Innovation plays a key role in The ALS Association’s fight to develop treatments and a cure for ALS and to empower people living with the disease to live their lives to the fullest. During June and July, we are celebrating some of the key innovations helping us change the nature of ALS forever.

Have you ever been frustrated by not being able to get your point across?

People living with ALS often face this challenge. But thanks to our care services staff and partners, and assistive technology, people living with ALS can keep communicating, even after they’ve lost their voices.

After noticing that people in more rural areas who were interested in accessing alternative communication strategies weren’t receiving comparable services to those in larger cities, The ALS Association Oregon and SW Washington Chapter expanded its communication support.

The chapter launched a unique partnership with the University of Oregon’s Communication Disorders and Sciences program.

The partnership gives people with ALS ready access to speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who are well informed in augmentative communication options while allowing SLPs to learn more about ALS.

The ALS Association provides referrals, equipment, and program support, and the University helps implement augmentative communication and assistive technology options for families living with ALS. The program also includes:

• Technical assistance, education, and follow-up visits to families living with ALS for training.
• Two hours of education for every university student in the SLP program who works with people with ALS.
• A “before and after” evaluation tool to measure each SPL student’s understanding of ALS.
• Interviews, self-assessments, and evaluation methods to track program effectiveness.
• A research proposal to help advance opportunities for launching programs in other areas.

This new assistive communication program resulted in win-win outcomes for all involved and the Oregon and SW Washington Chapter is excited to help other chapters of the Association solve similar gaps for their ALS communities.