Go Communication Team!

Heather Hallett & Kay Hemming

SLTs & Lisa Price OT

Working in Communication Teams in Special Schools in Birmingham

The A(AC) Team

“In the collaborative team approach, it is assumed that no one person or

profession has an adequate knowledge base of sufficient

expertise to execute all the functions associated with providing services”

Glennon & deCoste (1997)

Core Communication Team Adapted from Glennan & deCoste 1997 “A Handbook of AAC” p24

Health SLTs

School SLTs / SLTAs

Member of School

Management

Communication Teachers /

HLTAs

Individual pupils / School

population

Wider team

members

What do our Communication Teams actually do?

• Identify training needs and deliver training

• Whole school projects (e.g. Communication Environment Audits, communication days)

• Supporting individual AAC users

• ACT clinics in some schools

Working Together DVD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xJnkFHoiT4

Setting up a team

• Meet with the Head Teacher• Co – working agreement• Identify key people• Fact finding• Identify priorities• Joint team presence e.g. Joint training, staff

meetings, assemblies etc• Training of team members• Regular meetings with Agenda and good actions

lists!• Sponge cake and Icing

What else have we learnt?

• SLT needs to have some experience!• SLT needs released time for Communication

Team• Need Senior Leadership Team member who

understands and values communication• Communication teacher needs to have

passion for and knowledge of communication, and allocated / released time

Outcomes

“Shared practice leads to increasing knowledge and skills of staff which in turn improves the communication environment across the school”

“giving pupils a voice which could otherwise be ignored or misunderstood”

“it helps embed practice and aids

continuity of approach. It facilitates joint

practice development, and enables

people with different abilities and

strengths, to be able to maximise them and

support the development of others.”

(Head teacher)

“Pupils using AAC make excellent progress in their communication and this impacts on all areas of their learning and personal life. With the team on site, staff can ask questions as they arise, and get communication issues sorted quickly”. (Foundation Teacher).

Challenges

• Communication and timetabling• Competing pressures• Different backgrounds • Different agendas• Risk of overstepping professional

boundaries• Staying on task• Maintaining consistency

Outcomes for AAC users

• Client Centred approach• Pupils are using communication systems

more functionally in class and throughout the day

• Families feel better supported• Shared information between staff and others• More effective communication support• Better and more consistent communication

environment.• Knowing when to refer to ACT and what sort

of support is needed.

Aims for Clinic from ACT Project Sheet

•  To develop the relationship between the school-based communication teams and ACT

• To encourage the use of the AAC Care Pathway documentation as an assessment document

• To provide a more in-depth and timely assessment for children who have significant physical access difficulties and communication needs

• To decrease the number of separate occasions when ACT staff and local team staff have to meet for appointments

Aims for Clinic gathered at pre meeting

• To speed up the process of assessment more specifically when needing to look at access methods

• To enable the assessing clinicians from ACT to get a more rounded picture of the child by having increased opportunities to see the child in a variety of school settings

• To raise awareness of the role of ACT within the school environment

• For ACT clinicians to be available to give advice about children who have AAC needs who have not been referred to ACT

• To identify if it will save time and travel by decreasing the number of meetings arranged for ACT clients

Evaluation of Pilot Clinic

• An Evaluation session was carried out 2 weeks after the pilot schools clinic

• A questionnaire was given to all the ACT clinicians and members of the schools communication team

Evaluation Positives

• General view that the sessions involving the children were more child friendly, greater time and more flexibility

• The opportunity to see the children more than once in a short space of time was appreciated

• There was a feeling from the communication team that clients were seen in a more timely fashion

Evaluation Positives

• Greater flexibility to enable clients to be seen e.g. when one was off sick at the time initially planned for their appointment

• It was agreed that the awareness raising sessions were useful

• The opportunity to discuss clients who were not on the current caseload but known to ACT was appreciated

• ACT admin time freed up because the organisation of the clinics carried out by local team

Evaluation Issues for further consideration

• Local team did not automatically invite teachers, Physios etc. NOW – much more interaction

• Additional pressures were put on the ACT workshop and technicians for equipment etc.

• A lot of engineering requests were generated in a short space of time.

• The ACT’s clinicians’ admin time following the clinic was decreased because of other commitments

Innovations – contributed to additional improvement

• Since the initial pilot clinic, termly clinics have been carried out at Wilson Stuart school

• Regular Victoria School clinic also set up

• Additional school clinics set up in Worcester and Coventry

• Proposed additional School clinic next term in Bromsgrove

References and Resources

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xJnkFHoiT4

• Glennon & deCoste (1997)• Communicating Quality 3 (2006)

Heather.hallett@bhamcommunity.nhs.uk

Kay.hemming@bhamcommunity.nhs.uk