This week, we share Rachel’s interview with Kayla Ireland! Kayla is a podcaster, college student, AAC User, and advocate who lives with cerebral palsy and epilepsy. She amplifies diverse voices through her shows, shares her personal communication journey, and the value of developing multiple modes of communication!

Key Ideas This Week:

The power of mindset and belief — Rachel shares how her mother’s cancer journey has shown the importance of optimism, presence, and reframing difficult experiences. She connects this lesson to her professional work, emphasizing that believing in someone’s potential can transform outcomes.

Communication is multimodal — Kayla Ireland highlights that AAC is not just about devices. She uses a blend of sign language, fingerspelling, body language, vocalizations, and technology. Her advice is to use total communication and not force a hierarchy of methods.

Efficiency and individuality in AAC use — Kayla explains that one or two words can carry the meaning of a full sentence, and sometimes spelling or gestures are faster than devices. She encourages professionals to respect user preferences and contexts rather than strictly focusing on grammar or pre-programmed systems.

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