ipad, ipod, iphone, " iWANTtoCOMMUNICATE "

This journey to understanding Universal Design for Learning and Assistive Technology took began with early intervention, so it seems fitting that this final (required) blog ends with how to use assistive technology in life after school.

The advances in technology since the inception of IDEA have been exponential; while a picture schedule is and can be an effective form of communication, the addition of APPs and programs that are readily available on mobile devices demands recognition as a low cost (after initial investment in device) avenue for authoring a person specific set of icons and phrases.

I have a family member who has been battling cancer for the past 18 months. The battle has included 2 brain surgeries, and now several months after the last successful surgery she is beginning to suffer the side effects that the surgery causes as trama to the brain - her speech is impaired. I used my understanding of assistive technology to help. I downloaded an APP onto her Kindle, even when she was not able to verbalize the correct words, or put them in the correct context she had a tool to communicate her basic needs. The relief in the expression on her face was palpable; this will serve as a constant memory and reminder to me to find the tool that meets the persons needs,  in their environment and based on the task.

Does your IEP Graduate with you from High School?

By their senior year in High School a child with an IEP that includes assistive technology should have a fine tuned document (especially if he or she has been part of the process since elementary school).

What should you do to take the fear out of your child transitioning to college - how do you make sure their special needs are still met when they walk on a college campus. The underlying  fact you must consider is a college, unlike a public K-12 school, does not have a legal obligation to provide your child an education; the laws become civil about discrimination.

While this is by no means and exhaustive list of what to consider, it is important to plan and consider these so help create a smooth transition.

• Relevant laws for college: Section 504 of Rehabilitation Act, and The Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)
• Laws make colleges accountable for equal opportunity not identical results per student
• Colleges are required to provide auxiliary aides, but not required to provide the most sophisticated technology available
• In higher education the responsibility for documenting a disability falls on the student not the school
• An example of an accommodation change that students and parents of a college student with a disability could anticipate: student might be given extended time to take test, however college is not obligated to adjust content of exam to make accommodations

Assistive Technology In the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experiences of Students with Disabilities, Second Edition 2012 by Amy G. Dell, Deborah A. Newton, Jerry G. Petroff,  Pearson
   Chapter 14 pages 324-344

Part 2 - Design Augmentative Communication for Success in Home & Community

 Have you heard the quote of Benjamin Franklin "by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail"? The modernized version is "people don't plan to fail, they fail to plan".

That logic, or lack of it can apply to designing augmentative communication to met the needs of family and community. I have distinct memories of days that I did not adequately plan for my lessons, and anything that could go wrong did go wrong; and yet I probably still appeared shocked. When you take the time to plan it makes your job feel effortless. The goal of augmentative communication for a student with special needs is to make their communication feel effortless, and productive. Here are a few tips to make that a reality.

• Consider family functioning and cultural diversity in initial planning stages
• Parents, siblings, grandparents, extended family should all be considered in planning content.
• Parents need to be trained by school personnel; they will become trainers and "tech support" for all other family members on how to best use AC and have their child communicate successfully.
• To ease the process of communication in the community the device can be programmed to include statements that reflect the child's "voice". Examples "It is OK, to think I sound weird, I had to get use to it to". "Just ask me a questions like you would if this device wasn't here"; "please look at me when you talk to me, thanks"; "Feel free to finish my sentence if you think you understand where I am going - we will talk much faster that way". ; "don't worry, if you are wrong I will let you know!" 

Assistive Technology In the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experiences of Students with Disabilities, Second Edition 2012 by Amy G. Dell, Deborah A. Newton, Jerry G. Petroff,  Pearson

Part 1 - Importance of Use of Augmentative Communication at Home & In the Community

 

Communication is valued at home, school, & in the community

Important to Use Augmentative Communication in all 3
Part 1

For today's blog I want to consider hoe to insure that the augmentative communication a child uses at school also gets used at home and in their community. In school a child who is using an augmentative communication will receive direct instruction on how to use it; and with effective teacher planing will be given a multitude of environmental situations where it will be practiced daily.

