Early in February 2006 the Ability Centre at the (Society for the Physically Disabled (SPD) in Singapore, hosted a workshop on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). "Building Bridges to Effective Communication" was a week-long conference, presented by staff members and invited colleagues of The Bridge School. The conference was organized to support the work of Sarah Yong, the Ability Centre's Speech and Language Pathologist, who was the recipient of The Bridge School's 2003 Teacher-in-Residence Award.

In addition to therapists, teachers and parents from Singapore, the conference included participants from Hong Kong, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpar. Prior to the conference, Sarah Yong conducted a survey and the program was designed to meet the needs expressed by the respondents. It was structured to provide information for everyone, regardless of their experience in the field of augmentative communication. Conference units, presented by Dr Vicki Casella, Dr Sarah Blackstone, Kristen Gray, Anna Rourke and Anne Warrick, covered an introduction to AAC, its relation to emerging language development, the importance of social networks in AAC assessment and intervention, literacy development, congenital and acquired disabilities, assistive technology challenges plus AAC teaching and material resources for the home and classroom. Sessions were interactive and encouraged the participants to develop a professional working relationship through the shared experiences.

There were many highlights, one of the most memorable being a Town Hall meeting for people who use AAC. The participants, ranging from school aged students to business executives, are clients of Sarah's centre. The meeting, facilitated by Sarah Blackstone, encouraged each individual to think of a dream, to identify steps needed to achieve the dream, decide on resources they would need, and then come up with a first step toward realizing it. Such dreams: to open a shop, to have my own communication device, to read more, to walk again!

Enthusiasm ran high on the final afternoon when the conference participants - new found friends by now - met to articulate their plans for moving forward with AAC programs in their respective locations. What plans they had! Hong Kong envisions a full time AAC Centre, Thailand expects to establish an Assistive Technology Centre, Singapore will improve the quality of life for people with complex communication needs and Malaysia will develop an extensive information service for people with disabilities with links to government and non-government organizations. So many dreams after a week long immersion in AAC. Dreams which everyone thought were bound to come true.