“During one of our brainstorming sessions with Lisa Ellis (Inclusive Solutions), Anne-Sophie De Caesemaeker and Marie Charles, the amazing speech therapy students that volunteered at Die Sterreweg from the Artevelde University in Gent, Belgium, the idea of these communication strips were borne.
These strips of images are part of a picture communication system that we have recently implemented within Die Sterreweg, whereby the kids are encouraged to use symbols (pictures) to communicate feelings, needs, wants, and everyday happenings, etc. This enables our kids to better communicate with their caregivers.
Some children are not able to access language verbally, which makes it difficult to communicate, however with this system in place, we are able to stimulate more language in our centre.
This works well for both our verbal and non-verbal kids. Verbal scholars are able to increase their vocabulary as they are exposed to more language input. Non-verbal children are better able to communicate what they would otherwise not be able to – by making use of the symbols on the picture strips.
It’s still something that is fairly new to both the carers and the children, yet we have already yielded some positive results from this. There is still a long road ahead of us, but what a privilege to be able to give a child the ability to be able to express themselves in a way that others can understand them.”
Tasha-Leigh Williams Occupational Therapist (and heart of gold) Die Sterreweg