Some points to keep in mind when planning for increased use at home and in the community:

• Consider the family's schedule, activities, culture and initial knowledge of augmentative communication device when initiating increase  in use of device.
• Family needs training to fully utilize tool - training should consider any unique family communication needs (family situations).
• Reinforce parents willingness and success with adding and increasing use of augmentative communication at home and in the community.
• To increase success with use in community (more challenging because do not have invested communication partners) teachers can program relevant questions and common responses .

Augmentative Communication Integration in the IEP

I've talked a lot about IEPs, goals, and Assistive Technology in this series of blogs. So much so, it is beginning to feel like a riddle:

What comes first, the Augmentative Technology or the IEP?

Well, it is the IEP! Assistive Technology is not in itself an IEP goal, but rather a means to for the child to achieve the goal.
It is imperative for the team to consider the use of assistive technology when writing the goals, and integrating it into the written goal so that it is utilized as an instructional communication tool, not just technology that is labeled and then sits on the shelf.

Goals should be established to use the augmentative communication in an effort to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and frequency of communication.

Assistive Technology Implementation Resources

During this journey to understanding Universal Design for Learning we have spent a significant amount of time investigating and reviewing assistive technology that will allow your student to access and engage with general curriculum. The purpose of today's blog is to provide you with resources to assist in the IMPLEMENTATION of the AT after it has been identified and selected.




University of Kentucky Assitive Technology Toolkit
What you will find at the above link, and how it will help:

• Introduction to Assistive Technology
• PDF downloads of checklists, steps in process, resources and links
• SAMPLE of a completed application of tool kit

SET - Effective Implementation of Assistive Technology
What you will find at the above link, and how it will help:

• PDF downloads of checklists, steps, resources and links
• "The Learning Centre" allow access to student accessible books, picture sets, curriculum set and websites.
• 7 step process in PDF format

Assistive Technology - Kindle Educational App

Kindle Fire HD - Math App - FREE app (my favorite kind)

If you are looking for an easy app for your students to build their math fact fluency or automaticity, this is a great way to start.

Application Name: Math Study Buddy
Publisher: MLK Apps
Available for Free via the Amazon App store
Goals: Math Fact Automaticity
Summary: Practice with multiple difficulties from simple to very hard. Addition, subtraction, multiplication and Division. Great for all ages. This is a great app to test out how to use a flash card based app, but it would be worth a few dollars of investment or further investigation to find an APP that would store and provide statistics on progress towards master.


Strengths: Multi Age level application
Ability to choose 3 settings:
math operation, range of numbers to use: 1-10, or 1-25, or 1-50, or 1-100; level of difficulty
verbal confirmation when correct response given, visual check mark given for correct answer, prompt given "try again" if incorrect response, visual red x shown if incorrect response, ability to continue for as long as desired

Weaknesses: no statistics kept on progress, not able to set limit on number or problems per set, when an incorrect response is given, incorrect answer still appears as a possible answer.

Strategies to Overcome Learned Helplessness

Tips on overcoming learned helplessness
 As we continue to explore the resources available in the text, Assistive Technology in the Classroom (Dell, et all, page 290) today's blog will offer the author's tips on how to help a student overcome learned helplessness. Learned helplessness is a lack of communication on the student's part because of years of being told or implied that they could not do it on their own, as such they relay on others, and will not initiate or understand what is within their control.

1. Create the expectation that the student will make choices for specific activities on a daily basis - choosing their SSR book or choosing their free time activity
2. Daily report for student to communicate to parents
3. Allow natural consequences for communication (if not given a supply student will need to request it from teacher)
4. When child needs to express a choice, whenever possible require student to use augmentative communication device.
5. Provide means or phrases on device for student to reject or protest something.

Assistive Technology Low Tech to Mid Tech for Completing Math Assignments

Chapter 5                  

 Resources  

(in the low and mid tech range) available to teach Mathematics to Students with Special Needs.

