VISUAL ALPHABET TEACHING FOR CHILDREN WITH COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES 

Teaching the Alphabet to children with communication difficulties through visuals can be a fun for the child. Some children have fine motor coordination problems so the visuals are made in a couple of different ways.

Method #1:

Each alphabet letter is cut and laminated separately and Velcro is added to the back.  These are stored on a velcro base. A velcro workboard is used when teaching. The teacher / therapist / parent  would place the first 3 letter cards on the bottom velcro strip of the workboard, then move the “A” card onto the top velcro strip.  She/he would then point and say “A” then “AB” – which one is missing? The child can be taught to move up the “B” card.  Hand-over-hand, pointing, etc. may be used to cue the child. This method can be used to learn the whole alphabet.   Of course the teacher / therapist / parent would use lots of positive reinforcements (eg. “high 5s”).  At the end of each line they could get the child to point to each letter, sing the alphabet song, etc. Eventually the child can be taught to match upper & lower case letters. Later the alphabet letter cards can be used for spelling and can be used in the described method above along with matching pictures of people (such as family members), pets, items, activities, etc.

Method #2:

Each alphabet would be printed out and laminated. The “b & w” alphabet can be used with washable markers. The teacher / therapist / parent would say “Let`s colour” and the child could use the washable markers to clour. They could colour match to the laminated coloured alphabet.  Eventually the child may be able to colour “within the lines”.

-by Marion Pusey (Ontario, Canada)

ALPHABET PICTURE CARDS By Marion Pusey