{"id":37327,"date":"2025-06-11T11:52:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T15:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/?p=37327"},"modified":"2025-06-11T11:52:49","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T15:52:49","slug":"springfield-city-library-collaborates-with-tate-communicare-to-expand-access","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/springfield-city-library-collaborates-with-tate-communicare-to-expand-access\/","title":{"rendered":"Springfield City Library Collaborates with Tate Communicare to Expand Access"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Read on <a href=\"https:\/\/healthcarenews.com\/springfield-city-library-collaborates-with-tate-communicare-to-expand-access\/\">Health Care News<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>SPRINGFIELD \u2014 The Springfield City Library announced a new initiative to make library spaces and services more inclusive for all patrons. In collaboration with local speech and language therapists from Tate Communicare, the Central Library has created augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) boards, tools designed to support communication for individuals who are non-speaking, have speech difficulties, or speak a language other than English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>AAC boards display symbols for commonly used words, offering a vital resource for enhancing engagement, independence, and inclusion within public spaces. This effort is part of the library\u2019s ongoing commitment to creating welcoming environments for patrons of all abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe believe everyone deserves equal access to learning, connection, and community,\u201d said Tracy Snow, reference librarian at Springfield City Library. \u201cThese AAC boards are more than tools \u2014 they\u2019re invitations for every voice to be heard and every individual to be seen. By adding them to our space, we\u2019re opening new pathways for communication and inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Library staff recently participated in a training webinar led by Tate Communicare to better understand how to use AAC boards with visitors. Plans are underway to expand these accessibility resources to the rest of the Springfield City Library branches and to offer AAC boards in additional languages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;These AAC boards are more than tools \u2014 they\u2019re invitations for every voice to be heard and every individual to be seen.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,37,109],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-news-central-library","category-news-children"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37327"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37330,"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37327\/revisions\/37330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}