Communican Program Part I - The stuggle to accept what may be seen as 'giving up on our principles'.

Sorry to have been away for a while, work and illness kept me from keeping up with the blog that I promised myself I would not ignore!!!  Right so that worked out great LOL

But here I am almost fighting fit and thinking it's about time I got back in the saddle.

I was asked for more information about the communication program that we have been developing here in NYC and how we are melding it with the more traditional CE program that was here before....I use traditional it a fairly looses sense as this program services a population of severely multiply disabled students, all of whom are non-verbal, many of whom have seizure disorders and multiple medical issues combined with CP, developmental delay and the usual undiagnosed conditions.

With a completely non-verbal population communication has always been prominent in our environment and over the past 5 years we have seen it develop using traditional symbol systems, low tech devices such as step-by-step switches and devices such as the Techtalk.  Access was always an issue we struggled with.  The physicality of the CE program and the desire to have the students out of their wheelchairs and at the plinths with minimal support increased this challenge and meant that we reached a certain level of achievement and then we hit 'the wall'.  Without bringing in more supportive seating and allowing the students the best opportunity to access their communication systems we were limited with how much further we could lead them.

This is where we were last year!  The our school board of directors invited Pati King DeBaun to come and work with us.  She worked with us on access and did everything in her power to help us maintain our conductive environment while maximizing the access and communication opportunities for the students.  It was several months into the new program before I began to feel the strain of trying to keep the children out of their supported seating and at the plinths and still allow them maximum success with their communication system.
I felt as though I was letting myself down, letting down the principles of CE and more importantly that I was some how failing my students.  It was a stressful and tough couple of months where I wrestled with my conscience and my fellow conductors as to what we should do.
That was nearly 6 months ago and since then we have made concessions which when seen out of the context of our school would seem like (excuse the phrase) 'spitting in the eye of CE'.
The students are sitting in whatever is the most secure and best positioning for them in order to allow the the opportunity to use their communication system as easily and as effectively as possible.  My justifications for this are numerous and I believe worth sacrifice of CE method as I truly believe we are still holding true to the principles of CE.
The students we serve in NYC come to us to learn independence, both physical, emotional, social and cognitive.  By refusing to allow them to sit in wheelchairs or adapted seating I had realized I was preventing them from achieving this independence in all but the physical aspects!  What right had I to refuse to let these students access to their environment through communication, social interaction and academic learning?

And so our 'hybrid' program began to take shape.  The students were split into two groups by academic levels and in order to maximize use of conductors and the one part-time special educator on staff the groups alternate their daily routine.  One group does their CE programs in the morning while the other group has academics and communication and then in the afternoon the groups switch.  It seems to be working...but we are always looking for ways to make the program more effective.

So maybe we no longer look like the 'traditional' CE program...but I for one believe we have found a more effective way to service the needs of our students.  We are achieving a high level of functioning, greater confidence, more independence and an increase in motivation from all the students.  If nothing else that shows to me we are doing something right!  And while we will continue to look for improvements I intend to see this program continues and that our students benefit from all aspects both CE and communication related.

I'll bring you more details of how the Communican program is structured soon!