Communication

Communication is the means of being able to "..say what you want, to whoever you want to say it to, whenever you want to and however you choose to say it." Gayle Porter.

At Cloverdale ESC, we believe that communication is the most useful functional skill that we can teach our students with Complex Communication Needs. All staff members have been trained to incorporate communication pedagogy within their daily practice. We believe that every student with Complex Communication Needs should have a voice, and as such, we ensure every child with Complex Communication Needs has access to an Alternative Augmentative Communication (AAC) device. Every classroom has been provided with Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Display (PODD) books to ensure language is modeled throughout the day in all aspects of the regular classroom routine. All students are supported to use any AAC system that has been recommended for them.

Modeling AAC

At Cloverdale ESC, teachers regularly model communication throughout the day on students’ personal devices. Modelling helps children to see both the opportunities and the language that they could be using on their device for a range of purposes. Students can learn to communicate in order to make comments, exchange greetings, ask questions, direct others, argue, refuse, express emotions, make requests, answer questions and more.