Module 6: Connecting Students with Complex Needs to Literacy in the B.C. Curriculum
Brief Overview of Students with Complex Needs
Students with complex needs often have combined intellectual, medical, motor, sensory, and neurological conditions that intersect in ways unique to each student. More information about students with complex needs is the focus of Course 2: Individual Learning Differences in the Inclusion Outreach courses.
These students often rely on access and support to use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). However, the use of AAC is directly correlated to lowered academic expectations, students not being viewed as learners, and their not being afforded systematic literacy instruction. Communication and literacy learning are intricately connected.