We are very excited about our upcoming Network Day being held on the 19th of October at Ace Centre’s North office in Oldham.
There has been a lot of interest from the AAC community in the North West and further afield providing many opportunities for networking and learning. We have a few finishing touches to put on the agenda but we are excited to announce the following sessions. These will be led by our charitable service managers, who have been working alongside our experienced Ace Centre colleagues, clients and partner organisations, to bring you the latest developments, share experiences and give practical advice to support AAC users and the teams around them.
What’s New with Ace Centre’s Resources: Information and Resources
Tina Voizey will share new customisation features built into our popular free symbol and alphabet charts and discuss the implication and impact it will have for those using them. Looking at updates made to create a pathway from these charts to more robust systems like Developing and Using a Communication Book (DUCB) and Look2Talk.
Working with Clients who are Multilingual – Examples & Lessons Learnt: Multilingual Project
Suzanne Martin will share lessons learned by the team at Ace Centre during the (ongoing) process of improving their practice and procedures around assessing and supporting multilingual AAC users.
Tackling Bilingual and Multilingual Problems: Research & Innovation
Will Wade will present research on the need to support more languages in AAC, focusing on the technical challenges faced. Highlighting potential solutions and two apps we have developed, sharing real-life case studies about the impact they made.
Training and Learning Overview: Ace Centre Learning
Alli Gaskin will highlight the comprehensive range of training and learning opportunities we provide for professionals and carers supporting people with complex communication needs. Sharing an overview of the latest developments across all areas of learning – access, communication, education and engineering.
Mounting for Local Services: Engineering
Diane Arthurs will lead a practical session guiding you through the process and decision making for finding simple solutions for lightweight devices.
How to Facilitate Organisational Change: Ace Centre Partnerships
Katy Leckenby and Sam McNeilly will present how to work alongside organisations to facilitate change to better support AAC users. Looking at the process and introducing tools such as an AAC Policy document to guide a top-down approach, IPAACKS for skills profiling, and the Pragmatics Profile for AAC for effective client profiling and information sharing. Showing how training and mentoring create a professional legacy and looking at the impact an AAC loan bank has on evidence gathering.
Curriculum Access Case Study: Ace Centre Assessments
Katy Leckenby will share a case study and discuss the impact a thorough assessment can have on a child needing AT for curriculum access.
Moving Beyond Just Problems: Research & Innovation
Will Wade will discuss how we identify problems from end users in the field, prioritise which problems we work on first, and find solutions. Looking at a real-life case study which led to a unique software solution to help people with minimal movement use eye blinking to access technology.
We are delighted that six AAC and AT suppliers will be joining us; Inclusive Technology, Jabbla UK, Liberator, Smartbox, TherapyBox and Tobii Dynavox. They will each provide an overview of their latest developments and the opportunity to get hands on with equipment and ask questions. We are very appreciative of their support which will allow us to provide lunch and refreshments to attendees with time to meet and network with members of our local AAC community.
We will welcome registered attendees from 9:30 for a prompt 10:00 start and aim to end the sessions by 16:00. If you would like to join us please register your interest by clicking on this link to our Eventbrite page.
A similar day will be held in Ace Centre’s South office in Abingdon on the 14th March 2024. You can register interest for that event by clicking on this link to our Eventbrite page.
