by Carrie Elliot, MA, CCC-SLP (Speech-Language Pathologist): NWACS Board Member

In Honor of Black Lives Matter At School Week: February 1-5 

This past spring of 2020, during the COVID-19 school closure, I was working on adding vocabulary to AAC devices for two preschool students. Both of these students were going to receive an iPad with the app Touch Chat HD with Word Power. One student’s family was originally from Somalia and the other student’s family was originally from Ethiopia. As I was going through and adding content such as favorite foods and important people in their lives, I had a moment where I realized I had been blind to an aspect of racism in my profession. All of the images on Touch Chat were, unless specifically changed, of white people. 

I contacted the local Saltillo representative and submitted feedback on the Saltillo website. I heard back from both the representative and from the sales team. They all assured me that an update was coming out during the summer to address representation. They acknowledged that they needed to do better and were making a change. Saltillo followed through on their promise and you can now easily modify skin tone in Touch Chat. Here’s how.

Here is a list of other apps that I use frequently in which skin tone is easily modified: 

• Grid for iPad

  • How To

• Proloquo2Go

  • How To

These are some apps that I also frequently use that don’t seem to have an integrated, easy to use setting for changing skin tone across a vocabulary file yet*: 

• Coughdrop

• Snap + Core First

• LAMP Words for Life

*If I am wrong about the apps listed above, please comment on this post! Also, if you know of other great AAC apps that have skin tone selection built in, please share in the comments! 

Technology has advanced to a level where it’s more than reasonable to expect and demand AAC devices and apps to include --- at minimum --- skin tone selection. Technology is increasingly personal, and I hope to see AAC solutions provide personalization options robust enough so that a device feels as personal as a cell phone does. 

Thank you to the activists who continue to fight for social and racial justice to improve our world. In the field of AAC, we can also contribute to the cause. Fighting for representation in AAC devices is one small way to change things for the better.