Not Plain Sailing

I figured my first post should go some way to explain why I’m writing the blog in the first place and why I’ve called it ‘Mummy vs. AAC’. 

So I am a Mummy… I’m also a Speech and Language Therapist. My daughter has complex communication needs and I am one part of the team of family, friends and professionals involved in giving her the best possible chance at communication. Well… a really good chance anyway. On most days that is… or at least some days… or when I remember. For my part it depends on what day it is, what kind of day I’m having, what kind of day she’s having. It’s simply not smooth sailing. 

That’s why in spite of being an SLT who has recently been developing specialist skills in AAC sometimes it all feels like a battle. 

As a clinician I’m also relatively new to the field of AAC. In the last 6 years a series of misfortunes, good luck and a determination not to lose a career I love have led me from being a Highly Specialist SLT within one clinical area to starting a new adventure working with adults with learning disabilities. This is the second battle… studying and absorbing a new body of literature and reflecting on it as a clinician but also and inevitably as a parent. 

So when I was thinking of names for the blog my husband said… slightly tongue in cheek ‘What about Mummy vs. AAC’ it felt a perfect fit. Sometimes AAC does feel like smooth sailing, the wind is good the sail is set and we’re on course. Other time the sails are flapping and the boom is perilously close to hitting me in the head and sending me flying into the water. Inevitably sometimes I get wet.

So with this blog I want to share a parent narrative about AAC.  I plan to share things on three themes: 

  1. Information: I plan to include posts that seek to demystify some aspects of AAC. Initially by having a monthly ‘Jargon Buster’ 
  2. Catharsis: I want to share my personal experiences and in turn hear others share theirs.
  3. Reflection: I will share my reflections on what I read about AAC. I’ll share my learning and thoughts about articles both as an SLT and as a parent. 

If you want to read more as I post you can do that at my blog site or on Facebook.

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