I wanted to post the video below for a couple of reasons. First, it was local, made to increase awareness for children with disabilities in PEI. Secondly, and more importantly, I felt it served as a great reminder to educators as to ensuring we maintain the proper perspective. Whether it be high tech or low tech, assitive technology can be amazing, but however we offer support, the most important thing is the individual.
This was I great course...I truly believe I am a better educator because of it.
Audio Descriptive Device at Disney
I found a neat video from Disney. It introduced the viewers to a device called an Audio Descriptive device. Basically the device is used to help provide services to guests with disabilities at Disney's theme parks. In the video we see how the device can be used by guests with visual impairments to access information while visiting the parks. The nest part about the device is that rather than just be a pre-recorded message, it provides the guest with small bits of information and then they can choose if they wish to access more. There is a neat little demo of how the device works included in the video. The video also includes some interesting information on what went into developing the device to make as accessible as possible. Things such as the importance of having tactile buttons are discussed.
Of course, we need to recognize that this video is produced by Disney, and so there is obviously other motives at play, but nonetheless, the device, and its application in this setting is interesting.
I would like to learn more about what Disney, and other companies with large finical resources are doing to be accessible.
Of course, we need to recognize that this video is produced by Disney, and so there is obviously other motives at play, but nonetheless, the device, and its application in this setting is interesting.
I would like to learn more about what Disney, and other companies with large finical resources are doing to be accessible.
Low Tech Items
Our low tech device assignment was a great task as it generated so many effective, accessible ideas, that were also cost effective and easy to apply. Here are a few that I came up with...
First, I thought about how a student with a memory problem might work with a ruler and measurments. It might be difficult for them to retain a mesurement in their working memory long enough to complete a task with it. An easy solution I thought might be to have the student simply use a dry erase marker to mark the measurment on the ruler until he or she has had time to work with it or record it elsewhere. The mark can then quickly and easily be erased.
When I considered ways in which to combine items in order to create a unique assitive device, I focused on the sqeegee. By adding some velcro to the top of the sqeegee and then to a ruler a new device s created. The ruler can then be easily mounted to the sqeegee to take advantage of the sqeegees easy to grasp handle.
An additional low tech item that I noted was a Squeegee. The ide behind this item is that the protruding handle would make it easier to grasp for use as a straight edge. The squeegee would allow for those with motor skill difficulties to easily grasp and use it in order to draw a straight line. It also helps children who cannot seem to keep their fingers out of the way when using a ruler as a straight edge to do just that....no more straight lines interrupted by finger bumbs!
The last idea for a low tech device that cam to mind for me as I roamed the dollar store was the notion of using a pencil holder as a means of keeping pencils and pens in one place. We all know students who struggle with motor skills or even organization, who constantly are dropping or misplacing their writing utensils. These little pencil holders have a flat edge that pervents a pencil from rolling. If the need be there, you could also add some velcro to the pencil holder to create a more secure manner of keeping a pencil in place.
Our low tech assignment was a great way to change the pace of things. It certainly got me thinking along some different lines. I think I can see now that although there are so many potential hig tech solutions for kids, we need to beaware of the possibility that a high tech, high cost device might not be necessary.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Boardmaker Plus!
Today we worked through Boardmaker Plus. I had heard of this program before but had no experience using it. I had thight this program was silply use only to create templates for the GoTalk, now I see it is much more. I had no idea it could be set up as an communication system on its own. The manner in which the program could be set up to operate with a switch was certainly useful, as was learning how to set the program up to scan. Boardmaker is certainly a program with lots of potential for use.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Switches
Today we looked at our video social stories. Although we had some laughs I think we all saw just how effective these videos could be in working to shape behaviour.
The video we watched regarding students with special needs being integrated into the everyday routines and activities of the classroom was interesting. I was nice to see some real life situations and to gain some insight into how this can work. I especially liked hearing the different perspectives of those involved in making integration work for everyone. I thought it was great as well to hear the points of view of other students with regard to integration.
Our discussion of switches was also informative. I have never had a student require a switch so this was rather new to me. I had never really considered the many ways in which a switch can allow a student to access control over the environment, inclusion, engagement in learning and social situations, as well as leisure activities.
I had also not considered the many things involved in making the use of a switch successful. This might include motivation, suitable activities, practice, encouragement, as well as position and type of switch.
It is also important to keep in mind the stages of switch control...
