Day 12, July 20, 2010 - Inspiring Videos

In today's class we watched several inspiring videos highlighting people with physical disabilities involved in sports and other physical activities. Their level of participation was breath taking - almost "dare devil" stunts. It is hard to imagine someone with no physical disability doing these things but here we saw people with limbs missing or blind doing these "fast paced, high risk" activities. A few theads common to all of these videos were: it's all about the heart, assistive technology devices, and teamwork.



My assignment for today was to research "cataracts" and find an assistive technology device that would be suitable for that condition and an inspiring video. According to the above link on cataracts, this problem can occur at any age, although more likely with seniors. Cataracts can usually be treated with surgery; however, even with surgery, partial or full loss of vision is still possible. This is especially true if there are problems during surgery or if there are infections following the surgery.

An assistive technology device that I located and appears as if it would be beneficial to someone with vision loss is Zoom-Twix. According to the Zoom-Twix site, this device is an auto reader that is fast, accurate, portable, lightweight, highly reliable, and durable. It is a multi-tasking reader that can scan, read, magnify, save books, and is good for distance viewing.

The following video demonstrates what someone with a visual impairment can really do. Just watch the smooth and confident dancing. I chose this particular video as it shows an adult and even though children and youth can be affected by cataracts, it is more likely to be adults or seniors. (this guy is certainly not a senior).





Overall, the course was an excellent experience for me. A big learning curve with respect to some of the AT -- but so glad I persisted. I will continue to explore the AT devices and, hopefully, enable myself to be more comfortable with their use. Will definitely be trying some of this when I get back to my workplace.
I would also like to comment on the people in the class -- very approachable and helpful. Even knowing that others were sometimes experiencing similar difficulties and frustrations (internet connections, etc.) made me feel that the issue wasn't just me. I guess it's just human nature to not want to feel "alone".
It was fun! Have a great summer and I may see some of you next summer.

Today's class started with groups putting the final touches on their Boardmaker Plus assignments. After many long hours and tedious moments on the weekend, Carl and myself had this project finished with the exception of some pages of our book not reading the text. With Barbara's help this morning, and much to our surprise, we discovered that we really didn't have a problem --just the volume turned down. I guess working until 10 p.m. on a Saturday night is really too late!!

The groups then presented the low tech inventions made from dollar store items. All projects presented were excellent! Creative people who demonstrated some very useful ideas.

I will now share some of our dollar store finds:

Halloween Grabber

This is a Halloween prop with a dinosaur operated pincher head. This off-the-shelf item would be useful for a person with limited mobility and some fine motor limitations. It would extend their reach and provide pincher control with a simpler squeezing action.

Hair Accessories

These hair accessories have a variety of uses such as: fasteners for coats and boots, as a bookmark,and could be attached to book pages for easier turning of pages.

Drawing Board

The drawing board can be used as a writing tool or art tool for a person with dysgraphia and to improve fine motor skills.

Measuring Tapes

Measuring tapes can be used to measure perimeters, circumferences, and lengths of objects in Math classes. It can also be used as a number line. As a number line, the specific increments can be cut and attached to the student's desk, i.e., numbers 1 - 10.

Table Cloth Weights

The table cloth weights would make excellent bookmarks. They have a clip at the top that could be attached to the top back cover of a book and then the hanging beads (approximately 4 inches in length) can be used as a placeholder in the book. Attaching it to the book would avoid losing the bookmark and the size of the beads make it very easy to hold and manipulate.

Clipboard

Rather than attaching individual notebooks to a student's desk with velcro, the clipboard would be attached to the desk with strips of velcro and then the notebook attached to the clipboard. This would help keep books stationary and at the correct angle for writing.

Emery Boards

Emery boards would be used for art and woodworking projects. This would enable students to grasp the emery board rather than handle flexible sheets of sand paper. It also enables students to work on projects requiring finer detail.

Pump and Spray Bottle

These pump and spray bottles can be used for dispensing liquids such as paint, glue, water, milk, etc. The size of the bottles and the pump action would be an asset for many students; in particular, those with motor control limitations.

Bath Scrubbies

Bath scrubbies can be used for sensory input. They might also be used for painting to create different textures or as a painting tool for someone who experiences motor difficulties.

Beaded necklaces

Beaded necklaces can be used for sensory input or as a bookmark.

Mirrored Ball

The mirrored ball can be used for sensory input. It is reflective and shiny. Light aimed towards this ball could create designs on a wall in the room.

Assignment # 3

AT Seekers and Inventors – Carl Paddock & Margaret Buffett

Education 5173 Z4

Background:

Karen is a 13 year old girl who has been diagnosed as moderate to severe cognitively delayed and is on the autism spectrum. Karen has fairly good receptive language; however, she has limited expressive language.

In the school environment she requires a great deal of assistance with organization. In particular, she requires assistance with keeping her school supplies (i.e., pencils, erasers, ruler, paint brushes etc.) organized and accessible. When she uses a standard pencil case or a cup style pencil holder, she finds it difficult to find the particular item that she needs and will usually take everything out of the case or holder. Karen experiences difficulty with keeping her books organized, as well. She has her own collection of High School Musical books, craft and art books, as well as subject related books which she usually has misplaced. She also requires assistance with keeping personal items organized and accessible in her locker. Since she likes to hang out by the locker with her peers, she likes to have personal items such as brushes and combs in her locker; however, she has difficulty finding these items and often loses them. Her difficulty with organizing and keeping track of her materials often causes Karen to be late for class and activities. It also causes her to be stressed and she often gets upset over this.

