Covid-19 Vaccination visual support materials for people with communication difficulties

Charlotte Irvine, Speech and Language Therapist at the Together Trust has been putting together resources to support the young people within the specialist schools and the Together for Families team.

With recent news that everyone on the GP learning disability register in the UK should be prioritised for a Covid vaccine, those most at risk will be shortly, or potentially already be going through the process of getting vaccinated.

For those with communication difficulties or learning disabilities, this could cause worries or confusion about the process itself, or about potential effects of being given the vaccine.

To help, Charlotte Irvine, Speech and Language Therapist at the Together Trust has been putting together resources to support the young people within the specialist schools we work with and the Together for Families team.

These resources have been made using Boardmaker symbols and Picture Communication Symbols from Tobii Dynavox and aim to support young people and adults with autistic spectrum conditions and communication difficulties through the process of receiving the vaccine and enable the people who support them to ease any questions or concerns they may have.

With little to no support available for people with autistic spectrum conditions and communication difficulties who may be receiving the vaccine, these resources can help should you care for people who communicate through Boardmaker symbols or PCS.

The full range of resources, including visual resources explaining potential side effects and illustrated timelines to support those receiving their vaccination can be found here: https://www.togethertrust.org.uk/news/vaccination-visual-support-materials-people-communication-difficulties