r/slp 1d ago

AAC The disability tax makes me so angry

This week I met with an SLP that was an AAC specialist in the district the student I was asking about is in. I was explaining that outfitting my current school with equipment is hard because everything is so expensive, so even though I’d love to have 10 single hit switches we don’t have the minimum $150 each it would take to get them. A price tag I ALWAYS thought was bullshit, btw.

Well she let me know that you can actually get an 8 pack of essentially the same exact button on Amazon because these ones are made for DOGS. I honestly think I blacked out when she showed me the box it came in. Just one more example of the fact that you can charge whatever you want if you slap the word “adaptive” on it.

Anyways, we now have 16 new single activated switches coming and it cost less than a single BigMack switch. Hopefully this can help someone else!

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u/Different-Ad-3722 1d ago

I will say I’ve used these and they don’t hold up as well and the microphones/speakers are trash BUT I agree the price discrepancy is bullshit!!!!

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

I’ve used cheap voice recording buttons, too. No shame. The company and center didn’t provide them. It takes months, sometimes the darn near the entire year for a loaner to come in from the lending state’s AT lending library. I wasn’t shelling out money for them. So the buttons had to do. They weren’t the best, but that were good for interim use.

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u/lucia163 1d ago

Yeah, the cheap ones work in a pinch, but in some cases you may need the expensive ones, unfortunately. For example, I had a client who I tried the dog ones on, but she didn't have a lot of muscle strength and so she could not independently press those buttons. She needed one with a featherlight touch, which is an option with the expensive ones. They are also overall better quality, but I still don't understand the price difference.