Dec 4, 2023, Tap into W. Orange: Communication Board Installed at Kelly Elementary School https://www.tapinto.net/towns/west-orange/sections/education/articles/communication-board-installed-at-kelly-elementary-school
WEST ORANGE, NJ – The West Orange Special Education Parent Advisory Council (WOSEPAC) presented Kelly Elementary School with a Communication board, installed in the playground and officially unveiled on Dec. 1. …
The board mirrors a PEC (Picture Exchange Communication System) developed in 1985 for the Delaware Autism Program. The developers found that by providing a series of pictures to non-verbal students, the students were able to initiate social interaction. The new board at Kelly looks like the PEC boards used in special education classes and are therefore easily recognizable by special needs students. Students are able to point to pictures that directly relate to an action, emotion, or object. The Kelly board features pictures in English on one side, and Spanish on the other.
Kelly Elementary, which houses several special needs students, was chosen as the site of the first-of-its-kind in West Orange communications board thanks to Special Needs teacher Colleen Horan, who approached WOSEPAC with the idea in 2021.
“Our goal is to install boards at all West Orange elementary school playgrounds as well as each public playground in our community,” said WOSEPAC chair Gina Velazquez.
“Our dream is to develop legislation that will allow boards to be placed in all public playgrounds in Essex County, New Jersey and nationally!” she added….
The Communication Board fosters communication, promotes inclusion, raises public special education awareness, enhances social interactions, insures linguistic accessibility, reduces the stress and anxiety of verbal communication and creates learning opportunities for all children.
The cost of the Communications Board was $1,100 and it was installed by a district maintenance crew.
WOSEPAC is actively seeking sponsors so that Communications Boards can be installed in the remaining six West Orange elementary schools. The sponsor’s name will be added to the board….
I'm hopeful that AAC boards and AAC text-to-speech apps can help autistics and the learning-impaired to learn and master various languages, especially Chinese. I cannot believe how many GOPers/MAGA supporters think that a few tiny Mandarin phrases/preschool-level Mandarin will be enough to survive/thrive in the Chinese/East Asian cultural reshaping of America. Sadly, even Full Spectrum Survival/Brad and Kelly are MAGA supporters as well (they just don't talk about MAGA and Trump nonstop or speak like Meateor Man youtube channel/the maggot-infested High Meat-making guy struggling to talk or produce speech, unlike so many truthers do).