Families and friends gathered at Dame Hannahs for a graduation ceremony.

A group of seven young adults were celebrating the completion of their NCFE Entry Level 2 Certificate in Personal and Social Development.

This opportunity arose due to a grant from the National Lottery Community Fund for AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) users to access the course.

AAC is a range of strategies and tools to help people who struggle with speech to communicate as effectively as possible in as many situations as possible.

The Dame Hannahs adults used a variety of communicative approaches and resources to facilitate their communication and learning.

These included their voice, their high and low tech communication aids, objects, photos, familiar symbols and facial expressions.

Over the last two years the students have studied eight different modules and achieved 14 credits in total in order to pass.

The modules, which were externally marked, were ‘Community Action, Dealing with problems in daily life, Developing Self, Environmental Awareness, Healthy Living, Making the most of leisure time, Managing social relationships, Rights and Responsibilities’.

Dame Hannahs Speech and Language therapists, Rebecca Anderson and Baukje Gregory-Schroder, said “We are delighted to see these young adults achieve their NCFE Entry Level 2 Certificate in Personal and Social Development.

They have used a variety of communication methods to learn and show their understanding across a range of topics. It was lovely to see how proud they were of themselves as they should be!”