Frankston SDS promotes communication skills throughout the school, allowing students to further build their independence. Every student at our school has an individualised learning goal, developed by their teachers, families and speech therapists, that focuses on communication.

Communication and language skills are developed across the curriculum as an integrated part of the daily routines and activities. Explicit teaching of communication skills is provided to all of our students.

We have Speech Therapists throughout each level of our school, to support the explicit teaching of communication skills through a range of modalities, including verbal, non-verbal and Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) such as the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and Speech Generating electronic devices.

Frankston SDS has a communication policy based on the Communication Bill of Rights (Brady et. Al,2016).

WHY?

We all have the right to communicate meaningfully with others to:

• meet our basic needs (food, drink, comfort),
• to develop and maintain interpersonal relationships,
• to develop independence
• and assert our rights.