Finding the courage to be part of the conversation: my ATIA adventure as an AT Scholar in 2026

Kate Reader – AT Scholar 2026 

I applied to be an AT Scholar at a point when I felt professionally at a pretty low ebb. As  a school-employed Speech and Language Therapist (at the time, I have now moved to a new role), I often felt like a lone voice banging the drum for AAC and Assistive Technology in a system with many competing priorities.  ‘It probably won’t happen’, I told myself, hitting send on my application, ‘but it would be wonderful to be surrounded by others who feel as strongly about this as I do’.

So, when I got the call in August 2025 saying I’d been successful in my AT Scholar application and was going to the ATIA conference in Florida, I blurted out ‘but me? Why me?’. I felt awed at the prospect of being around so much passion and commitment to AAC and assistive technology, at one of the biggest summits in the world.

Conferences as conversations

As part of our preparation for ATIA, the Ace Centre (who administrate the scholarship) arranged for myself and fellow scholar Laura Brown to meet with AT Scholars from years gone by, Mary Lavendar and Fil McIntyre. They gave us some great advice. ‘Pace yourselves’, Mary said, ‘there is such a lot to see, you can’t possibly take it all in’. ‘Conferences are as much about networking as anything’, Fil counselled, ‘and don’t forget, you have important knowledge and ideas to share too. Conferences are a forum for conversation and learning for those on both sides of the podium’.

That last insight really struck me. I’m prone to getting a bit star struck at big events, seeing them as opportunities to soak up others’ knowledge: I hadn’t really thought of them as forums for collaboration and conversation before.

So it was serendipitous, then, that the first talk I attended at ATIA really showed me exactly how conference talks can be used as vehicles for conversation and collaboration. In her session ‘What are we really teaching? A Conversation about AAC and Belonging’, Natalie Jauergui shared her current research focus, the Communication Belonging Audit (CBA), which seeks to make core goals of relational participation and belonging measurable. Throughout the presentation, Natalie encouraged us to question and respond to her assumptions and outline of the CBA, shaping her thinking and research as she shaped ours. The idea of presenting a tool before it is finished was something I found it immensely freeing, and it inspired me to give some more of my own ideas airtime as part of their development.

This has led to a new appraisal goal for me: to look for speaking opportunities at conferences, challenging my perfectionism and imposter syndrome. I am pleased to say that stepping outside my comfort zone is starting to bear fruit: I am very excited to be speaking with colleagues at the Communication Matters conference in September 2026! I’m happy to say that this will be a workshop session, inviting reflection and participation and enabling me to continue experimenting with the idea of conference as conversation.

What is welcome in one context may be ableist in another

Another talk I was lucky to attend was ‘Flipping the Script: When the AAC User Leads the Team’ by Krista Howard, Caroline Musselwhite and Brandi Wentland. The talk focussed on the work of Krista Howard. Krista was born with Cerebral Palsy and uses AAC to communicate. She has an undergraduate degree and now works alongside Speech and Language Pathologist Brandi Wentland as an AAC Mentor and the first ever licenced Speech and Language Pathology Assistant who is also an AAC user.

What I loved most about this presentation was the section on adjustments Krista and the team have made in order that she can access the workplace on an equal footing. Executive functioning differences related to Krista’s cerebral palsy were discussed, and strategies explained, including a speedy note writing check box tool and prompts for essential content.

Krista also spoke passionately about her desire to develop her written grammar ‘because it’s important for me to be professional when I’m writing’. This comment brought me back full circle to the first talk I attended at conference (‘What are we really teaching? AAC and Belonging’), which included discussion around the potential ableism of insisting on correct grammar during conversation.

Krista’s presentation really made me reflect on how everything comes back to the ‘why?’ behind our planning and therapeutic decision making: are we focusing on grammar for its own sake, or because this is important to the AAC user? Are we insisting on it all the time, or in a context specific way? Are we equipping the user with the skills they need in all contexts? What is an ableist assumption in one context may be a welcome one in another. In all cases, having the AAC user’s wishes at the heart of our planning is crucial.

On returning to the UK, I was involved in the development of affirming and anti-ableist guidance in my setting. I was able to reflect on Krista’s talk, and some of the questions it raised, and use them as starting points for discussion when formulating the guidance and rolling it out to my team.
Canva: marketing tool or therapeutic tool?

