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Listening to Children with Communication Support Needs is both a resource pack and the theme for a seminar held at three venues in Scotland. People attending heard about the results of the project and received a free copy of the resource pack hot from the press.
Consulting with children for their views and involving them in decisions has become a key part of educational and social policy in the UK and in many other countries. The seminars presented the results of an 18 month project by Sense Scotland in association with the CALL Centre, and funded by the Scottish Executive Education Department.
The Project looked at whether children with a variety of communication support needs are in fact consulted, how they are consulted, and how they might be more meaningfully consulted. Topics addressed at the seminar and in the resource pack include:
- Appropriate terminology
- Appropriate situations in which to consult
- Lack of awareness on the part of professionals that non-speaking children can express themselves in other ways
- Checking out interpretations
- Realistic expectations for listening and consulting
- Asking the right questions, interpreting answers the right way
- Simple-to-use framework giving guidance on: matching communication, with examples of typical behaviour; techniques for listening and establishing meaning; the kind of preferences that can be established reliably; further communication areas to explore; supporting materials
- Short information sheets on specific topics, such as 'Indicating 'Yes/No'; 'Asking Questions'
- A directory of resources relating to communication impairment
- Illustrative case studies including short video examples
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