Augmentative Communication Program
Who we are
The Augmentative Communication Program at Boston Children's Hospital is internationally acclaimed for its work with children and adults who are non-speaking or whose speech is severely impaired. The program provides comprehensive, state-of-the-art evaluation and treatment for children and adults with congenital or acquired disorders affecting expressive communication, comprehension and computer access. This includes children with autism.
Children's program is staffed by a team of specialists with expertise in various areas of augmentative communication. The interdisciplinary team includes speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, and computer specialists. Our program prizes technological advancement. We collaborate with linguists, software programmers, MIT engineers and ergonomic specialists to create new products and innovative communication tools for the 21st century.
We have the potential to help someone express their thoughts, desires, emotions--and give them the chance to reveal their personalities,
John Costello, MA, CCC-SLP, director of the Augmentative Communication Program (ACP) at Children's.
Did you know? Computer pioneers
In 1981, our team developed Target, the first-ever general purpose computer software program that uses scanning for people with physical disabilities.