As a Speech Therapist and small business owner (I make items featuring AAC and neurodiversity affirming slogans – look for Kate Creates: Personalised Clothing and Gifts on social media!), I am no stranger to using the website Canva for marketing and making good looking resources. But had I thought of it as a potential therapeutic tool? I had not!

Luckily for me, Cynthia Heryanto and Margaret Vento-Wilson had though, and I got to attend two talks by this dream team focussed on the same topic – the value and process of the creation of interactive books with people in the early stages of using AAC.

Using Canva, Cynthia explained how she creates interactive books featuring characters, activities and comments given by the AAC user during their sessions. In advance, Cynthia gathers photos of key people, places and things in the client’s life. That way, if the client says ‘mummy’, their story can feature a real image of the client’s mum.

Everything else is done in the moment, though, as Cynthia demonstrated how she effortlessly uses Canva’s tools to bring to life the client’s ideas. This means that everything the client contributes can come to life before their eyes: real, in the moment vocabulary and syntactic exploration, built from the client’s interests with them as authors! Adding text with voicing, and sound effects, even video clips, is all possible and easy within the programme. Then you can print and email the finished book for the client to revisit at home.

Books can easily be made accessible through AAC too, with Smartbox’s Grid being cited as the easiest system for quick transition. Once accessible through the AAC, books can be accessed through touch, eyegaze or switching.

The real beauty of this work, it seems to me, is by that creating a story that can move, you have the opportunity to really build verb understanding and use, in a way you just can’t with a still drawing. I also love the social constructivist underpinning: working with the client by following their lead and interest, within the zone of proximal development, constructing meaning together while exploring vocabulary and syntax…bliss!

These talks have already had rapid impact on my practice, and the work of my colleagues, as I came back to the UK shouting about it! The speakers generously shared ‘how to’ videos, too, so you can try it too! And if you are school based, you can apply to access Canva pro features for free – how cool is that?!

“I want to say thank you to all those people in Florida!”

Sometimes as speech and language therapists, we find ourselves being the ‘best placed’ person in the room to look into something for a client, but it still stretches us far beyond our previous experiences. Just before leaving for Florida, I had found myself needing to research touch typing for a visually impaired client, and had ‘find where to start!’ on my to do list!

How fantastic, then, to stumble on Hilary Norman’s talk on ‘Touch Typing for Blind Students’, and join a room full of teachers of the visually impaired, all of whom offered encouragement and insight. When I got home, after further conversation with our own QTVI (Qualified Teacher of the Visually Impaired), I felt well equipped to introduce a typing programme with my client.

He has taken to it like a duck to water! When I told him the story of all roomful of people on the other side of the world who helped me get him started, he said ‘Tell them thank you! I really want to say thank you to all those people in Florida! I love typing!’

Conversations for change

So Fil was right: ATIA was a fab opportunity for networking and learning from conversation. However, some of the best ‘networking’ I undertook was actually with my fellow AT Scholar, Laura Brown. Laura is amazing – a businesswoman, professional speaker, musician, and mum to, and parent advocate for, Ethan (an Autistic AAC user). ATIA gave Laura and I plenty of opportunities for conversations about the barriers to AAC access and success in the UK, particularly in within neurodivergent populations.

Since ATIA, Laura has gone on to launch Stand Up for Autism, a campaign aiming to ensure mandatory training for Speech and Language Therapists in the UK highlights the prevalence of apraxia of speech within the Autistic community, and the importance of advocating for robust AAC for non-speaking Autistic people. If you haven’t already, please sign the petition

You don’t have to be perfect. You deserve to be part of the conversation!

Being an AT Scholar has taught me many things, and the reflections featured above are just a snapshot – if you want to read more about the other sessions I attended, please find me on LinkedIn, as I blogged there about every session!

Above all, being an AT Scholar has shown me that I didn’t have to be perfect or ‘ready’ to join the conversations around AAC and AT, and I don’t need perfectly formed and tested ideas in order to present them. There really is no such thing as ‘perfect’ or ‘ready’! So if you’re wondering if you’re ready or ‘good enough’ to apply for the scholarship, my advice is just to put the application in: it really could be you!