Please get acquainted with our team working on assistive technologies for communication in Ukraine. The Community started in 2018 and united users, professionals, families, and NGOs related to the topic of alternative and augmentative communication. Meet the co-founders of the AAC Community of Ukraine, a professional and user-driven organization promoting assistive communication technologies and inclusion nationwide.
Dr. Oksana Kryvonogova serves as the Head of the Community of AAC Users and Professionals in Ukraine. She is also a co-founder of the Early Intervention Association and a visionary leader in this field. For many years, Oksana has been advancing the implementation of early intervention and AAC practices nationwide. Under her leadership, her team has made a substantial contribution to building the methodological foundation of AAC in Ukraine, fostering professional collaboration and sustainable system development.
Dr. Hanna Usatenko, PhD in Psychology, is a leading Ukrainian specialist in assistive technology for communication and inclusive education. She was recognized as a project manager in a national social partnership between Huawei Ukraine and the Ministry of Science and Education, overseeing the Digital Inclusion App initiative that expanded communication access for children with speech and communication impairments. The project was awarded the Partnership for Sustainability prize in 2020. She is also the founder of “DyvoGra,” the first national collection of communication symbols, which has enabled thousands of children to communicate more effectively and accessibly in their native language. Her work demonstrates extraordinary ability and national significance, advancing digital inclusion, accessible communication, and the right to expression for all.
Oksana Hahanova has dedicated more than ten years to managing projects within the social enterprise DyvoGra and the AAC Community of Ukraine. A psychologist and social worker by training, she has provided essential methodological support and made a significant contribution to the development of the AAC field in Ukraine, strengthening its professional standards and practical applications nationwide.
Dr. Marharyta Chaika, PhD and patent author in AAC methodology, is a co-author of the AAC Community’s national training courses. For many years, she has been building the methodological foundation of AAC in Ukraine, adapting international best practices to the Ukrainian language and cultural context, thus ensuring that communication systems reflect local linguistic and cognitive realities.
Olena Syniavska, Head of the Sign Language Division, interpreter, and early intervention specialist, acts as an expert and advocate for the rights and inclusion of people with hearing impairments in Ukraine. Her leadership bridges the fields of AAC and sign language, promoting accessible communication for children and adults across diverse linguistic needs.
Promoting Ukrainian sign language 2026
To promote Ukrainian sign language and the use of manual signs as an alternative form of communication, the DyvoGra team, in partnership with the Non-governmental organisation “My Family” (Brovary, Ukraine), will create schematic images and video tutorials for the 60 manual signs in March 2026.
To date, signers and aided communicators have lacked visual schemes in Ukrainian to support sign language learners. To contribute to the international UN initiative, World Hearing Day 2026, Social Enterprise DyvoGra and NGO “My Family”, supported by professionals from NGO “Surdo School” (Odesa, Ukraine), are creating images showing how to sign simple words for everyday communication. In wartime Ukraine, timely and accurate communication is vital for children’s safety and access to education. With rising war-related injuries and low AAC implementation, this project fills a critical gap by providing the first visual tutorial for Ukrainian sign language, led by national AAC experts.
All videos and signs will be available for free on the websites of the AAC community of Ukraine and DyvoGra Social Enterprise. The trainer – Aliona Syniavska, Ukrainian sign language interpreter, a co-founder of the NGO “Surdo School”, Odesa.
The NGO “My Family” and DyvoGra Social Enterprise fully align with the principles of the World Hearing Forum by promoting equity, accessibility, early communication support, and community-based solutions for children with hearing and communication difficulties. Our work focuses on prevention of secondary disability, early intervention, inclusion in education, and empowerment of families, teachers, and health professionals through open-access, evidence-based resources.
AAC conference, 2022. Partnership with ASSIST.
Thanks to an NGO ASSIST – Assistive Technologies Foundation (Bulgaria) Ukrainian participants have an access to the 4th International Conference in AAC. The conference is held online on the 11th-13th of Nov, 2022. The topic is “AAC though a lifespan.”
AAC in Ukraine Community together with the NGO “Association of parents of children with autism” will provide the translation to Ukrainian. Some records will be avaliable at ASSiST NGO recourses.
The event raised a tremendous interest among Ukrainian users, professionals and relatives of people with speech impairmnets. There are hundreds of registrations to attend and we hope that this event will bring an up-to-date European experience to our Community, This helps to improve local standards and bring up national research to a new level.
In order to participate or get to know about records avaliable please to the conference site
2022 Emergency response. AAC for safety in war
Basic rules for safety in air alerts, evacuation for AAC users, children and adults. Please find more at AAC for safety page
Research in assisted communication, 2021. Presentation at Autism Europe Congress, 2022
DyvoGra symbols were used for quasi-experiment to assess improvement of communication with 3 month of AAC cards training in preschoolers. Results were presented by community co-founder Hanna Usatenko at Autism Europe Congress 2022. Please visit Research page for details
2020 Building the national AAC system in Ukraine
Public discussions, round tables, professionals and users engagement in working out methodic recommendations and standards in alternative and augmentative communication in Ukraine. A manual for educators was published by AAC Community core team ordered by the Ministery of Education and Science of Ukraine. Dr. Usatenko cooperates actively with the gorvernment to scale AAC solutions in Ukrainian inclusive education
2020 Digital Inclusion
A free app and online platform was created with 300 DyvoGra symbols essential for everyday communication. This is the 1st digital solution for communication in Ukrainian, supported by Huawei Ukraine and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
2019 Free AAC course online.
As a responce to Covid-19 Community team started a project of socail partnership. As a results a free online course in AAC was built for users, parents and professionals. Videos were viewed on Youtube more that 20 000 times during the first 6 months. A project was a finalist of a Partnership for Sustainability Awards for the social impact.
Assistive technologies in Ukraine. To be engaged, please contact us partnership@aac.org.ua, hanna.usatenko@dyvogra.com