ICTS Trainers and Administrators : Profiles
 Helen Whittle
Email address:
helen.whittle@inclusive.net
Speech and Language Therapist
Following completing her degree at Manchester Polytechnic in
1989 Helen worked as a generalist Speech and Language Therapist for two years.
This involved working with adults and children with a range of severe
communication disorders. It was here that Helen first developed her interest in
AAC (Alternative and Augmentative Communication) while working in schools.
In 1991 Helen became part of the team at the ACE Centre
-North. As the Speech and Language Therapist Helen was involved in assessments
and training to facilitate the use of assistive technology for those
individuals in schools and colleges with physical and communication
impairments. This role involved working with communication aids, symbol
systems, computers, switching systems and alternative access methods. Helen was
also responsible for co-ordinating the training the Centre provided to schools
and colleges.
While at the Centre Helen completed a Masters Degree in
Speech and Language Therapy, which enabled her to concentrate on a project
exploring the working practices of speech and language therapists and teachers
involved with young AAC users in schools.
As a result of her husband's relocation to the Midlands
Helen left the ACE Centre- North in 1999. She is currently working with adults
with acquired brain injury and adults with severe learning disabilities as part
of the local Speech and Language Therapy Department. She has also worked with
the ACE Centre in Oxford and has been involved in writing a training pack for
Writing with Symbols 2000 with Widgit Software Ltd. She is currently involved
in a project, again with Widgit Software Ltd, to update and re-draw the Rebus
Symbol Collection.
For the past four years Helen has been a Trustee of
Communication Matters, the UK national voluntary organisation concerned with
the Augmentative and Alternative Communication needs of people with severe
communication difficulties.
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