Building an Integrated Approach to Communication

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Building an Integrated Approach to Communication

makhteebo

4/5/2018 7:23 PM

As a special education teacher in a self contained classroom, I have six students with varying abilities, communication devices, and behavior needs. This year I began to step away from the whole group and shifted to the centers-based approach to best meet the needs of my students. As my assistants and I are instructing the curriculum during literacy and math, there is also therapies going on in the classroom. It is not always easy to be able to observe what my therapists are doing with the individual students since I am instructing at the same time. As the need of our students are more demanding and the carry over from therapies to the classroom are not always consistent, integrated services for Speech and Language best benefit us. To start small, my coworker (the speech and language pathologist) and I met to discuss in what area would it be best for her to integrate into our classroom instruction. We decided News 2 You, our current events newspaper, would be best since the materials are available online, there is vocabulary and new topics each week, and she can work with an assistant who is leading the lesson and the speech and language pathologist could support using their devices and promoting communication throughout the lesson. Our goal is for speech and language services be fluid throughout our instruction and for myself as the teacher and the assistants to carryover the strategies that our speech and language pathologist uses during her instruction. As the integrated services approach is still novel to us, has anyone had success or suggestions for integrating speech services into the classroom?

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As an SLP, I would suggest some functional communication activities. For example, a circle time in which the same language is used consistently (weather, feelings, staff and student names, schedule, etc). The idea of the circle time can grow and mature along with the students. A leisure time as well including comments and turn taking language is functional and also. I always try to think of what language students can use at home and in the classroom and go from there! Good luck!

colleen.hammersmith@d214.org - 5/9/2018

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