Author: Danielle Watkins

AAC

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) 101: Giving Everyone a Voice

Danielle Watkins

At our Talking Fish Speech Pathology, one of the most powerful tools we use to support individuals with communication challenges is Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Whether you’re a parent, teacher, support worker, or just curious, understanding AAC is an important step in creating inclusive, communicative environments for all.

What is AAC?

AAC stands for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. It includes all forms of communication—other than speech—that people use to express their thoughts, needs, wants, and ideas. AAC can support someone’s existing speech (augmentative) or replace it entirely (alternative) when verbal communication is not possible.

AAC is not just for people who are non-verbal. It’s for anyone who has difficulty using spoken language. This might include children with developmental delays, people recovering from strokes, or individuals with conditions like autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, or motor neuron disease.

Types of AAC

AAC falls into two broad categories:

1. Unaided AAC

This type doesn’t involve any external tools. It includes:

  • Gestures
  • Key Word Sign
  • Facial expressions
  • Body language

Unaided AAC relies on the user’s physical ability to communicate, which may not be suitable for everyone.

2. Aided AAC

This involves using tools or devices. It ranges from simple to high-tech, including:

  • Picture boards or communication books
  • Picture cards and visual schedules
  • Speech-generating devices (SGDs) or tablets with AAC apps like Proloquo2Go, LAMP Words for Life, or TouchChat

Some people use a combination of both unaided and aided AAC, depending on their environment and abilities.

Does AAC Stop Someone from Learning to Speak?

This is one of the most common myths—and it’s not true. In fact, research shows that AAC can support and encourage spoken language development. By giving users a way to communicate, AAC reduces frustration, builds confidence, and often provides a stepping stone toward verbal speech.

How Do We Choose the Right AAC?

There is no one-size-fits-all solution. A qualified speech pathologist works with the individual (and their support team) to assess their needs, abilities, and goals. Considerations include:

  • Fine motor skills
  • Cognitive ability
  • Vision and hearing
  • Environment (home, school, community)

Trialing different AAC systems is often part of the process to find what works best.

Why AAC Matters

Communication is a human right. When someone struggles to speak, AAC can be life-changing. It opens doors to connection, education, independence, and self-expression. It gives people a voice—sometimes literally—and a way to be seen and heard.

Final Thoughts

If you think AAC might help your child, student, or loved one, reach out to a speech therapist for guidance. Introducing AAC early can significantly improve quality of life and social connection.

We’re here to help you explore all the options and find the right communication pathway.

Let’s give every voice a chance to be heard.

Let me know if you’d like to add clinic-specific information (like your name, services, or contact details), or adjust the tone for a different audience (e.g., parents vs professionals).

How we work

Changes to NDIS funding

Danielle Watkins

Every year in June, families and clinicians who rely on the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) wait for an announcement from the government to find out what the next 12 months are likely to look like. Each year, The NDIA uses a mix of market data, research, and (apparently) public and industry engagement to inform changes to pricing arrangements and price limits through its Annual Pricing Review. This tells the disability sector what the government will pay, under the NDIS, for a long list of services.

As a clinician and a business owner, this annual announcement impacts what fees I will charge for my services over the next 12 months. I now no longer wait for it with any hope, but with dread. For the past 6 years the therapy cap has remained the same at $193.99 per hour, despite sky rocketing costs in all of our business overheads. This June, our worst fears were realised. The price guide showed a reduction in the amount the scheme will pay for clinical services. I am grateful that the hourly rate for speech pathologists has not dropped. I feel for my colleagues in physiotherapy, podiatry, and dietetics who have had their hourly rate decreased. What has dropped for speech pathology is the amount that the NDIS will pay for travel. They are now only going to pay 50% of the hourly rate for the therapist to travel to the client. Interestingly, the NDIS website states that they are “Increasing the price limits for psychologists, nurses and other supports based on how much wages and the cost of living have gone up.” – apparently this does not apply to most other clinicians.

There is a lot that could be said about these decisions, but I will stick to the facts:

  1. NDIS will pay for $193.99 per hour of service for speech pathology.
  2. NDIS will pay for $86.79 per hour of service for an Allied Health Assistant.
  3. NDIS will pay for 50% of the above rate for a therapist to travel to the appointment location. This was previously 100%. The new rates are:
    1. $97 per hour for a speech pathologist
    2. $43.40 per hour for an Allied Health Assistant
  4. NDIS will pay for $1 per km of provider travel.

For a number of complex reasons, Talking Fish Therapies has made the decision to NOT change its prices. We will continue to charge the following:

Speech Pathologist:

  • $387.98 for assessment and report
  • $193.99 for 1 hour therapy session (45 minutes face to face, 15 minutes admin)
  • $193.99 for support letters/application forms
  • $1.00 per km travelled for mobile therapy; and $193.99 per hour travelled for mobile therapy

Allied Health Assistant:

  • $87.79 for 1 hour therapy session (45 minutes face to face, 15 minutes admin)
  • $1.00 per km travelled for mobile therapy; and $87.79 per hour travelled for mobile therapy

We will be simplifying and clarifying how we charge for travel. From 1 July 2025, we will record the travel time and kilometers travelled to your appointment and include these in our invoice, as per the above fees. If your therapist needs to return to their office after your appointment, we will include that time and those kilometers as well. If there is more than one client seen at that location, the travel fee will be equally divided between those clients.

