DEAL_Annual Report

What DEAL contributed to Victoria, Australia and the World from July 2001 to June 2002

DEAL serves people with severe communication impairments, people who often have great difficulty in having their needs met, people who often cannot even say 'I need help'. Since it opened in 1986, DEAL has provided communication therapy to some 1,900 Victorians without functional speech. Some of the first children to attend DEAL, children who were believed to be significantly intellectually impaired as well as mute, have now graduated from university. Through its client outcomes, advocacy and publications DEAL has markedly increased general awareness of non-speech communication not only in Victoria and throughout Australia, but also overseas.

DEAL's innovative programs have had wide international impact. Communication strategies developed at DEAL are now used in more than thirty countries, and have led many government agencies and universities – the Queensland Department of Family Services, the Bolton Institute in England, and Syracuse and Cologne Universities - to establish programs in non-speech communication.

Many publications have followed, including books and plays written by or about people who have started to communicate verbally as a result of DEAL’s work. The most recent is Elvis Has Left the Building, a collection of memoirs and poems written by Glen Sheppard, a young man with dual diagnoses of autism and Down syndrome.

DEAL is highly productive.

In the financial year from July 2001 to June 2002, DEAL's output included:

Therapy
We provided therapy to 157 people with severe communication impairments, 67 of whom were new clients. As well as providing services to metropolitan and rural Victorians, DEAL staff undertook assessments and consultations in N.S.W. and the A.C.T., and in England, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and the U.S.

Advocacy
In addition to providing individual advocacy, DEAL takes up issues affecting all people with significant speech limitations. During 2001-2002 we were thrilled to be able to give our school-age clients the first communication aids purchased from the new Aids and Equipment funding for school age children. This is the direct result of years of lobbying by DEAL, assisted by other agencies.

Research & Development
Early in 2003 DEAL and the Communication Aid User Society will jointly host Victoria’s first augmentative communication camp, that is, a residential camp for children using electronic communication aids, at which they and their carers can develop the skills needed for fluent communication. The camp is being funded by the Telstra Foundation. As this is a first, we are undertaking a detailed evaluation of outcomes with a view to establishing whether such camps are effective in extending participants’ skills.
We are also continuing an investigation of hand function difficulties in people with Down syndrome, and their impact on communication aid use. funded by the Reichstein and Mercy Foundations and a study of communication aid use by girls with Rett Syndrome, funded by the Women’s Trust and the Sidney Myer Fund.

Information & Education
DEAL staff delivered lectures and conducted workshops in various settings during 2001-2002, including Sydney, Canberra, New York, London, Manchester, Verona and Cologne. Many students undertaking tertiary study preparatory to working with people with disabilities spent time at DEAL, as did five postgraduate interns from the U.S., Germany (3) and Norway. Typically the interns spent between one and two months at DEAL, observing and participating in programmes, and learning how to use specialised communication equipment and computer software.

International advisory service
DEAL provides a popular free e-mail information and advice service used by parents and therapists around the world.

Publications and Conference Presentations (July 2001 - June 2002)

Crossley, R. (2001) Breaking the Silence – Facilitating Communication for People with Autism, Keynote address at Il Tesoro Sommerso — Ricerca e riabilitazione nell’autismo, Verona, Italy
Crossley, R. (2002) Communication for Life, Workshop given at Narrating dis/ABILITY: Facilitated Comunication Conference, Syracuse University N.Y.
Farrall, J. (2002) AAC and Angelman’s Syndrome, Keynote address delivered at the Angelman’s Association of Australia National Conference, Canberra
Lowinger, C.S. & Crossley, R. (2002) Speaking Up In Many Voices, Narrating dis/ABILITY: Facilitated Comunication Conference, Syracuse University N.Y.
Four issues of the DEAL Newsletter, a small publication with international circulation, much quoted here and overseas.