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Buckner students, staff showcase AAC and ASL club at Oldham County board meeting
Summary
Students and staff from Buckner Elementary demonstrated alternative and augmentative communication devices and showed American Sign Language club activities, highlighting classroom inclusion and peer-to-peer communication projects.
Representatives from Buckner Elementary demonstrated alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) tools and the school’s American Sign Language (ASL) club during the Oldham County Board of Education meeting Monday at the Arvin Education Center.
The presentation emphasized that AAC includes a range of communication methods — from communication devices to picture menus and texting — used by students who are nonverbal. A Buckner teacher said the school held AAC Awareness Month activities and classroom visits so peers could try the devices and learn how to be communication partners.
Students who help lead the school’s peer‑interview project described interviewing classmates who use AAC to capture favorites such as color or snack. A Buckner teacher said the resulting videos were shared schoolwide and used in lessons, and noted one student who “just started communicating verbally last year,” a development staff described as linked to device use.
The ASL club, open to grades 1–5, teaches signs and deaf culture after school. Miss Lindsey, introduced in the presentation as an ASL interpreter, described schoolwide signage and a plan to expand reach beyond the club’s 26 students so “everybody to have access to learning a new way to communicate.” Club members led the board in signing and distributed handouts showing school name signs for every school in Oldham County.
Presenters said the initiative began from classroom questions and a need for teachers and paraprofessionals to learn how to model use of devices, rather than relying solely on aides or contractors. Buckner staff and student volunteers described small classroom forms used to collect peer questions and student interviews created from those questions.
The board and district staff applauded the students and staff for the demonstration and the work to expand peer‑to‑peer communication supports.
The presentation occurred during the board’s instructional session and was followed by questions and routine agenda items.
