Gayle Porter is a Speech Pathologist with over 40 years hands-on experience working with people with complex communication needs in a range of community and specialist environments.  This work has provided Gayle with the opportunity to interact with individuals using AAC from infancy to adulthood, clarifying the longer term aims of AAC interventions to enable people to autonomously communicate, to understand others and to be understood in all the activities of their daily life.  

Gayle is one of the founders of the Cerebral Palsy Education Centre in Melbourne, Australia.  She also has a private practice working with children, teenagers and adults with complex communication needs in their schools and community.  Gayle is internationally known for her work developing the Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Displays (PODD) communication books and page sets for electronic speech generating devices.   

In 1996 Gayle received the Speech Pathology Australia, Elinor Wray Award in recognition of outstanding clinical contribution to the profession of speech pathology, and in 2007 she was the first recipient of the Australian Group on Severe Communication Impairment (AGOSCI) award for services to Australian AAC.  In 2023 Gayle was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for her services to speech pathology.   

 

Gayle will be presenting on ‘Multi-modal interaction for communication and language development.’ 

Children generally learn to communicate as they attempt to understand others and be understood during interactions in their daily life. We all continue to use multiple modes of communication as we interact throughout life. This presentation will explore the importance of multi-modal interactions, including gestural and aided AAC modes, to support communication and language development for individuals who have complex communication needs.