used first-then and token boards to “motivate” kids to complete activities and earn their preferred snack item toy/activity. We used timers to indicate when that station was over and time to move on to the next activity. At the beginning of the year we often started out with play based stations to get kids used to being in an area and transitioning when there was that au- ditory cue to change. The intent was that as kids learned the routine of stations we would transition to the “more academic” tasks to get their stamina built up for longer and more struc- tured work time in kindergarten. Does this sound familiar? AAC COLLABORATION - LEAH’S TAKE AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Before Sara and I met, the ECSE teams I worked with tended to assume that young children can only do so much with visu- als and AAC. It seemed people believed the simpler, the better. But we know that typical children need exposure to a lot of dif- ferent words in order to learn language. In fact, if we withhold language or only model “ready, set…” until they can say GO, they usually fall behind in their language development. So why doesn’t the same principle apply to non speaking children who just need language to be in a different modality? If we only provide PECS or simple low tech pictures, we are not promoting the use of a robust system or autonomous com- munication, which is what language truly is. This is how I ex- plained the importance of a robust system to Sara - and she got it. While we had some bumps along the way, we were support- ive of each other and respected each other’s expertise. While I was working with Sara and we were slowly changing our approach, I was on other teams in other buildings who also had complex communicators. It was tricky navigating differing team dynamics and staff buy-in. Admittedly, I fumbled quite a few times with collaborative efforts. But those experiences taught me a lot about how to navigate conflict and successfully gain staff buy-in so we can all work towards building a commu- nication system for the child. First and foremost, we have to start where the staff are. If they have never even seen a high tech device, it is an unreal- istic expectation that they will be modeling on it consistently throughout the school day immediately. Perhaps a more real- istic expectation would be to get the device out of the back- pack, make sure it is available throughout their day at school, and charge it when it needs to be charged. One team I was on needed to start here - take the device out of the backpack and have it out for the school day for the first month of school. I put up “don’t forget my voice!” posters on the student’s lockers with a picture of the app and brief technical instructions. Prior to hanging these posters up, I gathered staff feedback on them. I left it open ended - “do you think something like this would be helpful? Do you think I need to add or change anything?” This seemed to increase staff buy-in because they had input and an
opportunity to connect with me. I have found that establishing relationships with staff mem- bers is key to the success of AAC implementation. AAC, no mat- ter the program or device, is a learning curve. We need to es- tablish a relationship with staff so they feel comfortable with us teaching them a brand new skill set. One way to do this is being a holistic team member. Think of ways you can ease their work- load while you are in the classroom - can you help by wash- ing tables? Taking students to the bathroom? Helping a child regulate so staff can take a breath? All of these little things add up to you showing that you care. We also need to recognize that there can be so much going on in the classroom that AAC might not be the priority every minute of everyday. By taking on a few tasks here and there, you could be freeing up time and cognitive energy for the staff to continue learning new skills with AAC. Like anything new we come across or introduce, there may be initial hesitation. And that is to be expected! Lean into the discomfort and be willing to have big picture, vulnerable con- versations once you have a well-established relationship. The staff need to be on the same page with how they envision chil- dren gaining skills and the overall priorities of the classroom. Communication is so important to other aspects of develop- ment that it can be embedded within most activities. This is where joint planning and problem solving is going to increase AAC use. It’s important that we reflect and re-evaluate how things are going and if our approach is supporting the child and the classroom dynamic. Doing this with another profes- sional to get their perspective is imperative to the student’s holistic success. We absolutely can and should be supporting other areas of development because it is about the child as a whole, not just our goals and objectives. Lastly, being open to problem-solving and setting aside time to co-plan helps create a sense of a team. This shows you are in it with all of the classroom staff and want to not only be supportive, but a part of helping the child be successful in the classroom. Sara and I have been told we are good at “getting curious” about children - we don’t just see the behavior, we try to look past it to underlying reasons which then lead to proac- tive solutions. Sometimes, the solution is modeling on the AAC device or programming in regulation strategies so the child has access to those all of the time. For one child, we found that teaching her programmed phrases in her AAC while she was regulated led to her using those strategies when she was be- coming dysregulated, then coming out of that dysregulation faster. This then supported not just her communication devel- opment, but also her social/emotional development, meeting both mine and Sara’s goals.
38 https://www.closingthegap.com/benefits-of-membership/ | February / March, 2025 Closing The Gap © 2025 Closing The Gap, Inc. All rights reserved.
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