This weekend saw the launch of our Athletics Communications Boards by Finding Charlie’s Voice and Athlete’s Quiet Zone to assist athletes who have additional needs at the National Juvenile Indoor Championships in TUS. These Communication boards were available at Check In, Call Room and in the designated Quiet Zone
Communication Boards are one of many aided Augmentative and Assistive Communication (AAC) methods available to allow users and their communication partners share messages with each other. Other aided AAC systems include high tech speech generating systems, pictures, drawings, letter boards etc. Unaided AAC such as gestures, signs, facial expressions, body language and vocalisations all form part of our communication profile. All communication is valid in whatever format is preferred for the user.
The communication boards developed by Finding Charlie’s Voice (FCV) have symbols of items relevant to their environment, whether that is in the classroom, school or public playground or playing field. They also contain action words, feelings, and words that can be used to request or protest like “more’’ or ‘stop’ amongst others. FCV use the licenced Tobi Dynavox suite of images, universally used by our parks and playgrounds to allow for consistency and ease of transfer from the school to public environment. Communication boards are a form of Total Communication. This means that we use everything in our communication toolbox, including pictures, gestures, signs, and words, to get our message across.
Going forward we will have Athletics Communications Boards and designated Quiet Zones at our National Juvenile Championships. Please note requests are asked in advance to access the AAI Athletes Quiet zone.
We will be launching these additional supports at National Senior Championships in the coming outdoor season.
More details can be found : Finding Charlie’s Voice | Facebook
For further enquires and additional information please contact competition@athleticsireland.ie