Sometimes with so many high tech options available, it is easy to lost sight of how many resources are available at little or no cost that can also meet many of your student needs. The purpose of today's blog is to give you a visual inventory for reference and reminder. 

 

Resources:

Images courtesy of the Onion Mountain Technology website - product catalog

Onion Mountain Product Catalog

Assistive Technology In the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experiences of Students with Disabilities, Second Edition 2012 by Amy G. Dell, Deborah A. Newton, Jerry G. Petroff,  Pearson

Assistive Technology to Teach Math Concepts, Math Skills, and Problem Solving

                                        Chapter 5                  Educational Applications             to Teach Math Concepts, Skills and Problem Solving

In my two prior blogs we investigated how to meet the needs of automaticity, fluency, and the challenges of visual-spatial or motor control problems. Today we are going to address how to use technology to help students become problem solvers, that is taking the skills of understanding the concepts, using fact fluency and applying that knowledge to address higher level thinking, and problem solving - multi-step processes. To guide this investigation I will again be using the text pictured above, Assistive Technology in the Classroom (Dell, et. al pages 130- 134).

Below are 2 categories that will offer you assistance: Website Based & Authoring Applications

1) Websites for your Review, Investigation, and Play!

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives Maintained by Utah State University

Read under the "About" tab to find out the computer hardware and operating system requirements. You can download a free trial version. Purchase prices range from $39.95 for a single license to $999 for a standard school license (and there are many options in between.

Illuminations

This website, maintained by the National Council of teachers of Mathematics is free :) 

It offers lessons to present in class, and a variety of interactive manipulative activities.

2) Authoring Applications

If you would like to tailor the applications to meet your students' specific needs; and/or tailor a lesson to a core concept, you may want to investigate an authoring applications which allows you to go beyond what is offered "out of the box".

• Clicker 5 (Crick Software)
• Classroom Suite (Cambium Learning)

Resource:

Assistive Technology In the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experiences of Students with Disabilities, Second Edition 2012 by Amy G. Dell, Deborah A. Newton, Jerry G. Petroff,  Pearson

Assistive Technology for Visual-Spatial or Motor Control

                   Chapter 5

Tools you can use to address visual-spatial or motor control difficulties

This blog will continue to address how to use technology to meet your needs in math instruction, specifically we will investigate how to use technology to address visual-spatial or motor control difficulties. Now that we have addressed math automaticity, we need to address what to do when the student has gained confidence in their math facts, but their fine motor skills prevent them from either copying work correctly or recording their computation correctly. Knowing this, today's blog will present technology resources that address theses needs. Again, I will be accessing the material presented in the text, Assistive Technology in the Classroom (Dell, et. al, pages 124-130).

* Math Pad (Cambrium Learning) - Allows a student to use the mouse or keyboard to enter dat after solving a math problem (eliminates the mistakes of recording with pencil with paper). This is a talking math worksheet. Teachers can generate customized worksheets to meet students needs, and review work. 

* Math Pad Plus (Cambrium Learning) -  Extends all of the features of Math Pad and extends to include fractions and ratios.

* Virtual Pencil (VP)   & VP Algebra allow students to solve mathematical problems with the logic of paper and pencil, but by using speech feedback. Password protection is available to prevent students from altering VP Algebra files.

If you don't have the budget for additional software, but you already have MICROSOFT Word, check out this You Tube video of a fantastic feature, Equation Editor!

Resource:

Assistive Technology In the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experiences of Students with Disabilities, Second Edition 2012 by Amy G. Dell, Deborah A. Newton, Jerry G. Petroff,  Pearson

Assistive Technology: TECHMATRIX

There is a plethora of resources available to meet the needs of students with special needs. TO minimize frustration with the process, today's blog will give you access to TECHMATRIX a compilation tool that allows you to specify student needs, search for products, and create a comparison product matrix that will ease the decision making process - and it is FREE!

