"I have a new student coming to my sixth-grade classroom and I am stumped. Ben does not speak very much but he sometimes uses an electronic device to make choices and greet people. He also knows some sign language. I am not sure how to include him in the class or how to build a relationship with him. HELP! "

This note came to me in the form of an e-mail. It was sent by Rachel, a fourth-grade teacher who has never had a student with these communication differences in her class before. Rachel's concerns are understandable and are evidence of her commitment to all learners. It is so often true that the willingness to include, support, and collaborate with students is a big part of finding success in inclusive classrooms. Teachers seeking success should also communicate with learners, attend to their abilities, teach and model augmentative communication and create communication opportunities for all.

Communicate with Students and Expect Them to Communicate with You

Teachers working with students who do not have reliable communication sometimes ask me, “What should I say to her? How can I tell how much she understands?” The truth is, teachers may not know how much a learner understands if he or she does not have a way to communicate. In these situations teachers should assume that the learner can learn and is interested in socializing and learning. As Donnellan (1984) reminds us, this is the “least dangerous assumption.” For reasons of respect alone, teachers should converse with students and be sure to extend those interactions beyond questions, directions, and commands. In other words, students with the most significant disabilities often have too much “teacher talk” in their lives and not enough personal interaction. These students, perhaps more than others, will benefit from having teachers who tell them stories, offer observations, and share experiences since these types of exchanges may be too rare in the learner's life.

Pay Attention to Communication Abilities

Too often professionals focus on what students cannot do instead of what they can do. All students with disabilities have some ways of communicating even if they do not use spoken words. Does the student point to objects she wants? Does she use facial expressions to indicate distress, pain, or happiness? Can she use an object or a picture to make a request (e.g., grab her lunchbox when she is ready for lunch)? Can she accurately use a gesture to communicate a need, a want, or a feeling (e.g., clapping hands when she wants to hear music)?

While a teaching team will certainly want to help any student build on and enhance his or her communication strategies, support should begin with an exploration and honoring of the skills and abilities students already have. Teachers may not be able to accurately identify ways in which learners are communicating after knowing them only a few days or weeks. Therefore, families must be interviewed and consulted about their child's communication strategies. If a group is unable to generate a lot of useful information by simply meeting, the team members might sit together and view a few videotapes of the student (at home and at school). The purpose of such a viewing is to allow various team members to ask questions and share answers about how the student communicates across various activities and environments.

Teach All Students to Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication

If a learner with disabilities uses a picture board to indicate choices, the teacher might ask all students to use a picture board for choices at some point in the day. Or she might consider giving all students a spelling test using the sign language alphabet. Or instead of having students shout out answers, she could ask them to write answers on paper or to indicate a sign for “yes” or “no.” In teaching all students to use alternative modes of communication, teachers encourage expression and introduce learners to a wider range of choices they can make when communicating, creating, composing, and expressing.

Create Communication Opportunities

To ensure that all students have opportunities to communicate, teachers need to put structures and activities in place that allow for interaction. In one classroom, the teacher started every morning with a “whip” (Harmin, 1994). She pointed to each student in the class, one by one and asked them to give a 3-5 word phrase related to her prompt of the day. One morning for instance, she asked students to report on something they learned on the previous day's fieldtrip to an art museum. Responses ranged from “Picasso was a sculptor” to “dancing is art”. Teachers can also simply ask students to “turn and talk” to each other at various points in the day. Or educators can ask for whole-class responses to certain prompts and questions. For instance, instead of asking, “Who can tell me what H20 is?”, the teacher might say, “Stand up if you think you know the common name for H20”.

Another way to engage all students in whole-class work is to prepare the student with a communication difference for his participation. The teacher might give the student a question before the class starts so he can form a response or so that he can simply feel more relaxed and confident when his turn comes. While this type of preparation is often helpful for any learner, it can be especially useful for individuals who use some type of augmentative communication system or strategy. For instance, Josh, a student without reliable communication, often participated in discussions by using a small portable keyboard. His teacher always previewed the lecture for him in a 5-minute summary and gave him a question to answer before the class began so he could be ready to share his typed response at the right time in the class discussion.

References

Donnellan, A. (1984). The criterion of the least dangerous assumption. Behavioral Disorders, 9, 141-150.

Harmin, M. (1994). Inspiring active learning: A handbook for teachers. A lexandria , VA : ASCD.

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