For example, if your therapist travels 30 minutes and 30km to a school and sees 3 clients at that school. The travel charge will be:

  • $193.99 x 0.5 hours = $97. A ⅓ share of this fee = $32.01
  • $1 x 30kms = $30. A ⅓ share of this fee = $9.90
  • $32.01 (time) + $9.90 (kms) = $41.91 (total travel fee)

Please be aware that travel fees often vary depending on the number of clients available at any given location on any given day. Where the therapist is travelling from can also change, so you will likely see different travel fees on different days. Any shared travel expenses will show on invoices as a discount.

We thank you for your kind understanding at this time as we make these complex and difficult billing changes. We understand that some families will be impacted and others will not. If you have any concerns about these changes that we are being forced to make, I encourage you to contact your local MP to let them know how the changes to the NDIS are impacting your family. You can find a list of who represents you on the Parliament of Australia website.

How we work

Talking Fish Therapies Hybrid Speech Therapy

Danielle Watkins

The hybrid speech therapy program is a way of combining the expertise of our Certified Practicing Speech Pathologists (CPSPs) and the availability of our Allied Health Assistants (AHAs).

We want to provide quality speech therapy to more children in our community. Our Speech Pathologists do not currently have enough time to see all the children that need our help but we still want to do as much as we can.

1. A Certified Practising Speech Pathologist (CPSP) assesses your child and writes a report.

2. Together with the family, the CPSP writes a therapy plan with clear goals for everyone to work towards.

3. An Allied Health Assistant (AHA) is instructed on how to provide the therapy to achieve these goals.

4. The AHA works regularly with the child and meets with the CPSP to make sure the therapy is going well.

5. The CPSP has an appointment with the child and family once per school term to support the child, family, and the AHA to continue working towards their goals.

This program is not appropriate for all children, please speak to your speech pathologist about whether your child is eligible for this program. 

All our Allied Health Assistants have been chosen as suitable for this role for a variety of reasons, many are speech pathology students who are working towards being Certified Practising Speech Pathologists themselves.

These therapy sessions are currently being offered at our clinic in Officer.

Your CPSP appointments will be one-off appointments once per term. 

Your regular appointments with your AHA are available Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

About speech pathology

How to get from ‘New Grad’ to ‘CPSP’

Danielle Watkins

You have just finished your speech pathology degree – congratulations!

If you want to work in private practice, you will need to join Speech Pathology Australia and register for Provisional Certification so that your clients will be eligible for rebates and funding under Medicare and National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), among other funding schemes. Once you have your certification, you can use the postnominals ‘CPSP’ which stands for Certified Practicing Speech Pathologist.

Speech Pathology Australia has lots of information about the requirements for certification and here at Talking Fish we have read it thoroughly and created a plan to get our new graduate speech pathologists up to standard and feeling confident within their first three months of working with us. From there, it is simply practice, practice, practice (and follow your professional development plan)!

Week 1: Orientation

  • we start with the usual paperwork, getting familiar with resources and technology
  • 2 clients per day, there will likely be time to observe other therapists with their clients throughout the week as well
  • formal meetings with supervisor on Monday and Friday to get ready for the week and to debrief at the end. Everyone at Talking Fish does a ‘Weekly Wrap-Up’ to summarise their achievements and learnings for the week.

Week 2: Planning

  • this week we create a professional development plan. Everyone at Talking Fish Therapies has one of these and we regularly refer back to them
  • begin the Speech Pathology Australia Ethics module. This is one of the requirements for certification
  • 2 clients per day plus observation of other clinicians
  • formal meetings with supervisor on Monday and Friday to get ready for the week and to debrief at the end

Week 3: Ethics

  • complete the SPA ethics module. This is a 6 hour module so we allow 2 weeks for it to be completed
  • 3 clients per day plus observation if time allows
  • formal meetings with supervisor on Monday and Friday to get ready for the week and to debrief at the end

by the end of this week you will have completed one of the requirements for certification: completion of the ethics training.

Week 4: Cultural learning

  • a Speech Pathology Australia module on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture is required this week. This is not a requirement for your initial certification but it is very important to the Talking Fish team so we have included it here, early in the new graduate program
  • 3 clients per day plus observation if time allows
  • formal meetings with supervisor on Monday and Friday to get ready for the week and to debrief at the end

Week 5: Evidence Based Practice

  • Speech Pathology Australia’s Evidence Based Practice module 1
  • 3 clients per day plus observation if time allows
  • formal meetings with supervisor on Monday and Friday to get ready for the week and to debrief at the end

Week 6: Evidence Based Practice

  • Speech Pathology Australia’s Evidence Based Practice module 2
  • 3 clients per day plus observation if time allows
  • formal meetings with supervisor on Monday and Friday to get ready for the week and to debrief at the end

by the end of this week you will have completed two more requirements for certification: completion of EBP training and 12 hours of individual supervision

Week 7-12: Practice, practice, practice

  • 4 clients per day
  • weekly formal meetings with your supervisor to continue to improve your practice

by the end of this period you will have completed the final requirement for certification: 200 speech pathology practice hours

From here, everyone’s journey is different. At Talking Fish Therapies we recommend training in DIR Floortime early in your career but this may not be appropriate for everyone, depending on their caseload. This is why a well thought out Professional Development Plan is important and should be referred to often.

If you would like to join us for your new grad year and beyond we would love to hear from you!

How we work

COVID 19 operations

Danielle Watkins

It’s a difficult time for everyone at the moment. Whilst allied health services such as speech pathology are eligible to still operate in person, Talking Fish Therapies has made the decision to operate completely via telehealth. Telehealth comes in many different forms, so we will be speaking to our families about what will work best for them during this time.

 

We are also working on some innovative solutions to get around some of the difficulties we are facing. Keep an eye out for updates on these!

 

Stay safe everyone, keep in touch, and please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need any assistance.