Cause and effect – Pressing the switch makes something happen. The switch is a means to an end, pressing the switch is not the goal.
Switch timing – when to press the switch. The switch is the means to a task.
Choosing with Switches – Using a switch to select.
When selecting a switch it is also important to keep in mind position, that is, the position the user will be in when using the switch. Movement patterns are another area to consider. This is the controlled movement the user will use to operate the switch. The control site is the part of the body that the user uses to activate the switch, this, as well as the type of switch are important to consider when making a switch selection.
There are simply so many options and opportunities created through the use of a switch.
Although the notion of using a switch is straightforward, there is obviously a lot to consider, however, the key theme seems to be to always keep in mind the goal of the user-what they wish to accomplish.
The video we watched regarding students with special needs being integrated into the everyday routines and activities of the classroom was interesting. I was nice to see some real life situations and to gain some insight into how this can work. I especially liked hearing the different perspectives of those involved in making integration work for everyone. I thought it was great as well to hear the points of view of other students with regard to integration.
Our discussion of switches was also informative. I have never had a student require a switch so this was rather new to me. I had never really considered the many ways in which a switch can allow a student to access control over the environment, inclusion, engagement in learning and social situations, as well as leisure activities.
I had also not considered the many things involved in making the use of a switch successful. This might include motivation, suitable activities, practice, encouragement, as well as position and type of switch.
It is also important to keep in mind the stages of switch control...
Cause and effect – Pressing the switch makes something happen. The switch is a means to an end, pressing the switch is not the goal.
Switch timing – when to press the switch. The switch is the means to a task.
Choosing with Switches – Using a switch to select.
When selecting a switch it is also important to keep in mind position, that is, the position the user will be in when using the switch. Movement patterns are another area to consider. This is the controlled movement the user will use to operate the switch. The control site is the part of the body that the user uses to activate the switch, this, as well as the type of switch are important to consider when making a switch selection.
There are simply so many options and opportunities created through the use of a switch.
Although the notion of using a switch is straightforward, there is obviously a lot to consider, however, the key theme seems to be to always keep in mind the goal of the user-what they wish to accomplish.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Video Social Stories Part II
Today we continued working on our video social story project. Despite some technical difficulties with respect to adding the narration to the video, things seemed to go well. It was nice to get the opportunity to try out the technology in a realistic and practical manner. I enjoyed using WIndows Movie Maker, although at times it seems somewhat finicky, generally it was pretty user friendly.
Video Social Stories
In today's class we had a look at social stories. Although I do not have a lot of experience using these teaching tools I was familiar with them. It was neat to see how the social story can be presented using a video format. I quickly saw how useful a video social story could be. For starters it is very engaging, after all it is a video, and kids love watching videos. It also provides an additional dimension to the social story in that students who struggle with the book format, be it due to the physical aspects of using a book or challenges when it comes to reading, can acess the social story on a rather independent level.
I had never used an ipod nano before and it was nice to learn how to use video from that device on windows movie maker. Although I have used movie maker before, it has been a little while and having the time to do a refresher was nice. Our next class in which we produce our own social stories should be interesting!
I had never used an ipod nano before and it was nice to learn how to use video from that device on windows movie maker. Although I have used movie maker before, it has been a little while and having the time to do a refresher was nice. Our next class in which we produce our own social stories should be interesting!
The ipod touch and its apps...
Last class, having set up and logged into an itunes account for the first time, we continued our use of the ipod touch. I was immediately amazed at the huge number of available applications. To be perfectly honest I had no idea that so many applications existed. I must admit my eyes have been opened when it comes to the ipod touch and its apps!
As I considered the assignment I thought of a one student specifically who may benefit from the ipod. However, this student was one who was non verbal, and having already covered that application of the ipod touch in class, I decided to attempt to come up with a student of a different profile. In the end I decided I would challenge myself to see if I could find a way to make the ipod an appropriate tool for a student with behaviour issues. This student was often oppositional and at times aggressive. Would the ipod work for her?
