Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication University of Pretoria Tel: (012) 420 2001 Fax: (012) 42 0 4389 www.up.ac.za/academic/caac SSN 1018-2071 Interface promotes communica- tion for people with complex com- munication needs by supplement- ing existing communication with gestures, communication boards and assistive technology (thus, augmentative & alternative com- munication) Interface SA………...page 2 Branch news………...page 3 School news………….page 3 CAAC news………….page 5 User forum…………..page 8 For your diary………page 11 Interface AUGUST 2008 INTERFACE NATIONAL NEWSLETTER—aUGUST 2008 I recently observed an interaction between a mother and her young daughter of about 3 years, that stayed with me. They were busy selecting various grocery items from the SPAR shelves and the little one wanted to carry several of these to "help". As they neared the till, the mother wanted to help her to put the items on the counter, however, the little girl insisted that she wanted to do it by herself. Within no time, a small bottle of strawberry jam lay shattered on the floor. Fortunately, the staff was most accommodat- ing and helped to clean up. As I approached my car, I saw the same two walking opposite me on the sidewalk, step- ping down to go to their car... Guess what? This time it was the tomato sauce that bit the dust... With a big smile on my face, I could- n’t help thinking how often our own warped sense of "independence" gets us with our noses in the dust! Erna Alant From the editor… No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the continent, a part of the maine… John Donne, Devotions XVII This quote, from a poem written over 400 years ago, serves as a beauti ful reminder that, even in my fast-paced individualistic Western culture, I am not ‘entire of myself’, but ‘part of the maine’- ‘interdependent’ rather than ‘independent’. We need others. Others need us. Empowerment starts with networking, con- necting, knowing people who know people. Interface has been actively spreading its wings to link with other disability organisa- tions and potential partners - thanks to De- sirae Pillay, director of the National Inter- face Committee (NIC) as well as other members of the NIC. Active steps have been taken to put Interface on the map – as part of the main continent! We hope to give you a taste of all the exciting activities that Interface has been up to in this issue. An- other feature in this issue is a report back on the FOFA week held at the CAAC in May. Once again, there was a strong focus on networking, building relationships and mak- ing new friends – while having lots of fun as well! Read all about the news from the schools where dedicated staff are making a difference to the lives of children. Martin’s ‘career tips for AAC users’ will be helpful to all young adults making moves towards employment. Happy reading! Kerstin Tönsing Interface Western Cape Priv ate Ba g X1 8 #39 Ron deb osc h 7 701 Te l: (021 ) 854 77 58 Fax: 086 654 2807 E-mail: int er fac e.wc@ inteko m.co.za Interface Kwa Zulu Natal P.O. Box 1995, Westville, 3630 30 Bever ley Dr, We stv ille. Tel: 082 464 311 2 082 4668254 E- mail: Ifacekzn@ saol .com Interface Gauteng Tel: 082 822 3694 (Michelle Aronson) Email: maronson@ myconnection.co.za Interface South Africa Ro om 13 (Gr oun d Floor ) The Memor ial Institute Building , c/o Jou bert Str eet ex t and Emp ire Roa d, Bra am fo nte in 2001 Pos tne t Suit e 27 , Pr iva te Bag X1, Glenv ist a, 2058 Tel: 082 822 5193 E-mail: d es irae@ in ter fa ce -sa.or g.za Interface National Newsletter
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Centre for Augmentative and
Alternative Communication
University of Pretoria
Tel: (012) 420 2001 Fax: (012) 420 4389
www.up.ac.za/academic/caac
SSN 1018-2071
Interface promotes communica-tion for people with complex com-munication needs by supplement-ing existing communication with gestures, communication boards and assistive technology (thus, augmentative & alternative com-
munication)
Interface SA………...page 2
Branch news………...page 3
School news………….page 3
CAAC news………….page 5
User forum…………..page 8
For your diary………page 11
Interface
AUGUST 2008 INTERFACE NATIONAL NEWSLETTER—aUGUST 2008
I recently observed an interaction between a mother and her young daughter of about 3
years, that stayed with me. They were busy selecting various grocery items from the
SPAR shelves and the little one wanted to carry several of these to "help". As they
neared the till, the mother wanted to help her to put the items on the counter, however, the
little girl insisted that she wanted to do it by hersel f. Within no time, a small bottle of
strawberry jam lay shattered on the floor. Fortunately, the staff was most accommodat-
ing and helped to clean up.
