Tuesday, July 20th

The search for a video related to adapted sports and recreation was easy in the sense that there were so many videos to choose from. The difficult part was in actually selecting one. I chose a video that featured a man who was visually-impaired, and enjoyed woodworking and art. I liked how he highlighted that the adapted forms of technology that he uses throughout his day and woodworking process, and liked the fact that both low and high tech forms of AT were emphasized. The video demonstrates the fact that if someone has the motivation to do something, then they can find the means to make it happen. Please go to "Interesting AT Links" and select "Woodworking Blind" to view this inspiring video.

In relation to the course itself, I cannot express my gratitude for having a whole new world of communication introduced to me. Through the hands-on learning activities of this course, I have been exposed to so many programs that have the potential to open up communication lines between verbal and non-verbal individuals. Admittedly, I am especially drawn toward the iPod Touch, for both educational and personal uses. It is an amazing little device that has the potential to do so much..."small but mighty". The number one message that I will take away from this course is to "always presume competency". I think the $844 was worth that message alone, and everything else that I've taken away from this course is an added bonus. Thank you for enlightening me, Barb, and it has been inspiring to work with someone who is so passionate in what they do.

Have a great summer everyone!

Friday, July 16th and Monday, July 19th

During the past two classes, we had the opportunity to use Boardmaker Plus as a means to develop a communication board and book for a designated student. We worked in groups, and my main role was to develop the communication board, which also incorporated questions related to the two books designed by my colleagues. I found the program extremely easy to use, with complications presented only when it came to applying the "change board" feature. I had to scale down my initial plan because the number of boards that I was working with became too overwhelming. I definitely see the value in using this program, particularly with regard to the switch access options. Though the tutorial was admittedly not the most exciting video to watch, it served the purpose of demonstrating the features of Boardmaker Plus, and did a particularly good job of highlighting the many ways in which individuals can use their bodies to communicate. Again, a program that demonstrates the multiple opportunities for individuals who are non-verbal to communicate and have impact on their environment. Love it!

Thursday, July 15th

I thought that the video we watched today did a good job of highlighting the emphasis on the team-effort that's needed to support a child. I particularly appreciated the fact that the administration was emphasized, because at times this is not always the case, and administration has more of a hands-off approach. In the discussion of Michael's class, I also thought it was important that the video discussed the importance that the classroom routine work well for both Michael AND the rest of the students...in other words, a classroom in which ALL students can function and learn. This video was inspiring in the sense that it really showed full integration of a student with high needs in the classroom, and you could see the benefits of having all student together. Students are afraid of that which they are not exposed to, and I would anticipate that students without exposure to others with special needs may be fearful as opposed to accepting. This is great example of the fact that inclusion can work...provided there is a buy-in from all team members involved.

This video also highlighted the importance of a communication device as a means for individuals to exercise control over their environment, and to do something for themself and others. Most people have their voice, so if the verbal ability is not there, then something needs to be found that works. I loved the math class, in which the emphasis was on students working toward their individual goals, and the fact that they can help each other to do this. I thought it was so cool that Todd was helping students to work on their math goals, while they supported him to work toward his own communication goals. "The other kids is really what makes it worth doing it for", which was a quote in relation to motivation for students to work toward their goals.

Loved seeing the social stories created by everyone today too. Especially the Bloopers (wink)!

AT Seekers and Inventors Assignment

The “off the shelf” AT item that we found at the Dollar Store was a package of small and colourful stickers. The stickers were selected for a student who has difficulty providing spaces between his words during a writing task. The student is in grade3, is proficient with forming the legible letters of the alphabet, and the size of the letters are appropriate. However, when the student is writing, there is lack of spacing between words across all subject areas. The student is able to discriminate between words in a sentence that is read aloud. For example, when the statement “I want to play in the snow” is read aloud, he is able to recognize the six different words in that statement. However, when it comes to writing a statement like this, he neglects to separate the words. The purpose of the stickers is to help the student to separate his words by placing a sticker after each word that he writes. As mentioned, this is a challenge for the student in all subject areas. Therefore, the stickers would initially be used during all written tasks within each of his subjects in the classroom. The stickers would force the student to reflect on where spaces are needed, with the hope that the use of stickers could be phased out over time. A natural progression may be for him to start using his finger in place of the stickers, followed by the use of a writing checklist, and then the automaticity of using spaces between written words.

Ten other “off the shelf” AT items that we discovered at the Dollar Store included:
o A hair elastic band to assist with the tripod hold of the pencil
o Headphones for text-to-speech applications on a computer
o An oversized pen for students who have difficulty with fine motor skills
o A pen with a lanyard that is attached to the desk for students who have issues with organization
o Highlighters for the color coding of information
o An oversized calculator for students with a visual impairment and/or fine motor skills
o A magnifier for students with visual impairment
o A clipboard for students who have difficulty keeping their paper still when writing
o A business card holder that could be used for social stories, contact information of the child, or as a communication device
o Chalk that can be broken into smaller pieces as a means to practice the tripod grip

Our invented form of AT was “glitter glue loose-leaf”, which involved the use of glitter glue to create raised lines on a loose sheet of paper. The raised edges created by the glitter glue are designed for a grade 3 student who has a tendency of forming oversized letters. The student is able to form letters that are legible, and she has wonderful ideas when she is writing. In addition, she really enjoys writing fictional stories that allow for her creative nature to shine. However, when prompted to use smaller-sized writing, the student is resistant to stay within the recommended lines of the loose-leaf. The purpose of the raised edges created by the glitter glue is to encourage the student to use an appropriate sized font. The hope is that through practicing writing tasks with the raised lines, the student will develop automaticity in using smaller sized writing. The glitter glue paper will initially be used in all classroom settings, as this is an issue within all of her subjects. The intent would be to phase out the use of the glitter glue paper in one subject at a time, with the hope that the skill of using smaller sized font would transfer in all of her educational settings.