TechMatrix Link: http://techmatrix.org/

Here is the criteria I entered:
Content area: math
Grade level: intermediate elementary
IDEA Disability Category: Specific Learning Disability
Instructional Support: Opportunities to Learn Concepts & Practice and Reinforcement
Input Options: Voice Recognition
Text to Speech: Reads instructions AND Supports reading math equations

After that all I had to do was click "programs" and a list of 7 products was generated for me to review. Based on the initial info provided about each program, I selected 3 to compare.
I am providing you with a screen shot to illustrate what the comparison
matrix looks like. The finished product has more criteria listed for each product than shown in my screen shot illustration.

If you are investigating products for purchase, this website should be on your list.

Assistive Technology & Automaticity / Math Fact Fluency

Chapter 5

Educational Applications 
Used to Address Automaticity  / Math Fact Fluency

I remember learning math facts, what my kids call "old school". I had to write the addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts on index cards and write the answers on the back - of course you can buy them now at the dollar store. 

This is inherently a skill that needs practice. To find the best technology to meet your student's needs you will need to consider the child not the missing skill when making the match. The following examples are again compliments of the text book (pictured to the left). 

 * Low and Mid Tech tools:    Addition and multiplication charts and calculators

* FASTT Math (Fluency and Automaticity through Systematic Teaching and Technology - program assesses, measures response time, and generates customized activities based on student's results.

* Timex Attack: Created by the team produced Sony Play Station this program engages students in a game environment and motivates students to practice and masters their 2 through 12 times tables. There is a free download base version, and a more advanced version available for purchase.

* The ArithmAttack: Allows students to attack all of the skills: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, integers, fractions and rations. This system is all inclusive and allows for single or multiplayer games, mouse or keyboard control, and the ability to require a pass code for private games. 

Whatever you use to build automaticity, the goal is to allow the student to focus on the process of problem solving instead of 

Resource:

Assistive Technology In the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experiences of Students with Disabilities, Second Edition 2012 by Amy G. Dell, Deborah A. Newton, Jerry G. Petroff,  Pearson

Assistive Technology - Key Questions for Selection

Chapter 5 

Key Questions that Should Be Considered When Selecting Educational Applications to Meet Students' Goals and Objectives

We now have a working knowledge of Assistive Technology, and today's blog is dedicated to Assistive Technology related specifically to the subject of Math. When you are searching for Educational Application to use for a student with special needs, it is best to approach the task with a checklist of essential questions. Using the authors of "Assistive Technology in the Classroom" (Dell et. al, page 121) as a guide the following questions will simplify your task:

 * What is the goal of purpose of computer use?
     example: teaching basic concepts and academic skills

 * What is the content of educational application?
      example: Does it match the student's interests?

 * What aspects of the the program meet the child's specific needs?
      example: children with visual impairments often need speech output

 * How flexible is the educational application?
      example: Can levels be selected or modified?

Resource:

Assistive Technology In the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experiences of Students with Disabilities, Second Edition 2012 by Amy G. Dell, Deborah A. Newton, Jerry G. Petroff,  Pearson

Webinar - Assistive Technology and Reading

The Internet supplies you with an endless array of ways to learn more about AT. Today, I listened to a WEBINAR, I am providing the link so that if you like what you read you can access it and learn more!

AT and Reading Webinar - Adobe Connect

Key Points
Text Reader (add the content you want the child to have access to - assists student with reading disability) or a Screen Reader (voices all content on the screen - assist student with visual impairment).

