Central Michigan Life

Issue date: 7/2/08 Section: News

Ann Ratcliff, communication disorders professor, demonstrates the use of an eye gaze board in the Augmentative and Alternative Communication lab in the Health Professions building. A person who is unable to speak can use an eye gaze board to communicate by changing the direction of his or her eyes. [Click to enlarge]

Ratcliff uses a Dynavox Series V, a computer with a touch screen and graphical interface where the user can touch images of words and activities to form sentences. [Click to enlarge]

In a little-known room inside the Health Professions building, students and faculty provide a special gift to about 20 individuals each year.

Using top technology, the division of speech-language pathology is able to give what director Ann Ratcliff calls the "essence of life."

The division explores Augmentative and Alternative Communication, an area of speech language pathology that teaches functional communication skills to people who cannot use oral speech.


"It's very rewarding and frustrating at times," Ratcliff said.

The AAC lab was started by internal funding through a Research Excellence Fund grant, she said, and it serves as a great example of CMU's internal funding mechanism.

The lab's equipment ranges from basic devices like an eye gaze board, a color coated series of letters that patients use to spell out words, to the DynaVox V, an advanced computer that combines synthetic voice technology and visual scenes.

Another device, Tango, is a smaller, more portable device that is popular among adolescents and children with autism, Ratcliff said.

"Tango has lots of what I call the coolness factor," she said.

It looks like a Game Boy, she said. And with a series of six touch screens, Tango is not as complicated as the DynaVox.

Ratcliff said this device is great for autistic kids because it allows them to organize their thoughts and create social stories.

Bay Port graduate student Shari Craig worked with Ratcliff this past year and said one of the keys to AAC is matching the right device to meet the user's needs.

Craig said AAC is sometimes challenging because of the extensive research needed to generate communication development and the specific communication impairments common to various disabilities.

Because of the amount of time required to assess an individual's case and treat them, Ratcliff said she and her students are only able to see one client each week.

She said the majority of the public does not understand all the options available for those with speech disorders, which also makes it challenging.

In addition to treating patients, another of Ratcliff's goals is to educate the consumer.

"You look at a person like Stephen Hawking who has written novels because of augmentative and alternative communication," she said.

Craig said the uniqueness of AAC to the speech-language pathology field makes it an attractive career.

"There is a wide range of people that are served under our umbrella of care," she said. "Knowing that we are helping to give people the opportunity to communicate more effectively is very rewarding."

Though not many people on campus are familiar with AAC, Ratcliff said the word has gotten out around the state. Seven people are in line for treatment in the fall and patients come from as far away as Niles, which borders Indiana.

Working in augmentative and alternative communication is often a very trying endeavor requiring much patience, but Ratcliff said she loves being able to help people bring out the personality that is inside of them.

"What price can you put on a husband being able to communicate with his wife during the last 10 days of his life?" she said. "It's not everyday you get moments like that."


news@cm-life.com

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