Worcester County special‑needs students shown ‘Expanding Expression’ tool; board hears AAC integration and classroom examples
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Summary
District staff and a Worcester County graduate demonstrated the Expanding Expression Tool (EET) at Cedar Chapel Special School, explaining how colored beads and pictorial prompts help nonverbal and limited‑verbal students build language and use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices.
At an April board meeting Worcester County Public Schools staff demonstrated the Expanding Expression Tool (EET) and described classroom uses for students with limited or no verbal communication, saying the tool improves both verbal and written expression and pairs with communication devices such as eye‑gaze systems.
Belinda Goulias introduced the demonstration and said the district adapted the EET for nonverbal students. Worcester County graduate Zoe Jackson walked the board through the seven bead prompts and how they map to a student’s communication device: green for category/group, blue for action, a white bead with an eye for what it looks like, a wooden bead for what it’s made of, a pink bead for parts, a white bead for location, and an orange bead for “what else you know.” Jackson described the beads and how teachers model the sequence so students can compose fuller descriptions and narratives.
“We use a physical and visual reminder of different parts of explaining and expanding our expressions,” Goulias said. Jackson added, “The green bead…which is the group. Then the blue bead, which is what does it do…an apple, you eat an apple. And then it goes on to the little white one which has an eyeball on it, so, like, what does it look like? An apple’s red.”
Staff showed how the EET is paired with AAC folders on devices so students can select category pages, then action pages, matching the bead sequence. They demonstrated that eye‑gaze users can select category cells on a screen and follow the same pathway without hands. Goulias said the district provides fringe boards (picture support for vocabulary) and core boards to teach language in general education and special education classrooms.
The board and superintendent praised the program. Board President Todd Ferrante said Cedar Chapel “is the gem of this school system” and noted the school’s inclusive approach. Superintendent Louis H. Taylor and other board members commended staff and students; Goulias said resources and the full presentation are posted on the district website and that Cedar Chapel students will display EET poetry work at the Worcester County Arts Council and at a poetry night May 8 at Worcester Technical High School.
Why it matters: district staff said the EET gives students a tangible pathway to expand vocabulary and construct descriptions, supports written language tasks and aligns with AAC strategies used by nonverbal learners. Staff emphasized the tool’s universal‑access potential for general education as well.
