Hello, friends!
It's been a little bit since we’ve chatted. Here in New York, our last day of school is tomorrow. Between the end of my own school year, email issues, my children and some very exciting developments in my family, I’ve been swamped. More about that later!
If you are new here, welcome! If your break has already begun, I hope you are relaxing and reconnecting with yourself and your people. I know some of us are still decompressing, so I promise not to blow up your inbox with constant and repetitive emails. My aim is to provide relevant and interesting content to school library media specialists, especially those in the specials rotation, and all teachers who teach how to read, write and research!
As you may know, I am a mom of three. My oldest daughter is a sophomore in college and is doing an internship this summer in NYC. My 14 year old just finished her freshman year of high school, and is looking forward to a summer filled with musical theater camps. The girls are doing great, but my 12 year old son, Brendan, has had a major breakthrough this year, and it has affected how I teach my special needs students in the library. I learned to live by a short but powerful phrase: Presume Competence.
Brendan is living his best life in the pool!
Presume Competence? What does that even mean?
My son has autism and global apraxia. He is an unreliable speaker, what we used to call non-verbal. That label never truly fit him, because he can speak (although it’s extremely difficult for him due to the apraxia). The truly astronomical shift happened when we, as a family, began to presume competence. We always suspected he had average to above average intelligence, despite the tests that said otherwise. I’m embarrassed as a mom and a teacher to admit this, but I had no idea that my son could actually read. I had no clue he could add and subtract. I knew he knew his abc’s and could count out loud to thirty.
It turns out that he’s been in there absorbing knowledge like a sponge for his whole life, but we could only access a tiny fraction of his knowledge and personality because of his difficulty with communication. Intelligence tests depend on the ability of the person being tested to communicate their answers, and Brendan never had a reliable form of communication, until now. He always had an AAC device, but now, he can communicate by spelling out words and phrases on a letter stencil board using a system called S2C, or Spelling 2 Communicate.
It has changed our world, and it has changed how I teach.
Instead of hesitating to read aloud to my son and my students, which I used to do because I didn’t think they were listening or absorbing any of it, I presume they are competent. I now speak to and teach my students with similar conditions as I would their age level peers. I offer them age-appropriate books and content, because I presume that they are capable of absorbing it. They may have motor challenges that prevent them from verbalizing their knowledge or being able to write a response by hand, but Spelling to Communicate has leveled the playing field for my son in a way that has changed our life. I hope that schools and districts will embrace this method of communication, as it truly is an equity issue.
As librarians, our job is to provide equitable access to quality information, literature and other sources of knowledge. It is important to acknowledge a person’s preferred method of communication, whether that is spelling, typing, sign language, using a communication program on an ipad or traditional reading and writing.
With my 7-8 grade 8:1:1 students, I introduced them to Pebble Go to begin the concept of databases. For some, it was the perfect entry point, and students happily browsed for the better part of an hour. We moved on to Britannica School, which was a better fit for some. The point is, I was able to provide multiple entry points to information without judging my students on whether they could access the content. They were able to judge for themselves!!
Giving them this kind of freedom was a game changer for all of us. Students of all abilities are now requesting information on topics of interest to them, and It warms my librarian's heart to provide it to them. My special needs students taught me not to judge a book by its cover. Presuming competence in our special needs students IS equity.
I hope this gives you food for thought as you sit on your couch, porch or beach chair! If you have any questions about S2C, I’m happy to answer as a parent or point you in the right direction. I’d love to hear what you’re up to this summer. Email me at kelly@the middleschoollibrarian.com and let me know! Also, please don’t hesitate to reach out with requests for resources for the fall.
Happy Summer!!
Kelly
The Middle School Librarian
