July 20, 2010

Today we split into groups to find inspiring video and information about a specific area. My group was adapted Phys. Ed so we decided to divide up the job and examine different sports. I originally chose skiing because I knew there would be tons of stuff. On a whim I went on Youtube and typed in "Adaptive Snowboarding" and look what I found!



I love what this guy is doing. I'm a snowboarder and I love the sport. My family pretty much grew up at the ski hill and as a result, all three children are instructors, one a ski instructor and 2 snowboard instructors. My middle son spends a lot of time in the park hitting the jumps, rails and boxes, along with making movies. This video is just like what he does. I also ride the park and have hit a long box like the yellow one in the video. It's not easy. This guy is right where he should be, having fun and making videos. Awesome.

This rider has equipment that has been adapted to meet his needs. He uses a prothesis and a specialized binding since he has one leg. Sometimes simply moving the bindings is enough to make the set up work . Others use outriggers to help balance themselves.The next rider you will see has no adaptive equipment other than tethers used by the instructors to guide her.



Adaptive riders can include "male and female athletes with a physical disability such as spinal injury, cerebral palsy, amputation, and visual impairments." (Disabled World, 2010). Many of the larger hills, such as Whistler, offer programs for riders with a disability though I have yet to see any in my region. .

People with disabilities have been snowboarding for awhile, though Adaptive Snowboarding as a sport is relatively new. The competitive side of the sport is in the early stages with the first international event happening in 2005 at the USASA National Championships. The World Snowboard Federation has developed a model for international competition which is the "Sling- Shot Border Cross" This involves the riders going through the course one at a time with the best of three times determining the winner. Adaptive Snowboarding is a recognized sport in Canada though it is not yet included as part of the the Paralympic Sports.


Wrap-Up
It's hard to believe the course is over. It was two intense weeks but I've learned so much. I am amazed by my comfort level with the different technologies. (I think using the iTouch was my favourite). I also enjoyed the movie about Susie Ruben and learned many valuable lessons. It was beneficial to be reminded of the importance of communication and of never making assumptions about people who may appear different or who are unable to communicate in the conventional way. I am looking forward to taking what I've learned back to school in the fall. Great course - very useful!

July 19, 2010

Finished up our Boardmaker activities. I experienced some frustration with exporting it and I'm hoping it works! I'm grateful for all the support of my classmates and professor during this process because I don't think, even with the steps written down, I could have figured it out. Further confirmation that I should be wary of computers! My comfort level is growing though with every new task I'm asked to do.

The presentations today were very interesting. I was impressed by the ingenuity involved with the inventions and the sheer number bought and presented. Well done everyone!

July 17, 2010

Assignment 3 - Low Tech Dollar Store Devices

Item #1 - Plastic Suction-Cup Bowl

"Olivia" (pseudonym) is a grade 5 student with Cerebral Palsy. She can do many things such as walking using her walker, peddling her custom made tricycle, and she is working towards being able to eat independently. She struggles academically and is on an IPP for academics and for gross motor skills. She receives support from a Resource teacher, an EA, and occasional visits from an Occupational Therapist and Physiotherapist. All of the above (including the parent and classroom teacher) have formed a Program Planning team that meet each term to discuss "Olivia's "IPP goals, and make changes or updates when necessary.

Since "Olivia" is in the regular classroom for most of the day, we wanted to look at a low tech assistive technology device that would help her in this setting. We knew that she was working towards being able to eat independently without EA support at lunchtime in her classroom with her friends. She finds it difficult to manoeuvre her lunch around, and often knocks items on the floor by accident. We have also noticed that due to her age, she is really starting to become more self-conscious about this and sometimes gets embarrassed.

At the Dollar Store, we found a plastic bowl that has a big suction cup on the bottom. This enables the bowl to stay securely on the table. There is also a cover that goes with it. If "Olivia" used this for anything in her lunch that could fit in a bowl, it wouldn't matter if she bumped it, it wouldn't be going anywhere. This may enable the EA to sit somewhere else in the classroom for parts of lunch. The other great thing about it is that it looks like any other bowl a student may bring to school with something in it to eat.

