We are anticipating that 2012 will be a busy and exciting year for the AAC Evidence Base project!

The research team at the University of Sheffield and Barnsley Hospital are using questionnaires, interviews and focus groups to gather data about the need for AAC and about AAC service provision in the UK. We will be presenting at a range of events and conferences during the year and will be sharing the findings as they emerge.

Manchester Metropolitan University has held a series of focus groups looking at the structure and content of the AAC Evidence Base website. These focus groups have involved people who use AAC, family members, professionals who work with people who use AAC and commercial companies that supply AAC services or products. A specification for the website is being developed by Communication Matters and the University. The AAC Evidence Base is planned to go live online in September this year.

The closing date for applications for the AbleNet-ISAAC Remarkable Achievements Award is 1st February 2012.

This award is open to a professional ISAAC member who has utilized easy-tech AAC in a remarkable manner to improve the lives of people with disabilities and further the field of AAC. Easy-tech (not to be confused with no-tech) is defined as battery-operated, lower cost, simple-to-use technology designed for communication.

PRESS RELEASE

At the end of the National Year of Communication, outgoing Communication Champion Jean Gross calls for the NHS Commissioning Board to provide communication aids and services for children and young people who are unable to communicate verbally as a consequence of disability.

Communication Matters, the lead organisation dedicated to creating a world where everyone has a right to a 'voice' through the provision of communication equipment and services, welcomes the report by the Communication Champion and her key recommendations on AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication).

The Communication Champion has called for the Government to implement in full the recommendations in her report on AAC, asking the NHS National Commissioning Board "to procure regional or supra-regional 'hub' centres to assess the needs of children and young people who can benefit from AAC and to provide them with appropriate communication aids and services, in partnership with locally commissioned AAC 'spoke' services." Jean Gross also recommends that local governments develop effective local AAC services involving SLTs, occupational therapists, teachers and technicians to support the work of the specialist hubs.

PRESS RELEASE

1Voice Southeast has a really exciting event lined up to banish those winter blues. On Saturday 4th February we are making sweet music with Drake Music Project at Scope's premises in central London (6 Market Road, N7 9PW) from 10am to 4pm. "Drake Music breaks down disabling barriers to music through innovative approaches to learning, teaching and making music. Our focus is on nurturing creativity through exploring music and technology in imaginative ways." (Drake Music website)