The Collaborative,
Multi-sensory,
Language-based
Classroom
Experience
Cheryl Wilson-Multiage Teacher
Annemarie Johnston-ESE Teacher
Kathleen Zahner OTR/L
Marla Angell, M.S., CCC-SLP
The Story of Our Class
Multiage
Inclusion
10-14 Students
Pre-K 3-5 Years Old
Half “typically developing” and half
identified with speech and language
and/or sensory-motor delays.
Multiage
Identified Challenges Within Our Classroom
Population
Attention
Sensory Processing
Difficulties
Processing speed
Focus
Speech and Language
Delays
Motor Planning
Social Skills
/Pragmatics
Auditory Processing
Sensory Regulation
(too low or too high)
Building The Classroom Culture
 Build relationships/connections
daily
 Use consistent routines with visual
schedule
 Model/discuss unexpected changes
in routine
 Notice/reinforce specific positive
behaviors we are looking for in the
classroom
 Respond consistently to nonpreferred behaviors
 Offer choices
Building The Classroom Culture
 Model self-calming techniques
 Model and practice self control and
direction following techniques
 Connect mood, effort and movement
 Establish an environment of caring
for others
 Notice and respond to the feelings of
others
Curriculum
Phonemic Awareness
Focus
Print Awareness
Pre-Writing Skills
Vocabulary
Pre-Reading
Counting
Patterns
Geometry
Quantitative
Language
Positional Language
Introduction to
Cuisenaire Rods
Sensory-motor development
Language development
Social skill development and play
Precursors
Body and Language Development are the
precursors to all academic, cognitive and
social/emotional growth
How Much Do You Actually
Remember?
90% of what you say and do
70% of what you say
50% of what you see and hear
30% of what you see
20% of what you hear
10% of what you read
Multisensory Approaches
This means creating the environment for students to learn through
multiple senses.
• Allow teachers to better accommodate individual learning styles
• Using techniques that complement various learning styles, allows for the students to
learn more easily, the learning is more meaningful and as a consequence more information
is retained.
• Multisensory activities stimulate more solid learning by engaging students on multiple
levels.
Sensory Experience
We are all familiar with the basic
senses of:
We make sense of our world through the
intake and processing of sensory
information.
Additional Sense
However, there are many other sensory modalities
our bodies process and integrate in order to
navigate our world’s as successfully as possible.
Some of these include:
• Movement and balance
• proprioception • Auditory processing
• Visual processing • Tactile processing
Visual
Imagery
Internal Visual Imagery is
the sensory base of language and thought.
Brain Food
Our brain needs nutrition to function.
Nutrition is sensory experiences.
In order to do our best, we need to be fed.
Everyone has their own preference for what food to eat; this is
the same for the brain. This is called individual difference.
Important to honor each one’s individual difference.
Sensory Tools
Body Buddies:
 Stress Balls
 Jitter critters
 Pressure/
weighted vests
 Gel cushions
 Ball chair
 Scooter board
 Stationary
bike
 Sit and spin
Sensory:
 Morning run
 Stomping
breaks
 Pushing or
squeezing
 Compressions
Music
Meditation/Yoga
/Respiration
Alert Program
Body as car engine
Concepts of
self-regulation
Whole Body
Listening
Language Based Teaching
Language is the foundational core of communication.
Communication is the sending and receiving of information/messages among people
in order to learn, share thoughts, ideas, feelings, and beliefs.
The thread that is ever present and weaves in and out of all content areas is
LANGUAGE and COMMUNCATION.
Language
Receptive/Auditory
/Reading
Expressive/Oral
/Written
Social/ Pragmatics
Non-Verbal
/Gestural
Narratives/Stories
that we share
ourselves
What is a Narrative and Why is it Important?
• The ability to tell or retell a story in an oral or written format
• The interwoven connecting fabric of our lives
• Can be personal, fictional, or expository in form
• The ability to tell stories is an important factor underlying children’s academic
success and social well-being
• The development of various types of schemas, including story grammar provides the
foundation for further language, literacy and academic learning
Developmental Readiness
Children learn to tell narratives
developmentally. As children develop, their
narratives increase in both syntactic and logicaltemporal complexity in a style that is linearly
organized around a central theme.
What is Story
Grammar Marker?
….. A multi-sensory tool that can be
used to assist children in
recognizing, visualizing and using
story elements
The Sensory Body Connection to Language
Sensory integration and visual imagery is responsible for:
o connecting us to incoming language and linking us to and from prior
knowledge
o accessing background experiences for us
o establishing vocabulary
o creating and storing information in both short and long term
memory.
Play
Meaningful
Games with
Rules
Communicative
Enjoyable
Involved
Active
Adventurous
Risky
Play
Sociable
Interactive
Symbolic
Therapeutic
Voluntary
Creative
Play
Language
Physical
Exploratory
Manipulative
Constructive
Pretend
Collaboration and Planning
The starting point is to teach lessons and units following our schools language
arts curriculum (Open Court)
Our planning emphasizes:
Language
Body
Sensory
All of these affect understanding and comprehension
Planning
Set aside a time
Plan for a week ahead
Our inspiration
Enrichment
Teacher’s direction
Example Lesson
 Read the story (whole group)
 Listened to it on CD (whole Group)
 Used felt board to reenact it/ incorporating movement: small groups
 Sequencing as whole group on poster
 Accumulated: Act out in Fairy Tale Theater with props, costumes, narration, and
movement; video taped it
 Watched it (whole group)
 Watched a cartoon version
 Switched to another characters perspective
Teachers
1. Read the Story to the Class
2.Listened to it on a CD
3. Felt Board Reenactment
Throughout our day..
• Math
•Pretend Play:
•Centers:
•Playground
Marla and Kathleen Small Groups
We incorporate:
⇒Sensory Experiences
⇒Movement
⇒Language
This allows “anchoring” what is being taught in the
classroom to memory.
Marla and Kathleen Small Groups
Story Retell and Organization with
Focus on Beginning, Middle, End
Theory of Mind
Story Development and Link to SGM
Icons/Story Element Vocabulary
Cause and Effect
Motives
Feelings
Role Play
Turn Taking/Sharing
Ideas
Sequencing
Whole Group




Sequencing
Following Directions
Listening Skills
Attention and Focus
Fairy Tale Theater
Costumes
Narrator
Memorize Lines
Perspective Taking
Projecting your Voice
Move in the Way of the Character
Whole Body Listening
Pretend Play
Video Demonstration
The End