Making the Community More Inclusive Through ACC Boards
Georgia Southern University students in the graduate Communication Sciences and Disorders program have teamed up with the RiteCare Center for Communication Disorders in an effort to help make the community more inclusive.
Under the guidance of Tory Candea, SLPD, CCC-SLP, CBIS, CDP, clinic coordinator for the RiteCare Center, Brittany Patnaude, visiting instructor, and Pamela Thompson, clinical instructor, students have created and donated two, low-tech augmentative and alternative communication (ACC) boards to schools in Chatham County, Georgia.
Augmentative and alternative communication is a term used for describing different ways someone communicates and represents a wide range of nonverbal communication methods to include both no-tech, low-tech and high-tech methods.
“We were trying to think of ways to make playgrounds more inclusive and determined a communication board would be a great idea,” stated Candea. “The boards allow for a more inclusive community by offering a means for every student to communicate.”
Each 2’x3′ board displays photos and symbols to assist children with combining words into sentences.
The ACC boards were donated to Juliette Lowe Elementary School and Jacob G. Smith
Elementary School.
Students who participated in the creation of the ACC boards included Katelin Gonzalez, Rachel Ponder, Aleiya Jackson, Dana Buchli, Kayla Pope, Kristen Warren, Michelle Smith, Mamie Soluri and Chandler Cloy.
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