This webinar with Rachel Byrne, Executive Director of Cerebral Palsy Foundation, Ashley Harris Whaley, Director of Communities and Engagement, and Debbie Fink, Vice President of Education and Inclusion at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, overseeing its flagship “Just Say Hi” program.This video series is a partnership with the New York City Department of Education and the Cerebral Palsy Foundation "Just Say Hi" Disability Education Curriculum. This series is meant to educate and empower parents of students with diverse needs.

Let me tell you about multimodal communication. We, as typical communicators, all use many different strategies. We use speech, gestures, facial expressions, technology, and no-tech solutions. As communicators, we all size up the situation based upon our communication partners, the context, the environment and then we choose to use the most effective communication strategy.

When you're looking at setting goals for kids with complex communication needs, don't forget about setting goals that are about them interacting in the classroom. It's not just about punching buttons. It's not just about saying vocabulary words. It's about talking with people and showing who you are. Some specific goals that you can look at are in four areas. Educational goals, social goals, inclusion goals, and goals and independence.