Providing Visual Supports

Last post I discussed the continuum of AT available to students in college. However, now I want to talk about how you can implement AT into a child's home, school, and community in order to provide them with visual supports.

Students who have cognitive disabilities, autism, and/or multiple disabilities often have difficulty with self-management and personal organization. Their lack of these skills has been successfully addressed through the use of visual supports such as picture schedules and activity sequences, which are sequential, pictorial representations of events or task that cue a student to complete them. 

Graphics applications and apps for mobile devices based on touch technology can be used to easily create visual supports such as picture schedules, activity schedules, and social stories. With the accessibility to easy to use mobile technology, visual supports are increasingly being provided by handheld devices.

• iPrompt
• Available for iPhone, iPod Touch, & iPad
• Presents picture-based prompts that have been configured by teachers and parents to help students stay on task and transition between activities. 
• Provides hundred of stock photos and also allows users to add digital pictures from built-in camera. 
• First-Then (Good Karma Applications)
• Uses digital photos to create picture schedules and provide the option to record messages linked to each picture.
• Picture Planner (Cognitopia)
• Designed so that students with cognitive disabilities can construct personalized picture schedules for themselves on a computer and then use the schedules in either a printed version or on mobile devices. 
• iCommunicate, Boardmaker, Pogo Boards, and Powerpoint
• Can be used to create social stories 
• Helps students learn the social information they may be lacking.

iPrompt is an app that I never heard of before. After reading about it, I really wanted to check it out in more detail. I found this video clip below, which is just a short tutorial of the app. The app is a bit pricey for me, but it seems like it would definitely be worth it if you were working with a student with cognitive disabilities, autism, and/or multiple disabilities each day. 

Amy G. Dell, Deborah A. Newton, Jerry G. Petroff. Assistive Technology in the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experiences of Students with Disabilities. (Chapter 14) 2012. Second Edition. 

AT For Students In College

In previous posts I have talked about IEPs and assistive technology for those school age students. However, what happens once these students with disabilities graduate from high school? The logical next step would be going on to college.

The number of students with disabilities attending college has increased significantly in the past decade, and assistive technology offers solutions to the obstacles they face in meeting the academic demands of college. 

AT can be used to help college students during classes, testing situations, and completing assignments. However, all accommodations must be directly linked to tasks that are required in college coursework. Some reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities in college are listed below.

• Note Taking
• Use of a portable note taker (Neo)
• Smart pen
• Understanding Lectures
• C-print captioning
• Assistive listening system
• Tasking Tests
• Word processing application
• Use of spell-check
• Use of calculator
• Text-to-speech software
• Accessing Course Materials
• Captioned videos
• Electronic handouts
• Reading
• Books in alternate formats
• Highlighting
• Text readers
• Completing Papers and Other Assignments
• Screen magnification
• Word prediction
• Voice recognition
• Graphic organizers

I'm thinking college, even with my disability. 

Amy G. Dell, Deborah A. Newton, Jerry G. Petroff. Assistive Technology in the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experiences of Students with Disabilities. (Chapter 14) 2012. Second Edition. 

Assistive Technology Implementation Resources

Throughout this blog I have been discussing the process that the IEP team goes through when selecting AT. After the AT consideration process, the next step is implementing the assistive technology. Implementation planning is vital to successful use of assistive technology. For successful assistive technology implementation, a collaboratively developed assistive technology implementation plan must take place. The purpose of this post is to provide you with implementation resources that I have taken from my textbook. In this post I will provide you with a brief overview of my two favorites, however I encourage you to click the links and check them out for yourself! 

"First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective... Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends.. Third, adjust all your means to that end."

• Assistive Technology Implementation: Working Together to Make a Measurable Difference
• This is a complete instructional module on AT implementation from the Texas Assistive Technology Network that includes an implementation form. 
• Easy to read presentation slides on how to implement AT. 
• Key points...
• You can use AT to...
• support achievement goals
• expand educational/vocational options
• increase participation in educational settings and activities
• increase productivity
• increase independence
• increase quality of life
• The purpose of AT implementation is for students to use AT to actively participate in curricular and extra curricular activities.
• The result of AT implementation is increased academics and functional performance. 

"As the technology is integrated into the student's program, the implementation plan is adjusted to help move the student along the continuum to full integration."

• Making It Work: Effective Implementation of Assistive Technology Guide
• This introduction and seven downloadable sections are devoted to specific steps in the AT implementation process. 
• I love that this resource includes PDFs that you can download as well as specific samples of tools used for AT implementation. 
• Key points..
• Gather relevant information
• Establish IEP goals
• Conduct AT trials
• Identify AT solutions
• Develop AT implementation plan
• Equipment support task
• Proper equipment maintenance
• Staff and student training are essential
•  Meet regularly to discuss a student's IEP. These meetings also provide an opportunity to review AT implementation. 
• Adapt lessons for technology integration
• Follow up and plan transition

The Use of AAC Systems In The Home & Community

Last post I talked about how augmentative communication can be integrated into the IEP. Augmentative communication allows students to feel a sense of independence by providing them with a voice. However, although this is essential in school, it is also important to support the use of augmentative communication at home and in the community as well.

Augmentative Communication Is The Voice For Many Students

By using the augmentative communication in different environments such as home and community, it reinforces the communication skills that the student learned at school and helps generalize them to other settings. Therefore, teachers must be actively involved in ensuring that there is appropriate carryover and use within the home, among the family members, and across community sites. 

