It is hard to believe that another course has come and gone. Today's class was really great because it allowed us to showcase what we have learned and put it into practice. There were 17 case study presentations and each one involved a successful use one or more assistive technologies:
As you can see, the majority of apps used for the case studies were free and several were even built in features of the device being used.
What is next?
I have already started and I will continue to promote the iPad, iPhone and iPod as assistive technologies and learning tools. Not only are they great alternatives for students with challenges, but they are highly motivating and engaging for everyone and promote creativity. I will continue to suggest apps for students who are struggling to learn through traditional methods. I also know that I will continue to refer back to this blog as well as my classmates' blogs because they contain a wealth of information making them great go-to resources.
Thanks to the assistive technology, Blackboard Collaborate, we were able to have class from home again. This time the issues were health related and not due to weather! As I mentioned on my Day 3 blog, students, who for various reasons would not regularly be able to attend school or know that they will be out of school for an extended period due to surgery could attend via Blackboard Collaborative. Having this available could mean an easier transition back into the classroom when able and would help reduce the anxiety of catching up to classmates.
The focus of today's class was: Low Tech AT for Diverse Needs.
Barb began with a great You Tube video showing low tech solution to enhance the performance of a person with a disability. The ideas are too great not to share, my personal favorites are the potato peeler, and the pot with the lockable lid; having one of those pots would have saved me from many past burns or food lost in the sink!
Some other You Tube videos featuring low tech solutions include:
1. This one shares ideas for in the kitchen, and all are under $25.
2. This one focuses on handwriting tools, most of which I had never seen before.
Who knew a tennis ball could be so versatile? Or so happy to help!
It is amazing when you just take the time to look around at things in the stores, everyday items can serve multiple purposes when you take the time and step outside of the box. Last week I was at Superstore, for groceries and was just walking up and down the aisles looking at everything.
The flat backed hair brushes caught my attention, those brushes with more bristles could hold items upright, such as recipe cards, sequence of steps cards and/or choice cards.
Another item that caught my eye was the egg cartons, in school we have used them to hold glue or paint but they are a great way to sort and organize things at home:
In the garage or basement to organize: different size nail, nuts, bolts, etc.,
To hold and sort pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, loonies and toonies,
To hold and sort thumbs tacks, safety pins, paper clips, buttons, etc.
If someone takes multiple pills, daily, at different times and finds the bottles difficult to open then several days worth can be sorted into the easy to open egg carton,
An empty carton can also be turned upside down and thin slits cut into the egg cups to hold pictures, choice cards, etc.
Appropriate Individualized Technology in the Classroom
Hippasus a consulting firm based out of Massachusetts, that helps transform education by bringing together technology, pedagogy and administration, founded by Dr. Ruben R. Puentedura Ph.D. There services include:
project-oriented consultation
intensive work seminars
prepackages solution bundles
Dr. Puentedura's primary focus is the integration of technology in the classroom; he is an engaging speaker with very innovative ideas. He ideas a so practical about the next steps to take with technology in the classroom but there is much to consider because, it is very hard to compare classrooms within schools and to other schools, the amount of available resources schools have, and a teacher's comfort level and knowledge of technology. The first school I taught in had a very active principal who was continuously writing grants, she won one which gave all classrooms in grade 3 to 5 Smart-boards and Document Cameras. That spring we all gave up lunch hours and time after school for training only to find out that they would not be installed until summer vacation. For some this was extremely frustrating because without practice you forget what you learn, and others were moving either to new schools or in my case, out of country; making the whole process feel like wasted time and effort. In this situation, it seemed the excitement over the technology outweighed the planning of everything else and having a forward thinking, commonsense guide like Dr. Puentedura would have been helpful. One of the things that Dr. Puentendura speaks about that I really like is "focusing" which is bringing together the work of faculty that is natural and lightweight. He talks about individual classrooms doing great but no one is sharing so the the whole institution moves forward. This is not evident in my current school, there is a split between teachers desperate for technology and those who like the traditional way. Fortunately the administration sees the value of technology in the classroom, but is limited by budget! This is so unfair for students who could benefit from the use of technology and the teachers who want to give it to them! How can we change this situation? Students should not have to make do because of the school they attend or their teacher's lack of comfort with technology. I wish the board that I belong to could see what other boards are doing (for example what we saw in our last class). There are some boards that are embracing technology and finding the means to get it and allowing students to bring it from home. Seeing those students who were unsuccessful in the classroom, blossom and grow with the appropriate assistive technology should be all the incentive needed. Working for a board with the motto: "Every student can learn. Every school will improve." Shouldn't they make opportunities for all students to have an equal fighting chance!