Item#2 - Ring of Colour Overlays

"John" is a Grade 6 student who is average academically and has great fine and gross motor skills. He has no medical conditions and appears to be a very typical Grade 6 student. "John" loves to read novels but often struggles with reading text photocopied onto regular white paper, which his classroom teacher uses often. He frequently avoids any work on "worksheets" and can cause a disruption. He also claims to get headaches frequently in school.

We have created a ring of various colours of translucent overlays. We have also included a magnification overlay. It has been proven that some students find reading black print on bright white paper "hard on the eyes". Sometimes headaches are a factor. Sometimes the sharp contrast causes a distraction. With various colours to choose from "John" can pick an overlay and simply lay it on the white paper his teacher gave him, still being able to read the text through it. The overlays are actually pieces of plastic subject dividers. Depending on the child, certain colours can help with the sharp contrast in colour of a regular photocopied sheet of writing. We decided to put the various colours on a ring so a student can quickly flip through and choose the colour they would like to work with for the lesson. We also decided to cut the overlays to the size of an index card. From our experiences using full size overlays from the "Low Tech" AVRSB kit, they were too big, bulky, and were often difficult to move over a folded text book. This way, the student can also be moving it as they read along, to help them stay on track. The ring could hang there when not in use, and is easily accessible for the student. In fact, they were so inexpensive and easy to make, a classroom teacher could provide them for many other students too.



10 (+) Other Items We Found At the Dollar Store

1. a variety of sensory materials (squishy balls, sponges, kitchen scrubbers)
2. giant pen for difficulties with fine motor
3. bottom part of a broom for easier to handle scrub brush
4. giant foam dominoes
5. hula hoop for gross motor activities
6. foam blocks
7. rotary cutter ( a type of scissors, easier to use)
8. tambourine with large handle
9. travel pillows to stabilize head
10. plastic water glasses with cover and built in straws
11. aprons for art/eating

July 16, 2010

Yesterday we started talking about switches and today we designed a program on the computer (on Boardmaker Plus) that uses a switch.

What is a switch?
A switch is a "mechanism for making and breaking a connection" on an electrical circuit (The Concise Oxford English Dictionary) Switches in Assistive Technology are designed to do whatever action the user needs it to do. These actions could include turning on a light or accessing a computer. They provide access to devices that the user didn't have before. They allow the user to do the action just by touching the switch once.

Who needs a switch?
Switches are designed for people who need to communicate, who need to be mobile or who need to do a specific action that they cannot do themselves. They can be individuals who have limited to no mobility and/or people who are non verbal. The amazing thing is anyone can use them, even those who have no mobility, due to the innovative designs. For example, breath can control a switch. (I mentioned this yesterday. I'm still amazed by the engineering behind such a thing.)

Selecting the appropriate switch
When choosing the right switch from the wide variety available, a few things need to be considered. Does the switch meet the needs and abilities of the user? The set up of the switch and how it needs to be mounted need to be considered. Can the user access the switch?

Boardmaker Plus Activity

Started our final assignment today. I made a communication board and my partner made a book on the same topic. We decided to have the student read a book and answer questions as part of her annual goals of communicating in all subject areas and reading and answering questions in non-fiction text. Using Boardmaker Plus was like using Porloquo2Go except way more complicated. In making the communication board I had to do a lot of extra steps to link windows. It took a lot of time. I don't think Proloquo2Go can be used with a single switch though. Maybe I'm wrong about this. I got it done though. I just hope it saved properly. I checked and double checked! I can see the practical applications and I've been considering how it might be useful in the classroom. I'm thinking of a student who is using a pecs board in a very limited way. Maybe the same messages on a computer with a single switch could work at least in some situations. What does he need to do? Communicate a message, he's non-verbal. What type of switch? Probably a large round one. He has good gross motor skills and has used one before for one word messages. It's a start.

