About

The Importance of a Communication Passport

“Having a communication passport has given Laura a voice.”

Laura is a young adult with Wiedemann-Steiner syndrome. I discovered quite early on that there were going to be many different professionals involved in Laura’s life.

Having so many people involved with Laura’s care results in lots of different information to communicate. Each individual who works with her needs to know about all the important information that we collectively have learned about Laura, who she is, and how she understands the world around her.

As Laura’s mother, through our experiences, I have learned what certain facial expression mean; and what particular behaviours are likely to have been caused by. Additionally, I am the central point at which all reports regarding Laura’s care coalesce.

The challenge for me was: How do I convey all this accumulated knowledge to each professional Laura will encounter? Someone told me about something called a “Personal Passport” and gave me the address to a website that explained all about it. After checking the website I decided to make one for Laura. It has proved invaluable. She carries it with her at all times in the form of an A5 booklet. I also email a copy to anyone who is concerned with her care.

The Passport we have created has grown so much over the years that we have decided we want to pass it on and share our progress with anyone who might benefit from it.

So feel free to look around the site and use as much or as little as you like. We hope that it can be of some use to you.

— Kate