PECS - Picture Exchange Communication System
This is a low-tech AAC that was originally developed for use with young non-verbal children with autism and other social communication deficits. The PEC system is based on applied behaviour analysis, facilitators gradually shape the child's "impulse to reach for the desired object into the communication act of giving a picture symbol to another person. That person gives them the desired object in return" (Communication Matters, n.d.). Communication is made concrete.
PECS is taught in phases: Phase I: "How to Communication" - goal is initiation. Phase II: "These are your words - hunt them down and hunt down your communication partner" - goal is independence (generally the longest phase). Phase IIIA: "Simple discrimination" between pictures of high-preferred items over non-preferred - goal is 80% correct selecting target picture over several distractors. Phase IIIB: "Discriminating among multiple pictures of desired items" - goal is 80% correct times looking inside the binder to find desired picture. Phase IV: "Sentence structure" - goal is building toward spontaneous commenting. Phase V: "Responsive requesting" - goal independently answering, what do you want? Phase VI: "Responsive commenting" - goal spontaneously commenting on the world around them.
However using the PEC system can be cumbersome as can be seen from the image above. It is necessary for a student to carry a binder full of Velcro-backed symbols which they flip/sort through to create their intended message. Although time consuming to make, the advantage is a fairly low tech communication tool. Disadvantages include: the time to print, cut and laminate the symbol cards (provided you have the boardmaker program), the symbols are easily lost or destroyed, and there is a worry that the child may forget the intended message before all the symbols are found. I understand that it is essential to match the correct assistive technology tool to the child but wonder if there are cases where PECs could be skipped and a child could simply begin with Proloquo2go? Proloquo2 go is an electronic version of PECS.
As you may have noticed in the video Charlotte is still learning to associate the symbol cards with the item that she desires, and her mother is patiently offering her trays full of items. They also have to occasionally take a break because Charlotte stops looking at the symbols. Watching her work and seeing how long she is able to sit still, I wonder if instead of PECS she should be learning to use Proloquo2go!
I work in a school that has many students with varying degrees of autism for most of these students communication is an issue. There are also two students that physical disabilities which have effected how their mouths/jaws developed making speech difficult. There are many frustrating days for these students when the messages are not coming across as quickly as they need to be. Finding out about Proloquo2go was amazing! I shared this with the learning center and she was able to get it installed on one of the iPads, and like you mentioned the planning and layering continues to be ongoing.
Some other cool apps such as My Choice Board and Aeir Talk which are great options and less time consuming than create the PECS binder with boardmker!
My Choice Board - $9.99. An audio-visual display of choices for iPhone and iPod touch with camera. Fully customizable pictures and voice options.
Aeir Talk - free. Also an audio-visual display of choices but for the iPad. Fully customizable pictures and voice options.
Video Modeling and Social Stories
As teachers, there are certain things that we want are students to learn to do or learn to undo. This often involves class discussions, negotiations and role playing, it also includes: social stories and modeling in the classroom. Providing social stories and video modeling of is most useful for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who rely on visual aids/cues.
Students with ASD have 3 main areas of difficulty: social communication, imagination and interaction (O'Brien, 2012). Because of this video modeling is an excellent way to teaching new behaviours and reinforce acquired ones. Ideally modelling a correct behaviour replaces a previous incorrect behaviour. Video modeling involves demonstrating a correct behaviour that has been recorded, and this can be played over and over again. Some apps that support video modeling (and social stories) include:
1. Toontastic - A free iPad app that is great for preschool and early elementary children. Using a cartoon template, a digital storyline can be created. The user can record their own characters or characters within the app, and add their own music. Stories may be shared online.
2. Strip Designer - $2.99. This iPad, iPhone and iPod app can be use to create non-animated comics for storytelling. Personal and web photos maybe used, the app also offers templates with advanced customizing options.
3. FlipBook - $4.99. The animation iPad, iPhone and iPod app allows the user to create animations from still drawings. Once the series of drawings is complete they can be pieced together as a movie and played back. Like Toontastic, FlipBook movies may be shared online.
4. This is My Story (and I'm sticking to it!) - $1.99. The iPad, iPhone and iPod app offers several story writing activities including a "Make Up Your Own Story" option with bold colours and engaging sticker-like graphics.
5. Book Creator - $4.99. An iPad app that is creative, easy and fun way to make your own book. It provides a simple layout system to integrate pictures, text and sounds.
6. TherAd app - $14.99. An iPad, iPhone and iPod app that allows the user to video self-modeling behaviours. The app is fully customizable so it can be tailored to the unique individual needs of the user.
