New Classroom Materials Encourage Communication

Penn-Trafford Speech Language Pathologist Mrs. Heather Boss recently acquired new materials to help her students at Harrison Park, McCullough, and Penn Middle schools learn new concepts in a variety of ways.  The materials are being used to target the children’s ability to imitate gestures, match objects to pictures, categorize items, use descriptive terms to talk about the manipulatives, learn how to follow new spatial directions, imitate different words/sounds/sentences, and learn interesting facts about the objects.  


“Each one of my students learns at a different rate and in a unique way specific to their own learning style,” commented Boss.  “My job is to meet them where they are and to move them forward with their language. I hope to capture their attention and help them tap into their specific learning styles with the new materials.”


Funding for the new materials was made possible through DonorsChoose, a funding platform for teachers.

 

Gianna Acker works on learning new spatial/positional terms such as “on, under, beside, to the left/right” by moving the frog and other objects to different locations

Gianna Acker works on learning new spatial/positional terms such as “on, under, beside, to the left/right” by moving the frog and other objects to different locations

 

Caad Costelnock practices labeling and learning new facts about objects in the bug category

Caad Costelnock practices labeling and learning new facts about objects in the bug category

 

Hassan Malik describes objects using categories and descriptive features

Hassan Malik describes objects using categories and descriptive features

 

Colton Boswell uses miniature items to learn their similarities and differences

Colton Boswell uses miniature items to learn their similarities and differences

 

Jacob McQuistian guesses what object might be missing from the picture based on silhouettes

Jacob McQuistian guesses what object might be missing from the picture based on silhouettes

 

Chester Marcos imitates animal sounds and is able to use them to learn new vocabulary

Chester Marcos imitates animal sounds and is able to use them to learn new vocabulary

 

Jacob Haney learns vocabulary words associated the medical profession

Jacob Haney learns vocabulary words associated the medical profession

 

Brylee Lawson asks questions about garden, farm, zoo and ocean objects using the miniature manipulatives

Brylee Lawson asks questions about garden, farm, zoo and ocean objects using the miniature manipulatives