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Communication A to Z

AAC, core vocabulary, partner-assisted scanning, a communication passport. Meetings and leaflets are full of words everyone seems to know already. More than three hundred of them explained in plain English: what each one is, who it helps, and what you can do about it this week.

Please note: This page is general information about communication and the ways people are supported to communicate. It is not an assessment, a diagnosis or speech and language therapy, and it does not know the person you have in mind. If you are worried about someone's speech, language or communication, ask a GP, a health visitor or a speech and language therapist. In an emergency, call 999; if you cannot speak, Relay UK on 18000 or the emergencySMS service reach the same operators.

39 topics filed under S, showing 31–39 (page 4 of 4).

S

Switch access

Also called Switch control, Single-switch access, Switch use

Operating a whole device with one or two buttons, placed wherever the body is most reliable. Slower than touch, but it needs so much less.

Switch mounting

Also called Switch positioning, Mounting arm, Switch mount

Holding a switch exactly where the body expects it, on a wheelchair, a bed or a table, every single time. A switch that moves is a switch that fails.

Switch scanning

Also called Scanning, Indirect selection, Scan access

The device lights up each choice in turn and the person presses when the highlight reaches the right one. One button, any vocabulary.

Switch site

Also called Switch placement, Access site, Control site

Finding the one movement a person can make on purpose, a hundred times a day, without pain or fatigue. Everything else in switch access rests on it.

Symbol cards

Also called Picture cards, Symbol buttons, Cells, Picture communication cards

One picture, one word: how the cards on a talking board are chosen, drawn and labelled, and why the label matters more than the picture.

Symbol-based communication

Also called Symbol communication, Picture communication, Graphic symbols

Communicating with pictures that stand for words, for anyone who cannot yet read, or cannot read reliably under pressure.

Symbol-supported text

Also called Symbolised text, Symbol writing, Symbol-supported writing, Symbolised documents

Writing with a symbol above each word, what it does for a reader, and the mistake of symbolising every word on the page.

SymbolStix

Also called SymbolStix PRIME, n2y symbols, stick figure symbols

The stick-figure symbol set inside Proloquo2Go, TouchChat and several other AAC apps, and what its licence means for the person using it.

Synthetic voices

Also called TTS voices, Computer voices, Neural voices, System voices

Where computer voices come from, why the good ones are already on your phone for free, and how to choose one that sounds like you.

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Fiducia Talk is a complete AAC talking board, free forever with no account. Fiducia Life puts the same board inside a life, with the family on the same record.

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