July 15, 2010

Social Stories

So we made our Social Story video. This Social Story was written for a five year old girl, Olivia, in grade primary. She entered grade primary with no experience dealing with other children and no social skills. She was later diagnosed with ADHD. Her teacher described her as a "tornado" on the playground. Her favourite activity was the slide where she would repeatedly go up and down. However, she was unaware of how to wait her turn or how to use the slide safely. She was aggressive in her actions and would push other children out of the way. She would climb up the slide and go down head first. Safety was an issue, both for her and the other children. Her annual goal on her IPP was to learn how to interact with children her own age appropriately and her specific goal from that was for her to use the slide safely and appropriately 80% of the time. This social story was designed to teach her how to do just that. We decided to show Olivia's behavior before the introduction of a Social Story as well as after. Enjoy!

Switches

We also started talking about switches today. I was amazed by what could be accomplished by using one switch. We pulled up the accessible keyboard on our computers (which I never knew was there) which could be accessed by using a switch. I found it difficult to write with, though mine was not working properly. The person learning to use this keyboard would need to be patient, though if it is one's only means of using one, it would be worth it. It opens up so much; a way to communicate, employment possibilities, education to name a few.

I was also surprised by the variety of simple switches. From thin, paper -like ones to the round ones you see on the left. The specialty switches were amazing. They included switches that one could operate using just their breath or the movement of their eye.

I'll add to this tomorrow since we'll be talking more about it in class.

July 14, 2010

Made A Movie!

Today was fun as promised. We created our storyboard and filmed it outside. We only got a little wet and managed to beat most of the rain. (I'm grateful we didn't need to film this afternoon!) As simple as the process sounds, with the descriptive sentences, the perspective sentences and the directive sentence at the end, it was still tricky to get just the right message for each frame. I think it will get easier with more practice. Again we were very grateful for the skills of our techie. Her knowledge saved us a lot of headaches. Also useful was the input of the one teacher who was accustomed to this type of writing. I'm looking forward to seeing the videos that everyone else created.

I found a video of Carol Gray talking about Social Stories. She starts off by saying being social is fun. Kids (and adults as well) look for opportunities to be social. She mentioned turning her back on students and them immediately using the time to be social. (The same thing happens in a class of adults.) Children on the autistic spectrum can be left out of that very important part of life in a community that the rest of us take for granted. Depending on their ability to communicate, they can range from complete isolation to causing anger or confusion in others due to a lack of understanding of social skills. This is a huge chunk of life to be left out of and I wonder how it makes them feel? (Susie Ruben comes to mind - again.) Social Stories are a bridge, giving the people who struggle a way in.

Here's her movie. Check out what she has to say for yourself.

July 13, 2010

Making Movies!

Learned about Social Stories today. This was new to me and I loved the idea. After class I searched the topic and found a good link providing more information and some samples. (See Interesting Links) The Social Stories idea was created for children with autism but it makes good sense to use with a wider audience, maybe in modified versions. As stated in the above mentioned link, most children with autism appear to lack a"theory of mind" which means they don't understand the thoughts and feelings of others and have difficulty understanding social cues and behaviors. There are other children who are developing their understanding in this area as well for whom Social Stories would be a wonderful guide.Younger children, just learning about how to interact with one another could use positive models of expected behaviors. Children with developmental delays can find reading social situations overwhelming and using these strategies would make sense for them. Along with many of the activities and ideas we've discussed in this course, I feel I have something practical and beneficial I can take back to my students. YAY!

We also worked on creating a video of a social story. I felt quite uncertain of this at the beginning though we were assured it would be fun. (Wasn't buying it) It really was fun though and working through the process we had lots of laughs. It helped that my group was so knowledgeable in both areas because I could easily have gotten bogged down, especially with the technology. I'm looking forward to creating our own movie tomorrow.

July 12, 2010

The cartoon really has nothing to do with today's blog but, being a dog lover, I thought it was pretty funny.

