Engagement in Therapy is Communication for Life!

Funded Feb 5, 2023

Happy July, I am hoping you had a wonderful summer and we'll continue to enjoy the remainder of it. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you one more time for your generous donation to my classroom project concerning communication skills and social emotional learning. My students have been loving the new materials, and then grateful for having a variety of resources and modalities to support the universal design for learning.

During the previous school year I have noticed an increased need for social emotional skill learning in my students. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, my special needs student demonstrated a decrease in functional communication, as well as an increase in aggression and the use of destructive behaviors. For most of my students, school is their only social circle. They love coming in, they love their teachers and friends, and are sad when we go on fall, winter, spring, and summer breaks. The difficulties they have in communicating with the world around them posed an even greater barrier while they were learning online, and later on readjusting to learning in person. We have been using materials such as the feelings board game, meditation cards, nonverbal communication cards, books, and more, every single day since we received them. My students love taking turns playing the board games and brainstorming self relaxation strategies to deal with their strong emotion. They enjoy the meditation cards, when some mindfulness is needed, and the nonverbal communication cards which portray different emotions. We use them to play matching games, charades, and more, while working on our communication skills. The plethora of books that represent them, has made a significant impact, too. My students love looking through the books and finding a kid that looks like them, whether that child is in a wheelchair, has Down syndrome, is African American, white, Asian, or represents them in other ways. With your generous donation, I have been able to provide them with materials that are relevant to them, and those are the things that they talk about most when we are having conversation or when I overhear them chatting during lunch.

finally, I'd like to share the story of one of my students, M. M has been at our school for seven years, and she graduated this past May at 22 years of age. M is a wonderful, sensitive, sweet, funny, and caring student and friend to her peers. M feels everything vary greatly, and oftentimes her emotions consume her so much that she struggles to enjoy life event. She and I have been using many of the materials provided by your generous donation, to work on being present at her graduation ceremony, rather than feeling so upset that she would need to step aside. The board games and cards allowed us to practice self-regulation skills in an engaging and the relevant way. Every day during the final three weeks of school, M would walk into our building crying because she was so sad that her high school experience would soon be over. We gave her hugs, talked to her, and guided her through self regulation. However, we were not sure if we will be able to help her to the extent that we wanted in the time we had left. With the help of these materials, I am happy to report that M sat through her graduation ceremony; she enjoyed the speeches, walking across the stage by herself, the fireworks, and taking pictures with her family and friends. On multiple occasions during the evening, I saw her taking deep breaths, counting to 10, and telling us she needs some help (self advocating!). This was a very big deal for her, and we are all so proud of her for doing that! She had a wonderful time and I appreciate your part in it.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Inbal