Introduction

Hello!

Welcome to my secondary blog, Tales of Ravens and Writing Desks, a blog specifically dedicated to posts about my experiences as an Autistic AAC device user.  Some people may already be familiar with me and my writing from my primary blog, Hands In Motion, where I write about a variety of topics related to disability activism and Autism; for those of you who don't know me, allow me to introduce myself here:

My name is Erin Schroeder, as you may have already noticed if you read the 'About Me' section of this blog, and I am an Autistic teenager.  I am an avid disability rights activist, spending most of my free time participating in some type of activism, be it online or offline.  I have also been devoting a significant amount of time recently to programming an AAC app on a Kindle Fire that I purchased to serve as a communication device.  Once I finish the long and arduous task of getting the app properly set up I will begin implementing its use in my daily life.

Now, I'm fairly certain that a few people are reading that last paragraph and tilting their heads in confusion, after all, I couldn't have just implied that I, a person capable of understandable vocal speech, am planning on using an AAC device, could I have?  Yep, that's exactly what I'm saying.  I know that it's uncommon to encounter an AAC user who's capable of speaking in an understandable manner, and it's even less common for such a person to have developed understandable vocal speech before implementing the use of an AAC device, but contrary to popular belief it does happen.  There are a number of reasons that disabled people who are capable of using vocal speech might choose to use an AAC device to supplement or replace their vocal speech; I'll list some of those reasons here:

Selective mutism - Selective mutism is an anxiety-related speech disability which prevents a person from speaking in certain situations.  Selective mutism is not a choice, and any number of factors can influence whether or not a person with selective mutism is capable of speaking at any given time.  For people with selective mutism an AAC device can help ensure that even when speech is inaccessible they are still able to communicate.

Echolalia - Echolalia is the term for when a person repeats words that others have spoken in order to communicate, as a type of stimming, and/or as an involuntary form of speech.  Echolalia can be immediate (ie: repeating words others have said right after hearing them), or delayed (ie: repeating words hours, days, months, or even years after first hearing them).  While echolalia can be very helpful to language development and can serve as a form of communication some individuals find that echolalia either interferes with their ability to carry out conversations or is the only method of vocal communication that they are capable of.  For these people AAC devices can help make conversations smoother and expand upon what they are able to communicate.

Lack of vocal modulation - For some disabled people it can be difficult or impossible to modulate the tone and volume of their vocal speech.  This is an issue that I myself struggle with, and while it is not the main reason for my decision to begin using an AAC device it is something I took into consideration.  While it may not seem like that significant of a communication issue the lack of ability to reliably modulate one's tone and volume can be a major barrier when you are attempting to speak to someone and they simply can't hear what you're saying because you speak in a quiet, low monotone.  The volume of most AAC devices can be easily adjusted, and Bluetooth speakers can be paired with certain AAC devices, particularly those which are not manufactured as dedicated AAC devices, in order to amplify the volume even further.

Stuttering - Stuttering, a speech impediment characterized by pauses in the middle of words and phrases and the repetition of said words and phrases, can significantly slow down conversations.  Some people who stutter may benefit from the use of an AAC device to speed up important conversations.

Reading that list you may notice that I only mentioned one factor that influenced my choice to use an AAC device, that being the lack of tone modulation, which I noted was not the main factor in my decision.  The truth is, I don't have a term that neatly sums up the reason why I find typing and AAC use easier than vocal speech in most situations, I just do.  If you ask me a complex question or an extremely personal question I will be able to type a suitable answer to your question in a few short minutes, but I will struggle to vocally articulate an answer that is more than a few sentences long, if that.  It's not that I have any significant oral motor difficulties that prevent me from speaking for too long, although I do experience more and more difficulty speaking the longer I speak, it's just that I'm able to translate my thoughts into typed words far faster than I am able to translate them into spoken ones.  For some disabled people that's just the way it is; we know that AAC works better for us than spoken language, we simply don't know why.


That introduction lasted a bit longer than I intended it to, so allow me to wrap up this post by saying that in the coming weeks I will begin posting about the process of setting up an AAC device, learning to utilize the device once it is fully set up, and using it in my day-to-day life.  There will likely be an influx of posts in August when I enter my senior year of high school and face all the challenges that come with implementing the use of an AAC device in a mainstream high school classroom, challenges I may very well be tackling alone due to my school's lack of experience in the use of AAC devices by speaking students.  I welcome questions and comments from anyone who chooses to read this blog; hopefully some such questions and comments will inspire blog posts and help keep this blog from going through a silent phase.

Thank you for reading my first post to this blog, and I do hope you continue to read the subsequent posts.