Today we examined more apps though I wasn't able to actually download any due to internet problems. However, I did get a chance to look at them over the week-end and was very excited about the apps I found. The language based ones I have examined so far seem more like what we do in class, especially the ones that work with words and letters which was what I was looking for. The Math apps I found so far were more practice of basic facts, however in a way I think students would find more interesting since there were little rewards and games.

ASSIGNMENT 2
The student I have in mind who could benefit from using the iPod Touch is significantly behind her peers in math and literacy and needs support in the content areas. I will refer to her as R. R is going into grade 4 and is on an IPP for Math and Language Arts. She is extremely inattentive. We can count on less than a minute to hold her attention before something distracts her. She finds writing and reading particularly challenging. She is engaged for longer periods of time when her tasks are in a game format or done on computers. She is cooperative at all time and willing to try new things.

When reading, R understands that she must read for meaning and will self-correct when she can. She reads at an early grade 1 level. She struggles with decoding words. She can use beginning sounds and tends to rely on this instead of looking through the word. Her goals on her IPP are to identify beginning middle and end sounds of words to use in her reading and writing. In writing she is able to get beginning sounds consistently and end and middle sounds (vowels) some of the time. Making words is an important and valuable activity for her to increase her understanding of words and how they are put together and taken apart. Activities involving building words are included on her IPP.

R's math is also weak though not as weak as Language Arts. She is working at late grade 1, early grade 2 outcomes. Adding and subtracting basic facts is a recently achieved goal on R's IPP and she is now starting to work at adding 2 digit to 1 digit numbers, along with understanding numbers and how they work.

The apps I chose for R are Cool Spell Free, Cloud Math and iRelax Melodies.

In Cool Spell the student is shown a picture of the word they will spell. All the letters for the word are displayed around the picture in bright colours, along with extra letters. At the bottom of the page are the spaces for the letters of that word. The student can click on the picture and it will say what the picture is. This was helpful with some pictures. The student then clicks on the letter and it will move the letter to the correct space at the bottom of the page. If the student clicks on a wrong letter, it will explode and disappear. After the word is spelled, each letter is read then the whole word is read. For each word the student gets a star. When a certain number of stars have been achieved, vegetables appear and dance. It sounds strange but it's really very cute. It kept me going to see what would happen when I got that next special star. I liked the app for R for many reasons. I think the bright colours and star rewards would motivate her and keep her attention. The fact that it is on an IPod would also be engaging for her. The letters were put in the right spaces regardless of the order they were tapped, allowing R to think about and see all parts of the word as it is being built, not just the beginning. It was a making words activity, allowing her to think about spelling words one letter at a time. There were more difficult words such as "ballerina" however these harder words were words that were easy to decode and the app provided lots of support. It was another different way to do word study and to make words, so necessary to R's growth as a reader and writer.

In Cloud Math the student is presented with a math fact at the top of the screen and several options for answers down below. When the student selects the right answer, she/he taps on it and the number goes up and fills in the answer slot at the top. The student is given a check mark if they are correct and an x if they are wrong. After 7 check marks they are given the percentage they got right. They can then tap and carry on with the next set. The student can select the operation (adding or subtracting), select if they want to work with numbers up to 10, 20 or 50 and select the avatar they want their answers to be represented in . These are things like clouds, suns, soccer balls, balloons and something I think is a flower. Again the visuals are attractive and would appeal to R, holding her attention for longer periods of time.. She needs to practice her adding and subtracting skills constantly and this app provides a nice mix of 1 digit by 1 digit adding and subtracting to boost R's confidence, along with some 2 digit by 1 digit operations to make her think. This app could be used in conjunction with the manipulatives that R also needs to use to understand the concepts of adding and subtracting. There is no time limit so she would have lots of opportunity to build the questions with materials. This app would help meet her goal of adding and subtracting on her IPP, in a way that would appeal to her.

