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Peer to Peer Interaction with AAC

dherrera

5/31/2017 8:02 PM

As a teacher for students with multiple disabilities, encouraging peer to peer interactions can be a major challenge.   I have found that many of my students prefer to communicate with staff rather than with their own peers.  Students need to be presented highly structured opportunities in order to engage in purposeful interactions with each other.

During our morning meetings, I have students practice writing letters to one another using their language on their AAC device (Touch Chat for the majority of my students).  They choose their communication partner on their device and write a message or a comment related to a picture.  They will then engage in a communication exchange with one another where they read their message to their partner.  


It is also equally important for our students to interact with their typically developed peers.  Throughout the school year, I have had a local high school student come to my classroom 3 times a week as part of their teacher prep program.  This high school student needed to be trained in how to communicate with our students.  Your typical high school student has most likely never even heard of Touch Chat or other similar AAC programs.  I had to train her in how to communicate using each students AAC device.  Many typical peers may be too timid to interact with their peers with disabilities only because they do not know how to effectively communicate with them.  The more they can be accustomed to the different types of communication devices that our students use, the better communicative exchanges can occur between our students with disabilities and their typical peers.

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