The Journey

I can still remember beginning this blog thinking, oh dear, what on earth is UDL!?  How far I’ve come!  I’ve thoroughly enjoyed learning more about assistive technology, how to use it, how to pick and tailor it to my students and also about myself.  I discovered I had more thoughts and opinions on this subject matter than I had initially realized.  I also discovered how necessary this topic is to learn about!  I look forward to furthering my own knowledge for my students and implementing new and exciting resources or devices I find into my classroom.  Not to mention, sharing and dialoguing more with colleagues.

When I first began posting it was hard for me to put my thoughts together and onto the blog.  As the course continued on however, I found my knowledge of the material truly building and starting to click.  Learning about the devices, for example, and then even being able to try such as Clicker Docs for my students with auditory and writing difficulties was fantastic.  I enjoyed being able to research and discover new and easy to manage tools, such as break cards of various forms.  My peers introduced me to new devices as well and helped to solidify classroom content.  As I begin the IEP process with an actual student, I’m paying close attention to needs and rights of the child as well as how I can fit in these assistive technology devices to better help him.  I’ve been developing different writing centers in our class that I suppose you could say fall into UDL, as these devices better everyone in the class and don’t just single out to help one student.  Overall it’s been an incredible learning experience that I know truly has just begun.  I look forward to exploring more and making my classroom better for all individuals who enter.

Chapter 14 Focus Questions

Chapter 14 Focus Questions

 

How AT Can Serve as a Reasonable Accommodations for Students with Disabilities in College

- Under Section 504 and the ADA, colleges must provide, at no cost to the student, reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities

- Some examples include:

* Note taking- use of a portable note taker

* Understanding lectures- Assistive listening system

* Taking tests- text to speech software for reading support

* Accessing course materials- Captioned videos

* Reading- eBooks

* Completing papers and assignments- Graphic organizer applications

* Accessing the Internet- Providing screen magnification

* Registering for classes- Making college web-based systems accessible

* Telecommunicating- email, text messaging, instant messaging, and voice-relay systems

 

How Apps Can be Used to Provide Visual Supports for Students with Severe Disabilities

 

Apps can be a wonderful way to provide visual supports for students with severe disabilities. Below, are reasons why apps tend to work for students with special needs:

 

- Highly motivating for many students

- Consistent, repetitive practice needed to master functional skills

- Simple, uncluttered presentations

- Customizable

- Graphics

- Spoken instructions

- Adjustments in response time

- Variety of response methods

- Auditory feedback keeps many students engaged

- Customizable level of difficulty

— ^{Dell, A., Newton, D.,& Petroff, J. (2012). Assistive technology in the classroom. (2nd ed., pp. 3-22). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.}

 

More Great Resources

Assistive Technology Implementation Resources

Assistive Technology Implementation: Working Together to Make a Measurable Difference
The link above, is an invaluable resource for implementing AT. The website has many training modules that are free to view. For example, there is a module about about reading strategies to use with students. You can download a presentation slide, as well as notes. Each module clearly identifies the purpose, objectives, and downloadable materials. The presentation slides are organized and laid out clearly, with great visual representations to engage the audience.

University of Kentucky Assistive Technology (UKAT) Project
The link above, is another great resource to use when learning about how to implement assistive technology. The UKAT Toolkit includes an overview of AT, an overview of the toolkit, instructions, tools, sample application of tools, as well as resources. Downloadable presentations are available for users to learn more about AT and how to implement it with students. I did not care for the layout of this website, as much as I liked the first website (it was not as ascetically pleasing), but it is still a great resource.

Chapter 12...Questions 3-6

Chapter 12 Focus Questions

Strategies Teachers Can Use to Overcome "Learned Helplessness"

According to Assistive Technology In the Classroom by Dell, Newton, and Petroff, there are several strategies that teachers can use to help students overcome "learned helplessness."

- "Build a daily expectation of communication through specific activities such as choose the activity during recess, picking a book to read, or identifying where to eat at lunch."
- "Construct a brief daily report to parents that is communicated by the student."
- "Allow natural consequences to occur and provide avenues for repair. This includes setups that alter the environment to provide less support or sabotage."
- "Provide powerful phrases on the device for students to reject or protest something."
   
