First of all, this was actually our smallest conference. Our first AAC conference was held concurrently with a conference about Cerebral Palsy. The two events had a combined attendance of about 400, with around 180 people participating in the AAC conference. Our second conference had over 250 participants (“just” an AAC conference), and our third was our biggest, with over 25 speakers, concurrent sessions and around 550 participants from all over Latin America. So, why go against the grain and do a smaller event this time around? Well, to tell you the truth, after 3 big events and lots of time, effort and money spent trying to promote AAC and to teach others how to implement it (in order to improve the lives of children with disabilities) , we realized that few people had actually put what they learned into practice. After asking why they weren’t using AAC with their students, most people told us that it was such a new and big topic that they just didn’t know where to start. So, with that in mind, we decided to make this year’s event much smaller, more in depth and practical, in hopes of giving participants the confidence necessary to move forward and use these strategies with their students.
We decided to have limited spaces (80 was our ideal number), meant only for those who were really interested in implementing AAC and who were likely put it into practice. In fact, this year’s event was much more of an AAC course than a conference. We kept the name “conference” for continuity sake, but with 3 speakers giving a comprehensive program through one long week, calling it an AAC course would certainly be more appropriate. In the end, we had more interest than we expected. So, even though we had to turn many participants away, we still had over 120 participants with us throughout the week.
Our speakers for the week were Lynnette Norris, Nora Rothschild and Paul Marshall, all from Canada and all of whom had spoken at 2 of our previous 3 conferences. They put together a wonderful, comprehensive “course” – a “how to” of Augmentative Communication you could say. Nora and Lynnette are both known internationally for their experience and dedication to the field of AAC. They also both happen to be excellent teachers. Paul is himself an AAC user, and as such has much more experience and knowledge about AAC than any of us could ever have. He is also wise, funny and charming and has a way of opening people’s minds to the possibilities for people with disabilities.
Our speakers for the week were Lynnette Norris, Nora Rothschild and Paul Marshall, all from Canada and all of whom had spoken at 2 of our previous 3 conferences. They put together a wonderful, comprehensive “course” – a “how to” of Augmentative Communication you could say. Nora and Lynnette are both known internationally for their experience and dedication to the field of AAC. They also both happen to be excellent teachers. Paul is himself an AAC user, and as such has much more experience and knowledge about AAC than any of us could ever have. He is also wise, funny and charming and has a way of opening people’s minds to the possibilities for people with disabilities.
It was a 5 day event and the days were long. We started at 8 am and normally finished between 6 and 6:30 pm. And, would you believe, despite these long days, participants were there, eager and attentive and sometimes didn’t even want to take their breaks. I’m not kidding! One day, while the teams were doing some group work, we told everyone they needed to go for their break, as the coffee was getting cold. There was a loud “AAAWWWW!” throughout the room and when we jokingly said we could bring the coffee to them, there were actually cheers.
Another important change this time around, as I mentioned, was that all of the participants were divided into teams (groups) and there was a lot of practical work throughout the week. Each group had a “student”, a child they met via video, who would be their “case study” throughout the week. Participants learned to assess, gather information, plan, to chose strategies and make materials, using examples we went through as a large group and then by going through the same steps for their own student. I think this made all the difference in this conference and people really seemed to “get it”. On the last day of the conference, groups had to present their work for the week, telling us about what goals they had set for their student and why they had chosen those goals, and also showing us the materials and strategies they would use to accomplish those goals. We were extremely impressed with the work of the participants. They made some wonderful materials (communication boards, stories with symbols and even a headpointer!), most of which were donated to the students at the end of the week.
The week ended with a very simple but moving closing ceremony. We had such a great group of participants, who had really been touched by what they had learned, that they were giving us thanks and gifts at the end. As usual, Paul was the star of the show and everyone wanted their picture with him…I really wish I had pictures to share of everyone lined up to kiss him and say thanks and have their picture taken with him. I got particularly choked up and could barely say thanks myself. So thanks Paul! And thanks Nora and Lynnette! I know I’ve said it before but I really can’t say it enough.
Now, we’re anxious to see what participants will do with their newfound knowledge. There are thousands and thousands of children around Peru who are unable to speak because of any number of disabilities, and as of yet, they all remain silent (okay, all but a very few). We really, REALLY hope to see more people working with them and helping them to communicate, so that the world will open to them, and they can open up to the world. Time will tell. I feel good about things though. I’m quite sure there is a good group, many people I got to know and could pick out right now, that will try and implement these strategies and help these kids communicate. And, the great thing is that now that we are in Arequipa, we will be continuing to work with many of the groups present and we hope to mentor them and support them on their beginning AAC journey.
We will be keeping track of participants, and we’ll let you know how it goes!
Oh yes, and there are more picture on our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/pages/Equip-KIDS-International/95667351682?ref=nf) for anyone interested.
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