Resource - Accessible Instructional Materials Centers
cast.org (Center for Applied Technology - I have reviewed this in prior blogs)

Bookshare: Accessible Online Library for electronic text - Membership fees are waived for K-12 students (orthopedic impairment, visually impaired, or has a reading disability).
Bookshare - Click here to register your school or gain membership for your students :)

Text To Speech Software - Features to look for:

• High Quality Voices (will give some inflection and sense of fluency)
• Modify Text Interface (continuously or self-paced - allows teacher time to teach meta cognition and reading strategies during the pauses)
• Built-in dictionary - especially helpful for the student who is using text to speech to gain access to grade level content 
• Highlight and Extract key information - Can virtually highlight or extract important information and create a new document - allows student to engage with the text.
• Insert - Modify - Create a Scaffolding for the Reading - Only a few programs have this unique feature.
• Ability to convert to a MP3 file - creates connection between home and school

Websites to WOW you! Assistive Technology Software Information

The journey continues ... this blog review 2 websites to help you meet your Assistive Technology Needs.


Kid Blog  - click here to check out this website!
This journey of self-discovery and special education "education" by blogging has been a wonderful experience. The kind of experience is one that I think children should experience, and what a great way to give a "VOICE" to a child who might otherwise
might not feel heard. It is a free service, while there are additional features available for a small investment; at the time of this blog -$ 25 a year - for Premium. A teacher can set up a class account and give a forum for discussion without the constraints of the limitations of classroom discussion, especially for a child with communication difficulties.




Digital Story Telling - click here to check out this website!
This is another FABULOUS way to give your students a voice. With digital storytelling, you can work with the child to share their experiences with pictures, video and a voice overlay. With the addition of a communication board, even a student with the most communication difficulties can tell their stories. The goal of many teachers is to find a way to give a voice to their students, and this is the easiest way to make it happen. Through this website, there is a 3 day workshop that would educate teachers on how to utilize their i-pads to assist their students in telling stories. The workshop shows a teacher how to use photos and video and how to integrate it into a video.

Matching Assistive Technology to Student Goals - 5 Examples

On my continued journey to understanding the use of Assistive Technology I will take you through several examples of applying the use of Assistive Technology to meet specific needs. The examples of IEP goals were taken from The Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative.
     1) Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance: Becky is learning to read and is anxious to complete writing assignments with her peers. She is not able to produce handwritten material due to severe spastic quadriplegia. Becky is interested in using the computer and has been introduced to it. The staff has helped Becky experiment with several switches in a variety of locations. She seems to be most accurate using a switch mounted next to her head.

Annual Goal: Becky will use a single switch mounted on a switch-mounting arm positioned to the right side of her head and scanning software to access the computer 9 out of 10 times for a variety of educational assignments.   

2) Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance: Andy uses a variety of sounds, gestures, signs, and picture/symbols to communicate with his family. He is very social and enjoys parallel play. Andy does not communicate vocally in the classroom, but does use some gestures. At school Andy will sign, but only with prompts. 

Annual Goal: Andy will increase expressive language production by using a variety of communication methods in the classroom, including sign language, gestures, communication boards, pictures, and simple voice output devices during four out of five opportunities. 

3) Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance: Joey is a 20 month old with developmental delays. He is beginning to respond to visual and auditory action toys and laughs or makes sounds when a toy is activated. He will sometimes reach out to attempt to make the toy move again. Joey’s parents are happy to see him responding to toys and beginning to make sounds, but would like to see him making more attempts at communicating his wants and participating in turn taking games with the family.
STO 1: Joey will use a switch or voice output device to actively participate in play experiences to communicate interests to his parents or other caregivers in four out of five opportunities.


4) Annual Goal: Kelly will use an adapted keyboard with custom overlays and a computer with talking word processing to complete all academic work.
STO 1: Using an adapted keyboard with a custom spelling template, Kelly will complete a 10 word weekly spelling test taken from second grade curriculum and his current reading materials, with 80% accuracy once a week.

5) Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance: Steven is a four-year-old boy diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder. His placement is in an Early Childhood

classroom. He is able to understand and comprehend when spoken to, but does not communicate his needs consistently. When choices are simplified and broken into steps, Steven will try to communicate wants and needs. Peer interactions are limited.

     Annual goal: Steven will use a picture board or voice output device to express wants and needs to adults and peers in both home and school at least four times each day.