Very technical information today about the most popular models used in assistive technology consultations. It appears to be a timely process to make the correct AT match, so it is important to do the necessary research to best service our clients. It is important to make sure that any recommendation is affordable and upgradeable but most importantly replaceable. We must remember that not all boards have the same budgets, but neither do the families, so we must be mindful of budget restraints and get the most value for our dollars spent.
I must say that this class is becoming more and more enlightening because this is all new to me I have had some difficulty in absorbing all the technical supports and availability of what is the best use of assistive technology. I will reiterate how wonderful it is to have an instructor that knows her way around technology and is passionate and committed to her profession, it certainly makes this technology journey much easier.
Today we had the opportunity to participate in skill building techniques about communication and how that might look in a variety of situations where we must deal with people who are non verbal and want to relay information to us, be an active participant in the conversation. What a challenge. It was interesting to note that because we can and do communicate just how much is involved in this skill set that we take for granted and make assumptions about what people require
Communication is commonly defined as the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing or signs. Interesting note that communication is only considered successful when both the sender and the receiver understand the same information, making it imperative that we use whatever means possible to get our message understood. We know how difficult it is when we are misunderstood, or misquoted, can you imagine how it must feel for someone who is without a voice or an ability to communicate or advocate for themselves. It makes that saying a picture is worth 1000 words somewhat more meaningful when I realize that understanding the message is communicating, regardless of the medium used to achieve this task.
Communication requires that all parties have an area of communicative commonality. There are auditory means, such as speech, song, and tone of voice, and there are nonverbal means, such as body language, sign language, para language, touch, eye contact, through media, i.e., pictures, graphics and sound, and writing. The list can go on and on as we head in the 21st century especially with the rate of our changing technology and innovate solutions to enhance effective communication, it seems to be prevalent on every ones minds. So for all of us that have the ability to communicate and make our voices heard we should be appreciative of these skills and realize how vital they are to our success and progression within our lives. It was refreshing to see how each group approached their communication task as non verbal participants, yes we looked at the humor but in reality we could see how difficult it would be to not have our voice and be our own representative, some of us require communication partners and devices to allow us that opportunity.
In closing I would like to say that it is important to our learning to have some hands on experiences because that will give us a better idea of how difficult it will be for our clients. We are easily frustrated and can ask the questions required to provide support to assist us in using the equipment efficiently and effectively. What about the people that we are providing that require the technology to communicate, they are already disenfranchised with their limited voice access, let alone the learning curve involved in using assistive technology. One of the key things that stood out for me in the article, 'Living in the State of Stuck was the difficulty in the continued use of the technology and how many clients actually get frustrated, become disengaged and abandon the technology, So I guess this speaks to the issue that we still have worked to do toward education and proactive approaches to technology supports to help create the independent learners, with a voice comes knowledge and power.
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