Websites- Inspiration & Kidblog

This post will wrap up my module 3 assignment. My last few posts have really allowed me to piece together all the information that I have been learning in grad school about special education and assistive technology. As educators we are always on a journey, improving to become better and trying out new techniques and strategies with our students. There are so many great ways to support these students in the classroom and I cannot wait to try them. I wanted to provide you with additional resources in this post therefore I am taking some websites from my textbook chapter regarding assistive technology supporting writing.

• Graphic Organizers
• Inspiration/ Kidspiration
• This software supports visual thinking. Visual thinking allows the learner to better understand and retain information because ideas, words, and concepts are associated with images. Visual learning helps students organize and analyze information, integrate new knowledge and think critically. Graphic organizers, diagrams and outlines are just some strategies. 
• Graphic organizers are especially useful for the prewriting and brainstorming stage. They allow for students to organize their information and ideas for a writing assignment. 

http://www.inspiration.com/

• Blogs in Education
• Kidblog
• Kidblog is built by teachers, for teachers, so students can get the most out of the writing process. This allows teachers to benefit from the digital revolution of technology in education. 
• Blogging is something that is new to me this semester and I already love it. I can just imagine how excited older elementary students would be to use kidblog for their writing. This would definitely support those writers who struggle with fine motor and use portable word processors as assistive technology. 

http://kidblog.org/home/

Standards-based math instruction for students with intellectual disabilities

Last post I discussed assistive technology in regards to a reading webinar that I watched. The purpose of this post is to share with you some more information about assistive technology that I learned from an assignment. This post focuses on another webinar that I watched from the same website as last time. I will post the link for you again because it is such a valuable resource to pull information from.

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

During my undergraduate courses at Cabrini, I had a course specifically about how to teach math in elementary school. Throughout the course I learned different ways to get students engaged, involved, and using manipulatives to be successful in math. Additionally, math was always one of my favorite subjects growing up so I really enjoyed teaching. However, I was never taught what to do with struggling students, especially those with disabilities. Having a class with 24 students, makes it difficult to meet with those struggling students for one on one support. This webinar provided me with great techniques and strategies for those with disabilities in regards to math instruction. I really enjoyed learning about how assistive technology can go hand in hand in supporting math instruction.

Key points...

• IEP goals do not equal curriculum!
• Goals: what to measure. 
• Curriculum: guide for progression of learning

• Practice is not instruction!

• Concept knowledge is as essential to math as comprehension is to literacy. 

• Educators rising expectations allows for students to have better opportunities to learn math.

• Good instruction includes...
• Scope and sequence of skills aligned to standards
• Comprehensive and systematic progression of learning
• Multiple hands-on math tools, methods, and materials
• Differentiated tools, materials, and instructions
• Break skills down, slow the pace down

• Assistive technology can help those with disabilities access math...
• Talk and write about math
• Understand math
• Perform a math task
• Engage in math
• Learn in the best way

Assistive Technology for Reading Webinar

As a teacher, I am constantly looking for ways to improve my practices in the classroom. Today I listened to a webinar as part of an assignment for class. I am posting the link below as a great resource for you to visit. The site has webinars on a variety of topics. However, the topic that I am going to be discussing today is assistive technology for reading support. Fairly often in the classroom, we come across struggling readers or those with reading disabilities. Currently, I am working in a Kindergarten classroom so many of my students are having difficulty learning to read. Reading is a life long skill that is necessary for students. Assistive technology can help those struggling or with disabilities be successful.

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

Key points...

• Text Reader: a software program that reads all the text in any given document of application. This is great for students with a reading disability, but adequate vision. Text reader includes reading the web, study tools and supports for writing. 

• Screen Reader: this reads all the text elements on the screen including menu bars, buttons, and boxes. This is ideal for students with visual impairments or reading disabilities.

• Text to Speech: this software includes many features to support reading...

Modify text interface (how the program reads, or chunks, the text)

Choice of high quality voices

Ability to control rate

Built in dictionary

Highlight and extract key information

Ability to insert, create or modify scaffold for reading (how cool is this, only a few programs have this feature!)