The final app I chose is iRelax Melodies. This app provides soothing sounds and melodies so that R can plug in her head phones and tune out the distractions around her. In some of the reading I have been doing online, it was mentioned a few times that students with attentional difficulties benefit from listening to music on ear phones, thus decreasing outside auditory stimulation. The app offers sounds like rain, waterfalls, campfires, birdsong, white noise, night sounds and melodies played on a variety of instruments. I found the sounds more appealing than the songs and I don't really think R would be interested in the music but I do think it would be a valuable tool to help her focus. She enjoys nature and often talks about things she has done with her family so the nature sounds would be something that could relax her and help her tune out the rest of the noises in the room that so often distract her.

We also spent time today looking for low tech assistive technology devices at the dollar store. I found this hard at first only seeing items for their intended use. It got easier as we on though and started talking about the possibilities for the products we were seeing. I think this may be easier too when there is an actual person in mind for whom the device is intended. Once I started thinking of specific students, the task got easier. We have a wonderful sensory wall in our school made by a staff member who is very creative. She is an artist and the wall is a thing of beauty, along with being highly functional and much loved. Practically everything on it came from the dollar store. Pretty neat.

July 9, 2010

On Friday we saw presentations on Proloquo2Go. Both groups pulled together workable plans for Sally and Charlie in a short period of time. I was very impressed with my big group. Everyone pulled off a great presentations with lots of appropriate expressions and expectations. Well done guys. All the presentations were well done and I enjoyed the morning thoroughly. (Except for the heat - that was brutal)

Next was a visit to the app store. This was also pretty neat. I had heard my daughter talk about all the apps she could get for her iPod and had even tried some of them out. (I have to admit here, I'm addicted to Scoops. I even have high score on my daughter's iPod!)What's really exciting though is the potential for students. The student I have in mind to do my assignment on is just starting to mind how different he is from the other kids in the room. His use of a writing pad (Can't remember its exact name) has helped because everyone thinks it's pretty cool. The idea for next year is to incorporate it with other students and have him teach them the skills. If they think that's cool, I imagine the iPod will really get them. Now, off I go to search for some apps that will work for him.

I posted some links under "Interesting Links" about using iPods in education. One is exclusively Apple products. I liked it because it included input from actual users along with information about how to use different products, along with iPods, for AT.

July 8, 2010

We had the opportunity today to use the iPod Touches again. It was fun to get right into using them and in doing so, I was able to better appreciate their potential for students.

I have only worked with one non-verbal student in the past and it was interesting to think about whether or not this would be a useful device for him, particularly the Proloqo2Go app since that is the one we have spent the most time with. He communicates in a very limited way using his pecs board (sporadically and inconsistently). One of his goals is to increase his vocabulary though this was going very slowly and without much success. At this point I don't think his fine motor skills are developed enough to use the iPod. Due to his lack of communication it is hard to say if his cognitive abilities would be enough to cope with the demands of using the iPod either. I hate to write that though since we clearly are completely unaware of his cognitive ability (Susie Ruben comes to mind)

I had a student who demonstrated global delays along with severe attention problems. He reads significantly below grade level, his writing is very weak and his math skills are low. However, socially he is right where he should be and is well liked by his peers. They are starting to recognize and question his differences. I am interested to explore more apps on the iPod in the hopes that there could be something that would help him. He is willing to use devices at this point and an iPod would certainly be popular. He is very unfocused though and I'm wondering how those children with attention difficulities would fare with a device that could do so many different things? Maybe it isn't the thing for those kids? I looked around and found an interesting presentation on the possibility that iPods could be useful for ADHD kids. Their thinking was that the students who listened to music were able to use this to drown out the rest of the distraction around them. Interesting. I've posted the link. It's short but worth checking out.

July 7, 2010

Learned about assessment frameworks that are used to assess students to determine which assistive technology would best suit their needs. I must admit today was less frustrating than yesterday since my own technology was refusing to cooperate and I got way behind the rest of the class.

