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Give Them Something to Talk About!

School:: Holly Hill School
Subject:: Special Needs Students
Teacher:: Robin Weiss
Students Impacted:: 18
Grade:: Pre K - 5
Date:: September 15, 2023

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

FUTURES Foundation - $849.74

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 26

This grant has helped even more students than expected. It was written for children who have extremely unintelligible speech, and it was very effective with that target group. The CVES (Core Vocabulary Exchange System) tools enabled those kids to communicate more effectively, and decreased their frustration. CVES has an interactive component which distinguishes it from traditional core boards, and it accelerated learning and engagement. But the benefits didn't end there...

As I became more familiar with the materials, I saw how they could be used to support children with other types of speech and language disorders. The tools became part of my therapy with Pre-K students who have autism, and older children who have sentence formulation deficits. I've even been able to use CVES to adapt books and create materials that focus on specific language goals such as prepositions and identifying feelings. The list keeps growing. I am so grateful to the FUTURES foundation for funding this project and I'll be using these materials for a long time to come.

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Making requests

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Identifying feelings

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Learning prepositions

Original Grant Overview

Goal

Young children with severe speech impairments are often unable to engage in a discussion, respond to the teacher, ask a question, share their feelings, or interact with peers. Many develop behavior problems out of sheer frustration, while others become self-conscious and socially withdrawn. My goal is to provide low-tech tools that allow these children to express themselves, until their spoken language becomes a viable form of communication.

What will be done with my students

There will be 3 steps in the process: training, independent or semi-independent use, and application to the curriculum and a wider variety of purposes.

1) Students will learn to construct messages using CVES (Core Vocabulary Exchange System), a unique program which places core vocabulary (the words we use most often) in an interactive format.

2) Once a student can use CVES with minimal support, the materials will be placed in the classroom and used throughout the day. In a class with several children who need CVES, the materials may be placed in a central location, so that all the kids can access them. The CVES materials may also be supplemented with vocabulary tailored to particular needs and interests.

3) Students can gradually expand their use of CVES, and the materials may be adapted to align with the classroom curriculum. CVES will help speech impaired students work toward and achieve many of the of the Florida standards for Pre-K through first grade, including:

a) PRE-K Language and Literacy
C1- Show an understanding of words and their meanings
C2- Use increased vocabulary to describe objects, actions and events
D2- Connect words, phrases and sentences to build ideas
E1- Use verbal and nonverbal communication and language to express needs and feelings, share experiences and resolve problems
E2- Ask questions, and respond to adults and peers in a variety of settings

b) KINDERGARTEN Language Arts
LAFS.K.RL.1.1- With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text
LAFS.K.RL.1.2- With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details
LAFS.K.RL.3.7- With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).
LAFS.K.RL.3.9- With prompting and support, compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories

c) GRADE 1 Language Arts
LAFS.1.RI.2.4- Ask and answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text
LAFS.1.RI.1.2- Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text
LAFS.1.RI.1.3 Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text
LAFS.1.RL.1.3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

Benefits to my students

Throughout our lives, we use listening and speaking as our primary modes of communication, and often take those abilities for granted. Few of us can appreciate the devastation of a child who is able to formulate thoughts, but unable to intelligibly express them. They suffer from enormous frustration and experiential deprivation, and often experience devastating ripple effects on their academics, social interaction, emotional well-being and independent functioning. For reasons we don't understand, the number of young children with severe articulation disorders has dramatically increased in our community, creating a concurrent need for more communication tools. Last year I purchased some beginner and intermediate CVES kits and was happily astounded by the results. CVES not only worked better than any other system I've used (and I started working with augmentative communication in the 1990s), but it had a favorable impact on the development of early literacy skills. I'm still using last year's materials, but now I have even more students who would benefit from them. CVES reduces a child's frustration and provides them with a means of expression, while we simultaneously work on their speech skills in therapy. The students will outgrow CVES as their speech improves, but there will be new children coming to school who will happily inherit the materials. The CVES kits are very durable and I anticipate using them for years. Moreover, I learned last year how to adapt and expand the CVES boards to reach a wider group of kids, and get the most bang for the buck.

Budget Narrative

CVES materials are only available from one vendor, Northern Speech Services. I currently need three intermediate sets, and six beginner sets to cover the needs in two first grade classes, four Kindergarten classes and three Pre-K classes.