Promoting Academic Achievement for Early Communicators of All Ages

Abstract

A review of best practices and recent research efforts provide guidance for serving school-age early communicators with complex communication needs (CCN) and significant cognitive disabilities (SCD). Our aim as SLPs working with students with CCN and SCD is to support the development of intentional and symbolic communication abilities and implement augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems that provide the means for interaction with a range of partners for varied purposes on a myriad of topics. Consistent exposure to knowledgeable communication partners who respond in meaningful ways to expressive behaviors leads the way for learning to use symbolic forms of communication. It is through our instruction and aided language input across a range of contexts that our students with SCD learn and assign meaning to the symbolic representations we teach. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have heightened expectations about what students with SCD should know and be able to do and offer contexts that emphasize communication as an integral part of learning. Meeting these expectations through active participation and interaction in all learning activities requires reliable access to systems of communication that support ongoing development of abilities as a speaker, listener, reader, and writer.