A school district speech pathologist turned to Beaverton Education Foundation (BEF) for help when she faced a challenge: students were using assistive and augmentative communication (AAC) technology to communicate better in their classes, but there wasn’t enough technology for all those students’ teachers. For the technology to be most effective, both students and teachers need it.
The solution: BEF leveraged funds from the Hoover Family Foundation to provide software enabling 34 teachers and speech and language pathologists to better serve more than 100 students in 31 specialized classroom projects across 23 schools this year.
Providing this technology for use on educator devices, allows staff to fully incorporate AAC language into classroom routines and makes it an integral part of the school community, says Cassie Sementelli, the District’s augmentative communication specialist, who’s leading the charge implementing the new technology across the District.
“Teachers and staff benefit from being able to ‘show’ instead of just ‘tell’ students how, when and why they can use their communication tools to participate in classroom routines, demonstrate their understanding of the curriculum and interact socially with their peers,” says Sementelli.
This spring, dedicated iPads were loaded with seven of the most frequently used assistive and augmentative communication apps to help teachers and speech and language pathologists support the communications needs of their students. In February, Sementelli hosted a “Virtual Kick Off” party for educators to provide initial training on the new tools, and more trainings will be offered as new apps are rolled out on the iPads and to provide opportunities for educators to share ideas, challenges, and expertise.