Building Blake's Library

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Contribution by Dawn Bishop and Debbie Vrolyk, Intervenors, Independent Christian School

The student we work with, Blake, has Charge Syndrome and is deafblind. He communicates through word and picture cards, some ASL, and Nova Chat on his tablet.

We changed the approach to his learning this year to incorporate more “real life” experiences during Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies. The aim is to encourage engagement and build life skills, independence, and a strong foundation of each “big idea” before moving on.

We began making books to fill “Blake’s Library” with documentation of his learning and experiences. The books started unintentionally through following Blake’s lead while exploring the Fall season and collecting leaves. They evolved into guided learning opportunities for Blake and ourselves!

We use the books to encourage peer interaction. Blake sits with his friends and recalls experiences and events with them in a positive way and is proud of his story. He points out favourite pages and gets excited about what comes next. These moments build his confidence and enjoyment of literature. His peers enjoy celebrating with him.

We encourage Blake to explore the books when the task or event is happening again, as a means of front loading and a reminder of another time when he successfully completed that task in a positive way. The books are easily accessible for Blake to take anytime.

One of the most used books is the playdough experience! We added photos of Blake making playdough from start to finish, including cleaning up. Then we created recipes and instruction cards to go along with the books, so Blake could learn to complete the task independently.

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