Students who use AAC need opportunities during each school day to function independently. This gives the students a sense of being competent, contributing members of the classroom and school community. This also gives the students a greater sense of their own ability to have control of their achievements and success in school, both academically and socially. The focus for our students is to move toward greater autonomy, independence and self-advocacy.

The student’s educational team members (teacher, instructional assistant, speech language pathologist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, assistive technologist) maximize opportunities for the student to be self-determined in their own education, in their social development, in their communication and language development, and in all activities during the school day, both academic and recreational by:

• Identifying and maximizing opportunities for inclusion and participation
• Identifying and removing barriers to inclusion and participation
• Engineering the environment
• Providing necessary supports to the student
• Engaging and training peer partners

Identify Opportunities

Identify and Remove Barriers

By renovating playgrounds and making them accessible to students of all abilities, physical barriers to play are being systematically removed. New play structures on level, rubberized surfaces with wheelchair ramps up to all levels as well as equipment that can be manipulated by students with physical challenges is becoming more commonplace in school and community playgrounds.

Other examples of accessible play equipment are bucket swings with harnesses for trunk-support and sand/water tables with adjustable heights. Even given all of these improvements, there can still remain barriers on the playground that need to be assessed for students with Severe Speech and Physical Impairments (SSPI). These include access to communication tools and devices in this loud outdoor environment as well as access to play equipment that has not yet been adapted for physical needs.

Engineer the Environment

Engineering the environment includes adaptations that staff can make to equipment and to the playground space to make it more accessible for students and to ensure their safety. It is also essential to engineer the play environment and equipment in order to maximize opportunities for social engagement and to minimize the need for adult support. The adults supporting students at recess need to continue to assess activities on a regular basis for equipment needs (appropriately adapted), communication needs, mobility needs and peer interest.

Some of examples of adaptations that can be made to engineer the environment are:

• Defining a level playing surface
• Demarcating play area with orange cones
• Providing adapted bowling ramp and belt to hold bowling pins
• Providing T-Ball stand
• Visual display of recess game with activity sequence, rules of game and roles of players defined

Provide Necessary Supports

In order for our students to have maximum participation and inclusion in recess activities with their peers, it is essential that they have the appropriate assistive technology tools required for independent communication and mobility. For communication, this consists of appropriate high-tech and low-tech communication tools and devices that are easily accessible and programmed with vocabulary appropriate to the recess activity. For mobility, this consists of equipment that allows for self-initiated movement and engagement within recess activities as well as social orientation and interaction with peers.

The adult supporting students at recess needs to assess activities on a regular basis for any additional assistive technologies necessary to meet students’ ongoing communication and mobility needs on the playground.

Engage and Train Peer Partners

Peer interactions on the playground provide a natural context for authentic friendships to build. In addition, peers provide natural supports to students with severe speech and physical impairments thereby allowing the instructional assistant to step back and fade their support.

Through peer relationships:

• Children learn how to engage in reciprocal interactions
• Children see that they have commonalities/common interests
• Children develop understanding and acceptance of individual differences
• Children experience play that is child-centered and not adult driven
• Additional peers will enter in when the focus is on the kids and game.
• Children have opportunities to build self-esteem/self-confidence

The Instructional Assistant can engage, educate and encourage peer partners by:

• Providing Communication Awareness training
• Providing ongoing modeling and support
• Allowing time for students to get to know each other and their varied modes of communication
• Allowing students to make their own choices, problem-solve together and negotiate play
• Ensuring that peers are comfortable using communication strategies
• Ensuring that peers are aware of equipment safety and limitations for a particular activity
• Ensuring that peers have knowledge about student’s motor ability and how student can use own movement to manipulate play equipment.
• Encouraging consistent peer buddies as a means to increase student’s comfort and confidence.

Role of the Instructional Assistant

The role of the Instructional Assistant is critical to the success of students with severe speech and physical impairments in inclusive recreational settings. The four key areas of support that Instructional Assistants provide to these students are the following:

1. Safety
2. Physical Support
3. Communication Support
4. Social Support

While providing support to the student, consider the following:

• Monitor the situation for student safety, access and appropriate level of support
• Step in when necessary – Fade back as soon as possible
• Evaluate the situation for other supports that may allow fading back instructional assistant support (e.g. visual supports/scaffolds; tactile supports; AT supports; natural peer supports, etc.)
• Incorporate the supports that allow for more student independence and less reliance on instructional assistant support
• Evaluate the situation to determine social supports that would increase student’s comfort/confidence level (e.g., being in groups with familiar peers, staying with a group of familiar peers on the playground for a period of time rather than changing groups too frequently)
• Ensure that the peer partners remain interested in the activity with the focus student:
  • Ensure that all students have a role in the game and are able to make decisions about the course of the game or activity.
  • Ensure that all students’ opinions are included and all are seen as important members of the group
  • Encourage students to create/make-up roles and rules
  • Encourage students to suggest different props that could make the game more interesting
• Ensure that turn-taking opportunities happen:
  • Establish rules of the game
  • Model turn-taking strategies that students can use
  • Provide equipment that equalizes the number of turns (e.g., throwing dice, using a spinner, etc.)
  • Encourage students to speak up about taking a turn with their partner
  • Provide voice output with attention getting phrases “my turn!”; “hey, I want to go!”; “your turn!”.
• Ensure the physical support that is provided is respectful and only as needed:
  • Provide physical support minimally, only as needed, and unobtrusively from behind so peers are facing each other
  • Give hand-under-hand assistance so students are guiding movement with their own hand on top
  • Provide mobility device that allows best possible opportunities to participate (e.g., hands-free walker that allows student to hold the ball)
  • Support students in ways that encourage movement

With the Planning For Independence Framework completed, the environment engineered and assistive technology supports in place, the Instructional Assistant provides support as unobtrusively as possible to foster the independence and autonomy of the students and to allow peers to provide natural supports.

The progression for systematically fading Instructional Assistant support is as follows:

1. Model appropriate interactions for both the student and the peers within the interaction.
2. Provide coaching.
3. Step out.
4. Observe.
5. Provide additional support only as needed.