As a speech-language pathologist who worked in the school setting for most of my career, I dealt with many holiday celebrations. Most of the schools observed holidays for Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Easter, and Memorial Day. Some of the holidays were extended, and some were woven in to other celebrations and observances. The hallways and classrooms and other spaces were usually decorated with homemade and commercial materials to reinforce the theme of a particular holiday.

Just as a speech-language pathologist can reinforce the curriculum in the classroom through speech and language lessons, I found that using holiday themes could be a teaching tool, too. Many of the students I served seemed unclear about why they were getting a day off (or more) from school.

To me, one of the most solemn holidays on the school calendar is Veteran's Day. To help my students understand why they were getting a vacation day, and facilitating a functional outcome intervention, I developed lessons to teach some of the language of the special commemoration for veterans.

A veteran, according to Webster's Dictionary, is "a former member of the armed services." Veteran's Day, originally known as Armistice Day, honors the last official day of World War I, and went into effect on November 11, 1918, at 11:00 a.m.

There are many ways that schools honor veterans. Some students write letters to soldiers or interact with them through Skype, collect articles of clothing to donate to soldiers stationed around the world, or connect in other ways to show their appreciation.

I began to develop speech and language lessons for Veteran's Day shortly after September 11, 2001, a day that seemed to awaken the spirit in Americans to support veterans. Many of today's students were born after that day, or are too young to remember this tragic event. Our goals were not about reinforcing war, but about honoring the veterans who serve our country.

I obtained seals for each of the armed services, including the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard, and used them in my sessions. Many of the students seem to learn best when visual tools such as signs and pictures are included.

Perhaps the most functional lessons were push-in sessions in a music class that contained students with multiple disabilities. As I'd give the lesson, the music teacher played the songs that went along with each branch of service on the piano. The students would hold up the appropriate seals and sing or clang instruments along to the music when a new branch of service was called out.

One of the goals of the lesson was vocabulary development. The Army seal contains flags, drums, cannons, a snake, and the date 1775. The Marine Corps seal contains a globe that shows the western hemisphere, a rope, an anchor, an eagle, a scroll, and the Latin phrase "Semper Fidelis," which means "Always Ready" (the shortened version is "Semper Fi"). The Navy emblem also has an eagle, a tall ship, the sea, some land, some flags, and stars. The Air Force seal contains an eagle, Roman numerals, stars, a cloud, a shield, lightning bolts, and other items. Finally, the Coast Guard seal has two anchors, a rope border, a shield, the Latin phrase "Semper Paratus" (meaning "Always Ready") and the date 1790.

Another resource for veterans is the recent initiative launched by Michelle Obama and others called Joining Forces (www.whitehouse.gov/joiningforces). The site gives returning veterans from Afghanistan and elsewhere, and their families, ways to find help for post-combat stress and reintegration into society.

In 2011, Veteran's Day is on a Friday. The date may fit nicely into plans for a long weekend for the families we serve. As speech-language pathologists we can help our students become more informed communicators when it comes to Veteran's Day.