The North Penn High School the special education department is in need of communication switches. Communication switches are used by students who have trouble communicating with words. The switches mainly consist of a recording device, battery pack, on and off switch, volume control, and a single large button to activate the prerecorded message.

Students with special needs can use these buttons in many ways. Students can then press the “Break button” when they need to rest from an activity. They can press the “work button” when they are ready to work, and the “snack button” when they would like small snack.  When they press one of the buttons, the support staff that is working with them either gives them a short break, some work to do, or a snack. Depending on the goal of the learning period.

There are endless responses that can be used. We have a button that when pressed says “I need to use the bathroom”, and buttons that simply answer “yes” or “no”.

These switches can go for about $175 to over $300 online and in catalogs.  Our goal is to use the resources we have here at North Penn and make our very own communication switches for the students with special needs in our school community. I know that our students would definitely enjoy and benefit from being included during the building, testing, and redesigning process.

Problem Statement 1:
Speech buttons are too expensive and don't have the proper buttons available to ask all necessary questions.

Problem Statement 2:
Many students with disabilities at North Penn High School have difficulty communicating verbally.