Dr. Yvonne Lynch:

The benefit of specialist services is staying on top of all of the new and evolving technologies because this is a rapidly changing environment. Having a specialist service where people are dedicated to staying on top of and determining appropriate use of technologies and evaluating and looking at research is important. Given the multitude of apps and devices, a critical analysis is needed. These are not inexpensive systems and we need to know they will actually work over a long period of time for individuals. We especially want to be able to maximise their benefit when we are looking at people who will be using them for a short period of time. For children who are growing, we want to know that a technology will stay with them to allow them to develop skills and will not stop when, for example, they get past two words - maybe that is as far as the app goes.

When we are thinking about things like dementia, it is obviously different for everybody. There is no one size fits all. Often with dementia, pictures that relate to things that have happened in the past can be used to present a common theme that can be discussed and will trigger memories and allow the person to talk about them. That is just one example of how these symbols can be used with people with dementia. Multiple methods are used and it depends on the level of dementia a person is presenting.

The ISLT has welcomed an opportunity to be involved in developing guidelines for communication boards in playgrounds. It has been a great initiative and it is great to be involved. Not only do communication boards make communication accessible for people who have communication disabilities, but they are also there for all society. Anybody entering a playground will see that this is a way of communicating. They may also support people for whom English is not their first language in their communication. There are multiple benefits to having communication accessible environments. We need to think about the breadth of that.