Meeting the Communication Needs of Students With Severe and Multiple Disabilities in General Education Classrooms

Abstract

The importance of communication skills for students with the most significant disabilities is highlighted. Specific attention is paid to the need to recognize and understand the unconventional means of communication that a particular student may be using. Those around the student build on this present skill performance by being responsive to all communicative efforts by the student, making use of different naturally occurring opportunities, providing different means for communication, and recognizing the reinforcing nature of social interactions. Allowing students with significant disabilities to be more than requesters of items by giving them other ways to share information about themselves is addressed. Some ideas for augmenting the student's communicative efforts are provided, as well as the critical importance of team collaboration to support the student's efforts.