What the Anne McDonald Centre does

  The Anne McDonald Centre provides assessment and therapy for people -- any age, any diagnosis --with little or no functional  speech.

  If clients' speech  needs  augmentation, we find communication aids they can use.  Then we teach these clients and their support teams how to use their new voices.  Read more...

Download our brochure for more information.

  Who comes to the Anne McDonald Centre?

Anyone who can’t speak – including people with diagnoses of
 Autism/ASD, Cerebral Palsy, Down syndrome, Intellectual Disability, Rett  syndrome,  GDD, ABD, MND, MS, CVA, for starters...

WHAT'S NEW - 

Nothing About Us Without Us

The kids who come to the Annie Mac have little or no functional speech. They know they’re smart, but they can’t tell anyone.  Only when we help them to communicate can they show their real abilities.  Victor, Mitch and Tim have blossomed into intelligent, curious, and imaginative young men.

There are 5000 children with little or no speech in Victorian schools who need help to beat a system weighted against non-speakers.  Victor, Mitch and Tim are impatient.  They want to speed things up.

So they told the world.  They each gave a presentation at the ISAAC international conference on non-speech communication in July, using their communication aids to tell therapists from around the world that they must ensure that no child is left behind.

Victor's presentation is here. 

An account of the changes we've pushed for in the Victorian educational assessment program for children without speech is here. 

They challenged the prejudices, the system, and the world.

We work to change the way children with little speech are assessed.

We work to ensure they get voices, not prejudice.

 Please help us to help them speak out.

Donate at GiveNow, please. 
Give what you can.

A great day for people without speech in Australia - Tim Chan's book launch.  Back from the Brink - Stories of Resilience, Reconciliation, and Reconnection - The Hero's Journey through the minefield of autism was launched at the Australian Catholic University, and if you want to see what went down see the video here on the Communication Rights Australia website - 

It's a no-holds-barred autobiography from a young man who's had every challenge that you can think of, and then some. You can get copies here.

HREC

The Anne McDonald Centre has now established a Human Research Ethics Committee to guide its research activities. 

Do you know anybody whose intelligence has been underestimated because they've been tested using the WISC or the WAIS, tests which require speech? 

The Anne McDonald Centre is breaking new ground here - and bringing hope to thousands. See the results we're getting. This is genuinely exciting, and everybody who can't speak needs to know about it.   

The Anne McDonald Centre now has the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission ACNC CHARITY TICK! So it's a good time to donate - see the DONATE link to GiveNow over to the right there and down a bit. Help us to help you.

The Anne McDonald Centre calls on the government to fund iPads for AAC

Communication disability and Moby Dick

A piece on non-speech communication that ran the other day on the No Limits program on community television station C31 - including a panel discussion that includes Leane Leggo, the Centre's eloquent president

Here's a short video on the Centre made by Rebecca Seidner, an AAC user

Rosemary Crossley's ISAAC conference  presentation,
 "iPads and the Assessment of Potential AAC users - a game changer"

 Our 2012 ISAAC conference paper, "Anne McDonald  - the advocacy legacy of an AAC pioneer" 

 "First Words", a 60 Minutes segment on people with autism learning communicate with iPads