Kalianna School receives iPads to aid non-verbal student communication

About 20 per cent of Kaliana's student body is non-verbal, and the tablets aim to assist communication through the use of various apps designed for language learning.

The devices were received through the State Schools' Relief iPad program, which this year distributed 450 iPads to specialist schools.

State Schools' Relief CEO Sue Karzis said the program gave students the agency to express their personality through a device that belongs to the student, not the school.

"You'll see they actually look at their iPad, and they can say, 'I'm hungry, I'm thirsty'," Ms Karzis said.

"Importantly, outside of school they can talk to their siblings and their parents, and in the community if they needed to go and do something, they can communicate with their iPad."

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According to the Summary Statistics report for Victorian Schools, there are more than 29,000 students with disabilities in Victoria with numbers increasing annually.

Ms Karzis said the project came down to recognising 'the voice' as a basic human right.

"There's a whole lot of students who don't have a voice, and it's due to not having the financial means (to purchase an iPad)," she said.

"Every student and every person should have a voice."

State Schools' Relief is a not-for-profit supporting one-in-10 Victorian state school students and has operated the iPad program since 2019.

Kalianna speech pathologist Ella Norfolk-Birch said the iPads were an aid to students who rely on physical communication.

"They still have methods of communication - like gesture, or they can point to things, or they have some words that they can use - but it's not functional enough," Ms Norfolk-Birch said.

"The iPad allows them to get their message across successfully to whoever they want, whenever they want."

One of Kalianna School's collective goals was every student leaving the school had the ability to read, and Ms Norfolk Birch said the iPads would be used in the school's literacy program to support students in their reading journey.

"It allows them to be an autonomous communicator and take part in life as someone like myself who learnt language typically," she said.

If you'd like to support State Schools' Relief you can donate to their general appeal here.

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