Tuesday, July 13th

Today, I am happy to say that Window's Movie Maker and I became friends. I was familiar with the program leading up to today's class, as I had used it a couple of years ago to create a wedding movie for a good friend. At that time, however, it was my first time using the program, which resulted in heightened feelings of frustration. I was constantly losing my work, not realizing at the time that in order to use Windows Movie Maker efficiently, you always had to be using the same computer. So with that in mind, and the fact that I had three other group members to provide tech support, today's creation of a social story was seemingly smooth. We had a fun time creating the story, and I was also surprised by the capacity of "just" an ipod. I didn't realize prior to this course how behind the times I was getting in relation to technology, and it's the first time in awhile that I find myself really wanting a modern form of technology (like the ipod, ipod touch, or even better, the ipad). This course has really emphasized the importance of staying technologically relevant, because being even just a little tech-savvy can open worlds of learning opportunities for both myself and students.

In relation to the social story itself, I thought the emphasis on the student being able learn independently from the video was key. In addition, it is rare to meet a student in a learning centre who doesn't like watching a video. However, it is quite common to meet a student who doesn't want to read.

Monday, July 12th

After today's class, and activity, I don't think that I'm able to walk into a Dollar Store and look at the items in the same way. I enjoyed this activity for the fact that it recognizes the need to be creative as educators, especially given the lack of resources and funding that many of us face within our schools. The reality is that we cannot always afford the high tech device that could do wonders for some of our students. However, today's "shopping" activity inspires one to think outside of the box in finding ways to support the diverse needs of our students. The next time I'm feeling frustrated by not having all of the high tech gadgets that could support learning, I'm going to head to the closet Dollar Store for inspiration...and I'm being serious! It was so easy to devise a list of 10 "off the shelf" items that could support student learning, and I'm honestly beginning to wonder if the list itself is endless. I'm excited to read about other "off the shelf" suggestions from classmates, and am especially keen to learn about their invented forms of AT as well. A wonderfully eye-opening experience.

July 9th APP Detective Assignment

During the past school year, I had the opportunity to work with grade 8 students for the first time in my teaching career. I worked with these students as a regular classroom teacher for Healthy Living 8, and also as a program support teacher for specific students within their other classes. Amongst this group of grade 8 students, there was a student diagnosed with ADHD. This student did not have a diagnosed learning disability. However, as a result of being ADHD, he had a difficult time functioning productively in the regular classroom setting. In developing his behavioural plan, it was recognized that his inappropriate behaviours within the classroom were related to his needs to socialize and seek movement. Specific times in that were more trying for him to focus during class was in instances of whole-class discussion, extended periods of time sitting, when assigned independent tasks, writing notes and less structured group work. During the team meetings, teachers also highlighted the fact this student was able to focus better when using technology, regardless of the activity that was occurring in class. As such, my goal is to find three appropriate ipod applications that will help this student to stay focused during class time, particularly during times when he finds it more difficult to exhibit appropriate classroom behaviour that is conducive to his learning and that of his classmates.

The first application that I downloaded was Notemaster Lite. Notemaster Lite is similar to the Notes application, in that the purpose is to use the application to take notes. From my understanding, the main difference between the two programs is that Notemaster Lite has additional organizational features. For example, Notemaster Lite allows the student to create folders for his/her various classes, add images to his/her work, be able to find a particular set of notes through a text-search feature, add section headers, and create password protection for notes. I thought that this was an appropriate program for the student described for a number of reasons. This student is more engaged during writing activities when he is using a form of technology, and though there are computers in the classroom, it would be less isolating for him to be able to participate in writing activities using Notemaster Lite. I also like the organizational features offered by the program, and feel that with initial support in setting up his folders, this student would be able to independently keep his work organized through the use of this program. Currently, he often arrives to class without the necessary supplies, and I have a sneaking suspicion that he would be sure to have the ipod touch with him at all times.

In relation to this student’s need for organizational support, I also downloaded the application My Schedule Lite. The primary purpose of this program is to help students keep track of their timetable. For various reasons, our school functions on an 8-day cycle. Some students do not have any difficulty following an eight-day schedule. However, the student of focus for this assignment has major difficulty keeping track of his class schedule. This causes him to be late for classes, in addition to not having assignments passed in on the day that they are due. Features of My Schedule Lite that will be beneficial for this student are the ability to organize tasks by color (a large focus of brain-based learning), add notes to tasks that need to be completed, in addition to keeping track of assigned tasks themselves, and the ability of the program to differentiate between past, present, and future tasks. This feature would allow the student to see both past due and upcoming assignments.

The last program that I downloaded to support this student is iZen Garden 2 Lite. This application is designed to “give you the peace and tranquility of a Japanese Zen garden in your pocket, without the sandy mess”. Within the program, the user can adjust the position of the rocks and rake the sand while listening to soothing meditative music. This may seem like a strange application to download for this student. However, within his behavioural program plan, the student receives a time-out from the classroom if he receives five warnings for inappropriate behaviour that is disruptive to the class. During the time-out session, he is walked to the office by administration to a quiet room without social interaction for 10 minutes. Because it is often social interaction that the student is seeking through his inappropriate behaviour, he finds this 10-minute time-out very difficult to endure, and as such, often “loses it” before the 10-minutes is complete (thereby getting into more trouble with administration). A relaxation tool like iZen Garden 2 Lite may aid in helping the student to remain calm while reflecting on this actions during the 10-minute time frame.

This was a very engaging activity, and I am inspired by the many ipod applications that can be used for educational purposes. I will definitely be "marketing" the ipod touch within my school next year.