Talking About the Taboo: Ethics, Safety, and Responsibility in Vocabulary Inclusion

Description

Every person deserves access to the words they need to talk about their body, relationship, health, safety, and life experiences. This session explores why AAC systems must include anatomically correct, sexual, and other socially sensitive vocabulary to support safety, autonomy, and full communicative rights across the lifespan.

As part of our 5th annual Winter Conference,we are excited to feature this session that centers the rights of AAC users and the ethical responsibility of clinicians and educators to provide comprehensive vocabulary access.Attendees will examine research on heightened abuse risk for people with disabilities, learn how limited vocabulary access can restrict self-advocacy and medical communication, and gain practical strategies for discussing values-based concerns with families.Through case examples and actionable tools, this session equips professionals to champion inclusive, ethical vocabulary practices that allow AAC users to communicate authentically and completely. 

Upon successful completion of this course, learners will be able to:

• Explain the rationale for including anatomically correct and sexual vocabulary in AAC systems.
• Identify strategies for addressing concerns from families and professionals about sensitive vocabulary in AAC page sets.
• Demonstrate how to customize AAC vocabulary to support user autonomy, safety, and developmental appropriateness across the lifespan.

Content Note: This session may include sensitive language, including body parts, sexual vocabulary, and curse words. 

Recommended Pre-Learning: As an intermediate-level course, we recommend that learners have a basic familiarity with AAC and supportive communication strategies. For learners seeking additional background, the Learning Hub course Creating a Supportive Communication Environment provides a helpful introduction.

Important ASHA information:If you are an ASHA member and want Tobii Dynavox to report your course completion to ASHA, you will be required to complete the Course Completion Form that will be provided virtually at the end of today’s session. All fields of this form must be complete and accurate including your name, email, complete address, and 8-digit ASHA number. We will no longer submit course completion records to ASHA without a completed form. If your name/address has changed, please contact ASHA to updatewww.asha.org/Form/Name-Change-Request/

Disclosures: Financial Disclosure: The presenter is a full-time employee of Tobii Dynavox. Non-financial Disclosure: The presenter has no relevant non-financial relationships. Content Disclosure: Because of the unique characteristics of our product, this presentation will focus exclusively on the Tobii Dynavox product line and will not include information about other communication or educational products. Disclaimer: ASHA CE Provider approval and use of the Brand Block does not imply endorsement of course content, specific products or clinical procedures.

This course was registered with ASHA CE under the subject of Ethics and Ethical Decision Making and will appear on learners’ CE transcripts as such.

After registering for this event, you will immediately receive an email from your presenter containing details which include the link to join the training. If you don’t receive the email, please check your spam folder. We look forward to learning with you in our live virtual session. If you are unable to attend, you can find similar content on our Learning Hub.

For questions email learning@tobiidynavox.com

Please note that all trainings are in Eastern Standard (New York) time.

We strive to host inclusive and accessible events that enable all individuals to engage fully. Captioning in English is included for all of our trainings. For any questions or to inquire about possible accommodation requests, please contact the Learning Team at learning@tobiidynavox.com

Intermediate Level 0.15 ASHA CEUs

Training type
Winter Conference

Presenter
Caroline Gaddy
Caroline Gaddy, MFA, MA, CCC-SLP is a Learning Consultant for Tobii Dynavox. In addition, she a speech-language pathologist, AAC specialist, disability advocate, and neurodiversity educator. Caroline worked for many years in school settings as a teacher and an SLP. She also worked in medical settings with adult and pediatric populations, and specialized in supporting communication access for people with multiple disabilities. Caroline is passionate about disability justice and inclusion, and firmly believes that communication is a fundamental human right.