Social Stories are a tool used to teach social skills to children. They are useful to anyone who has difficulty reading social situations. Social stories give children accurate information about situations that a child may find difficult or confusing; they are designed to described a specific situation in detail, focusing on the important social cues, the event and the reactions that a child might expect to occur. The goal of social stories is to increase the children's understanding of, comfort level and appropriate response in specific situation therefore reducing anxiety and undesirable outbursts (Wallin, 2004). To be effective they should be practiced and reviewed on a regular basis.
Social stores generally contain 4 types of sentences:
Descriptive (who, what, why and where)
Perspective (details about the emotions and thoughts of others)
Directive (the desired response)
Control (for remembering the story and details)
The above apps are also fantastic to use to create social stories for children. Below is a great social story about getting angry in the classroom. It meets all elements that define a social story and its purpose, I believe that it clearly and concisely tells the student what they should do in this situation although it is a little long.
As always Barb gives us an opportunity to explore and creative useful and high engaging activities for our classroom.
We got to use Pic Collage. It is another iPad, iPhone and iPod app that could be used to create social stories and video modeling, but we had been talking about visual schedule. Visual schedules are ideal for students with autism, strong visual learners or students who are off task, inattentive or unfocused or require structure. We were given the opportunity to come up with 5 ways each to use Pic Collage.
Here are my 5:
1. Studying habitats is a component of the NS grade 4 science curriculum. In this activity the student sorts and places animals in their natural habitat. This can be used as an exit ticket at an end of a class or as a center activity or an informal assessment for a student
2. As part of healthy living, students select healthy breakfast foods. This pic collage activity requires students to view the drink and food options, and make choices to build three healthy breakfasts.
3. A students is able to move the balls around to how the answer to 10 divided by 2. A fun way for a student to demonstrate a specific curriculum outcome. A series of similar questions would make a great center activity.
4. This is a language arts activity which asks the student to sort the pictures by their initial sound. A great activity for lower elementary, for students with language disabilities, for students learning English, and an activity the SLP might use.
5. A not quite complete language arts or social studies activity. A student could use the graphic organizer to share information about Canadian scientist Frederick Banting as opposed to reading and writing about him. An alternative way to share knowledge and information.
Communication Matters. n.d. PECS (Pictures Exchange Communication System). Retrieved March 11, 2013 from: http://www.communicationmatters.org.uk/page/pecs O'Brien, R. (2010). A case study investigating the potential impact of video modelling on the teaching of a student with autism. University of Limerick. Wallin, J.M. (2004). Teaching children with autism. Retrieved March 14, 2013 from http://www.polyxo.com/socialstories/
Thanks to assistive technology, Blackboard Collaborative, for saving us from having to go out in the snow. It also meant that I was able to attend class considering how ill I was all weekend. This got me thinking about students, who for various reasons such as: anxiety, allergies, epilepsy, arthritis, asthma, diabetes, kidney disorders, cystic fibrosis, cancer, hepatitis, lupus, sickle cell anemia, chronic fatigue syndrome and HIV/AIDSwould not regularly be able to attend school or know that they will be out of school for an extended period due to surgery. They could attend via Blackboard Collaborative. Having this available could mean an easier transition back into the classroom when able and would help reduce the anxiety of catching up to classmates.
We also had the opportunity for three fantastic,and informative presentations; adding to our knowledge of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Thank you Tarah, Nancy and Mandy.
I liked that Tarah's presentation focused on sign language. Two years ago, I subbed mornings for a month in a classroom that included a student with Down's Syndrome who was extremely hard of hearing. Although this student spent most of her time in the Learning Center, the classroom teacher had taken the time to learn some sign language and taught them to the other students as well. I learned as well and also wore a clip-on amplification device when she was with us, but it never felt like I was doing enough.
Founding out about the Signed Stories app made me think of her, and I thought what a great way to experience learning with the class. Signed Stories would allow this student to feel less isolated because she would be doing exactly the same thing as everyone else; watching the monitor and learning. So inclusive for her and highly engaging for everyone.
I also enjoyed Nancy's informative presentation on Tango; another AAC device.
I really like that Tango provides another option for people in need with the eye-scan advantage something that the iPad, iPod and iPhone do not offer. However I do agree with Barb and Nancy, when the need allows - an iPad and Proloquo2go does offer more usability and versatility - more bang for far less buck$.
Mandy nicely wrapped up the information session with iComm another cool app from the Apple store. It is an easy to use, can be tailored to specific needs and is inexpensive AAC for young children. Unfortunately, it has some limitations. It seems to me that this would be an assessment tool or the perfect app for someone who is not quite ready for the level of Proloquo2go.