Knowing what I do about the student I first thought about the fact that when her behaviour is an issue, when she has an outburst, it is most often preceded by some type of stressful situation. It may be a class she does not want to attend, a dispute with a peer, or an activity that makes her feel self-conscious; each of these can lead to stress which then leads to a blow up. So, the first app I search for was one to do with stress management. A few apps were identified but seemed to be too sophisticated for an elementary student. Perhaps I was thinking in too complicated a manner. I tried selecting ‘stress toy’ under the suggested search terms. Ah Ha...this lead me to a few apps that were more like a means of stress reduction than a means of avoiding stress. In the end I choose to use the ‘Smash Screen’ app, which simply put allows you to virtually smash the screen of the ipod touch by tapping it with your finger. I see this app as serving two main functions; first, when the student gets angry she can sit and ‘smash’ the ipod screen rather that smashing something else. Secondly, it could act as a cueing system for the teacher, that is, when I see her using Smash Screen I know something’s up and I should deal with it while she is still keeping it under control.
I also knew that this student often struggled when it was time to go to French class. Although the French teacher was pleasant and did her best to support this student the issue nonetheless remained. Upon some investigating, the issue seemed to be that the child did not feel confident in French, this made her feel embarrassed which she released (or hid) using anger and opposition. Therefore, I also included on the ipod a French-English dictionary app called French-English Lite. This I would hope, would allow her feel slightly more confident in French. Along this same line, I included the app called FlowMath. This program helps build number sense by having the user select from a set of numbers and operations what is need to build a math sentence that will yield a given value. Again, math was an area of frustration for this student and my thinking was that perhaps a ipod touch would represent the means by which to build her number sense without having her immediately shut down her willingness to try something. Finally, when it comes to academic support to help this student work through some of the frustrations that she faces with daily tasks, I also located and loaded a spell checker. Spelling is a huge issue for this student so I was great to be able to find a spell checking program for her. This particular version ( Speller-Free spell check) was great due to the fact that it included a word prediction aspect and would take the user to a dictionary entry for a spell checked word as well. The only issue of concern may be the fact that the dictionary part of the app required a wi-fi connection otherwise it would not function
Lastly, in order to help this student manage her time, and because she does often struggle to complete a task, I included a timer app. This, I believe, will help her see that the end of a task is approaching and will hopefully help her avoid asking ‘how much longer are we...?”. The great thing about this timer was that two or three times could be set and all viewed at the same time. Therefore, one timer could be set to countdown until the student could have a break, a second timer could time the break, etc. My hope would be that it would allow her to partly self monitor her own time management.
So, it was great to explore itunes and check out just a few of the many available apps for the ipod touch. It was certainly a productive assignment.
As I considered the assignment I thought of a one student specifically who may benefit from the ipod. However, this student was one who was non verbal, and having already covered that application of the ipod touch in class, I decided to attempt to come up with a student of a different profile. In the end I decided I would challenge myself to see if I could find a way to make the ipod an appropriate tool for a student with behaviour issues. This student was often oppositional and at times aggressive. Would the ipod work for her?
Knowing what I do about the student I first thought about the fact that when her behaviour is an issue, when she has an outburst, it is most often preceded by some type of stressful situation. It may be a class she does not want to attend, a dispute with a peer, or an activity that makes her feel self-conscious; each of these can lead to stress which then leads to a blow up. So, the first app I search for was one to do with stress management. A few apps were identified but seemed to be too sophisticated for an elementary student. Perhaps I was thinking in too complicated a manner. I tried selecting ‘stress toy’ under the suggested search terms. Ah Ha...this lead me to a few apps that were more like a means of stress reduction than a means of avoiding stress. In the end I choose to use the ‘Smash Screen’ app, which simply put allows you to virtually smash the screen of the ipod touch by tapping it with your finger. I see this app as serving two main functions; first, when the student gets angry she can sit and ‘smash’ the ipod screen rather that smashing something else. Secondly, it could act as a cueing system for the teacher, that is, when I see her using Smash Screen I know something’s up and I should deal with it while she is still keeping it under control.
