There’s more to communication than words, says Caleb [left]. Pictures and symbols are crucial too.
“I chose to specialise in speech and language therapy because it allows me to serve people with children. I love kids and have always enjoyed helping to take care of them.
“A good speech and language therapist requires 2 Ps. Firstly, patience, because progress may not always be as quick as expected. Then, passion, to continue working to equip those in need with skills to express themselves.
“I’ve been working as a speech and language therapist with SAAC’s Allied Professionals team for 2 years. What I do here – if I were to describe in one sentence – is to give a voice to the voiceless. Which I find very meaningful.
“Many children who attend our school are non-verbal. Even some who possess limited verbal ability usually struggle with expressing themselves. While they may be able to indicate specific needs such as hunger and discomfort, they are not able to ask questions or share opinions. But they can use visuals such as pictures, films and charts to convey messages.
“Our students are taught to use the AAC (or Augmentative and Alternative Communication) comms board in class. These charts show pictures and words customised to each child’s needs and abilities. So some may have a larger comms board with several pages than others.
“Of course, as the child improves in communication skills, his/her comms board may also expand to include more pictures. These pictures are colour-coded: yellow for pronouns, green for verbs, blue for adjectives, and purple for questions or locations.
“Comms boards can evolve with our students’ interests and needs. For most, theirs change every year. For several, every school term. And yet for others, unchanged for years.
“I also work closely with parents and caregivers, to encourage them to use the comms board at home to communicate with their child. There are both group and individual training sessions. And since parents and caregivers have their own goals for the child, our strategies must align with these too.
“I’ve had one parent who wanted his child to learn to speak a sentence of 5 words, but most hope to have a back-and-forth conversation with their child. That’s our hope too. But if the child is having difficulty with basic requests, we must prepare to be patient. My advice is to keep your eyes on the goal and don’t give up.”