After class, while the snowstorm raged on, I watched the webinars:
Top Free Apps in Special Needs:Some children may possess especially
advanced or well developed abilities and skills in one or more areas. These
children are usually referred to as gifted or talented. Gifted students fall
into a classified group of exceptional children not normally associated with
at-risk (acting out because of boredom) or having to cope with anxiety
unfortunately this is not the case. One way to meet their needs is to provide
students with additional intellectual stimulation and opportunities for
independent projections in their areas of interest. I chose the three apps
below because I believe that they are a great way to extend learning and allow
gifted students to delve deeper into areas of interest.
1. iTunesU - Free for iPad, iPod and iPhone; requires IOS5. This app offers extensive resources and courses on any subject from some leading universities, including: MIT, Oxford and Yale.
2. TED - Free for iPad, iPod and iPhone. This app presents talks from remarkable people all over the world; these talks are never more than 20 minutes long and they cover a diverse range of topics. The app is updated daily with talks for events all around the world.
3. Howcast: Free for iPad, iPhone and iPod. This app provide user with how to information and videos on just about any subject.
Fine Motor Skills: In the past I have worked with a reluctant writer, a student with Asperger's Syndrome and a student who is globally delayed. The one thing that they all had in common was that they all had interesting things to say but it was never reflected in their writing due to issues with fine motor skills. Through working with an occupational therapist, I learned finger stretching techniques and have used pencil grips, etc. but they are not as cool or as motivating to use as an iPad. So it was these students that I kept in mind while watching the webinar. My three favorite apps are:
1. Dexteria - $3.99 for iPad and iPhone. It promotes dexterity, finger sequencing isolation and control. It supports the Handwriting Without Tears principles. A stylus may be used to reinforce pen tasks. The app includes therapeutic hand exercises to support and enhance fine motor skills, and writing readiness. There is tracking and data collection for teachers.
2. Bugs & Buttons, Pinch and Grab - $2.99 for iPad and iPhone. Students will practice thumb and index finger control, appropriate pressure and controlled drag. The app emphasizes hand eye coordination, attention to task and task completion. Activities progress into more complicated task sequences. Creative imaginative play is used to pinch tarantulas and drag them to a jar.
3. Touch & Write - $2.99 for iPad and iPhone. Students touch the screen with their finger or stylus and learn letters, numbers and words.A stylus encourages engagement and handwriting skills, control grasp, letter recognition and basic writing. Children learn to write in a fun and engaging way using shaving cream, ketchup, lemon gelatin, pencil, chalk, etc choosing from 28 paper styles.
Apps that Enhance Performance of Individuals with Extreme Autism: The school were I substitute teach the most has two learning centers and in each are students with varying degrees of Autism. With those students in mind, my three favorite apps are the ones that I thought you would get the most bang for your buck.
1. Fun Deck, Following Directions: $2.99 for iPad, iPhone and iPod. The app has 52 picture flashcards of one-step directions, you are able to select the ones that you want students to use. Up to five students are able to play this game at a time, as a student completes the direction the teacher is able to score and track correct or incorrect responses, to continue with the game just swipe for the next card. The game can be customized to give more than one card at a time.
I really like this app because it boost memory, motor skills and processing skills but it also encourages turn taking and team playing which is often difficult for students with Autism. Also as students improve and you show more than one card at a time, the app supports enhancing attention to task, task completion and sequence awareness skills.
2. Pictello: $18.99 for iPad, iPhone and iPod. This app allows the user to create talking albums or books with up to five lines of text. The app may be customized to the needs of the use;r meaning they can upload their own pictures and voice instead of using the available pictures and voice options.
I really like this app because it can be used to write social stories, model behaviours, model the steps to complete a task which then reinforces attention to task, task completion, memory and sequence awareness. Using Pictello for these activities reinforces the structure and routine that is important to students with Autism.
3. Injini: $29.99 for for the iPad. This app contains a large collection of learning game which fosters meaningful play. These games are designed to support children with cognitive, language and fine motor delays.
I like this app because for students with Autism, the games reinforce fine motor skills, audio-visual processing, cause and effect, spatial awareness, inhibition sequencing, matching to practice visual discrimination skills, reasoning and memory sequence awareness, attention to task and task completion.
"The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
George Bernard Shaw
AAC - Augmentative and Alternative Communication
If only communication was this easy for everyone. People who have: cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, have had strokes, autism, illnesses such as autoimmune disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, head injuries and early stages of dementia may not have the ability to communicate. They depend on augmentative and alternative ways to communicate. There are many different types of low, mid and high tech communication devices available to suit individual needs.
