July 2024
As a group we read
the story “Lucas the Lion” which is a story of a young Lion learning how to
communicate with an assistive communication device. The children had many
questions throughout the story, and were very interested as to how they can use
the story/talker to communicate with their new peer, TE. We asked the group,
“Why does Lucas the Lion need the device?” SM said, “To help the lion talk,”
and ED added, “To help other people understand what he needs.” In the story,
Lucas the Lion introduced his talking device in a variety of different ways. In
one instance, Lucas the Lion used his communication device to let his mother
know that he had a booboo. ND heard this, and he made the connection that his
mom “also fixes his booboos” at home, “but he able to tell his mom what
he needs” without the talker device, “but that’s okay that the lion needs the
talker.” LT was wondering how he could communicate with TE, “ if he doesn’t
listen or respond, what else can we say or do? Can we use the talker to
communicate with him?” ED kindly reminded LT about the laminated copy of the
device that lives on the desk in our educator corner, which has a copy of the
screen on TE’s device which our friends can point at and say the words to try
to speak with our friend, TE! They were wondering if they could use the lion’s
talker to communicate with TE, so we got into a discussion of how the pictures
and words might be a little different, but the general idea is still the same,
and they could use the laminated copy of the paper to communicate.
Rylee Gemmell, Educator
Abby Skok, Educator
Payal, RECE
