Kōrero Mai - Communication Boards come to Kāpiti!
Supporting non-speaking visitors to playgrounds and beyond 🛝
Sixteen months ago I met with Cat Wylde, Play Projects Coordinator at Kāpiti Coast District Council. Over coffee she told me excitedly about the all-abilities playground currently being redeveloped at Lorna Irene Reserve in Raumati South. It featured wheelchair-friendly play equipment and environment, sensory experiences and full fencing.
This was an exciting concept for me, as a parent of an Autistic rangatahi. Though the equipment would better suit a younger child, I could totally see my daughter loving this space. Fully fenced playgrounds are a rarity these days - in favour of more natural boundaries like boxed hedges, which look nice but won’t stop an energy filled ‘runner’ sprinting towards common park-side hazards like roads and waterways.
Cat asked if there was anything I could suggest that could help enhance the play experience of autistic tamariki, and the first thing that sprung to mind was CORE BOARDS.
What are Core/Communication Boards?
Core boards, or Communication Boards are a type of AAC (Alternative Augmentative Communication) which consist of a grid of symbols of commonly used words that can be used by non-speakers to construct sentences or use a singular symbol to convey a request/feeling/etc. They are colour coded so you can group all the verbs, nouns, adjectives together.
The first time I saw Sophia use a Communication Board, she must have been about six or seven. It was a basic version, but she used her little hand to point to the word ‘more’ and then ‘snack.’
“What dark art is this?” I thought 😂 before the science of it all was explained to me by her teacher. Some people think that this sort of intervention hinders potential verbal communication skills, but that simply is not the case. In fact it was the opposite. Sophia attempted using more words as a result.
It opened my eyes to my daughters ability and willingness to communicate which had been ‘hidden’ to me until then. Up to then, I would simply pre-empt her needs, thinking it was ‘mothers intuition,’ but I was really missing the cues that she had the skills to communicate all along.
It was my first step on a journey towards understanding that communication is a basic human right, and that I was not required to be Sophia’s ‘voice,’ she had her own perfectly good one - that just needed some extra bells and whistles to be heard.
I won’t try and explain how autistic children might struggle socially in a playground environment, that’s not my place. Here’s a link to the Altogether Autism website which has lots of content written by autistic adults that might explain it better. I can only share with you how I have seen my daughter interact with people with and without AAC. Without AAC, there is no bookmark to the other person to wait for a response, so they instantly talk over/for her. With AAC, she has a voice literally in her hands which she can use independently. She is the funny, clever, sometimes cheeky girl I know and love. AAC just amplifies this.
Whether Sophia’s AAC is high tech (iPad with communication app) or low tech (communication board) there is no denying Sophia’s voice, no room for misunderstanding or dismissal.
Local examples of Communication Boards
I mentioned to Cat that there was a Ministry of Education SLT (Speech & Language Therapist) in Tairāwhiti named Kristina Pinto who had worked with TalkLink Trust, Gisborne District Council and two local trusts to create and fund bilingual core boards (English and Te Reo Māori) and have them installed in multiple locations around Tairāwhiti, the first one in the Botanical Gardens. Cat made contact with Kristina, who was so generous with her time and expertise - and the rest, as they say, is history!
The first Communication Board was blessed by local kaumatua at Haruatai Park in Ōtaki on 30 November 2023, with the rest of the boards blessed by Koro Don Te Maipi at Lorna Irene Reserve Playground in Raumati South on 2 December, just in time for the Low Sensory Christmas event planned on Sunday 3 December, which also coincided perfectly with International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD). Unfortunately the weather was terrible and we had to move the event inside the local library, but it was personal win for me to know that we had a communication board in our home town, finally.
Our Communication Boards
I feel emotional thinking about the experience of attending the blessing of the communication boards at Lorna Irene playground, for several reasons. The first one is that I got to experience it alongside my husband and our two children. As we all stood solemnly, listening to the karakia, Sophia was fizzing around the playground jumping, spinning and swinging so gleefully, she knows this is a place for her.
We got to experience this alongside our friends, the Edmonds Whānau, who were so instrumental in the design and implementation of this special (and now award winning) space, including their son Kash. I was also thinking of Kris and Cyrus Dahl, who fundraised and donated a very special swing now in the playground. I work alongside Kris in another advisory group, and know how passionate she and Cyrus are about making public spaces inwelcoming and accessible for everyone.
I thought about our own privilege of having access to amazing SLT’s during Sophia’s primary school years in a specialist school - and also of the tamariki with similar needs who can not access these invaluable resources because they can’t access funding.
I thought about the cruel 18 month waiting list just to get a trial of a device with a communication app, and how instantly life changing this was to Sophia - how she blossomed, and her self esteem and confidence skyrocketed once she had her own independent voice. And then I thought of the countless others still sitting on waitlists, voiceless and in communication limbo.
I thought about the wonderful Geneva Hakaraia Tino, who I had watched via zoom just days before presenting evidence to the Waitangi Tribunal on behalf of non-speaking Tangata Whaikaha and spoke so eloquently about the challenges of there being no Te Reo Māori synthetic voice function currently available to AAC device users. I thought about what a taonga her korero is on this topic, and how grateful I am for her leadership and guidance.
Representation Matters
We unveiled the bilingual Communication Boards on the same week our new government directed public departments like Waka Kotahi to swap their Māori translation back to its English name. What a time in our nation’s history to be brave, to be respectful te tiriti partners and to celebrate our diversity.
I can’t tell you how amazing it is to see a brown faced stick figure on these core boards. All of Sophia’s resources from a few short years ago are all white faces. That seems an odd thing to remember, but representation matters - even if it is just a cartoon on a board!
Non-english speaking SLT’s are in very short supply, which means that if non-speaking non-english people want support with communication, they must learn in English, in a strange sort of ‘re-colonisation.’ Why should your first language be a barrier to accessing assistive technology?
Communication Boards amplify the thoughts and aspirations of our tamariki - who they say have nothing to say. Those closest to them know better, we know they are whole person, not '“away with the faeries” or any other cute, but completely offensive adage used by people who don’t bother to connect properly with them.
Communication boards in playgrounds empower our children to say YES! NO! PUSH ME HIGHER! GET OUT OF MY SPACE! I LIKE IT HERE! They can play alongside their siblings and peers and utilise it to engage more freely. No need for guessing or talking over/for them.
The best part about these boards is that there is a VR code at the bottom that you can scan to learn how to use AAC. The versions in Tairāwhiti have a digital version of the board you can take with you. Communication boards are starting to pop up in school playgrounds and public spaces around the country, and I can tell you that I have been swamped with requests for info since I posted photos on my Facebook page on how they can advocate for boards in their town. Watch this space.
The future is accessible. Not just physically accessible but sensory and communication also. Truly accessible public spaces would mean that everyone can move freely without being blocked by barriers caused by long held attitudes to disability.
Non speakers like Sophia are talking, and they are telling you they want to participate fully in their community. The question is, are you listening?
You are true heroes! Thankyou so much for this important mahi. You bring light to these (sometimes) dark times