Garry and Chrissa attended Two Way Street for AAC intervention for their sons. They have two teenage sons, both with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and with Complex Communication Needs.
When the Two Way Street Speech Pathologist, Sheriden, met the family, both boys had previously taken part in a number of therapies and approaches to speech pathology intervention. AAC was an avenue the family wanted to explore, in particular Proloquo2Go on the iPad. Garry and Chrissa have shown that they are willing to not only support each of their son’s communication, but also believe in their potential to communicate. As parents, they have continued to value AAC input, taking on every suggestion, whilst implementing the approach of language modelling/receptive input with Proloquo2Go, in the home environment throughout everyday activities.
Garry and Chrissa have valued the AAC systems as the boys’ voices, by ensuring the devices are always available and they are using it themselves with each boy, as role models to their sons. Garry and Chrissa have also promoted support workers and other people involved in the boys lives to be trained in how the boys communicate. They have invested time and money into training these additional people up, to ensure that each of the boys’ communication partners understand how the AAC system works and how it is best used in each of their interactions.
Garry and Chrissa Connor have a very busy lifestyle, with a number of professionals and support workers involved in their lives. On some days, it has been evident that life is a bit harder for the family, compared to other days. Garry and Chrissa support each other to continue to move forward with AAC, doing what they can manage and doing so with a smile on their face. Despite challenges along the way, they have never given up on their sons’ communication systems or providing each of their sons with the opportunity to be heard.
Garry and Chrissa Connor are very deserving of this award – due to their willingness to initially take the plunge with AAC.