Every Little Blessing Preschool serves children ages one through five in a fully inclusive classroom model, where children with Down syndrome and other developmental differences learn alongside typically developing peers.
Among the students we serve, several are non-verbal or have significant expressive communication delays. Without a reliable way to communicate, these children face barriers not only to learning but to the basic independence of expressing needs, choices, and feelings.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) tools like LAMP (Language Acquisition through Motor Planning) give non-verbal students a consistent, motor-based pathway to language. ELB currently checks out individual iPads loaded with LAMP to our non-verbal students for their personal use. What we are missing is a shared set of classroom iPads that both verbal and non-verbal students can use together, so that communication support becomes something the whole classroom participates in rather than something that happens only for one child at a time.
Program Description
This grant would fund a dedicated set of classroom iPads that stay on-site as a shared instructional tool, distinct from the individually checked-out LAMP devices our non-verbal students already use. These classroom iPads will be used to:
● Teach verbal students how to use and support their non-verbal classmates' AAC devices, so communication becomes a shared classroom skill rather than an individual accommodation
● Build peer-to-peer relationships by giving verbal students a way to understand and participate in how their non-verbal classmates communicate, strengthening empathy, patience, and friendship between all students
● Deliver instruction to the whole class, with teachers using the iPads for early literacy, fine motor, and cognitive activities alongside AAC modeling
● Give teachers a flexible tool for whole-group and small-group instruction that reinforces communication for every student, not just those who rely on AAC
These devices remain in the classroom at all times as a shared teaching tool. They are not sent home, which keeps them available for group instruction and peer interaction throughout the school day.
University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Partnership
ELB holds a formal affiliation agreement with UTEP's College of Education and Department of Speech-Language Pathology. Through this agreement, UTEP graduate students in Speech-Language Pathology and Special Education rotate through ELB classrooms as part of their clinical training. These classroom iPads will directly enhance that partnership. UTEP students will observe and assist as verbal and non-verbal students use the devices together, gaining hands-on clinical experience with AAC in a real inclusive, peer-supported setting, while our students benefit from additional trained support in the classroom.