Assignment: Refer to the Mini Lesson you adapted in the Clinical Experience Lesson Review and Adaptation assignment.
Teach the Mini Lesson in a small group or an individual one-on-one setting.
Consider using various methods of delivery (technology, oral, etc.) that promote expressive and receptive communication skill reinforcement, meet the needs of the exceptionalities, and ensure student engagement.
Write a 350- to 525-word summary analyzing your teaching experience. Reflect on what went well and what you would change. Need Assignment Help?
Lesson Review and Adaptation for Students Who Use AAC
Jason Fisher
University of Phoenix
MTE/512 Teaching The Exceptional Learner
Jody Leeds
Summary of Changes
The original 15-minute whole-class lesson asked second-grade students to identify the main topic of an informational text through teacher modeling, partner discussion, a graphic organizer, and an exit ticket. The adapted 25-minute lesson retains the grade-level expectation while providing access for three students with autism who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Changes include a visual schedule, reduced language load, explicit vocabulary instruction, symbol-supported text, shorter instructional steps, extended wait time, and multiple response options. The teacher models language on AAC, creates opportunities to comment and answer, and uses a least-to-most prompting hierarchy followed by prompt fading.
Students may respond by selecting symbols, pointing, speaking, or generating a message on their communication system; the academic construct remains identification of the main topic.
Formative data record accuracy, communication function, and level of independence during guided practice. The summative task requires students to identify the main topic in two passages and support one choice with a key detail. These adaptations address IEP communication goals, reduce barriers for learning, and preserve meaningful access to Washington's grade-level ELA standard.
Original Mini-Lesson:
The original Grade 2 English language arts lesson provided 15 minutes of whole-class instruction on Washington standard RI.2.2: identifying the main topic of a multiparagraph text and the focus of specific paragraphs (Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction [OSPI], n.d.). Students viewed a photograph, listened to a teacher think-aloud, discussed the text with a partner, completed a graphic organizer, and submitted an exit ticket. The objective was to identify the main topic and one supporting detail with 80% accuracy. Observation and partner responses supplied formative evidence, while the exit ticket measured independent performance.
However, rapid verbal discussion, partner-controlled pacing, and required handwriting could prevent AAC users from demonstrating comprehension accurately.
Adapted Mini-Lesson:
For planning purposes, the small group includes three students with present levels.
Student A independently navigates a speech-generating device but needs extra time to compose multisymbol messages. Student B uses a six-symbol communication page and reliably answers forced-choice questions but seldom initiates comments. Student C combines emerging speech, gestures, and a core board and needs support to sustain reciprocal turns. Each student's IEP, vocabulary, motor access, and sensory plan must govern instruction.
The academic objective is to identify the main topic in three of four opportunities and select one supporting detail. The communication objective is to complete at least two turns by answering, commenting, confirming, disagreeing, or requesting help. Explicit instruction, visual supports, aided language modeling, and Universal Design for Learning make comprehension visible and offer multiple ways to access and express learning (CAST, 2024; Nowell et al., 2022). These adaptations meet IDEA's definition of specially designed instruction by adjusting methodology and delivery while preserving access to the general curriculum (34 C.F.R. § 300.39(b)(3)). IEP teams must consider communication and assistive-technology needs (34 C.F.R. §§ 300.105, 300.324).
Instruction begins with a visual schedule and an AAC access check. Using a photograph, the teacher introduces main topic and key detail, models symbols without demanding imitation, and reads two short passages in chunks. Students highlight repeated ideas, select or generate a topic, and complete structured peer turns using "My topic is [topic] because [detail]." After 5-10 seconds of wait time, the teacher applies least-to-most prompts: visual cue, gesture, indirect verbal cue, and model. Prompt levels are recorded and faded. Communication receives natural reinforcement through acknowledgment and continued interaction.
Accommodations include uncluttered symbol-supported text, chunked directions, extended processing time, visual choices, read-aloud access when decoding is not assessed, a visual timer, regulation breaks, and a low-tech backup board. These supports preserve RI.2.2.
Reducing the text to one paragraph or limiting choices to two would be a modification and should occur only if specified in the IEP.
Formative data capture main-topic accuracy, communicative function, latency, response mode, and independence across four trials. The summative task uses two unfamiliar passages: students identify both topics and provide one supporting detail. Three of four points indicates lesson-level success. Content accuracy is scored separately from communication form. The same AAC systems and prompting rules are used during teaching and assessment, aligning evidence with a typical IEP goal for answering comprehension questions or expressing related ideas with decreasing prompts across repeated sessions.
References:
CAST. (2024). CAST Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 3.0.
Nowell, S., Sam, A., Waters, V., Dees, R., & AFIRM Team. (2022). Augmentative & alternative communication. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute.
Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. (n.d.). English language arts learning standards.
U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). Individuals with Disabilities Education Act regulations