AAC Parent Group
Before I began this course, I was at my wits end trying to struggle through starting AAC on
my own for my son. 8 weeks later, we don’t know ourselves. Aoife is an expert in her field
and so helpful and passionate about helping children to communicate. I couldn’t
recommend more!
Great overall introduction to using a high tech AAC device & for us TD Snap. It was really
useful that we focused on specific areas every week which we would work on & then
receive feedback. We always had the opportunity to ask questions too. I have learnt so
much in the 8 weeks & our daughter has really benefited from this new knowledge. Highly
recommend this course!
AAC Parent Group
I found this course one of the most valuable courses I’ve done for my autistic child. I didn’t
know where to start with the AAC device before this course, while now I feel empowered,
enthusiastic and informed. The course was well designed to break down the abilities of the
device into bite sized chunks so I didn’t feel overwhelmed. The interaction throughout the
course with Aoife was more than I expected- feedback on videos and many questions
answered outside of the course. I really felt supported. Thanks so much Aoife, you go above
and beyond.I found starting AAC with my son so daunting but doing the course with Aoife gave me so
much information, help, guidance and above all confidence.
AAC Parent Group
I had really no idea where to start with AAC with my 6-year-old son who is non speaking and
has no words at all, lots of sounds and well able to tell us what he wants and doesn’t want
with gestures, pulling etc. I had looked at videos etc online but it was so hard to work out
what exactly I should be doing specifically for him. What I loved about this course and
Aoife’s approach was that you felt so comfortable from the start, no question was daft, each
child and parent in the group was catered for and we learnt from each other and having the
one-to-one feedback each week on our modelling was just amazing. Aoife is so giving of her
time but also her passion for her work and desire to support kids to communicate and their
families shines through at every turn. The course was perfectly structured for the group and
as Aoife was so adaptable it meant that she was able to support all the various little
challenges we might have encountered along the way. I think this is an amazing support
open to families who are embarking on their AAC journey or even in the middle of it. It is so
difficult to get one to one support for kids but I genuinely think this is a fantastic middle
ground and it has opened up things so much for my son already and given me as his mum so
much confidence in how to support him become understood not just at home but by lots of
people in the world around him.
AAC Parent Group
That Aoife is very supportive, informative and clear and the resources are excellent quality.
It’s also nice being in the virtual room with other parents in the same boat.
Really great advice and support from Aoife during the course. Very clear explanations of
what was required. And it was great to have new work to do each week – as it made sure
that I kept modelling the whole way through the course, and I am now in the habit, so will
hopefully carry that on beyond the course.
GLP Parent Group
This course wades through the information available out there about GLP and gives you the
best bits in relatable terms. Aoife is knowledgeable and very approachable in terms of
taking questions.
This has honestly been the most interesting and useful course I have been a part of
regarding supporting my children with autism. Aoife is so generous and open with sharing
her knowledge with parents and has a lovely, relatable way of translating complex and
overwhelming concepts into practical, manageable guidance when supporting gestalt
language processors. I would highly recommend this course to any parent with a child who
is a gestalt language processor.
Our son, Culann is a chatty boy who loves to talk, however many of his words were hard to understand and this was frustrating him. Once Culann began working with Aoife we saw immediate progress and development in his speech. Aoife led us through his assessments and identified a clear strategy for improving his speech. She worked concisely with him in a fun and encouraging way which created a great environment for him to develop his speech. She also gave us the resources and guidance we needed to work with Culann on his targets at home. Aoife was professional, approachable and flexible in all our dealings with her. We are so thankful for all of her work as Culann is now able to communicate confidently and clearly with ourselves and others and we would happily recommend her.
Mellissa and Philip – Parents of Culann (3)
I cannot thank Aoife enough for her support with our little boy Jasper who was diagnosed with self mutism at the age of 4. It was quite daunting at first as this wasn’t a condition that is well known or understood. Aoife took us through step by step about what to expect and how to manage behaviours, as well as building Jasper’s confidence and integrating him with other school friends and teachers.
Aoife led the way with all the school meetings, which was critical, as so many of the teaching staff and assistants needed to understand the condition, the impact and, agree ways of combatting issues/obstacles, as well assessing both social interaction and academic progression.
