Here we are, two years after the launch of the Plural Words project. When we started in October 2023, we had plenty of ideas: strong motivation to promote AAC both inside and outside our partnership, and most importantly, the ambition that the Plural Words boxes would reach as many children as possible. After months of dedicated work, we are proud to say that our bet has paid off: today we can present a collection of 11 ready-to-use boxes, along with a variety of resources designed for education professionals.
Of course, it was not all clear from the beginning. We needed several trials before agreeing that our boxes would bring the classics to life by making them accessible through pictograms. The project really came alive in October 2024, during our partner meeting in Rome, when we launched the testing phase in schools. For six-months, teachers and pupils discovered, explored and played with the materials. What had been created digitally suddenly took shape in classrooms.
One of the most inspiring moments happened in Mons (Belgium), at our third meeting in March 2025, when partners shared their experiences and feedback. That was the moment we knew: our ambition had come to reality. Photos and videos showed children taking ownership of the stories. Whether or not they usually faced communication barriers, pupils engaged with narratives and even retold them in their own way. Teachers and educators made some adjustments to fit their pupil’s needs, and the flexibility of the resources was highly appreciated. One of our main goals was to provide a wide range of materials, so that everyone could find the tools that worked best for them.
Each school gave its own unique touch to the stories:
- Liceul Tehnologic Special pentru Deficienti de Auz Cluj-Napoca (Romania) brought the shadow play to life and told the stories through sign language.
- SOSW (Poland) turned Odysseus, the Island of the Cyclops into a sensory journey, staging the myth in the school gym for pupils with severe communication frontiers.
- Josip Matoš (Croatia) and Montessori Rive Gauche (Swziterland) created kamishibai to add a theatrical dimension to the retelling.
- I.C Montessori (Italy) explored the sensorial aspects, by recreating scenes, such as the sheep being stolen, through hands-on activities.
These workshops not only bore fruits, but they also deeply inspired our school partners, who later developed their own boxes. Their productions and expertise are now proudly part of the Plural Words collection.
After two years, the project itself is coming to an end, but we believe this is only the beginning for the Plural Words method. We are confident that new initiatives will soon emerge in our consortium’s countries. Some activities have already started to sparkle, follow our partners’ social media channels to keep track of what comes next.
Now, the boxes are yours. We hope you will join this post-project journey and keep making stories accessible for all learners.
