Speech Therapy
There is no such thing as people who do not communicate.
There are people who are not given the opportunity to communicate.
For most of us, speech is something we take for granted. It is hard to imagine ourselves and our lives without the ability to speak. However, for many of our participants, the speech that is so familiar to us is impossible for them. They want to be heard and to be involved and active in their environments, but they cannot do so without augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), with the help of communication assistants and a variety of communication and technological aids.
We want to give our participants that fundamental right to express themselves and be understood. There are many roads to self-expression: words, gestures, facial expressions, sounds and writing. Some participants cannot express themselves vocally but express themselves in augmentative, expansive and alternative ways. Many of them also have difficulty understanding language, and it is incumbent upon those speaking with them to remember this and augment the input.
Staff members do all they can to find the most suitable communication methods and relate to every natural or inherent expression, to respect the participants as human beings and improve their sense of self-worth and competence.
