Communication A to Z

Somebody hands you a leaflet that says AAC. A review mentions partner-assisted scanning. A ward asks whether your dad has a communication passport. Everyone else in the room seems to know what these words mean, and asking feels like admitting you're behind. You aren't. This library explains each one plainly: what it is, who it helps, how it works, and what you can do about it this week. Search by the word you heard.

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.

301 topics, showing 141–150 (page 15 of 31).

I

Intensive care and communication

Also called ICU, ITU, Critical care, Ventilated patients

Awake on a ventilator and unable to say you're in pain, frightened or thirsty. What the unit can do, and what a family can bring.

Intensive Interaction

Also called II, Intensive interaction approach

Conversation before words: joining in with a person's sounds and movements until there's a to-and-fro, and building everything else on that.

Interpreters and family

Also called Family as interpreter, Using relatives to interpret, Professional interpreting

Why a relative should not be the interpreter in a medical or legal room, however fluent and however willing, and what to ask for instead.

J

Joint attention

Also called Shared attention, Triadic attention, Joint engagement

Two people attending to the same thing, and both knowing it. It is the root that language grows from, and it can be grown at any age.

Joystick access

Also called Joystick control, Joystick mouse, Wheelchair joystick integration, Integrated control

Driving a pointer with a wheelchair-style joystick, sometimes the very joystick that drives the chair. Familiar, robust, and slower than it looks.

K

Keyguard

Also called Key guard, Screen guard, Grid overlay

A rigid frame with holes that sits over the screen, so a sliding hand stops at the edge of a cell instead of on the wrong one.

Kitchen vocabulary

Also called Cooking vocabulary, Kitchen set, Cooking words

Cooking, helping, stirring, hot, careful: the words for the room where family life happens, and where a person is most often told to keep out of the way.

L

Language milestones

Also called Ages and stages, Developmental milestones, Speech and language milestones

The ages and stages, given the way the NHS gives them: as a range, with the signs that matter more than the dates.

Laryngectomy

Also called Total laryngectomy, Voice box removal, Alaryngeal speech, Neck breather

Speaking after the voice box is removed: the valve, the electrolarynx and oesophageal speech, and what each sounds like and asks of the person.

Late talkers

Also called Late talker, Late language emergence, Delayed speech, Speech delay

Toddlers with few words at two. Most catch up; some do not, and the ones who do not are worth finding early.

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