My 7 year old is a grade 2 student in a class of ‘typically-abled’ children. He is the only child with special needs or with substantial communication difficulties. One thing I’ve noticed is the lack of connection between my son (Cameron) and the other children. He isn’t able to easily express his needs or wants. I’ve had several strategies I’ve tried to implement with the help of his teachers to try to help teach the other students skills so they know how to understand his limited communication. After all, we don’t only use words to communicate. More on those strategies later.

A major part of his peers not knowing how to interact with Cameron, is that they don’t know him. They don’t know what he likes to do at home. They don’t know what he did on the weekend, or what he got for his birthday. They don’t know his favorite show he likes to watch. So, to help encourage INTERACTION between Cam and his classmates (and also adults) I made a REMNANT BOOK.

The remnant book is a simple binder with hole punched cardstock in it. I have it divided into sections, and pages labeled. Foods I like, Shows/Movies I like, My birthday Party, What I did for the Weekend, My Favorite Toys, etc. Anything that his peers would be interested in. I tried to keep it as interesting to their age-group as possible. For instance, Cameron loves Baby Einstein movies and yes, that is a part of who he is, but he also loves some more grown up movies, so I chose those over Baby Einstein.

I simply cut and taped/pasted pictures in or wrote out things on the pages. Nothing fancy. This book needs to be quick and easy to update. Then the pages were slipped into plastic page covers for protection. The book should then follow Cameron to school, and back home, and go to appointments, social events, etc. In the front of the Remnant Book, I explained the ‘idea’ of the book, and how it should be used. It is MEANT for the other children to grab and look through. It is meant to facilitate conversation between Cameron (and his aide) and the other person. It is to be ADDED to by other people. If a child has something to add into the book or a message to add, they are encouraged to write in it. If the teacher would like to put in a picture from something they did, that is wonderful. The remnant book I designed is meant to be added to constantly and have things removed as necessary.

Now, I must admit- I had been all gung-ho to do this last year, and set it all up, then kind of forgot about it over the summer. I have to get his book updated and get using it again. But, I really liked the idea of having the students get to know him. We even worked it into his education plan, so I have to get back to using it again.

Children who are a little more high-functioning could be a lot more involved in building their remnant books, which they would probably love.

If you have any more suggestions for communication, I’d love to hear them. Please leave a comment in the comment section. Thanks!