Newcastle School has a strong focus on communication using a wide range of augmentative and alternative strategies to support students in developing their modes of communication.
As part of a whole school initiative using Every Student Every School funding the school has purchased an iPad application called Proloquo2go and implemented its use throughout each classroom. The application is revolutionary in its ability to give our non-verbal students a voice. Teachers use this application to support choice making, expressing feelings, engaging in conversation and to use in the wider community through community access programs. The initiative has shown many successful outcomes and our view for the future is to support the implementation of this in the home as well as at school.
The ESES project also funded the development of a communication assessment tool. This tool is used to identify students' communication ability and show its users how to further develop communication and activities to support further learning.