AAC Evidence Base Research Project: November 2011 Update

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.

Simon Stevens with David MorganWe were delighted to sign up new members of the Research Involvement Network. Our first member who uses AAC was Simon Stevens, an an independent consultant on disability issues; he is pictured above with Dave Morgan, Communication Matter’s Research Lead.

Manchester Metropolitan University demonstrated an early prototype of the AAC Evidence Base at the conference and there was an interactive session to get feedback about it. The University of Sheffield & Barnsley Hospital are investigating the evidence of need for AAC in the UK and mapping existing service provision.Their presentation reported on the findings from the systematic literature review and explained the next stages of the research. You can find handouts from the presentations here:

About 4,000 copies of the leaflet describing the research project have been distributed to date. If you would like to distribute the leaflet please contact the Research Manager for copies.

If you are a person who uses AAC, a family member, carer or practitioner, and would like to participate in the research, please contact the Research Manager to register your interest.

For more information about the project visit the Research page at www.communicationmatters.org.uk/research or contact Katie Holmes, Research Manager, [email protected]