SOME HIGHLIGHTS ON THE AUGMENTATIVE AND
ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION SENSITIZATION SEMINARS
HELD IN MARCH 2022.
Participants:
40 teachers drawn from 10 Special schools across Kenya.
2 Officers of the National Council of Persons with Dsabilities
6 AAC experts attached to the SAAC-Kenya as facilitators
2 Representatives of the Seniors without Boarders of
Denmark.
The Kenya Institute of Special Education in collaboration with
the Society of Augmentative and Alternative Communication in
Kenya facilitated two seminar sessions from the 8 th of March to
the 11 th of March and from the 15 th of March to the 18 th of
March 2022 at Nakuru and Nairobi respectively. Each session
targeted 5 schools which were selected on the criteria of being
fully fledged schools that had a lifetime of at least 10 years and
that catered for learners living with Speech difficulties. The
seminars were geared towards ensuring understanding of
methods of Augmentative and Alternative communication as
they appear in the Stage based curriculum designs.
This collaborative initiative took two key roles where the SAAC-
Kenya through the financial support of the Seniours without
Boarders of Denmark provided the knowledge and skills in the
types of AAC as well as travel, accommodation and subsistence
of the participants. On the other hand, the Director KISE
facilitated the management of the logistics of securing
permission from the Teachers Service Commission for the 40
teachers as well as provision of the institute hotel facility. We
must thank the KISE Director for a mission very effectively
accomplished.
The Director, who opened the Nairobi Session urged the
teachers to take every opportunity to get as much of the
Knowledge and skills in AAC as this would go a long way in
leveraging the spirit of Inclusion for all.
The Nakuru Session was graced by the Educational Assessment
and Resource Officer, M/s Margaret who encouraged the
teachers to put the Knowledge and skills into earnest practice
in order to positively impact on the inclusion of persons with
severe communication challenges.
The following were the schools involved in respect of the two
sessions:
Nakuru Venue.
Friends Special School, Kaimosi.
Lutheran special school, Kisumu
Kisii Special School, Kisii.
Eldoret special school, Uasin Gishu.
Gilgil Special school, Nakuru.
Mombasa venue.
Tom Mboya special School for Cerebral Palsy, Mombasa.
Kitui Special School, Kitui.
Nile Road Special school, Nairobi
Maria Magdalena Special school, Thika
Karatina Special school, Nyeri.
Each School had been required to send at least 4 teachers.
The National Council for Persons with Disabilities was
represented by two Officers from the Nairobi Office.
The training covered the following content of Augmentative
and Alternative communication and included demonstrations
and practice on each aspect.
Understanding Augmentative and Alternative
communication.
The Core Word Board
Theme Boards
Communication Passports
Partner assisted scanning for communication.
It was quite encouraging to see and feel the enthusiasm with
which the participants embraced AAC as the way forward in
mitigating the learning challenges inherent from Speech
deficiencies among many learners with special needs.
Meanwhile, the schools have now become very vibrant
ambassadors of AAC in their regions and in this regard several
of them have held in house training for their entire staff as well
as reached out to other schools. We look forward for a national
conference where we shall hold candid discussions on the
progress and future endeavours.
Report by D. Methu.