a computer lab on campus. When I started my first job at a rehabilitation hospital, I was given a beeper to wear when off campus so that I could be easily reached. My husband, who has always taken pride in being on the cusp of technology, owned one of the first cell-phones, a behemoth of a thing that came in a large leather case. He would unpack it, pull out the long antenna and power it up. It hardly worked! Like many, I’ve been awestruck by the staggering techno- logical developments within our field. Participants in this tech- nological revolution also included Special Education Teachers, Occupational and Physical Therapists, and certainly Assistive Technology Specialists. Whatever the advancements were outside of our field, many of us sought ways to integrate these into our teachings and therapies, in order to make access to this technology available for our patients, clients, and students. Could we even go so far as to say that we have functioned as technology activists? The SLP’s in particular are driven by an all-encompassing passion to help people access communica- tion, this being a human right for all to behold. Communication occurs in many forms other than verbal, and we have actively sought new and exciting options to provide our patients, clients, and students for decades. As a result, SLP’s and Assistive Technology Specialists have been at the helm of the techno- logical revolution for decades. Indeed, the need to be aware of the latest and greatest forms of Augmentative & Alternative Communication (AAC) has been the driving force behind staying atop the ever-changing tech- nological advancement. SLP’s and Assistive Technology Specialists were using small hand-held computers in the form of AAC devices decades before other consumers held iPhones, iPads, tablets and laptops. We’ve been prescribing and programming these hand-held computers since the 1980’s when Ed Prentke and Bill Romich created their first amazing AAC device. The stakeholders in AAC have long-recognized the distinc- tive voice of an AAC “talker” well before the voice of Siri became recognized by the masses. In fact, I vividly remember the first time I helped a patient obtain a Prentke-Romich device, and begin to use this voice, back in 2001. It was a tremendous piece of technology to behold! I marveled that this was essentially a hand-held portable computer with seemingly endless possibili- ties for programming and communication. As technology evolved, our communication devices became increasingly more sophisticated, as well as more portable and lightweight. Meanwhile, use of budding technology became much more relevant to treatment modalities apart from AAC. It was actually during this period of our technological revolution that many of us were forced to consider when it was appro- priate to use the burgeoning technology, versus when it was appropriate to stick to the “old school” techniques and strate- gies such as books and good-old fashioned picture/flash cards.
We’ve learned that the old adage, “everything in moderation” applies to our teaching and therapy strategies too. Remember when the word “application” simply meant the action of putting something to use? If we had heard that word prior to 2009, when the iPhone and the App Store was introduced, it would have held a much different meaning than it often does now. Then, in 2010 the iPad was released and changed everything within our field. It was nothing short of revolutionary! I’m sure I wasn’t the only SLP waiting in a long line outside the Apple Store to purchase my very first iPad. (I actually lined up the very day they went for sale!) Like many, I immediately recognized the therapeutic potential for the many applications (Apps) the iPad could hold. I knew that this would offer resources and tools that would change my therapy, for the better. I recall being particularly excited for the built- in stopwatch, data tracking, voice recording and of course the motivational Apps that could be used as reinforcement or conversation starters. Incidentally, tremendous credit should be given to Apple that my first iPad still works to this day! I actually use it in therapy on a regular basis. It is noticeably slower than my newer iPad, but certainly serves its’ purpose in a pinch. The invention of the iPad and the associated speech and language Apps offered unprecedented accessibility to people,
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