At Alfreton Park Community Special School, we understand that communication is a vital part of our pupils’ education. We endeavour to provide a Total Communication environment, which is a way of supporting communication using a variety of methods. Total Communication helps our pupils make choices, make their needs known and be involved in making decisions about their lives.
We believe it is very important for our pupils to be able to communicate and equally as important for everyone who works with our pupils to support them appropriately.
Across school, we support communication in the following ways according to individual need:
To support understanding of language and communication
To support expressive language and communication
Rachel Cowlam is our Speech and Language Therapist and attends the school every Tuesday afternoon. Rachel works closely with Tracy Cross, Communications Manager. Rachel and Tracy complete an annual assessment of the language and communication levels of all pupils, during the summer term. Rachel meets teachers every term to discuss the speech, language and communication needs of all pupils in school. Pupils then receive support in one or more of the following ways:
Working with families
Letters will be sent home each term to let families know what speech, language and communication support is being provided for their child. Rachel and Tracy are available to meet with parents on request. Please contact Tracy in school if you would like to arrange a time to meet with one or both of them.
Here are some useful links:
Makaton (Sign Language)
http://www.signedlanguage.co.uk/makaton.html
http://www.makaton.org/shop/shopping/browseStore/Free-resources
www.communicationmatters.org.uk
PECS (Pictorial Exchange Communication System)
http://www.pecs-unitedkingdom.com/
TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children)
https://www.teacch.com/about-us/what-is-teacch
TaSSeLs (Tactile Signing for Sensory Learners)
https://www.pavpub.com/tassels/
AAC (Alternative & Augmentative Communication)