Challenge
The challenge I am facing in education is the noticeable communication gap/barrier between early childhood learners and all of the educational staff that support them. As an instructional and technology coach, I am seeing a clear divide between students entering public school that need additional speech and language services, a high need of speech and language pathologists, school staff lacking the professional learning to help address this need, and a disconnect between school and outside therapists with a home/family connection. There has to be something else we can do to help build this bridge and connect all of the pieces to the communication puzzle. Schools are seeing an influx in students with speech IEP's and there is a shortage of SLP's to help combat the problem. On top of this, with more students being identified as having ADHD or Autism Spectrum Disorder, knowing these disabilities can be correlated to having speech delays, I see a greater challenge of fixing the communication gap. Communication barriers can be solved to better support not only the early childhood student, but also to better support their families, outside therapists, SLP's, and any other educational professionals who works with our students. It matters because communication is key to everything in the world. It matters because non-speaking students may communicate in non-traditional ways and should be valued. It matters because it is our job to teach the whole child, and to give them opportunities just like any speaking student. It matters because behavior is communication and we can do better.