ABSTRACT
Careful observation and assessment of how students are communicating without additional support is needed so that all team members know how to recognize the communicative potential and intent, and then build on some skills. Teaching students with severe and multiple disabilities to request using aided and unaided means may be targeted often due to a greater ease in instruction, and obvious and immediate gratification for the student. Recognizing ways for children to make requests throughout the day may be easier than determining how they will meet other communication needs, such as sharing information about themselves, teasing, or asking questions. Experts in communication intervention stress the value of teaching communication skills in general education classrooms where students with severe disabilities have the support of their peers. Instead of doing repetitive discrete trial training on specific communication skills in a distraction-free, specialized environment, the many opportunities that naturally exist in a general education classroom should be used.
