Sophia Kalman, MD, PhD, DML

Dr. Sophia Kalman, trained as a paediatrician, introduced AAC in Hungary in 1984. Since then she developed and taught AAC courses at ELTE Barczi Gusztav Teachers’ College for Spec. Education, postgraduate and continuous education courses all over the country. Recently she developed a program for „training the trainers in AAC”. From 1986-2016 she was the director of the Hungarian Bliss Foundation, which opened the first AAC centre in the geographic region, providing teaching, training, research and dissemination of information. She also directed Disability Rights Advocates – Hungary, focusing on equal opportunities issues. She is the author and co-author of several books on AAC and disability rights related issues. Her research interests included AAC in the family, cooperation between parents and professionals, disability and society, and sex education in AAC using adolescents. In 1997 she initiated and organised the first ECER AAC conference in Budapest.