More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education.
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I am a Special Education teacher in a K-2 Functional Communication Classroom. The majority of my students qualify for special education services under the criteria of Autism Spectrum Disorder, and are profoundly impacted by their disabilities. Most of my students are nonverbal and require alternative modes to communicate. The most efficient and cost effective alternative communication system we use is the Picture Exchange Communication System, with visual supports.
Unless students can learn forms of expressive communication to inform us of what they want, what they don’t want, or how they feel, they will instead express these through (often frustrated or excessive) behavior. Visual supports help the students to communicate through pictures which stand in for words. These pictures can then be arranged into phrases for the student to ask for what they need, to decline what they don’t want, or to express a thought. Color pictures are the keys to engagement and learning in my classroom.
About my class
I am a Special Education teacher in a K-2 Functional Communication Classroom. The majority of my students qualify for special education services under the criteria of Autism Spectrum Disorder, and are profoundly impacted by their disabilities. Most of my students are nonverbal and require alternative modes to communicate. The most efficient and cost effective alternative communication system we use is the Picture Exchange Communication System, with visual supports.
Unless students can learn forms of expressive communication to inform us of what they want, what they don’t want, or how they feel, they will instead express these through (often frustrated or excessive) behavior. Visual supports help the students to communicate through pictures which stand in for words. These pictures can then be arranged into phrases for the student to ask for what they need, to decline what they don’t want, or to express a thought. Color pictures are the keys to engagement and learning in my classroom.