Can you help with our research? The researchers at the University of Sheffield have been busy travelling the UK over the last few months, holding meetings and interviews with specialist AAC services, practitioners, teachers, commissioners, AAC users and their communication partners. They have gathered significant and valuable data from these sources but would like to […]
The journal Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica will publish a second article from the systematic literature review in its next edition. The article reports a review of 65 papers that describe interventions using high tech AAC and evaluate their effectiveness. The abstract and the article are currently available online: http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=Ausgabe&Ausgabe=257033&ProduktNr=224177 ISAAC 2012 is a great opportunity to share our work […]
At the beginning of the research project, the University of Sheffield (working with an honorary researcher from Barnsley Hospital) conducted a systematic literature reviewof academic articles relating to high tech AAC published over a 10-year period. The first article on this work has been published in the most recent edition of the International Journal of Language & […]
Communication Matters had an exhibition stand at two of the Voice for Life events organised by Afasic in association with The Communication Trust. Katie Holmes, our Research Manager, also gave a presentation about the AAC Evidence Base project at both events. The events provided a good opportunity to talk to parents of children who use AAC and practitioners, and […]
Afasic England, in association with The Communication Trust, is running three Voice for Life training events in March. These free events are aimed at parents and carers, professionals and school groups. Communication Matters will be giving a presentation on the AAC Evidence Base project at the events in Leicester (15th March) and Stockton-on-Tees (22nd March), and we will also have an exhibition […]
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 […]
The Communication Matters Research Involvement Networkaims to support and encourage research into AAC in the UK by building a list of people who are interested in taking part in research. We launched the Research Involvement Network at the Communication Matters conference in September and we are currently recruiting members. If you are a person who uses […]
The Communication Matters CM2011 Conference in September provided a valuable opportunity for the research team to make useful contacts and to get feedback and comments on our work to date. Thank you to everyone who came to visit our stand – we were very busy. We were delighted to sign up new members of the Research Involvement […]
The members of the research team will be at the Communication Matters CM2011 National Conference in September. We are looking forward to sharing the work we have done so far and getting comments and feedback: Manchester Metropolitan University will lead an interactive session about the development of the online AAC Evidence Base. During the session there will be a […]
The Research Manager submitted the end of year report, along with a revised budget, to the Big Lottery Fund in July. The project was given NHS ethics approval in June. Manchester Metropolitan University held a focus group for family members of AAC users on 8 July. This generated a lot of ideas and questions that will help the researchers to develop […]
The project has been running for one year and is on target to achieve its milestone dates. The Research Manager is preparing the end of year report to the Big Lottery Fund. The project was approved by an NHS ethics committee on 15 June. This is a key step forward in the process of enabling the researchers […]
Manchester Metropolitan University held a focus group for commercial AAC suppliers this month. Further groups with practitioners, families and AAC users will follow later in the year. The focus groups will look at the types of evidence that should be held in the AAC Evidence Base and the design of the user interface. The views and conclusions […]
