"Chit Chat Train" project promotes positive interaction

It was full-steam ahead for OCM BOCES students at our Crown Road campus, where teachers and staff in our Stellatta and K-8 special education programs recently piloted a social communication project, called the "Chit Chat Train," to encourage students to display positive and appropriate interactions with their peers.

For four weeks, students earned paper train cars for using appropriate nonverbal gestures and social greetings, as well as for asking/answering each other's questions and making appropriate comments during peer interactions.

The train cars started their long and meandering journey at the main entrance of the school and traveled down several hallways in the building to finally make it to the “train station.” Speech Therapists Shari Fauer and Leah Kadlecik said students were able to celebrate their accomplishment with a pizza party.

Congratulations to our students at Crown Road for having a "one-track" mind when it comes to positive interactions with their classmates!