As special educators, it is so important to help our students expand their  functions of communication and enhance their communication skills. It is especially important for our students who use any kind of augmentative communication that we help them to build their communication skills.

In this episode, I am sharing 8 things you can do to help support communication within your classroom, particularly if you’re working with students who use augmentative communication, including the importance of core vocabulary, why we want to combine communication activities, and providing the “Goldilocks” of communication.

If you are looking for more ways to ramp up your communication instruction for the coming year, join me inside the Special Educator Academy! There is a whole set of resources for communication and so many more topics that I know will help take your teaching to the next level! I can’t wait to see you inside! 

03:13 - Why we need to focus on the function of communication rather than the form of communication

04:40 - What core vocabulary is and why it’s important when building students’ communication skills

08:31 - Why we should start with requesting but then move on 

09:14 - The importance of creating communication opportunities throughout the day

10:36 - Why students need the opportunities to practice combining communication activities

11:36 - How to model for students using their tools of communication

12:46 - The benefits of having repeated practice of communication activities for students

14:42 - What the “Goldilocks of communication” is and why it’s crucial in helping students build their communication skills

Grab the transcript and resource links at http://autismclassroomresources.com/episode165

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Want more information about the Special Educator Academy? SpecialEducatorAcademy.com

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