How Augmentative Communication (AC) Can be Integrated Into the IEP
- AC must be considered for all nonspeaking students
- Specify components
- Specify USE of components
- Incorporated into goals, as a way to accomplish the goals
- Include list of the AC services to be provided by related service personnel
- Include identification of the people responsible for maintaining and operating the device  


Importance of Supporting the Use of AC Systems at Home and in the Community
- Communication demands of home and community can be very different from those at school
- Parents and family members must be included in AC planning and implementation. This will help them support the child's attempt to communicate in other environments.
- Reinforces skills learned in school  

How a Student's AC System can be Designed to Meet the Communication Demands of Home and the Community

HOME
- Consider family involvement, culture, and places/activities that students frequent
- Teachers must be actively involved
- Provide training to families
- Provide direct instruction on the use of the system
- Identify vocabulary that is relevant to the home
- Teach family members to provide opportunities for communication and to wait
- Provide sample data and evaluation sheets for home and community
- Give parents permission to expand the child's communication
- Keep it simple!

COMMUNITY
- Teacher can plan field trips in the community and special activities with devices that have been programmed to ask specific questions
- Practice interacting with unfamiliar people     

How to Monitor the Progress of a Student Using AC for Rate and Quantity of Progress in the Development of Language and Communication
- Monitor for progress in increasing communication skills
- Monitor for progress in developing communication skills
- Instructor's behavior must be monitored as well, to document and/or adjust the support they provide

Suggested Activities

Suggested Activities

1. Explore Virtual Manipulatives- I visited the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives' website and was very impressed. It's great that you can choose a grade range, a math category, and even specific topics. When you're planning a lesson, you want to try to reach as many learners as possible. This is one way to try to reach visual learners, as well as learners who may have good mouse control but have difficulty using physical manipulatives.

2. Add to your portfolio- After conducting a search, "websites for teaching math" I found many great resources:
- http://tutoring.sylvanlearning.com/newsletter/0704/math.cfm 
Offers a list of the "Top 10 Math Websites." It also provides links and descriptions to the websites.

- http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/08/a-list-of-great-free-math-websites-for.html
Offers the same thing as the link above, but it offers more resources and a clip art image of each.

Chapter 5 Focus Questions

Chapter 5 Focus Questions

3 Key Questions to be Considered When Selecting Educational Applications to Meet Students' Goals and Objectives
- According to Assistive Technology In the Classroom by Dell, Newton, and Petroff, when selecting educational applications to meet students' goals and objectives, there are several questions that must be considered. The first question is, "What is the intended outcome of the use of the educational application?" The second question is, "Is the educational application likely to fulfill its stated purpose?" The third question is, "Can the educational applications be used as an alternative to traditional classroom activities to enhance students' participation?"   

Educational Applications That Address Automaticity/Math Fact Fluency
- FASTT Math (Basic math facts)
- Timez Attack (Focuses on multiplication facts)
- ArithmAttack (Played online or downloaded)

Technology Tools to Address Visual-Spatial or Motor Control Difficulties
-  MathPad (Talking math worksheet program)
- MathPad Plus (Extends to fractions and decimals)
- Virtual Pencil Arithmetic (For students who are "pencil impaired")
- Virtual Pencil Algebra (Extends to algebraic equations)
- Number Navigator (Simple "math processor" with customizable colors, fonts, and font sizes)
- Microsoft Word's Equation Editor (For students with good mouse control but difficulty with handwriting)
- Math Type (For students in advanced math classes)
- Scientific Notebook (For solving equations)
- Meander's Annotator (For handwriting problems in geometry) 

Educational Applications to Teach Math Concepts, Math Skills, and Problem Solving
- National Library of Virtual Manipulatives (VP)
- Illuminations (Online activities)
- Computing Technology for Math Excellence (More VPs)
- Internet 4 Classrooms (High-quality resources)
- Virtual Laboratories in Probability and Statistics
- Math Playground (Free, online math activities)
- Conceptua Math (Fractions)
- Destination Math (Math reasoning and conceptual understanding)  

Low-Tech and Mid-Tech Adaptations to Assist Students with Disabilities With Math Assignments
- Manipulatives
- Rubber fraction stamps
- Manipulative number line
- Laminated addition and multiplication tables
- Ruler with transparency overlays
- Large calculators
- Talking calculators
- See 'n' Solve Calculators
- "Coin Abacus"
- "Coin-u-lator"

Math Resources Coming Your Way!

Assistive Technology to Support Math

In my recent blogs, there has been an abundance of focus on writing.  However, assistive technology is for all content areas and is important in math as well.  In the next few posts I’ll be completing various questions and activities to highlight this…

AT for Reading

So many amazing AT devices available, and many are available for reading.  I was able to watch a webinar recently...