As I approached my car, I saw the same two walking opposite me on the sidewalk, step-
ping down to go to their car... Guess what? This time it was the tomato sauce that bit the
dust... With a big smile on my face, I could-n’t help thinking how often our own warped
sense of "independence" gets us with our noses in the dust!
Erna Alant From the editor…
No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every
man is a peece of the continent, a part of the maine…
John Donne, Devotions XVII
This quote, from a poem written over 400 years ago, serves as a beauti ful reminder
that, even in my fast-paced individualistic Western culture, I am not ‘entire of mysel f’,
but ‘part of the maine’- ‘interdependent’ rather than ‘independent’. We need others.
Others need us.
Empowerment starts with networking, con-
necting, knowing people who know people.
Interface has been actively spreading its wings to link with other disability organisa-
tions and potential partners - thanks to De-sirae Pillay, director of the National Inter-
face Committee (NIC) as well as other members of the NIC. Active steps have
been taken to put Interface on the map – as part of the main continent! We hope to give
you a taste of all the exciting activities that Interface has been up to in this issue. An-
other feature in this issue is a report back on the FOFA week held at the CAAC in May.
Once again, there was a strong focus on networking, building relationships and mak-
ing new friends – while having lots of fun as well! Read all about the news from the
schools where dedicated staff are making a difference to the lives of children. Martin’s
‘career tips for AAC users’ will be helpful to all young adults making moves towards
employment. Happy reading! Kerstin Tönsing
Interface Western Cape
Private Bag X1 8 #39 Rondebosch
7701 Tel: (021 ) 854 7758
Fax: 086 654 2807 E-mail: inter face.wc@ intekom.co.za
to host a 2 day workshop Dr Pat Mirenda, from the 21-22
May 2008 entitled: Supporting success in students with severe disabili-
ties with little or no functional speech. Dr Pat Mirenda co-authored the well
known book, Augmentative and alterna-tive communication: Supporting children
and adults with complex communication needs.
The program began on the 21 May 2008
with the 2nd Neville Cohen Memorial Lecture where it was a privilege to listen
to Dr Mirenda present a lecture entitled AAC: A bridge over troubled waters. In
this lecture she likened AAC (communication) intervention to build-
ing bridges. Just as building bridges al-lows people in one place to link to other
people in another place, so AAC inter-vention should be about building rela-
tionships that will facilitate individual’s participation and contribution to society.
In order to achieve this, Dr Mirenda then went on to state 6 key principles which
people working in the field of severe disability and AAC should incorporate
into their intervention efforts. They are:
1. Involve AAC users in all decisions
2. Recognize the important roles of
communication partners and provide
relevant supports 3. Support and foster peoples’ abilities,
preferences, and priorities, taking into
account their skills, strengths, and chal-lenges 4. Maintain, expand, and strengthen
social networks and relationships 5. Realize practical outcomes that are
valued by individuals with LNFS and others Incorporate evidence-based practices in intervention These principles are based on an article published by Blackstone, Williams, &
Wilkins, (2007) in the AAC journal enti-tled: for those who are looking for more
information. She then went on to de-
scribe 6 strategies which can be used to
enforce these principles. They are
Strategy 1: Support self-det ermination Strategy 2: Share research
Strategy 3: Conduct meaningful assess-ments
Strategy 4: Establish collaborative part-nerships
Strategy 5: Eyes on the prize: relation-ships are the prize
Strategy 6: Examine practical outcomes in socially valid ways
Throughout the remainder of the day Dr
Mirenda addressed issues relating to inclusive education (the goals of inclu-
sive education; what are the require-ments for success ful inclusion). Day two
focussed on issues around providing communication supports for problem
behaviour: firstly the relationship be-tween communication, AAC and prob-
lem behaviour was explored; then as-sessment issues were discussed viz a viz
symbol assessment, and functional be-havioural assessment concepts; and fi-
nally Dr Mirenda shared with us some intervention strategies namely aug-
mented input (visual schedules, contin-gency maps) and output supports
(augmented choice making). All of this was wonderfully complemented by
video footage illustrating the concepts under discussion.
