C?r Doyle:

Training is really important. We were talking about teachers. There needs to be some core funding put aside for in-service days for training teachers when it comes to autistic needs. However, it needs to be neuro-affirmative training. As everybody has already established, there is already so much good training out there like the Thrive programme by AUsome Training. If we are trying to move away from the use of seclusion and restraints in special education schools, we need to make sure that teachers are equipped with different methods to use and with different understandings. Moreover, we need training around the use of augmentative and alternative communication, AAC, and that goes for schools but also in the wider public sphere. Cases have been brought to me many times of people who have been dismissed because they are using an AAC app. It is just not good enough. I am a part-time AAC user and it is not okay to ring up a service like any of the Departments and to be told to use your "real" voice. That is not good enough. Neither is being prevented from engaging in therapy and counselling or whatever, unless you use your real voice. My AAC app is my real voice, just as if you are texting a friend, it is your real voice. It may not be what you are used to but this is why we need better training when it comes to alternative communication. All communication is valid and whether that is for teachers, doctors or whosoever to learn, we need to establish that alternative communication is valid. Although somebody may not use AAC 100% of the time, that is okay. When they do use it, they are using it because they need it. AAC users are not exclusively children and are not exclusively non-speaking. It could be due to tiredness, sensory overwhelmedness or health. There are numerous conditions and situations where a person may have to use alternative communication and that is valid. We need training around that.