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Clarke Road School

Clarke Road School

Opening New Worlds

Telephone02 9487 2652

Emailclarkerd-s.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Creating a voice

The overall purpose of the Creating a Voice (CaV) project at Clarke Road School is to empower all students to communicate in as “many ways as possible.”  Some of the aims of this unique project are:

  • To increase communication partners’ knowledge and understanding so that we can better facilitate our students’ communication and consequently their learning about the world around them.
  • To accurately assess students using the Communication Passport© assessment.
  • To implement Communication Passport© Core strategies within all Clarke Road School classes.
  • Develop a simple toolkit and framework for teachers.

The CaV team have been using The Communication Passport© by Ylana Bloom and The Hills School to review and place their students along the Communication Passport matrix/framework.  This matrix/framework encompasses 4 domains: cognitive skills, receptive language skills, expressive language skills and social skills. Our catch phrase for the project is:

Do you know your students’ CRESs?

  • Cognitive skills
  • Receptive skills
  • Expressive skills &
  • Social skills

The Communication Passport© identifies a number of key cognitive, receptive language, expressive language and social skills (CRESs) for a blue, purple, red, brown, orange, yellow and green student. The strip at the bottom of this section refers to the main skill/capability that should be emphasised for a blue through to a green student. It is a capability framework that allows teachers and SLSOs to better support the development of their students’ communication systems as well as providing personalised teaching and learning experiences to strengthen specific areas and skills students need.

We would like to acknowledge Bendigo Bank Galston for supporting this project. Without their sponsorship this level of in-depth knowledge/understanding and consequently an impact on classroom practice/ student learning could not take place. THANK YOU!