Grants in Action | 2024/2025 School Year
During the 2023/2024 school year, Perrysburg Schools Foundation approved a grant request for visual communication boards. Boards were installed at the playgrounds of Fort Meigs Elementary School, Frank Elementary School, Toth Elementary School, Woodland Elementary School and Hull Prairie Intermediate School. These boards help students with communication differences, such as those who rely on Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) devices, by providing symbols paired with words for non-verbal communication. The goal is to give all children a way to express their needs, build social connections, and engage fully in playground activities.
Jessica Faust, Intervention Specialist at Woodland Elementary School, shared: “The communication boards were installed last fall with the primary goal being an aid to supplement and enhance communication for all students. All children should have a voice on the playground not only to make their wants and needs known but also to assist in fostering and maintaining meaningful relationships with adults and peers.
“Since the communication boards are symbol-based, the boards have been a benefit to our students with disabilities who may require picture-based communication supports and also for some of our students who are English language learners and may not be able to communicate functionally with their peers without support. Since most pictures are universal, all students are able to utilize and understand the symbols, which levels the playing field and provides all students with an access point to engage with their peers at recess.
“The boards also increase awareness of communication differences, provide opportunities for education for all students on the needs and benefits of AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication), and aid in fostering an environment of acceptance and understanding of the use of AAC devices and of students with communication differences. Students often have questions about how and why some of our students utilize various communication methods or are unable to communicate verbally. Seeing the communication boards on the playground, which are accessible by all students, helps to destigmatize alternative methods of communication. The boards have certainly been a benefit to our school community and we are so appreciative of the PSF grant that allowed for the installation of these for our playgrounds.”
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