Friday Announcements

1. Use Spoken Premium for Free 23 December – 1 January!

From Evan Lauer, Spoken Inc:

Spoken – Tap to Talk AAC’s Premium features will be free to use during the holidays. As part of an annual tradition, we’re giving new and returning users access to every feature in Spoken from 23 December 2025 until 1 January 2026. All you have to do to take advantage of this is download the app and give it a go.

Unlocking Premium during the festive season lets us share the full Spoken experience while offering a little extra support during one of the most conversation-dense, connection-filled times of the year. We hope you’ll give it a shot during gatherings with family or friends, long meals, and travel. It should help make those moments easier and more enjoyable!


2. Proposed SEND Reforms – Have Your Say!

From Beth Moulam, Communication Matters Trustee:

The Department for Education has announced an online consultation around the proposed new Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice. This closes on 14 January 2026. This consultation is the chance for all AAC users, families and professionals to have a say about AAC provision. Your voice matters!

You can access the consultation here, and don’t forget you can also contact your local MP.

Key points to include are:

• The importance of Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and local authorities meeting their statutory duty to support all children to communicate including those with little or no speech that need AAC.
• The need for every child, including AAC users, to be taught literacy and have access to the national curriculum.
• Concerns around abolition of NHS England and the move of Regional AAC Specialised Services to lead ICBs with the continuity of services and staff retention.
• The lack of local AAC services which should support all AAC users with assessment and ongoing professional support, referring those with complex communication and assessment needs (high cost – low incidence need) to Regional Specialised Services for expert assessment whilst providing the majority of users with local assessment and equipment locally.
• A well trained multi-disciplinary children’s workforce to identify the need for AAC early and refer promptly to the local AAC service for assessment and support.  Head teachers should not be able to disapply children with PMLD from communication assessment or access to the national curriculum without specialist AAC assessment.
• Communication impairment to be given the same priority as vision and hearing impairment in future policy including the need for specialist teachers,

Join the conversation https://consult.education.gov.uk/digital-communication-team/send-reform-national-conversation/ and make your views count!


3. Vacancy at Ace Centre

From Rachel Thwaite, Ace Centre:

We are a registered charity (no. 1089313) providing specialised AAC and AT services and support for people with complex needs. We offer assessment, training, technical and engineering, research and innovation, and information services, and work with partners and stakeholders to advance service delivery and development across the UK.

We wish to recruit an experienced and highly motivated individual to the new post of Regional Operations Lead – South.

The postholder will provide operational leadership for our clinical services in the South and support our Senior Management Team to ensure the continual improvement of our portfolio of services that focus on supporting the evolving needs of people with complex communication difficulties.

For further information and to apply, please visit our website.

Ace Centre is an equal opportunities employer; we welcome enquiries from everyone and value diversity in our workforce.


4. Research Matters: Roles in Research

The next Research Matters online meeting will be on Wednesday 28 January 2026, 4-5pm.

We’ll be looking at ‘Roles in research’ and will share a video that the Research Matters group recorded. 

AAC users will share their research experiences in different roles, and there will be an open discussion about getting involved and next steps. 

If you’ve been involved in research as a research participant, co-researcher, or part of an engagement/discussion group, please come along and share your experience.

Go to the Research Matters page of the CM website to receive an invitation to the meeting, to sign up for the Research Matters newsletter and to find out more about what we do.


5. Save the Date: Sharing Best Practice Day 2026

Tuesday 31 March 2026 10.00am-3.00pm

Following the successful and enjoyable day in April this year, Communication Matters are pleased to announce that we will be hosting another Peer Support & Mentoring Project ‘sharing best practice day’ at the University of Leeds.

This event is open to all AAC users and others interested in peer support and mentoring along with finding out more about other opportunities.

More information including how to book and the programme for the day will be available soon.

In the meantime, put the date in your diary. For more information about the project, visit our website or contact Verity Elliott [email protected].


6. CM Office Christmas Closure

The Communication Matters Office will be closed from 4pm today until Friday 2 January. This means that there will be no Friday Announcements until 2 January.

If you have an urgent query while the office is closed, please contact our Chair, Andrea Sharples, on [email protected]. Otherwise please email [email protected] and we will get back to you as soon as possible on re-opening.

Wishing you all a wonderful festive season and a very Happy New Year!


7. About Friday Announcements

These ‘Friday Announcements’ comprise weekly product updates, upcoming courses, and supplier news. Please email [email protected] with the item you want to be included by Thursday at 5pm – no more than 200 words (one entry per organisation per week) – and include contact email and/or link so readers can find out further information (no file attachments please).