Having Aoife with us as Jasper’s advocate has given him a chance for his future and for that we will always be grateful. The professional support and advice has been simply amazing.
Danielle – Mum of Jasper (7)
Aoife was fantastic with our son Rían who had speech delay. She was a great source of encouragement for us and gave us the tools to help Rían at home, as we didn’t know what the best approach was to support his learning. She is patient, bubbly and very talented at what she does, Rían loved going to see Aoife each week and she has a brilliant way with kids. She hears things that we couldn’t and knew exactly what Rían needed in terms of developing his sounds, words and eventually his full chat! We are so grateful to Aoife for her support, knowledge and encouragement at each step. Would highly recommend her to any parent in the same situation.
Joanne – Mum of Rían (2)
We were extremely impressed with the excellent therapy Aoife worked on with Joshua. She has suggested and helped him with many targets and strategies to help him extend his skills to work towards being an independent young man. We found Aoife to be a very friendly, approachable and helpful young lady who took a genuine interest and great understanding of our profoundly deaf son.
Alison – Mum of Joshua (17)
I can confirm that I have known Aoife Tierney for nearly 3 years in a professional capacity. We have always found her to be a very hard-working and valuable member of our team. Aoife is highly organised, has great communication skills and I have always been very impressed with the way that she has approached work. Aoife has used her initiative and become involved in projects to support the work that we are doing in school. She has often suggested useful ideas for ways to improve the way that we support children with speech and language difficulties and has engaged successfully with staff and parents alike.
I highly recommend Aoife as a Speech and Language Therapist and I’m sure that she would be a great asset for any workplace.
Mrs. Vicky Atkinson – Assistant Headteacher/Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator at Farfield Primary & Nursery School
Aoife has been amazing with her assessments and strategies for addressing our daughter’s selective mutism. Over the years that Aoife has been assisting her, we have seen wonderful improvements, which have helped her at school and at home and socially in the community. We are very grateful for all that Aoife has helped our daughter achieve.
Hanna – Mum of Faith (7)
Three years ago my son was diagnosed with selective mutism. I knew very little about this condition and was extremely worried about what this meant for him.
I first met Aoife at my sons school in a meeting to discuss the best way to deal with my sons selective mutism. I found Aoife to to be extremely professional but also very friendly and approachable. She always put his best interests at heart and never advised moving forward before he was ready.
With Aoife’s help and guidance my son went from barely whispering a word all day at school to speaking in a normal voice in front of his class. He can now talk to any child or adult, participate in class activities and has even joined the school lunchtime drama group.
We are incredibly grateful to Aoife for everything she has done to improve our sons educational and personal life. One of our proudest moments was when he stood up in front of the rest of the school to receive an award. Such a simple thing for most children but previously impossible for our son.
Suzanne – Mum of Jacob (8)
The work Aoife has been doing since September 2013, when I started working here, has been extremely effective. The children have made better than expected progress, as recorded in their EYFS profiles: Listening, Understanding and Speaking. She has made excellent relationships with parents and children in a highly professional way.
The children’s key people, who attend Aoife’s sessions with their key children, have benefitted hugely from observing her work. They have been able to continue to re-enforce the work throughout the week, as well as use the techniques, learned from watching and discussion with Aoife to benefit other children in their care.
As a teacher, with 37 years’ experience (10 of these as a SENCo), as well as having been involved in teacher and practitioner training over the past 5 years, I would like to say that I have never seen a more effective model of external expert involvement with children who have speech and language difficulties, than that being practiced in Canterbury Nursery by Aoife. I am very grateful for the skills and techniques I have learned from her, as are the other teachers and practitioners at Canterbury. The value that she has added to children’s lives by helping the children to gain the gift of speech and ability to express themselves cannot be over stated. As the children learn to express their needs they become less frustrated, which impacts hugely in the area of behaviour management for their parents. I know that the parents of the children who Aoife has worked hugely appreciate her work, which has been life-changing for them too.
Mrs. Jill Wallis BSc PGCE SENCo at Canterbury Children’s Centre