3. Supporting Communication for All Learners

Supporting children’s communication can be one of the most rewarding and challenging things we do. Children are always learning how to communicate with the people around them, including their peers, family members, teachers, or other caregivers. Most children learn to communicate using spoken words. Some children learn words in one language, while children from multilingual homes may learn words in different languages. Some children with disabilities may not develop speech. Of course, this does not mean that they do not communicate; rather, they may have different ways to communicate. This could be sign language, a formal language with its own grammar, or they may use gestures like waving to say hello or pointing at a toy they want. Other children may use pictures or symbols to communicate. These children may have a notebook with picture symbols or have a tablet with an app that generates a voice when they touch a picture. And while these communication modalities look different, they all have a common function: they provide children with a way to tell us what they want or need, what they do not want, and how to share about the world around them. All children communicate; it just might look different for every child. And it’s our job as the adults supporting them to understand and provide ways for the range of communication children may use.

Communication is an important issue for all learners because many children with and without identified disabilities have differences or delays in how they learn and use language. We also know there’s a relationship between children with delayed communication skills and challenging behaviors. Imagine if you were attending a camp program and you needed to tell the counselors that you were hungry or thirsty, but they didn’t understand you. This happens to many children with disabilities or learning differences. In this video, we’re discussing communication. We’ll start by discussing the different ways children with disabilities may communicate, then we’ll reflect on the frustration of communication breakdowns. In addition to discussing what communication is, we’ll see three examples of different communication supports that can be used in a range of different settings.

Unfortunately, many children with communication support needs are not always given opportunities to communicate or be heard by their friends, teachers, or other adults. Think about how frustrating it would be if you were unable to tell the people around you what you wanted. Imagine that your class was discussing what everyone did over the weekend, but the teacher kept skipping you because you communicate with pictures instead of words. Wouldn’t you feel left out? Or imagine how frustrating it would be if you felt very thirsty and wanted a drink, but your teacher doesn’t understand what you’re telling her. Wouldn’t this be annoying? Would you be tempted to just leave the class without permission to use the fountain? We certainly don’t want the children in our programs to feel this way.

Let’s look at some examples of how we can support children with communication support needs.

Isabella is an 8-year-old who loves princesses, mermaids, and unicorns. She has Down syndrome and uses an augmentative and alternative communication, or AAC, device to communicate. In her third-grade classroom, the teacher, Mr. Moss, worked with her family and speech-language therapist to learn more about Isabella’s tablet and how they can use this at school. Prior to her starting the new school year, Lucia, her grandmother, and Elena, her mother, met with all of Isabella’s teachers to show them how the tablet worked. They shared that the tablet is programmed to say what Isabella selects, allowing her to communicate. Together, they added in the necessary vocabulary words for all the school materials, activities, and pictures of the other children and teachers. Mr. Moss made sure that Isabella’s tablet was always available and charged and encouraged her to bring it with her when the class went outside to play and during specials like PE and art. Isabella and Mr. Moss also talked with the other children in the class about it so everyone knew that this tablet was how she communicates. Mr. Moss helped the children learn to listen to Isabella when she used her tablet to talk and wait patiently as she created sentences to share her thoughts. In this example, Isabella’s teacher intentionally planned for her to use her tablet across all activities and made sure that all the other children in class understood how their friend communicated. These are crucial ways to promote inclusion for children using tablets.

Elaine is a bilingual 10-year-old who attends a creative drawing class at her community center. Due to her disability, it’s challenging for Elaine to form the correct sounds when she’s talking, making it difficult for others to understand her. Prior to starting the community center program, the teacher, Miss Miller, met with Elaine’s father, Ken, to learn how she could support Elaine’s communication needs. Together, they developed a plan to support Elaine during the drawing class. Ken shared a visual of different communication repair strategies that they use at home when people around Elaine can’t understand her. The visual includes options to talk slower and louder, point to pictures, act it out, or say more about it by describing or giving clues. All of these strategies will give Elaine ideas of how she can communicate her thoughts in different ways when she’s not being understood. Miss Miller also taught the other students in class the signs for “my turn,” “wait,” and “help.” Elaine knows these signs and uses them to help communicate important information, words, or phrases she may need in the moment. Finally, Miss Miller put topic boards up in the classroom to support Elaine’s communication. The topic boards have images related to different activities and areas of the art studio, such as where the materials are kept and the area for storing student work. For example, while starting a new drawing, Elaine can use this topic board to request specific art materials or paper she may need. To accommodate topics or materials that are not on the topic boards, Miss Miller also added a few whiteboards to the classroom so that she or a peer can quickly draw different options for Elaine to choose from. In this example, Elaine’s creative drawing teacher put supports in place to help Elaine communicate and help her peers understand her.

Khalid is a seven-year-old with a developmental delay. Khed stutters when he talks, which can make it hard for him to communicate and be understood by others. Khalid’s teachers have implemented a few strategies to help Khalid when he stutters. While Khed is talking, his teachers actively listen by getting down on his eye level and showing interest by nodding their head or smiling. His teachers know that it’s very important not to draw attention to Khalid’s stutter, to complete words for him, talk for him, or to finish a sentence. They also focus on modeling slower speech and pausing in between sentences when talking with Khalid. This will encourage him to speak more slowly and is much more effective than telling him to slow down or take a breath and try again. Finally, Khalid’s teachers also plan to introduce a talking stick during large group and snack time to support students in taking turns talking. This will provide a calm, structured environment for Khalid to share. With these supports in place, Khalid will be more likely to talk and share his thoughts throughout the day.

After seeing three examples of the supports staff put in place for children with complex communication needs, take a moment to reflect on your program. Are there children in your program like Isabella, Elaine, or Khalid? Would they benefit from similar supports? Or you might be thinking about a different way to help children meaningfully communicate. Supporting children’s communication takes time and is one of the most important things we can do to promote inclusive spaces where everyone can participate.