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 171–180 (page 18 of 31).

M

Motor planning in AAC

Also called Motor plan, Motor learning, Consistent placement, LAMP

Keep every word in the same place and saying it becomes a movement rather than a search, the way a typist never looks for the letter E.

Multi-modal communication

Also called Multimodal communication, Mixed-mode communication, Multi-modal AAC

One sentence may need a device, a sign and a raised eyebrow. That's not a failure of the device. That's how everyone talks.

Multi-message device

Also called Step-by-step communicator, Sequential message device, Multi-button recorder, Step-by-Step

Step-by-step and multi-button recorders, for telling a story in order or choosing between a handful of messages.

Multiple sclerosis and communication

Also called MS and speech, MS and dysarthria, MS and cognition

Speech, voice, word-finding and fatigue in MS: changes that come and go, and how to plan for the bad days without being defined by them.

Music and communication

Also called Music therapy, Singing and language, Rhythm and speech

Singing, rhythm and music therapy as routes into language, for people who cannot yet speak and people who have lost speech.

N

Narrative skills

Also called Storytelling, Narrative language, Recounting, Oral narrative

Telling what happened, in order, with the point in it. It is what "how was school?" asks for, and it is the skill writing is built on.

Needs and wants

Also called Requesting, Wants and needs vocabulary, Manding

The vocabulary of asking is where every board begins, and where too many of them end. Why requests must not be the only words a person has.

Negation

Also called Saying no, Refusal vocabulary, Negatives, Protest words

Not, don't, stop, no more, go away. The words that give a person power over what happens to them, and the reason they must be on the board on day one.

Non-speaking

Also called Nonspeaking, Unable to speak

The word many people who do not use speech now choose for themselves, and why it replaced a label that got them badly wrong.

Now and next

Also called Now/next board, First-then board, Now and then board, First/then

Two pictures on a strip: what's happening, and what comes after. It answers the question every anxious person is silently asking.

Try a voice now, free

Fiducia Talk is a complete talking board: 308 symbol cards, a phonics keyboard and a big-key keyboard, speaking in your device's own voice. No account, no subscription, and nothing you say leaves your device.

Open the board