 

http://www.gatfl.gatech.edu/tflwiki/index.php?title=Webinar_Archives

 

 

The webinar is available in a PDF, doc, or audio which is very helpful.  I enjoyed learning about all the different types of AT specific to reading.  Sometimes you can get lost just searching for devices on your own.  One thing I thought was really neat was BookShare.org.  This is a great way for students to share books online to advance in reading.  The books can be available in audio format which is of course helpful for students who have difficulties reading.  This is great for them to listen, follow along, and start matching words and sounds.  The fees are also waived for users who are participating in an educational setting.  There are so many schools with budgets that don't support these extra devices that can be incredibly helpful, so it's nice to see a company waive fees to allow users to access their software. 

 

 

It's an entire online library available for people with print disabilities.  There are free memberships available as I said above, and also there is an online community.  This allows users to chat with others about books, services, and review products.  I think being able to talk to others about products is one of the most helpful things about this software. 

Interesting Websites...

It's always fun to find new resources to improve instruction.  Here are two websites I found especially interesting...

 

http://www.nuance.com/index.htm

The first website I thought was interesting is listed above.  They provide speech to text software called Dragon.  I think learners with poor fine motor skills, reading/writing skills, or typing skills would greatly benefit from this software.  Students would be able to speak naturally and the computer/software would write or perform commands being said aloud by the user.  The software could be used during the writing process for students with writing disabilities to create portfolio pieces or any writing assignments.  The software requires a bit of set up to recognize the users voice, but it doesn't take terribly long and once adjusted is incredibly user friendly.  Students can also speak various commands and the computer can surf the web as well.  The software is not too expensive, and can be found on the nuance website as well as ebay for bargain hunters with low budget districts!  I've used Dragon before, and was not impressed.  However, colleagues have used it with great success and I was using it while recording myself talking through a yoga class.  I was moving, and wasn't speaking clearly, so it could have been user error. 

 

Another terrific website/software...

 

http://www.gingersoftware.com/

Another website/software for writing.  This software allows users to write easily with any reading/writing disability.  I would love to have this in my classroom as it offers grammar/spelling checkers.  It's a virtual English assistant.  Ready to help you perfect the English language, grammar, and spelling.  It has many neat features that would be very easy for students and adults to use! It would absolutely help students to become more aware of their mistakes in writing.  It does require the students to be able to type however, so may not work for everyone. I was parusing the site to find prices, and I kept seeing free download buttons!  Free!? Who doesn't love that?  I would love to add this to school Ipads to allow students to check their work during the editing process.

 

Both of these websites/software pieces would be excellent in the classroom, especially for the writing process.  The writing process is challenging for many people/students and any AT device to help would be terrific. 

Taking a closer look at IEP goals

In my last post, I spoke about the importance of consideration of AT devices in the IEP process.  Below are 5 examples of IEPs with AT devices to help students reach the goals on the IEP.  These examples come from the Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative.

 

Example 1:

Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance: Eric participates in regular education programs for his academic subjects. His hand strength is limited and he fatigues quickly when doing any handwriting task. Civics and English homework are a particular problem because of lengthy assignments and reports that need to be completed.

Annual Goal: Eric will use a computer or portable word processor to complete 100% of his assignments in 10th grade English and Civics classes.

 

 

Example 2:

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.

 

Example 3:

Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance: Brandon communicates by using unintelligible vocalizations. He will physically obtain desired items independently and indicates refusal by pushing objects/people away. Brandon currently understands cause/effect relationships and will activate a switch with voice output to obtain a desired activity. It is questionable whether he understands the specific meaning of the utterance he has produced or if he simply knows that pressing the switch earns him an activity.

Annual Goal: Brandon will select activities and interact with peers/adults within those activities four out of five times when provided with voice output devices.

 

 

Example 4:

Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance: Kelly is in the third grade classroom for most of his day. He has a full time paraprofessional who assists him. He is unable to use a standard keyboard because of his physical limitations. Additionally, his speech is frequently unintelligible. He currently uses single message and multiple message voice output devices, eye gaze, and limited direct selection to complete his academic work. Kelly is functioning at about the second grade level in most curricular areas.

Annual Goal: Kelly will use an adapted keyboard with custom overlays and a computer with talking word processing to complete all academic work.

 

 

Example 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.