After several years working with kids at the Louisiana Children's Museum, Roulakis went to grad school at Southeastern Louisiana University to get a Master's degree in communication sciences and disorders.
Now, she works with local teachers to implement alternative and augmentative communication devices in classrooms across the Crescent City. The devices, which often resemble tablets or laptops, can help both non-verbal students and those who can speak but often need assistance getting their point across. The devices give kids a voice inside and out of the classroom.
How do alternative communication devices work and why are they so important for your students?
So communication devices are also known as AAC, which stands for augmentative and alternative communication. Someone can use the communication device whether they have trouble speaking, trouble finding words, maybe they can't speak at all, or maybe they can speak but they benefit from something that's going to be able to add to what they can say with their mouth.
Basically the idea is that communication is a human right and the more ways to communicate the better.
What's your favorite part of helping students use the devices?
I have so many but I think the two things that stand out to me is that it gives us another way to see what somebody is thinking about and it gives us a window into a kid's world.
I had a student who, he doesn't use his communication device much, but we were looking at a book about "Paw Patrol." And he went to his device and he pulled up "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and pressed the character for Zero, the dog, which, this is one of his favorite movies. And that was his way of saying, like, "Hey, this is a book about dogs. And I love dogs. And I love the one from 'The Nightmare Before Christmas.'"
And communication, it's a two-way street. So from the other side of it, I kind of think of the communication devices as almost like a translator between me and someone who has a communication disorder or communication difference.
And that's really what communication is: It's an interaction that you have, that each person has with each other.
Some say alternative communication devices are underutilized in Louisiana schools. Do you think that's true, and if so, why?
I think it's true. I think part of it is that teachers don't know how to include it into classrooms, even if they do get it. My advice for that is just to get started. Even with all my experience, I don't know what a communication device is going to mean to a kid or how they'll use it. Each kid uses it differently. I have some kids who really use it to talk about their feelings. I have kids who use it only to type certain things out. And I think that uncertainty of how to use it in a classroom can be really scary for a teacher.
But I think the first step is just to get those devices out in the classroom and just go from there. The learning process of how to teach a kid with a communication device I think is really daunting, but the only way to learn is to do it.
That's how I learned. I did not take any classes about communication devices but I just saw the need, so I went for it. It was a lot of mistakes, it was a huge learning curve, but it's so worth it.
I think for educators, it's an important reminder that it's OK to make mistakes. It's OK not to know.
Where do you get the devices? And how do you go about implementing them in the classroom?
So we have a mix of students who have gotten their devices through insurance and I've written evaluation reports. I've heard that other speech therapists in Louisiana are doing this in schools more and more.
We also provide them if needed, if we can't get it through insurance or maybe we're not sure what they need yet, we do have devices with programed apps.
And for teachers, my biggest thing is just to have it an arm's length away at first. Just have it out and charged. We've done different things like setting aside talker time where students can just maybe with a paraprofessional sit in the corner and just explore buttons together. I'll open up the folder, if they're learning about money, I'll open up the folder that has the money vocabulary in it during their lesson. Or other times if it's reading or literacy I'll pull up the keyboard. So finding ways to make connections to the curriculum is really important.
I think teachers learning from each other can be super helpful too. I really hope there's more of that. I think if there's anything that I would like to see, it's more teachers talking to each other about how they integrated these into their classrooms. Because it's great when a speech therapist knows about communication devices, but it's life changing when a teacher does because they're just with the students so much more.
So do you hope to see these devices used more in Louisiana schools in the future?
I hope so. I think that it's really been such a game changer for these kids' lives. I think it's been really transformative for students and teachers alike, and it's so worth the journey to figure out how to use these in the classroom and help kids have a voice — a voice that can be heard and understood.
Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
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