Supporting Independence by Elizabeth Dean
Arden College is an independent specialist further education college for students of 16 to 25 years with learning diffi culties and disabilities. The speech and language therapy service works through collaboration with teachers and support
staff. All resources are developed jointly by teaching, residential and speech and
language therapy staff. Our ethos is to promote well being, independence,
and achievement by maximising communication and self advocacy skills.
This communication support is provided for six main groups of students:
1. Those who have very early communication skills (that are becoming intentional)
2. Service users who have diffi culty understanding the spoken word
3. Those who have diffi culty expressing themselves through the spoken word
4. Individuals who have problems with understanding the organisation of
their world
5. Service users who are non literate and who cannot access written information
6. Those whose challenging behaviour is related to the communication diffi culties outlined in points 1-5.
The resources offered to residential units depend on the requirements of the students. These resources range from objects, to photographs, symbols
and the written word. In addition, we use devices such as ‘speaking photo
albums’ or ‘speaking buttons’ to make speaking books (e.g. welcome booklets)
and notices. For students with some literacy skills, we use symbols and
photos to support reading.
Assessment and monitoring
• All students have an Initial Communication Assessment which is written so that the fi ndings, conclusions and recommendations are available to all staff groups.
• All students enter the college with a Communication Passport which is updated at regular intervals.
• On the basis of this assessment, and other information such as the Passport, we make recommendations about good practice for the support of the individual student.
• These recommendations may include support such as provision of a communication book (symbol or pictorial), or a high-tech communication aid (visual schedules etc). These are made by dedicated technical support staff or purchased and appropriate staff training relevant to those tools are implemented.
Symbol books
Symbol books are personalised to meet the needs of individual students. Some (like in the examples here) are designed for service users with more complex needs. They allow the student to signal specifi c choices â€"and offer some comments to staff about the way a student may signal those choices,
almost like a cut-down version of a Communication Passport. We also provide a range of specifi c prompt cards (together with sign prompts for staff) to help individual service users to carry out a task more independently (for example, cleaning teeth or showering). SLT support for residential units The SLT offer a programme of support aimed at promoting communication skills, thereby maximising
independence and achievement. This service is implemented through a ‘hub
and wheel’ system in which the SLT supports, and works collaboratively
with, key members of staff (for example Curriculum Managers, Residential Team
Leaders) who support the role out the initiatives to their area. The support offered includes training in relevant skills (signing etc.) and the use of visual resources aimed to help students to organise their world such as:
• labels for kitchen and bedroom cupboards/drawers
• rota boards for routine
• menu boards (together with relevant ‘tiles’ for meals and ingredients)
• accessible task, or recipe, cards
• accessible versions of relevant documentation (for example, the complaints procedure, the ‘house’ rules)
• symbol sets and boards to support choice making (for activities), or discussions (e.g. about feelings or behaviour).
• visual schedules and timelines to organise the day Arden College has developed a
comprehensive set of resources to promote independence and communication across its residential units. The success of this initiative has largely been due to the close working relationship between teaching and residential staff and the speech and language therapists together with excellent technical support.