ChooseIt Maker gives us the opportunity to motivate the children by things that are in their real world.”
Debbie Bagwell
Higher Level Teaching Assistant
How The Coppice School Uses ChooseIt Maker for AAC and Switch Access
At The Coppice School, ChooseIt Maker is helping pupils with complex needs make meaningful choices, build switch skills, and grow in confidence as communicators.
Supporting communication and independence at The Coppice School.
The Coppice School in Preston supports children and young people aged 2 to 19 with a wide range of complex needs. Across the school, communication and independence are woven into everyday learning. Staff work creatively to help learners express themselves, make choices, and take greater control of their environment. HelpKidzLearn has been part of that journey for several years. More recently, ChooseIt Maker has become an important tool within targeted communication interventions. By creating personalised activities around each learner’s interests, needs, and communication goals, staff can make learning more meaningful and motivating.
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Making communication personalised.
Debbie Bagwell, Higher Level Teaching Assistant at The Coppice School, has worked in communication support for over 20 years alongside the school’s communication lead. In recent years, she has used ChooseIt Maker within communication interventions across the school, creating activities that feel personal and purposeful for each learner. Using familiar photos, favourite items, and well-loved activities, Debbie creates experiences that give pupils a clear reason to engage. Rather than working with abstract choices, learners are supported to communicate through people, objects, and experiences they already know and enjoy.
Turning real-life interests into opportunities for choice.
During our visit, Debbie shared an example based on items the children enjoyed from a bucket activity. She photographed the real objects, imported the images into ChooseIt Maker, and built an activity around them. This allowed pupils to make decisions using switches, auditory scanning, or other access methods, with choices directly linked to things they genuinely wanted to interact with. That link between the screen and the real world made the activity immediately more relevant. By building activities around familiar experiences, The Coppice team helps pupils see that communication has a purpose and their choice leads to something enjoyable, recognisable, and real.
From paper-based AAC to digital choice making.
Debbie also described how ChooseIt Maker supported one pupil who had been using an auditory scanning communication book with a speech and language therapist. One page focused on “I want” choices. Debbie recreated this page digitally using photos of the pupil’s own items, making the activity more engaging and motivating. The digital version encouraged him to stay engaged for longer and take more interest in making choices, especially alongside peers. Debbie explained that this added a sense of excitement and importance that can sometimes be harder to achieve with paper-based resources alone.
Developing waiting, listening, and switch skills.
ChooseIt Maker has also helped pupils build key access skills such as waiting, listening, and responding intentionally. One learner Debbie spoke about initially tapped a switch repeatedly. Through regular practice, he learned to pause, listen to the auditory prompt, and make his selection at the right moment. During our visit, we saw this in action. The young learner listened to the scanning choices in ChooseIt Maker and then selected the real item he wanted to play with. These small moments reflect important progress. Learning to wait, process information, and respond with intention is a vital step in communication development.
Finding the right switch for the learner.
Another pupil we met had joined The Coppice in September and had already made lovely progress with switch use. Staff explored hand, head, and foot switches to find the most effective access method for him. For this young man, a foot switch proved to be the best fit. Debbie explained that he responded more quickly and showed clearer understanding using his foot. Staff could also see the pride he felt when he made a successful choice. “He’s very proud of himself when he achieves it.” ChooseIt Maker made it easy to adapt activities around his preferred method of access, helping him experience success in a way that felt engaging and achievable.
Encouraging independence through counting songs.
Debbie created a song choice page in ChooseIt Maker using counting songs from Games & Activities. By adjusting the access settings and scan speed to suit his needs, she enabled the learner to choose and play a song independently using his foot switch. “He loves choosing songs and for him to be able to take control of the song as well and play it when he’s ready is also really nice to see.” This gave him the chance not only to make a choice, but to control what happened next. Moments like these help pupils understand that their actions have meaning and can shape their environment.
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I would say it’s a wonderful adaptive tool that you can personalise to each user. It caters for so many different aspects of communication. The more you explore it, the more you find, the more you realise it can help you with the next step.”
Debbie Bagwell
Higher Level Teaching Assistant
Supporting evidence and next steps.
At The Coppice, communication work is carefully recorded through photos, videos, and written observations. This evidence supports reviews, targets, and Individual Educational Plans (IEPs). ChooseIt Maker helps make progress easier to observe, giving staff clear opportunities to see how pupils are responding and which skills are developing. “The Switch Progression Map has been particularly helpful. It supports staff to identify which skills to focus on next and which types of activities will support that progression.”
Listening to the learner’s voice.
Many pupils at The Coppice communicate through body language, facial expression, gesture, and vocalisation. Debbie explained that their responses to activities make it very clear when something is working. “If they’re not engaged, they won’t respond. But if they are enjoying it, we get lots of smiles, giggles and cheering and it’s quite nice in a group scenario where they’re doing that for each other” She also shared a moment where one child encouraged another while waiting for a choice to be made. These interactions show that communication is not just about requesting, but also about shared enjoyment, patience, and social connection.
The moment communication clicks.
One of the most powerful moments Debbie described is when a child realises they have caused something to happen in their environment. “When a child realises, they have caused something to happen within their environment, for me that’s the biggest step in Communication.” That understanding is a major milestone. It shows the child that their actions matter, and that they can influence the world around them. “At The Coppice independence is something we always strive for.” With ChooseIt Maker, staff are creating more of these moments, supporting pupils to develop communication, confidence, and independence in ways that feel personal and rewarding.
Why ChooseIt Maker works for learners with complex SEN.
For Debbie and the team, ChooseIt Maker continues to stand out because it can be adapted so closely to each learner. “I would say it’s a wonderful adaptive tool that you can personalise to each user. It caters for so many different aspects of communication. The more you explore it, the more you find, the more you realise it can help you with the next step.” At The Coppice School, ChooseIt Maker is helping pupils do more than complete activities. It is helping them make choices, show intention, and experience the confidence that comes from being understood.
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