Making Speech and Language Accessible to Early Communicators
My students need access to an iPad. Many of the students I service have multiple disabilities, including visual and motor impairments, and require significant accommodation to elicit communication.
I service a public elementary school. 64% of the student population comes from low-income households, 20% are homeless, 74% are students of color, and 16% require special education services. Students who receive special education require my individualized supports and services to successfully access the curriculum along side their general education peers.
The students I service who are of color, come from low socioeconomic status, and have disabilities are some of the most vulnerable in the city.
We have a wonderful team of teachers and related service providers who strive to close the opportunity gap everyday. However, public funds are limited and these students need your help to reach their fullest potential!
My Project
Many of the students I service are preschoolers who have multiple disabilities, which include severe visual and motor impairments. These students are early communicators and require significant accommodations to foster speech and language development. Some of the ways the iPad will be used include (but are not limited to): using vision apps that students with Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) can access, displaying non-complex images/books that students with CVI can understand, providing motivating activities (e.g., music) to elicit requests, participating in simple turn-taking games, and serving as an alternative/augmentative form of communication (e.g., using two pictures to indicate a choice).
I will also use the iPad with students who have a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Many of these students are working on building their vocabulary of nouns and especially verbs. In order to best generalize this skill, students with ASD require exposure to as many examples of the targeted word as possible. Therefore, I will use the iPad to provide these students with several pictures of each concept. For example, I may show a photograph, coloring drawing, line drawing, and symbol to target the concept "Washing." I may also show picture examples of washing in different contexts. This will help students generalize the concept to various situations.
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