What DEAL does

DEAL Communication Centre provides services to people who are unable to talk, or to talk clearly, as a result of conditions such as cerebral palsy, strokes, acquired brain damage, autism, Down syndrome, or intellectual impairment - anyone whose speech is not clear enough, fluent enough or reliable enough to allow them to get across everything they want to say.

People with Severe Communication Impairment (SCI) know more words than they are able to say. They may be able to expand their expressive communication by using Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) strategies.  So, at DEAL

•  We assess each clients' communication needs and abilities.

•   We try to find some means of communication for people who have little or no speech and no alternative means of communication.

•   We give people who have only a limited means of communication (a symbol board or a few manual signs, say) a chance to try out alternatives, such as speech synthesisers.

•  We help parents, therapists, caregivers and teachers discover the communication possibilities of people in their care, and where necessary we teach them to use non-speech communication methods (including Facilitated Communication).

•  We establish training programs to improve clients' skills.

•  We lend out communication aids so that people can practice their skills and make informed decisions about buying equipment.

DEAL has helped more than two thousand people since it was set up in 1986. We have enabled people move from special schools into mainstream education, We have given people with communication impairment who had previously been thought to be profoundly retarded the skills to graduate from secondary school and go to university, we have given men of forty the means to tell their mothers "I love you".

DEAL's Director is Dr. Rosemary Crossley.