If you work in this field long enough
Down Syndrome Awareness month starts being about Cory, Sean, Christian, David and Ricky.
Rett Syndrome Awareness Month becomes thoughts about Kelly, Jen and Becca.
AAC Awareness Month is about every kid who you ever helped say yes, no, help or "I love you!" for the first time with a "talker". And that is just October.
November brings
Epilepsy Awareness Month and thoughts of every child who you've sat with, holding their hand and reassuring them, while you watched the clock and waited for the seizure to end. Last month was
Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Month and my thoughts were on Astrid, Ingrid and Sarah. March may mean spring to some but it is both
Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month and
Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. Students with CP and Developmental Disabilities have made up the preponderance of my caseload for 15 years. And I have loved every single one of them.
I have walked, rode, crafted, rocked, danced and quilted for so many causes I can't begin to remember them all. Not to mention all of the raffle tickets, candy, cookies, calendars and gift wrap I have bought. Sometimes it all seems like it can't possibly make a difference.
I know it is sappy but that is when my mind always goes back to the Starfish Story. You know the one, with the little child tossing the drying starfish back in the ocean when the old cynic says it isn't going to do any good. And the child says, "It makes a difference to this one."
The thing is my students aren't starfish. They are only helpless if we teach them to be helpless. My job isn't to toss them back in the water. My job is to teach them communication, independence and self-advocacy. My job is to keep them from being beached in the first place and to teach them how to make sure they stay in the water where they belong.
So I'm going to fight for more than awareness and for more than cures. I am going to fight for all my students to be able to become who they are - fully and without compromise. Are you with me?
What do you do with those left over communication symbols that seem to multiple everyday? (They are especially prolific if you use the Unique Learning Program.) Do you throw them away? Hold on to them for some other purpose?
The Papoo Touch is a unique new communication device. It combines text and symbol based communication with multi-media capabilities. The Papoo Touch, from France, runs board sets from The Grid 2, a popular AAC program. It also provides text-to-speech through entering text. Text can be entered through typing or by writing on the screen with a finger. As for it's multi-media capabilities they include music and video players as well as video games. It is also multilingual working in English, French, Italian, Spanish and German. 
Two Switches (unless otherwise noted you must click in the area of the game and then use tab and enter to play):
Free Picture Symbols
Additionally making adaptions to items can be a create way to build community during a professional development day. Gather items you may need for adaptions and store in a central location, then you can grab it and get together with colleagues for an afternoon of purposeful fun.
plus stickers (with is about $55.00 with extra memory) on a communication board you make with Boardmaker or SymbolMate or even Microsoft Word and Google Images. 
All Abilities ePlayground has four games with multiple levels. Ibis Buster involves "shooing" away birds and other animals from a beach your avatar is walking on. Memory is a matching game (level one is animals, two is musical instruments and three is weather conditions). In TrixMix you activate animals which each make a different sound in order to play or recreate music. In Roo Hill Thrill you control your avatar as it surfs and tries to avoid balls.