If you would like to know more details about each device, just click on its name.
And my favorite AAC option, to date, is the app: Proloquo2go !!!
It is amazing! This app is available for the iPad, iPad mini, and iPhone. This is a powerful assistive technology tool for those who require an augmentative and alternative means to communicate. What makes this app great, apart from the price (much less expensive than most of the above devices) is that it can be tailored specifically to the users needs. These needs are not locked in and changes can be made as the user becomes more comfortable and grows in abilities and wants. Some of the adjustable options include: tap control (number of times or length of tap time) cell size, cell color and background color, voice choice, and users can decided if each cell has one word attached to it or full sentences. Users also have the ability to personalize it by using their own pictures instead of the pre-programmed choices. This is why it is so important to have not only the SLP, learning center teacher and classroom teacher as part of the planning team, but the student and parents too. The more engaging it is to the user the more they will use it so it is essential to tailor the app.
It is extremely easy for me to recommend this app because I have some experience using it. As an assignment, my partner (Karen) and I created a communication board for a student with specific needs. Once we planned what is was we wanted for this student, setting up the communication board was a piece of cake. We created four environments for the student (home, school, activities and playground) and in each environment we were able to build further levels of cells; providing as many choices possible to fit her abilities and experience. We played around with the cell sizes and colours, background colour and length of time the student would need to hold her finger on the cell. As we gained confidence, we played around with the options because mistakes were so easy to undo and changes were so easy to make. The hardest part of the whole process was waiting for my turn to add cells.
Below is a young boy Max who is a new user to Proloquo2go and having a conversation with his mom.
It would be wonderful to hand someone whatever appropriate AAC device was needed and away they go. This is not the case, communication skills need to be taught. Barb gave us an article entitled "Pardon the Interruption: Enhancing Communication Skills for Students with Intellectual Disability" written by Bayes, Health, Williams & Ganz (2013) which details the behavior chain interruption strategy (BCIS). This is an evidence-based intervention effective in teaching communication skills to students with varying disabilities. Basically the intervention interrupts a child in their routine and during the interruption a new behaviour (way to ask to have a need filled) is taught. This cycle is repeated over a period of time until the student automatically asks for what is needed in the appropriate manner.
Learning to communicate is difficult enough, I can't imagine how it must feel to those who seem to be locked inside themselves. Thank heavens for AAC devices.
Bayes, D.A., Heath, A. K., Williams, C. & Ganz, J. R. (2013). Pardon the interruption: Enhancing communication skills for students with intellectual disabilities. Teaching Exceptional Children 45(3), p.64-70
"Don't judge a book by its cover!" "Innocent until proven guilty!" These are two expressions that we have heard time and time again, and for some of us, they are ways to live by. As teachers, they are also important lessons that we try to instill in our students. Presuming competency is also a lesson to live by. In general the people that we meet in our daily lives, we assume are competent however this is not always the case for persons with disabilities. Below are two examples of people, who like Suzie Rubin, were living with disabilities and with the appropriate assistive technology had the opportunity to prove their competency.
Aliah and Carly's videos show that anyone can do anything especially when the modifications, such as assistive technology is available.
iMovie, a $4.99 app that allows users to make movies (for more information click on the link below). But this app offers more than that, iMovie is a powerful and highly applicable tool for engaging all learners. It is also an excellent assistive technology tool for students with disabilities. iMovie can be used for :
teaching/modeling behaviours,
an alternative to writing, enabling students to create stories, poems, etc to share through movie format,
summarizing what was learned at the end of a unit
an alternative to standardized assessments,
making into instructional videos such as: "how to" and "step by step.
The iMovie app is just one of many highly useful assistive technology tools for students with low incidence disabilities. Low incidence disabilities include: blindness, low vision, deafness, hard-of-hearing, deaf-blindness, significant developmental delay, complex health issues, serious physical impairment, multiple disability and autism (National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials, 2012) to name a few.
There was a time when students with low incidence disabilities made up approximately 1% of the classroom population (National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials, 2012). With the strong inclusion movement this percentage has changed. In my classroom last year, 30% of the students had low incidence disabilities. For more information on students with low disabilities and ideas for support them, watch the two you tube videos below.
National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials, 2012. Curriculum access for students with low incidence disabilities: The promise of udl. Retrieved from: http://aim.cast.org/learn/historyarchive/backgroundpapers/promise_of_udl/what_l-i_d
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