Augmentative Communication

Augmentative and alternative communcation strategies are used when individuals have severe communications impairments.

Strategies and devices are selected to help each person participate more fully in daily life.

When a disability prevents someone from communicating, the world can be a very isolated place. Augmentative communications devices and techniques assist people in maintaining their roles in society, whether as a student, an employee, a friend, or a family member. Examples of augmentative communications include graphic communication boards, voice output communiation aids, sign language or gestures, vocalizations or concrete objects which can be used as symbols to communicate, and computer-based communications systems.

Who can benefit from this program?

An individual whose ability to speak has been significantly impaired by illness or injury may be a candidate for augmentative communication.

• Spinal cord injury
• Traumatic brain injury
  
• Severe aphasia (from a stroke or other cause)
  
• Primary progressive aphasia
  
• Dementia
• Laryngeal papillomatosis
• Spasmodic dysphonia
  
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
  
• Multiple sclerosis
• Parkinson's disease
• Huntington's disease
  
• Head and/or neck cancer

Speech-Language Pathologists work with patients and families to select the most efficient and effective systems to communicate.