PECS Communication books and laminating sheets

School:: Palmetto Elementary
Subject:: Special Needs Students
Teacher:: Karen Cosgrove
Students Impacted:: 15
Grade:: Pre K - 5
Date:: September 12, 2023

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

A Champion For Learning - $1,318.00

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 15

This year, the Speech/Language Program at Palmeto Elementary school was honored to receive a grant for PECS books (Picture Exchange Communication System), as well as laminating sheets. These books are being used by both speech/language pathologists on campus and have positively impacted 15 students in our pre-k and modified curriculum classes . The students who are benefitting from these books are all primarily non-verbal and are learning to use these books to communicate their wants and needs in the classroom. The goal of PECS is to teach students to recognize and exchange pictures for desired items and will eventually expand to sentence production using these pictures when they are ready. As part of this process, it is necessary to print many visuals that are needed for these student specific books. The laminating sheets help us protect these visuals so that students can use them on a daily basis throughout the year. We can't thank you enough for your generous contribution and for giving our students a way to communicate!

Sincerely, Karen Cosgrove

grant photo

PECS books

Original Grant Overview

Goal

My ultimate goal, as a speech and language pathologist, is to help my students communicate in any way possible. Among our 6 special needs classes, we have about 15 students who are either non-verbal or have very limited communication skills. These picture based books will give students a way communicate with their teachers and peers.

What will be done with my students

Each of these communication books will be customized with pictures that are relevant to each student's interests and needs to help teach them functional communication. Pictures will be covered with a durable laminate so they will last throughout the school year(s). Students learn to use these pictures to make requests for desired items or action ("I need help") and to comment. The straps attach to the communication books to help the students easily transport their books across the school campus.

Benefits to my students

The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is used with students who have severe communication disorders. Many of our students in our preschool and multi-grade classrooms begin school with no functional communication skills. This leads to great frustration for the student as well as their teachers and peers. These books will be so important in giving these students a voice.

Budget Narrative

15 large PECS communication books, 15 packs of insert pages, 15 communication book straps and laminating pouches. Items will be purchased on pecsusa.com and Amazon.

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	15 Large PECS communication books	$615.00
2	15 packs of insert pages	$540.00
3	15 communication book straps	$135.00
4	laminating pouches	$28.00
	Total:	$1,318.00

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