Inclusion and Respect Focus of AAC Awareness Month at Mandalay

To support kindness and inclusion, speech language pathologists Jenny Kleinfelder and Emily McCann spent a day visiting classrooms at Mandalay Elementary School for AAC Awareness Month. 

It is observed every October to raise global awareness about augmentative and alternative communication, and celebrate the individuals who use different tools to communicate. On Oct. 14, Ms. Kleinfelder and Ms. McCann visited all classes, kindergarten through fifth grade, for 15-minute presentations about AAC awareness along with an activity. They showed some tools that nonverbal students use including iPads and communication boards. 

“A lot of students communicate differently,” Ms. McCann said. “The way to promote inclusion is through consistent education.”

This is the fourth year they visited classrooms for AAC Awareness Month. Ms. Kleinfelder and Ms. McCann also connected it to this year’s new R.I.S.E. Up initiative at Mandalay Elementary. The “R” stands for “respect” and the goal of the presentation was to foster a school environment where students respect each other’s differences and each other’s voices. 

“It’s so important that all students feel included,” Ms. Kleinfelder said.

For the culminating activity in each presentation, students did a short writing reflection. Ms. Kleinfelder and Ms. McCann passed around sticky notes to every student which had a prompt such as “I can respect other’s words by…” and “I want others to know…” The collection of notes was then used to make a schoolwide display.