AAC Systems In The Home

• Training in the use of augmentative communication systems should be provided to families. This may include strategies for expanded use of the system and providing new vocabulary for the unique communication demands of home and community. 
• Include siblings, grandparents, extended family, etc. in the evaluation and implementation process to ensure a higher rate of success with the device. 

AAC Systems In The Community

• Communicating with unfamiliar partners is extremely challenging for most users. In order to support them, devices can be programmed to ask specific questions and guests can be directed toward the AAC user to answer a question. 

Amy G. Dell, Deborah A. Newton, Jerry G. Petroff. Assistive Technology in the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experiences of Students with Disabilities. (Chapter 12) 2012. Second Edition. 

Augmentative Communication & IEP integration

Last post I talked about the concept of learned helplessness with nonspeaking students. Some students require augmentative communication in order to actively communicate with others. Therefore, it is essential that their augmentative communication is integrated into the IEP.

So, how exactly do we do this?

EASY! Every student must have goals and objectives that reflect the use and continued development of the system. It is important that the student's use of the system is integrated within and across the school day, including both instructional and non-instructional periods. The IEP must include clear statements reflecting the student's communication needs across environments. 

Still not sure that you completely understand how to integrate augmentative communication into the IEP? Check out this sample IEP goal to support instruction and academics.

• Parker will use his augmentative communication device to make a brief presentation to the class about the history of the global race to space. 

One key thing that I thought was important to remember is that when the team develops IEP goals, it is important to remember that the augmentative communication device is not an IEP goal in itself but rather a means to accomplishing this goal. During my journey through assistive technology, I felt that I have learned so much and I now feel more confident being a part of an IEP team making decisions in regards to AT needs. 


Amy G. Dell, Deborah A. Newton, Jerry G. Petroff. Assistive Technology in the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experiences of Students with Disabilities. (Chapter 12) 2012. Second Edition. 

Strategies To Overcome Learned Helplessness

My next few posts are going to be switching gears just a little bit and truly focusing on the teacher's crucial role in teaching effective communication skills by integrating augmentative communication into the curriculum and daily classroom routines. This post specifically will focus on what strategies teachers can use to overcome 'learned helplessness'.

Learned helplessness can be defined as a disruption in motivation, affect, and learning following exposure to non-contingent (uncontrollable) outcomes. 

Sometimes just thinking you can is not enough. 

Teachers can use the following different strategies to help students overcome learned helplessness...

• Build a daily expectation of communication through specific activities such as choosing the activity during recess, picking a book to read, or identifying where to eat 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 for choice making whenever possible that requires the student to use his or her augmentative communication system.
• Provide powerful phrases on the device for students to reject or protest something. 

Currently, I have one student in my kindergarten classroom who does not like to speak. When I first met her in the beginning of the year she would barely say hello to me. She was fine socially with her peers, however if she needed something she would just cry instead of asking for it. She has already made great progress since September. Originally I would ask her yes/no answers to get a response. Now, I ask her more open ended questions so she will give me longer responses. She now knows that things will not just be given to her, rather she needs to ask for what she needs. 

Amy G. Dell, Deborah A. Newton, Jerry G. Petroff. Assistive Technology in the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experiences of Students with Disabilities. (Chapter 12) 2012. Second Edition. 

TechMatrix

Last post I discussed a great educational application for you to save as a resource for the future. This post will focus on another great resource the TechMatrix. I used TechMatrix this morning to generate and explore different resources available to teach math to students with special needs. It is truly an amazing website and you should visit it as soon as you get the chance. 

http://techmatrix.org/

TechMatrix is a very useful resource for teachers and parents who are looking for an AT device to support their child. TechMatrix allows you to narrow your search for the perfect AT device by content area, grade level, disability category, and instructional support. Once you enter all of your information and specific criteria, TechMatrix will provide you with a list of products. It also allows you to select the products you are interested in and compare them on a chart. 

When I was on the TechMatrix website I chose to search for products for a math, elementary student, who has a specific learning disabilities and is looking for opportunities to learn concepts for learning support. After putting all of this information into the advanced search, TechMatrix generated 17 products for me! However, after using the compare option, the TechMatrix narrowed the products down to the 4 best based on my criteria. I want to share a brief overview of them with you! 

• Cosmo's Learning Systems
• Family of educational and computer games that aim to entertain children ages 2-8 years and teach math skills. Children empower a virtual robot to explore new adventures in a playground filled with activities. 
• Academy of Math
• Designed to help at risk students develop proficiency in math through skill development and learner motivation. Gives students opportunities to learn concepts, practice, and reinforce them. 
• Provides strategies to help school meet AYP goals & aligns with standards!
• $500+
• Classroom Suite 4
• Combines direct instruction with a flexible tool environment to help students in grades PK-5 achieve mastery in reading, writing, and math.
• Provides students with explicit instruction, constructive practice, and embedded assessments to allow teachers to gauge progress and individualize instruction for their students.
• Incorporates text to speech, word prediction, scanning capabilities, and spell check.
• $100-$499, free trial to download online with minimal features!
• Classworks
• Web-based instructional software providing interactive lessons, customized learning and assessments in K-12 math, reading, language arts, and science.
• Offers interactive instruction through a multi-sensory approach that includes voice, pop-up text, audio support, video, photographs, artist drawing, and animated clips.
• Multilingual & based on state standards.
• Free trail download online. 

I really enjoyed using the TechMatrix. It is a great website and I highly recommend it to help any IEP team, teacher, or parent who is looking for an AT device to support a specific students needs.