies.

Robin Hurd of AAC Institute believes that a major barrier to anyone accepting that a core vocabulary is essential is the low expectations most people have of non-verbal children.

 It is widely accepted in the field of AAC that the single most influential factor to raising expectations of and for our non-verbal children is for all communication partners of a child who relies on AAC to meet someone who is a proficient communicator with their AAC system, an AAC Role Model.

AAC Role Models are peers in the true sense of the word - people who have the same conditions as our kids- have CP, can't use their hands, are blind, are autistic, have Down's syndrome. and who they re once deemed to have low cognitive abilities - but who have overcome their difficulties and are leading successful lives.

They originally and provisionally booked a local art gallery for 18 July - 9 August or 15 August – 6 September for our project, but when the organizers realised they wanted to do our filming and craft work in the gallery they said it was open to the public at all times and so this would not be practical.

They need to identify a venue. Dates aren't finalized yet. SENDIST Tribunal and ongoing problems with interpretation an implementation of Tribunal Order, new SEN Statement to meet the requirements of the Order, and an IEP to meet the requirements of the statement has become such a full-time job it is delaying planning and design and completion of our AAC materials.

When they are ready to go ahead they will get help from our local council and other organizations to promote our events to all groups and schools and the public, and hope press and TV will cover our story.

The theme is for children who use AAC to say on film whatever they want about their lives and their AAC. There will be a professional movie and animation team to facilitate this. For Michael's first interview with a project facilitator next they ek he needs to think about what he might like to say, choose a picture or drawing of himself to give the lady, and choose an object that represents him - the last one will be easy - it will be a vacuum cleaner!

Michael is a super hero who is an upright vacuum with his Pathfinder as its foot. He will star in some cartoon animations they have ideas for where he helps children who have no AAC to get the words they need.

He may be able to 'act out' one of his scenes for the 1 voice movie. Synchronicities between our project and a previous project: An article on the new Communication Matters eLibrary describes how a boy called Michael who is 17 and who has a communication book aid that is little used or understood by his communication partners, made a DVD as an ASDAN challenge to show people how to use his book with him! He was involved in all parts of the process - storyboarding, pre-recording, credits, titles, transitions

What a coincidence! - same name, same age, same problem, same solution, same goal for accreditation!

The article can be read in full here.

Here's an excerpt to show the similarities between both Michael's projects:

"Case Study 2”

Michael is a 17-year-old young man with cerebral palsy, who has severe physical limitations. He finds it difficult to initiate communication and relies heavily on his communication partner to support his communication. He and his carers often experience communication breakdown.

Michael has a multi-level communication book containing 4 symbols to a page, which he accesses by eye-pointing or by partner assisted scanning. However, this is only used by a few people, and most of his carers don't use it giving the following reasons:

- I don't understand how to use the book.

- It is very slow to use.

- Michael won't use it.

- I don't understand what the symbols mean.

- I can't follow Michael's signals.

They made a DVD explaining the communication system and demonstrating its use. Michael contributed to the creation of the storyboard pre-recording and to the editing and title production by indicating his choices. This was done as part of ASDAN accredited course work and also ensured Michael was engaged in the process to motivate him to use his communication system more. The completed DVD was shared with carers, to develop their skills and confidence in using the system to communicate with Michael."