Extraodinary Voices
The purpose of the Extraordinary Voices Project is to celebrate the achievements of children with verbal communication needs and to show the potential of these young people. It will be an opportunity for many voices to be heard and for the wider community to gain a better understanding of how to communicate with these young people.
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The EV Project will work to make films documenting the non-verbal communication that children use and the films will be shared, subject to parental consent, on a digital platform so they are available long term and accessible to the widest audience possible. The EV Project aims to reduce isolation and increase knowledge, understanding, and respectful interaction.
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If you are a parent or carer of a child with verbal communication needs then the Extraordinary Voices team has put together a 5-minute survey that we would be very grateful if you could fill it in and share your thoughts with us: Parents and Carers - https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/FPB65FQ If you would like more information or an opportunity to discuss this further or would like to participate in the project this then please email us at: contact@blade-education.org.uk
Extraordinary Voices will work in partnership with children with severe communication difficulties and high and complex needs and their families to explore how targeted digital resources can help them build on their expert knowledge to improve communication and will work collaboratively with families and carers supported by professionals with experience of developing communication pathways with these young people, especially those offered by Alternative and Augmented Communication (AAC). By building confidence, sharing experience, and improving understanding these resources will also be able to improve understanding in the mainstream population.
EV is a project that sets out to show that everyone, despite their special needs, can communicate, in however limited a fashion, and these young people can share their thoughts with the outside world if they are given the opportunity.
Extraordinary Voices is a project that has been developed with families and professionals that work with young people with severe communication issues in South East Essex. This community wants to develop a collaborative project digital space for themselves and for future families of children with severe communication issues in order to learn best how to support young people, their carers and families in finding the best ways to reach each other.
EV is a project that was inspired by the work of artist Ali Ward who has been working closely with these young people for the past decade. One of the tasks for the EV team is to record her sessions with families of children focusing on Alternative and Augmented Communication (AAC) to reveal all the ways in which communication is happening with these young people. This will form the basis of a service for families of nonverbal children where they can understand that they are not alone and by showing the journeys that other members of the group have taken we can help them understand their experiences are important and are valued.
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Extraordinary Voices wants initially to give families and professionals greater insight to exploring their experiences and Ali Ward’s work to improve understanding on the many ways the non-verbal children communicate, as well as building confidence in those young people and their families and carers.
EV aims to provide a service that lets the whole community better understand how to communicate with young people with severe communication difficulties and we want to work with the children in all of their environments to show their families and the wider community how they communicate and how non-verbal children can express themselves we also want to provide a safe place for family members and friends who want to understand AAC to explore without embarrassment on either side so that they can be a greater support to their family members.