Teaching · Speech & Language

The words for one real request, ready before the student needs them.

Pick the situation, write what is hard and what the student is asking for in their own words, and choose a closing. The builder puts the script together, makes a one-line version for a cue card or an AAC button, and keeps count of the practice runs.

Build a scriptWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Speech & Language toolkit, $79 for 72 items.

The script builder

One script per request; a student can have several. Use initials or a code, never a name. The example is made up.

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What you get

Teaching · Speech & LanguageAlso for Teaching · Special Education$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
For each request, a script in the student’s words with an opener, the need, the request and reason, a closing and a plan B line, plus a one-line short version and a record of practice and real use.
Who it is for
Speech-language pathologists, special education teachers and transition staff building self-advocacy with students in grades 3 to 12 and young adults, and the students themselves.
Format
Browser builder. Several saved scripts; printed as a script with the cue-card line, or as a blank paper planner; CSV with one row per script; export and import a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Speech & Language toolkit ($79) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Speech & Language space in Caveat Teaching; also listed in the Special Education space (self-advocacy for students with IEPs and 504 plans).
Support
Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.
Drawn for this page. Asking for an accommodation the plan already includes is easier with the words ready on a card.

How to use it

  1. Start a record with the student’s initials or a code.
  2. Choose the situation, who they will talk to (a role, never a name), when and how.
  3. Write what is hard and what they are asking for, in the student’s own words. Add why it helps if they want to.
  4. Choose a closing and write what to say if the answer is no.
  5. Read the script aloud together, change any word that does not sound like them, and count each practice run.

Build a script

What the builder is for

Why scripts

Asking for help is a language task and a social one at the same moment, often in front of classmates. A short script practiced in advance takes the language load off, so the student can manage the social part. The aim is to fade the script as the student starts to say it their own way.

Asking for what is already agreed

When an accommodation is in a student’s IEP or 504 plan, the school has already agreed to it. The student is reminding, not asking a favor, and does not have to explain their disability. Starting with “I have something in my plan that helps me” says that politely.

Two titles, one builder

The catalog listed a self-advocacy communication script builder for speech-language work and a self-advocacy script builder for special education. They do the same job, so one page serves both. Records use a code, never a name, and stay in this browser.

Sources

  1. Test, D. W., Fowler, C. H., Wood, W. M., Brewer, D. M., and Eddy, S. (2005). A conceptual framework of self-advocacy for students with disabilities. Remedial and Special Education, 26(1), 43–54.
  2. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act regulations, 34 CFR 300.321(b) (inviting the student to IEP meetings) and 300.320(b) (transition services); Section 504 regulations, 34 CFR 104.33.
  3. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Practice Portal: Social Communication Disorder (asha.org/practice-portal).
  4. Wehmeyer, M. L., and Shogren, K. A. (2017). The development of self-determination during adolescence. In M. L. Wehmeyer et al. (Eds.), Development of Self-Determination Through the Life-Course. Dordrecht: Springer.
  5. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 34 CFR Part 99.

The example student is made up. The builder helps a student put their own request into words; it does not grant accommodations or change any plan. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.