I also knew that this student often struggled when it was time to go to French class. Although the French teacher was pleasant and did her best to support this student the issue nonetheless remained. Upon some investigating, the issue seemed to be that the child did not feel confident in French, this made her feel embarrassed which she released (or hid) using anger and opposition. Therefore, I also included on the ipod a French-English dictionary app called French-English Lite. This I would hope, would allow her feel slightly more confident in French. Along this same line, I included the app called FlowMath. This program helps build number sense by having the user select from a set of numbers and operations what is need to build a math sentence that will yield a given value. Again, math was an area of frustration for this student and my thinking was that perhaps a ipod touch would represent the means by which to build her number sense without having her immediately shut down her willingness to try something. Finally, when it comes to academic support to help this student work through some of the frustrations that she faces with daily tasks, I also located and loaded a spell checker. Spelling is a huge issue for this student so I was great to be able to find a spell checking program for her. This particular version ( Speller-Free spell check) was great due to the fact that it included a word prediction aspect and would take the user to a dictionary entry for a spell checked word as well. The only issue of concern may be the fact that the dictionary part of the app required a wi-fi connection otherwise it would not function
Lastly, in order to help this student manage her time, and because she does often struggle to complete a task, I included a timer app. This, I believe, will help her see that the end of a task is approaching and will hopefully help her avoid asking ‘how much longer are we...?”. The great thing about this timer was that two or three times could be set and all viewed at the same time. Therefore, one timer could be set to countdown until the student could have a break, a second timer could time the break, etc. My hope would be that it would allow her to partly self monitor her own time management.
So, it was great to explore itunes and check out just a few of the many available apps for the ipod touch. It was certainly a productive assignment.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Proloquo2go and the ipod touch
Today we continued our look at the ipod touch as we began our group assignment. I was please to get another chance to use the ipod hands on and become increasingly familiar with the device and proloquo2go. The assignment was challenging in that it was difficult to plan and program the device for a fictional student. However, generally speaking it was a benifical assignment in that it allowed us to practice setting up and organizing the plan on proloquo2go. One key thing I learned, as was mentioned in the prevous class, was the importance of pre-planning proir to setting up proloquo2go. One of the additional points made today was the fact that when setting up proloquo2go it is important to keep in mind what the student will want to say...not only what the adults feel the student should want to say!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The ipod touch...
This class we spent a considerable amount of time getting to know the ipod touch in greater detail. After some time spent using the device I felt fairly competent in using it. Overall, the ipod touch seems fairly user friendly. Adding categories was rather straight forward and once you work through it once or twice it becomes routine. Changing the size of the icons and moving an icon from one location to another was a little more complex, but after some practice it seemed to go fine. I liked the point made about the number of layers within the ipod touch being dependent on the cognitive ability of the user...this is an important point as it might be easy to set the device up based on the desires of the teacher or other adults involved. I have no doubt that I will need some guidance as I work with the ipod touch in the future, however, I do feel fairly comfortable with the device at this point.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Class # 2 . . .
Today we began our class by examining a variety of different models, or frameworks, that are used when assessing the appropriateness of a given assistive technology. I liked the point made that no framework will work universally, and I agree with that, however I was most impressed with the WITI approach. I liked the manner in which it was laid out as a checklist style model. Although it would not provide a solution, I believe it would be a good, comprehensive place to begin. After researching the HAAT model I found myself thinking that this model seemed vague, and perhaps not as direct as the WITI framework. I think the WITI framework is a great tool to help us be certain that we consider all aspects involved in applying assistive technology. Some things such as range of motion, muscle tone, scanning , type of switch and other areas are not always obvious things to consider, however, the WITI outline forces us to consider these. The group activity in which we had to come up with a way to communicate based on a given scenario was great because it forced us to do some creative thinking. It was neat to see the different ways in which each group approached the situations. It was interesting to really think about communication. I had not really considered the aspects of what is involved in communication. Joint attention, common language and having a communication partner are obviously all important aspects of communication. I also liked how we considered the different moods of communication including writing, pictures, props, acting, behaviour, body language, facial expressions, tone of voice, and others. Getting to use the ipod touch was a great part of today’s class. I had no idea that the ipod was such a useful and versatile tool. Obviously, planning is important, but the ability to have so many communication options on a small compact device is incredible.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Our first class...
Our first class of Educ 5173 was full of information. The video we watched was quite eye opening. It was a great video that offered amazing insight into the world of autism. For me, one of the major themes taken from the video as that of communication. It is so hard to understand what it must be like to be unable to express oneself. Not because the thoughts and words are not there, but because the means is lacking. It was obvious how big a role the technology had in this young lady's life and how it opened up a whole new opportunity for her. For me, that technology represented the most important theme of the film...the ability to communicate. I also found it very informative to hear about Tyler and the manner in which technology has assisted him and allowed him to be the person he truly is. I enjoyed our first class, I enjoyed hearing about the individual situations and seeing how technology is being used. It is great to have a real life connection to associate the technology with as we learn about it.