(press enter) Birch Wood School Where a Love of Learning Grows Communication At Birch Wood School we have a Communication and Therapy team. The team is made up of communication lead, speech and language therapy team, vision support teacher, hearing impaired teacher, music therapist, AAC teacher, communication mentors, physiotherapists and occupational therapists. As a team we work closely with each other to support student’s communication and therapy needs. We also work directly with parents and school staff. Communication is of key importance for all students. All methods of communication are valued and encouraged across the school day. Communication is a key focus at Birch Wood. Some students have additional therapy sessions to develop their communication skills. We work towards a ‘total communication environment’ where speech and language, objects of reference, body signs, photographs, Makaton signing, symbols and AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) are used throughout the school day, to assist our students to understand and communicate to the best of their abilities. Visual Timetables enable our young people to understand what they are doing over a period of time such as the school day. They give structure to the day and help reduce anxiety levels. Symbols are used to represent the tasks, activities or lessons and these are taught to the pupil. Some visual timetables have an objects of reference on them as well. Some students need a communication book to support they communication. These are pointing books and are individual to each student. The students have a core vocabulary page with symbols and they will be working on building sentences. PECS means – picture exchange communication system. It supports student’s communication by exchanging photographs/pictures or symbols for an object with others. Some students use Big Macks to request a choice or to say a simple message. Students press the button to communicate. It can also provide opportunities to do intensive interaction to model sounds and language. Switches are used by our young people to access ICT. We have switch adapted toys which switch on and off by the students pressing the switch. They help the students request more of an activity or to stop, this will develop a young person’s understanding of cause and effect. An object of reference is any object which is used to represent an item, activity, place or person. Understanding real objects is the first stage of symbolic development. Objects of reference are used with young people who find it difficult to understand spoken words, signs, symbols or photograph. For example – a cup is introduced to the student before a drink. As you walk around our school you will see sound buttons with an object of reference with it. They help students to navigate their way around our school by saying where they are. Some students have access to eye gaze technology throughout the week. They use eye gaze to play games with friends or to make simple choices. Eye gaze or eye tracking is a way of accessing your computer or communication aid using a mouse that you control with your eyes. They system follows your eyes with amazing accuracy to see where you are looking on the screen. Making smoothies with adapted blenders playing with switch adapted toys Using choice boards Search for: RECENT POSTS COVID letter – 29th Nov 21 2 December 2021 Christmas Jumper Day 1 December 2021 Christmas Lunch – Wednesday 15th December 2021 30 November 2021 ARCHIVES Archives Select Month December 2021 (2) November 2021 (14) October 2021 (2) September 2021 (1) August 2021 (8) June 2021 (16) May 2021 (1) April 2021 (5) March 2021 (2) February 2021 (1) November 2020 (1) September 2020 (2) August 2020 (1) July 2020 (3) IMPORTANT DATES DEC 10 All day Save the Children, Xmas jumper day DEC 15 All day Christmas Lunch VIEW CALENDAR FOLLOW US FIND WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR Search for: RECENT POSTS COVID letter – 29th Nov 21 Christmas Jumper Day + − © OpenStreetMap contributors. ⤢ Home Our School CPD & Outreach Curriculum Calendar Careers Support & Wellbeing Contact Kinteract School Gateway Coronavirus Info 2021 Birch Wood School01664 483340office@birchwoodschool.co.uk Created by Click and Simple in Melton Mowbray