Practical Tools for the Special Education Classroom – Consultation Materials for Supporting Regulation and Language
One of the most impactful aspects of my internship was developing practical consultation materials designed to support educators and therapists (e.g. speech therapists, occupational therapists, etc.) in the special education school setting. These tools were created specifically for students receiving music therapy services as part of their Individualized Education Programs (IEPs).
For context, when a student receives music therapy as a related service on their IEP, the intervention must support access to their educational goals. Music therapy in this context is not standalone, it is carefully aligned with existing IEP objectives to help the student make meaningful progress in areas such as communication, motor planning, social skills, or emotional regulation.
The goals and created interventions were:
Goal: By 4/22/2026, when engaged in various classroom activities (e.g., morning meeting, rotations, free choice), Student X will be able to request and respond through use of 3-4 word phrases via spoken words or on their AAC device in 4/5 opportunities given no more than 2 direct models and/or gestural prompts as needed across 3/3 activities as measured by SLP logs.
- Sentence Frames: Musical sentence frames paired with visual cues were designed to scaffold language development. These frames provided predictable structures such as “I feel ___ ” or “I want ___ ” set to simple melodies. This approach gave students a framework for expressing feelings and desires even when verbal skills were limited or emerging.
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Goal: By Plan Review 2025, when participating in a descriptive language task and given a familiar visual(s) and sentence frames, student X will respond using a preferred mode of communication (e.g. verbal expression, AAC) to a wh-question regarding category, feature, and/or function to describe similarities between 2 or more objects in 8/10 trials across 2 consecutive probes as measured by by SLP, music therapist, and staff data (Categories/objects chosen will be aligned to the greatest extent with the general education curriculum in which student is participating: e.g. human body parts will focus on life science functions of major body parts like the heart and digestive system)” identifying what is similar and different
- Body Part Similarity Song: This intervention was designed to support the student’s use of descriptive language through music by identifying similarities between two or more body parts. Using rhythmic songs alongside familiar visuals and sentence frames, the student was prompted to respond to WH-questions such as “What is the same?”, “How are they alike?”, and “What do they both do?” The songs focused on body parts aligned with general education life science content (e.g., the heart, brain, and stomach) and encouraged the student to describe shared features, functions, or categories. Responses were made using the student’s preferred mode of communication, either verbally or with an AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) device, which supports individuals with limited or no verbal speech. Music and movement were incorporated to support attention, engagement, and sensory integration while reinforcing concepts of comparison.
Creating these consultation tools was a rewarding experience that underscored the power of collaboration between music therapy and educational teams to foster meaningful growth. While I haven’t implemented these in session yet, the point of making consult materials is to target goals in a new and creative way that increases a student’s access to musical ways of learning in the classroom, and to meet the specific needs of a client. These interventions are given to therapists, teachers and aides with directions on how to implement the resources in session, and how to adapt it and generalize concepts outside of session.
Amelia Elbendary
