ICTS Trainers and Administrators : Profiles
 Allison Gaskin
Email address:
allison.gaskin@inclusive.net
Development Officer, The ACE Centre-North
Allison qualified as a Speech & Language Therapist at
the National Hospitals College of Speech Sciences (University College London)
in 1988. Since qualifying, she has worked in different specialist areas with
people with a range of communication difficulties. Much of her clinical input
has involved alternative/augmentative (AAC) input. She has gained valuable
experience within this field, in both public and private sector
organizations.
She started her career in London, on a rotational post,
which allowed her to establish clinical skills within different client groups,
including adult neurology, children with moderate learning difficulties, adults
with moderate-to-severe learning disabilities and children/adolescents with
physical disabilities. From this, she developed a specific interest in the
field of special needs and specifically AAC.
Allison moved into a Specialist post co-ordinating the
service delivery to children and adults with special needs. She was responsible
for the assessment and ongoing clinical input for patients/clients and the
training of professionals and carers. Her role involved extensive input with a
range of communication systems - low-tech and high-tech - in schools & Day
Centres. She played an active role in the support requirements for children
with physical disabilities being integrated into mainstream schools and
instigated the development of a resource bank of communication aids within the
Trust's Speech & Language Therapy Department.
Allison left this post when personal circumstances sent her
to Cheshire! Here she took on the Head of Service role for Adults with Learning
Disabilities. She continued her clinical involvement with AAC and provided
training input for Social Services & Health professionals working in this
area.
Allison moved out of the Health Service in 1995 to take on
the role of Consultant Speech & Language Therapist for Dynamic Abilities
Ltd., the original UK distributor for DynaVox products, now Sunrise. Her role
at Dynamic Abilities/Sunrise involved providing support to users, carers and
professionals regarding the implementation of their devices. She developed
resources and information to assist in the implementation process, including
training packages for different areas of device use. She co-ordinated the
overall training provision within the UK. During this time she completed her
Masters Degree in Management, focusing her dissertation on evaluating the
service quality of a communication aids company as perceived by users, carers
and professionals.
Allison now works at the ACE Centre-North as part of the
assessment and training team.
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