The lectures were thoroughly enjoyed by
all and many participants commented on the relevance of these issues not only
overseas, but also here in South Africa. Many participants went away encour-
aged and inspired to start documenting the process of inclusion in their own
schools in the hope of being able to share it with others in the future.
Tips on
career
development Martin Pistorius spoke to the FOFA
participants on career development. Here following some excerpts from his
speech.
Education: This is fundamental to your growth both as a person, and in your
career development. I’d say there are two aspects to education. Informal edu-
cation is basically learning by searching online, reading a book, or talking to
someone to find out how to do some-thing. Formal education is where you
register for a course and study. My entire career I’ve had to work and study at the
same time, which is really not easy, to put it mildly. But it’s extremely impor-
tant! So if it is at all possible, do both the informal and formal education.
Mentors: Mentors are people who take
the time to teach and help you. Try to find someone like that, who is willing to
help you. Speak to them, say you want to learn how to do x, whatever x is for
you and ask if you can talk to them, and if they will show you how to do things.
Ask questions: Ask questions. Really,
never be afraid to ask a question. It does-n't matter how stupid you feel in asking
it. I've often felt I'm going to make a fool of mysel f i f I ask that but ask anyway. I
would rather feel like and maybe even look like a fool for a moment, and gain
the answer and thus the knowledge than not to ask and remain a fool and not
know the answer for the rest of my life.
Dare to make mistakes: It's okay to make a mistake. This was one of the
hardest lessons I had to learn. I probably still struggle with this one. But really it's
okay. Everyone makes mistakes, EVE-RYONE! At the end of the day that's one
of the ways we learn. So when you do make one, reflect on what happened.
Think about what you did or didn't do and learn from it.
P 9
Dr Pat Mirenda
User Forum
INTERFACE NATIONAL NEWSLETTER—AUGUST 2008 PAGE 9
Clarify what you need to do: Another
thing is if you are unsure, ask. Often people are in such a hurry at work, they
oft en don't give you the information you need, and then you end up doing the
wrong thing. And this has nothing to do with having a disability, it's just good
practice at work. Rather spend 5 min-utes getting all the facts, and doing it
right the first time than spending 5 hours or 5 days or longer doing some-
thing, only to find out it was the wrong thing, and having to start again from
scratch.
Don’t be a token: In the work place nobody will feel sorry for you; all they
care about is that the job gets done. That sounds harsh I know, but that's reality.
However if you really stop and think about it, you wouldn't want it any other
way. You want to be treated like an equal. You never want to be a token.
Trust me, that is not a nice experience. I once had it happen to me that I was told
that they were just and I quote, baby sitting me. Gee thanks!
Face the challenges: One thing you
must realize you will work harder than normal people. It’s a Fact! Accept it,
and get over it. People will under esti-mate what you can do. They will dis-
criminate against you. Not everyone will know how to interact with you. It
can be really rough at times. That's just the way it is. But never give up. Its okay
to get disheartened, but don't give up. One of my favourite quotes goes like
this: “Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the
end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow"”.
Know your capabilities: I think it’s
also important to know yourself and your limits. Know more or less what
you can and can't do. If you cannot do something, say so. I think for a person
with a disability that is not always the easiest thing to do. You might feel that,
by admitting that you can’t do it, you are proving people’s perceptions about
you correct. But that's only their percep-
tion. And it is better to say up front, “that's beyond my current capability”
than to try to do something you will most probably fail at anyway. But that
doesn't mean you just give up on that – if you tell people you can’t do some-
thing, tell them that you are willing to learn. That way you are being open and
honest, while at the same time creating an opportunity for you to grow and
learn should they be willing to help you to do so.
Take the opportunities that come
your way: Look for opportunities and when they come, take them even if you
are scared or unsure, go for it! Also be willing to go the extra mile. I often
came into work to help out on days when I wasn't supposed to. Also never
think any task is beneath you.
