AAC and Literacy in a High School: How We Did It

I’ve worked as a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) in a high school for over 15 years. I moved to a high school setting after working in elementary schools for about 15 years. I found that working in a high school was much more rewarding. This was typically the final years before some students entered the workforce. I felt my therapy intervention was more meaningful as I could try and directly relate it to life after high school. However, it wasn’t until about 4 years ago that I could make this important connection for my students in ‘self-contained’ or Instructional Learning Centers (ILC) classrooms. These are the classrooms that include students with significant or multiple disabilities. Typically, these classes are filled with students with diagnoses such as 

• autism, 
• Down Syndrome, 
• multiple disabilities, or
• intellectual disabilities. 

Around the year 2020, I read the book Comprehensive Literacy for All (CLFA) by Karen Erickson and David Koppenhaver. I was floored! Finally, a book that clearly outlined several strategies to teach ALL students how to read and write. As Dr. Erickson explains, literacy is a life skill! However, after I read it, I really couldn’t figure out how to directly bring these tools to my students. After all, I’m just the SLP and not the classroom teacher. In addition, I was facing the challenge of systematic ableism that is embedded in so many classrooms across the country. In my district, the belief system was that ‘students like this’ didn’t need to focus their high school years on learning to read and write. Instead, they should learn to match pictures (which most had been doing for years and years), fold towels (considered a life skill), or have writing goals that were to ‘use a name stamp’. So, for the first year, I read the book and held all the information to myself. 

The second year, I was able to join a few other Educational Staff Associates (ESA) and we read the book as a group project. While I was the only SLP, there were two OTs that were very interested in the book. Around this same time, we started to take self-paced classes on writing from Jane Farrall. We found other resources such as the Dynamic Learning Maps and Literacy Instruction for Students with Significant Disabilities. As a group, we had to figure out how to manage all this information and then teach it to our students. So, we first decided to master one skill during that year, and that was Predictable Chart Writing. This was easy enough for me to incorporate into my classroom communication groups. I became better at using it with students but then felt stuck. It seemed like a good method for younger students but didn’t seem like a good fit for my older students. 

During my third year of bringing literacy to the high school, a new teacher was hired to work in the ILC classroom. I took this as an opportunity to share all of my learning about teaching literacy to high schoolers. The teacher was interested! She wanted to learn all about the strategies and I wanted to share them all! After giving her a copy of the book to read, I began to lay out very clear and succinct strategies for the teacher to implement. I even shared this document that my CLFA group developed. As it turned out, my excitement turned to disappointment. The teacher, while enthusiastic, did nothing I asked her to do. What the heck!!! 

For my fourth year, this same teacher returned to teach the ILC classroom, but this time I took a different approach. The desire was there. I had to figure out the barrier. I needed to break things down even further, model what I expected the teacher to teach during the week, AND MAKE ALL OF THE MATERIALS. Once I did this, parts of the CLFA strategies were implemented daily. Students began to make progress!

Here is what I did: 

1. I talked to the teacher about implementing a ‘letter of the day’ (p.37-38 in CLFA book). I mapped out the 26-day cycles, gave them to the teacher, and gave her ideas on how to introduce them to the students. This was simple. Introduce the letter during the first-period morning meeting. Show a book on the Promethean board and have students take turns going to the board and finding the letter. Also, reference the letter throughout the day. 
2. I used my group therapy time to model Shared Reading. I did this every single week…..for weeks. Until all the staff felt comfortable with the term (‘shared reading’) and the strategies. I would sometimes visit the classroom during my non-therapy days and observe the teachers using shared reading strategies with the students! 
3. I made keyword binders for students who needed more support in learning how to spell. I referenced Chapter 10 in CLFA and used the rhyming patterns that were outlined in chart 10.2. Here is an example of a rhyme folder that students worked on weekly. They made the word, sorted the words, and used their AAC to talk about the pictures and spell words. I was able to go into the classroom one day each week to help the staff implement this daily program. 

I don’t claim that I’m doing everything correctly, but I am trying. This is the message that I would like to give to you all. Just try something. Take small steps. Try one literacy activity, get comfortable with that, and then try something new the next year. My initial mistake was trying to move too fast and not give enough support to the teacher. I had been learning about strategies from CLFA for years so I had lots of background knowledge. The teacher that I worked with did not have this same baseline. I should have been more patient. Instead, I was easily frustrated and blamed the teacher. Once I looked at partnering with the teacher through a different lens, the students started to make progress in their literacy journeys. 

So, this is how we did it and you can do it too. In the comments below, tell me what one thing you think you can manage to get started in the 2024/2025 school year. Also, I’m happy to help you take that first step. Just reach out in the comments below. 

Margaret