Convert to MP3

• Electronic Texts: the webinar provided multiple resources of where you can get electronic text from. 
• One that I really liked was https://www.bookshare.org/ which is all about making reading accessible to people with disabilities. 

Past Event Cards

This post will continue with my last two posts discussing strategies to use with students who have autism or difficulties communicating. This post will focus on past event cards. 

Sample Past Event Card

Many students with autism have difficulty relating past events. Using a visual representation can help to bridge this gap between events, especially between home and school. Teachers can create templates that can be easily circled or filled in each day and then sent home so they know what occurred.

For example, a card might say: Today I... read a book on ___________, made my lunch, watched a movie on _______. Only items completed would be circled.

The past event card reminded me of something that we use at my current work place. We fill out daily sheets to send home with the parents each day. This is because our students are very young and often forget what to say when parents ask what did you do today. The form has key points from lessons to enhance communication and inform parents on what occurred during the day.

Choice Cards

In my last post I discussed one strategy to use with students with autism in order to support their communication needs. This post will discuss another strategy called choice cards. 

Which snack would you like? Pretzels or Bananas?

Throughout undergraduate classes, we learned the importance of providing choice in the classroom for our students. Children feel empowered when given choices throughout their day. This is especially important to remember when working with special education as well. Students ability to make decisions improves their communication skills and behavior which is crucial for those with autism. 

Choice cards are picture cards (visual representations) used to offer a choice between two or more items. The choices can be of anything from what to eat for snack, which activity to do, what book to read, etc. The teacher must be willing to accept either choice and follow through with the child's decision. Choice cards work by having the teacher point to the picture of each choice. A non-verbal child would then point to the picture of their choice. Those with better communication skills could point and verbally state their choice. When presented in this manner, the child is less likely to act out because they are allowed to make a choice of what they want to do. 

Sample Activity Choice Card 

http://lessonpix.com/articles/9/41/Choice+Cards

Break Cards

In my last post, I discussed the communication difficulties that students with autism face. My next three posts will discuss strategies that you can use to support those with autism in the classroom. 

The first strategy that I want to discuss with you is called a break card. 

A break card is a visual support which may be used by a child with autism to communicate the message that they need some time away from an activity, task, or person. During an activity, children with autism may become frustrated or bored, which could then lead to challenging behaviors. This strategy is often used for children who are non-verbal however even those who are verbal may use them as well. I thought this was a great point that I found in my research. Even students that can typically express themselves, find it difficult during times when they are frustrated, anxious, bored, etc. I have definitely seen this in the regular education classroom. Break cards are great for self-management because the student learns how to ask for a break, which can help them relax, gain control, and mange their behavior better. They are simply an alternate way of communicating the need for a break. Break cards can come in many different formats however they all serve the same purpose. 

Sample Break Card

This is a sample break card I created ! 

http://www.erinoakkids.ca/getattachment/Resources/Autism/Visual-Supports/Requesting-a-Break.pdf.aspx

Expressive Communication

Communication is crucial in todays society. All communication has two aspects; receptive language and expressive language. Receptive language is what we hear and understand. Expressive communication is what we say to others. Simply put expressive language is how we communicate with others. This does not have to be just verbally. It can be done with sign language or a communication device. Even writing is a form of expressive language. Expressive language involves making requests, giving information, labeling things. Expressive language is much more difficult than receptive language because the individual has to recall the words they want to communicate and then be able to express. A lack of expressive language skills is often a cause of frustration and behavior. They can become frustrated or tantrum because they are unable to express what they need, want, or are feeling. In order to communicate expressively, children need to have the means to communicate, opportunities to communicate, and reasons to communicate.

All children with autism have some difficulty with communication although the degree of difficulty can vary from child to child. Understanding the child's unique communication profile and impact this has on behavior will help in the selection of strategies to use with him/her. 



This website provides effective teaching strategies for working with students with autism and expressive communication difficulties. #4 especially relates to this post, discussing the importance of alternatives to verbal communication. They talked about how having a visual form of communication can assist with expression. 

http://center.serve.org/ss/commreceptive2.php

http://activitiestolearn.com/receptive-vs-expressive-communication/

http://www.autismtraining.com.au/public/index.cfmaction=showPublicContent&assetCategoryId=1023