Friends: Another very important thing I can tell you is find someone you can
talk to, someone that you can share your feelings with. Trust me you will need it.
It might be a work colleague, a friend, your mom or dad, an uncle or even
someone like a minister at the church but you really do need someone, pref-
erably more than one person to help, support and encourage you.
Balance: Find a balance between work
and the other aspects of your li fe. It's so important. I've learnt this the hard way
and it's not a pleasant experience. What's worse, once you are so used to
living an unbalanced life it becomes extremely di fficult to break out of that
pattern and then you get all the stress related problems, and ultimately burn-
out, which is really not any fun.
Practi cal tips:
♦Prepare as much as you can before
hand. If there is a meeting and you know you need to give feedback, pre-
pare that before you get into the meet-ing. If you can, try to get an agenda
before the meeting, so you can read it and guess responses that might be
needed.
♦Try to be mindful of other people’s
time. It's so easy, for example, to go into someone's offi ce and then spend
5 minutes composing a message. If you can, compose the message before
hand. Or speak to the person and say, “ I know it takes me time to communi-
cate, can I e-mail you?” Talk to your
colleagues about
your communi-cation, and come
to an arrange-ment that suits
both of you.
♦I know this is an
obvious one,
dress professionally and appropri-ately, if you are going for an inter-
view or to give a speech dress appro-priately. And don't be scared to ask
what the dress code is
♦ Know your needs. You know what is
accessible and not for you. Make it your, and I stress this, your responsi-
bility, to make sure that wherever you have to go you will manage. I
know there will always be things you can not foresee or predict. But still
prepare as best you can. And most important: Don’t just assume that
others will check or know. Also ask speci fic questions like, are there
stairs? How many? How high? I know this might seem a bit like over
kill. But trust me there is accessible and accessible, and it’s up to you to
make sure its okay. Ask others to ask, and help you find out. But still
make it your responsibility.
♦ Plan ahead as much as you can. Like
if you need to go somewhere, how
does that affect your lift? If the meet-ing runs long then what? Should you
excuse yoursel f? Should you arrange that your lift picks you up an hour
later so you have an hour buffer time?
There are many challenges to being
employed, but despite all of them, it's wonderful. And you really do have a lot
to offer so I encourage you to dream, and go for it!
Martin Pistorius
AAC user
PAGE 10 INTERFACE NATIONAL NEWSLETTER—AUGUST 2008
Competition! Competition! Competition!
Interface South Africa
(024-102-NPO) is a non-profit, NGO that promotes the par-ticipation of adults and children who have
complex communication needs. A severe communication impairment often results in
social isolation and loneliness. As a result, most people with little or no functional
speech never reach their full potential or become productive members of society
unless provided with Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) strate-
gies.
Now, that’s a mouthful!!
We want to add a slogan to our logo that
best describes the role of Interface South Africa, in just a few words. The winner or
winning school/centre/practice will receive a fantastic prize of AAC resources that include
For further information you are welcome to contact the Centre
for AAC at 012 420 2001.
Pathways Pretoria is presenting an exciting workshop entitled
“Let's get out of the box”. The dates and times are as follows:
♦ 29 and 30 September – Kimberly
♦ 16 and 17 October – Pretoria
The workshop will cover the following topics: challenging behavior,
schedules and life skills, and will have a very practical slant. The cost is R225 per person per day. Please contact Danita on 082 578
9117 for more information.
The International Association for the Scientific Study of In-
tellectual Disability (IASSID) is hosting their 13th World Congress
under the title: “People with Intellectual Disabilities: Citizens in the World”. The congress will take place from the 25th to the 30th August 2008 at the
Cape Town International Convention Centre. Please visit the web at http://
www.uct-cmc.co.za/Conferences/conf-main.asp?
Conf_ID=56&Page=Home for further information.
Casual day stickers: Interface will be selling casual day stick-
ers in September as a form of fundraising. If you are willing and able to
help, please contact your nearest branch (see details on front page).
Interface Competition: Interface is hosting a competition!
Find us a new slogan and you could be the winner of some fantastic AAC
resources. See page 10 for the details.
INTERFACE NATIONAL NEWSLETTER — AUGUST 2008 PAGE 12