Cloze of Play

Session

6.5

Practice Report

  • Sally Conner (Ingfield Manor School – Scope)

Summary

This paper will outline a year’s curriculum, based on the use of Cloze activities with the trialled involvement of a Proxtalker, aiming to develop pupils’ skills in early AAC competencies.

Method/Activities/Techniques

Primary pupils at Ingfield attend weekly differentiated communication groups, with the AAC1 Group targeting early skills. Groups are planned by speech and language therapists but usually led by others, necessitating clearly written guidelines. There is a rolling programme of sessions plans, with a consistent format. All sessions start with singing and signing, followed by a symbol activity. By velcroing chosen symbols onto ‘Cloze sentence strips’, pupils will control play activities. With assistance to sequence their symbol sentences onto a Proxtalker, they will tell their peers what they have accomplished.

Results/Findings

The session leader has considerable previous experience with the AAC1 Curriculum, and has been able to compare this with the trialled addition of the Proxtalker. Feedback has been very positive. A similar, but adapted format, is now being used in the Secondary Department.

Conclusions

There will be a review at the end of the school year to see if Year 2 of the original curriculum will be adapted in line with changes to Year 1.

Level of Session

General

Age Group

Child

Interest

Primary school
Secondary school
Special school