Communication After Graduation: Resources for Adults With Communication Needs and Those Who Support Them
The transition from student to adult services is often referred to as a “cliff” where many needed services and service providers “drop off.” For individuals with complex communication needs, this often results in regression or stalled progress in communication, right when it is arguably more important to quality of life than ever. Penn State Health has focused their efforts on addressing this gap, teaching adults with limited functional communication to be able to communicate more with high tech augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). While providing outpatient speech and language therapy and applied behavior analysis services in their clinic, they then noticed another gap in services. The direct support professionals, parents, and other caretakers supporting the patients on a daily basis often had limited experience, knowledge, and confidence using the AAC themselves with the person they were supporting. In response to this concern, Penn State Health has been building resources to help caregivers become confident, competent communication partners using the AAC. They have been developing models of education and training that meet caretakers where they are, acknowledging their time and capacity limits. With these efforts, they hope to hear the voices of many more adults in this population – not just in the clinic, but also in the community.
