Meeting the Needs at Home and in the Community with the Augmentative Communication Device

As a continuation of my previous posts talking about AT & Math, we will continue our discussion. Just like meeting the needs of the child in the classroom are important, so are meeting the needs at home and in the community.  

To help transition this process from school to home, school personnel must provide direct instruction to the parents, who in turn can teach other family and community members to interact with their child. Due to the fact that some of these systems can be quite complicated to operate, consideration should be given to the current level of the family members' familiarity with computers and technology and their willingness to learn, prior to deciding on the most appropriate system. This will allow the school staff to plan the most appropriate home supports and expectations. It's very important for the family to feel comfortable with the system and to understand the impact that communication practice will have on future success. 

Teachers can also facilitate positive experiences with novel communication partners through school wide special activities or assemblies and through planned field trips in the community. In this case, the devices can be programmed to ask specific questions and guests can be directed toward the augmentative communication device user to answer a question. This will enable the student to practice interacting with unfamiliar partners.

Resources:

Dell, A., Newton, D., & Petroff, J. (2012).Assistive Technology in the Classroom:Enhancing the School Experiences of Students with DIsabiltiies. New Jersey: Pearson. (Original work published 2008)