Teaching · Special Education

Three routines and a handful of words, every day at home.

Choose the routines that already happen every day, the few words to model in each, and how the family will answer whatever the child says. The printout is a one-page guide for the fridge; the summary keeps the plan small enough to last.

Start a home guideWhat you get

The home guide

One record per student and version of the guide. Use initials or a code, never a name. The example is made up.

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What you get

Teaching · Special EducationFree

What you finish with
A one-page home guide per student: the system and its care, daily routines with the words to model, the modeling practices the family will use, and how and when the family reports back.
Who it is for
Speech-language pathologists and special education teachers who build home plans with families of AAC users. The printed guide is for the family.
Format
Browser form filled in with the family at a meeting or call. Several saved versions per student; printed as a one-page guide or a blank form; CSV with one row per version or the routines table; export and import a file.
Access
Free. No account and no sign-in. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Special Education space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.
more
Drawn for this page. Modeling at home looks like this: say the word and touch it on the child’s system, in a routine that happens every day.

How to use it

  1. Start a record with the student’s initials or a code and the date.
  2. Ask the family which routines happen every day and who is there.
  3. Choose four or five words for each routine, ideally some that repeat across routines.
  4. Agree on the modeling practices and on care and backup for the device.
  5. Print the guide for the family and set the date to review it together.

Start a home guide

What the guide is for

Why routines

Children learn language from many repetitions in meaningful moments. Daily routines such as meals and bath give those repetitions without extra time. When adults touch words on the child’s system while talking, the child sees how the system works before being asked to use it.

Keeping it small

A guide with two or three routines and a few words each is easier to keep than a long list. Words that work in several routines, such as more, stop and help, give the most practice. Add more once the first routines feel easy.

What this guide is not

It does not choose a device or set IEP goals, and it is not therapy. When a school device goes home, the IEP team decides that it is needed at home for the student to receive a free appropriate public education.

Sources

  1. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act regulations, 34 CFR 300.105(b) (use of school-purchased assistive technology devices in the child’s home when the IEP team decides it is needed) and 300.6 (assistive technology service, including training for the family).
  2. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Practice Portal: Augmentative and Alternative Communication.
  3. Beukelman, D. R., and Light, J. C. Augmentative and Alternative Communication: Supporting Children and Adults with Complex Communication Needs, 5th edition (2020).
  4. Kent-Walsh, J., Murza, K. A., Malani, M. D., and Binger, C. (2015). Effects of communication partner instruction on the communication of individuals using AAC: a meta-analysis. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 31(4), 271 to 284.

The example student and family are made up. The guide supports home use of AAC; it does not replace the IEP or therapy. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.