Quotarian's Work Makes a Difference

One student with special needs dramatically increased his listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills during two years of participation in See It, Say It, Write It activities in first and second grade.

Here are two See It, Say It, Write It developers with some QI of Taunton members. From left to right: Diane Roza, Speech-Language Pathologist and "See it " Co-developer; Ruth Schuttauf, President of Quota International of Taunton; Linda Burmeister, Speech-Language Pathologist and "See it" Co-developer; Helen Nichols, Governor of District 15; Patricia Handren, the Taunton Club's representative at this year's International Quota Convention in Australia.

Digital pictures helped Michael understand the lessons and allowed him to be a contributing member of his class. Initially, Michael spoke in short sentences accompanied by signs and gestures. He was not reading or writing.

With the See It, Say It, Write It approach, Michael's speech and language lessons were frequently adapted to include pictures of himself and his classmates taking cooking lessons and doing experiments. Additionally, Michael was given scanned pictures from his grade level storybooks to help him understand the story events and retell them in correct order.

Here is an example of a See It, Say It, Write It Lesson for "How to Make Duck Treats."

Michael's class had just finished reading the story Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McClosky. The class made this snack using a picture recipe. Picture-lessons such as these motivated Michael to speak in more complete sentences, stay on-topic, increase his vocabulary, write in sentence form, and increase his overall communication.

Michael's family and our See It, Say It, Write It team were invited to participate in the Kids and Technology Day 2000 at the Boston, Massachusetts, State House to highlight his progress.

Please check out our Web site for more information, other lesson examples, and pictures at www.seeitsayitwriteit.com.

—Linda Burmeister, Quota International of Taunton, Massachusetts