The importance of assessing students to ensure that they get the right technology has been stressed again and again in the short time we've been together for this course. I can understand the importance of the right fit when determining the best assistive device for a client. Often I feel the computer is not the best fit for me. When something goes wrong I am lost. I am more comfortable still with pen and paper though I am working at being at ease with computers since it is becoming more and more a part of my job. It is frustrating though when your ability and the device don't match.

Not only are comfort level and ease of use important. Assessing people for the right fit is a complex task. The assessor needs to understand the technology, understand the task or tasks the student needs to do, understand the person who is using the device, understand the environment in which the device is to be used, and understand the time involved in using the device. And this is a simplifed version. The assessment frameworks we examined all seemed to assess for all or most of these things in varying degrees. The WATI was by far the more detailed assessment and I am wondering about the reality involved in using such an in depth assessment. It would take a great deal of time to administer and would the results be that much more valuable than administering something shorter and more straightforward? (See links for more information on the assessments.)

As a teacher in the process I see my role as offering information to the AT specialists when assessing, along with implementing the use of the device or at least overseeing it's use. I'm assuming we would also be responsible for ongoing assessment of how it is working and how it helps the student meet his/her goals.

Also got a chance to use the iPod Touch today and the app Proloquo2Go. I was looking forward to working with the iPod and was impressed with how easy it was to use the application. I wonder about typing messages since the keyboard is very small? There is an alternative keyboard on Proloquo2Go though it is still fairly small. I guess, as part of the assessment, fine motor skills and ability to use the keyboard would be taken into consideration as part of understanding the student and their capabilities. I am looking forward to working more with this program in the days ahead. (See video below on how to use Proloquo2Go.)

July 6, 2010

This is new. I haven't blogged before and the idea of my words being out there for all to see is intimidating. Even trying to get set up has been interesting. However, all that is behind me and here I go...

We saw a movie about Susie Ruben yesterday. I was impressed throughout the movie with the need for people to communicate. Susan was a highly intelligent individual who was trapped in her own mind. Because of her inability to communicate, she lived in what she described as a fog for the first 13 years of her life. Humans are social and need to communicate. What would it be like to be her, lost in only my own thinking ? I feel like I live to much in my head already but that's nothing compared to Susie's experience.

It also made me think about the non-verbal children I have taught. I often made an effort to include them in conversation and in classroom life but I remember times when their teaching assistants and I would talk to each other and unintentionally leave the student out. What must that have felt like? Of course we needed to communicate with each other too, however was it done in a way that was respectful of the student about whom we were speaking? I hope so but I know there were days when I was tired and maybe not as careful of everyone's feelings as I should have been. The movie forced me to relive those moments and consider all my unintentional acts and how they would impact a person who can't tell me to include them. This didn't always feel comfortable but it was a necessary wake up call. Susie was someone who would be easy to ignore assuming she wouldn't understand. That couldn't be more wrong. While on some level I know you cannot judge a book by it's cover, do I always practice it?

In order to have effective communication we need to have a common language, someone to communicate with and both parties engaged in the process. Communication is a back and forth action, a two way street. It is how we make sense of our world, both by receiving and expressing information.

As a teacher I often feel the frustration of one way communication or I'm speaking (showing, demonstrating etc.), but you're not listening (watching, thinking about). We have activities to enhance listening skills, we try different methods to get our message across but the reality is, some people are simply not going to attend to what is being taught. It's frustrating but it also provides an opportunity to look deeper into the needs and learning styles of our students as well as our methods of teaching.

I lived in France for a year. I was not a master of the language and was frequently unaware of what was being said around me. This could be scary at times, knowing in an emergency I may not be able to get my message across. I became good a charades and at cobbling together parts of the language to communicate. I cringe to think what I might have said at times. A common language and the ability to communicate is freedom. Freedom from fear and anxiety. Freedom to say exactly what you mean and be understood. Freedom from the pitying attitude or hostility of those who cannot communicate with you.