Adapt Your Teaching

for Persons W ho Are

N onverba l/ Speech Impa ired
by Lou ise Tu ck er Jon es
bviously, the most difficult
part of teaching verbally
challenged students is their
limited communication. Notice, I
said lim ited, not lack of. Every
child communicates in some
waywhether with facial
expressions, sign language, a
communication device, gestures,
eye blinks, tantrums, or words.
Our job as parents and teachers is
to learn each childs particular
form of communication and adapt
our teaching to meet his needs.

Pray and Act

The first thing we need to do is
pray. Ask God to make you
sensitive to individual needs and
to unique opportunities to interact
with each child. Then try some of
the following suggestions:
Offer choices instead of op enend ed questions. Rather than
asking what color of marker
Mary wants, let her choose. If
Mary has some verbal skills, hold
up two markers and ask, Mary,
do you want red or blue? If
Mary verbalizes, she will
probably also point to or even
pick up the desired marker.
Praise her for using language
skills. Encourage verbal
communication when in an
environment where the child will
be successful.
Ad d m usic and m otion!
Students love to sing and move.
Music activities promote
communication and expression,
with or without speech.
If p ossible, access an
augm entativ e sp eech
com m unication d ev ice. Both
children and adults enjoy being

able to touch a picture and hear

the word or phrase they wish to
speak. Some students may use a
head wand.
Learn som e surv iv al w ord s
in sign language such as toilet
and help, along w ith fam iliar
greetings in ord er to
com m unicate w ith a p erson
w ho is totally d ep end ent on
sign. Even if you have an aide
who signs, you need personal
interaction with each child.
Ask stud ents to p oint to a
p icture p ortraying a sp ecified
action rather than asking them
to d escribe the action.
Use d ram a. Dress in biblical
costume and act out the lesson.
Let students dress up and be
part of the story. If they wish to
verbalize, dont worry if you
cant understand. God
understands and so do many
of the other students. In fact
many times one student
translates for another.
Students Help Students
A few years ago I was teaching a
class consisting of both disabled
and nondisabled students. One
verbally challenged young man got
upset over something, but I
couldnt understand what he was
saying. Finally one of the
nondisabled students spoke up,
Hes telling you that Brian took
his chair.
Sure enough, when I switched
the students to their proper seats,
the problem was solved. This
young lady had been in the
classroom only twice, yet God
allowed her to understand and
translate for a child in need. Never
underestimate how God works!

SPECIAL EDUCATION T ODAY

34

Enhance Communication
One great danger in teaching
students with limited
communication is assuming they
dont understand any more than
they speak. This is a real
detriment to the student. If
you dont converse freely, you
deny students verbal stimulation
that improves their own speech
and you also limit their learning
potential.
Keep in mind that everything
you do is teaching a student
something, so watch your own
mannerisms. Smile a lot. Try to
use direct eye contact and
gestures when you speak to
help with comprehension. Use
simple, colorful words that paint
pictures in students minds.
Remember, they are probably
understanding more than you
know. They just cant relay that
message back to you.
Finally understand that
everything the student does is also
speaking to you. A frown, a
downward glance, eyes opened
wide, a smile, nod, murmur, eye
blink, sign, gesture, or shake of the
head all are communicating. Dont
miss them! By learning how
students communicate, you in
turn learn how to communicate
with them.
Lou ise Tu ck er Jon es, m other of a
special n eeds child, serv es on
the Special Min istries Team at
Hen derson Hills Baptist Chu rch
in Edm on d, Ok lahom a. She
coau thored Extraordinary
Kids (Focu s on the Fam ily
Pu blishers, 1997).