Karen is a very sociable girl who enjoys being with her peers in the grade 7 classroom. She also likes to hang out with her peers in other school environments such as the cafeteria and by the lockers in the hallway. Karen displays similar interests as her age peers such as watching movies, videos, listening to music, and is particularly interested in High School Musical, Hannah Montanna, and Justin Bieber.

The low-tech assistance technology is designed to give customizable organizational tools that fit directly to the student’s needs. The low tech material used is floral foam blocks which can be shaped to fit the student’s organizational needs. For example, school supply block, book shelf organization, Art supply block, sequencing block, and the locker block. The school supply block would hold items such as pencils, erasers, ruler, sticky notes, and pens. The book shelf organization block is a personalized book shelf to hold various books such as subject related and leisure reading. The art block would hold art supplies such as paint brushes, glue, and scissors. The sequencing block would be used to teach story sequencing or to sequence tasks. The locker block would be used to hold Karen’s hair accessories such as brush, comb, and headbands. These blocks would be attached to her desk, books shelves, and the locker using either magnets or Velcro to keep them stable and accessible.

Making this low-tech assistive technology available to Karen, will enable her to have more time on task as she won’t have to spend time looking for items. It will also enable her to have the correct items needed for specific tasks such as her school supply block.

Karen’s use of these low tech assistive technologies will be monitored closely to see how effective and efficient they are with enhancing her organizational skills. Karen’s progress will be monitored daily by her classroom teachers to see if these devices are minimizing her stress that she has experienced as a result of losing items and not being able to find them when she needed to.

Considerations:

· Many of these items could be made in art class, by all students. This way they could be personalized and used for a wide variety of purposes. This would also help Karen’s differences to blend more easily into the class. In any case, Karen would have the opportunity to customize her own items.

· Karen enjoys a variety of tactile, sensory input. For example, she is often seen playing with soft, fuzzy items such as cotton balls, tennis balls, and textured stickers. This made the selection of floral foam blocks a good choice for Karen.

· In each of the blocks, items can be inserted at an angle which would provide easier access for Karen.

· Each of the blocks can be painted with paint or glue to seal the blocks and make them more durable. This would also take care of any dust issues.

IPP

The following goal is taken from the outcomes in Karen’s Functional curriculum.

Goal: Karen will organize and keep track of her school supplies and personal materials 90% of the time.

Objective: Karen will organize her school supplies in the school supplies block.

Objective: Karen will organize her Art supplies in the Art block.

Objective: Karen will sequence a story with four elements using the sequencing block.

Objective: Karen will sequence a task using the sequencing block.

Objective: Karen will organize her books in the book block.

Objective: Karen will organize her personal items in the locker block.

Strategies: Direct teaching, provide a model to follow, have Karen help design and decorate the blocks, verbal reminders.

Evaluation: Daily checklist, observation, report from subject area teachers, self evaluation.

Materials: Floral foam blocks, glue, Karen’s school supplies and personal items, checklists.

These are bases created with two slots for the positioning of cards and accompanying numbers. They can be used for sequencing, social stories, video story boarding, and organizing elements of any type of writing. Because they are very movable and easily modified, they offer maximum flexibility.

This is a combination school supply organizer and book holder. They can be made separately but we combined them for illustration purposes. They can be coated with glue, painted, and customized in any way that the teacher or student sees fit.

This is an example of an art supply organizer with items positioned on an angle for easy access.

This fish display is an example of how this floral foam block can be easily cut and shaped to any imaginable creative use. It is a segmented fish which holds various characteristics of a fish. This is a possible Science activity.

Summary:

The above pictures illustrate how flexible floral foam blocks can be as a low-tech. assistive material. It can be crafted into a variety of 3-dimensional graphic organizers that would be customizable to any subject area and a wide variety of purposes. We do suggest that the final product be coated with ordinary glue, paint, or polyurathane if the intended use is meant to be long term. It is very cheap so they don't all need to be protected with expensive coatings. Have fun trying new things with them and please send us pictures of your creative ideas.

Day 10 - July 16, 2010

Communication -- So many ways to communicate from gestures and facial expressions to email and ipod touches. Yet, as humans, our primary mode of communication would most likely be voice. However, for some (diagnosed with particular disabilities; i.e. autism, physical, cognitive)this is not always possible. Thankfully, our human race has also been blessed with the intelligence to develop a variety of assistive technology devices that can be used for communication purposes. This brings me to the Boardmaker Plus www.mayer-johnson.com that we learned how to use today. It appeared, at first, to be a bit overwhelming but as we worked through it, I discovered that it is fairly user friendly. It's potential and the need of our students far outweighs the learning curve incurred for using it.

Day 9, July 15, 2010

Today's focus was on learning about switches. Some of the things we learned include:

• the possibilities for switch access are endless.
• all skills start with cause and effect.
• need a motivator, lots of repetition, and a power link (switch interface) to operate the switch.
• verbal cues are very important -- say exactly what you want to do.
• Occupational therapist and/or physical therapist has to be involved in the decision of which switch to purchase.
• Switches belong to one of two types: either simple (operated by touch) or speciality (ex. breath, eye movement, infrared).
• a switch is a mechanical device that opens and closes the connections in an electrical circuit.
• switches are used by anyone with a severe physical or cognitive impairment or a developmental delay.
• switches are used as a tool for access to opportunities that would previously have been denied.
• goals for choosing a switch include being independently mobile, able to communicate or perform a specific task. Other considerations include making the switch seamless, easy to locate, and easy to activate.
• criteria to consider when choosing switches include (1) position of the user, (2) movement pattern, (3) control site, and (4) types of switches.
• assistive technology products should be positioned in a viable position for the user to access or view them in order to help them reach their goal.

Even though the possibilities for switches are endless, the process and actual switch use is very individualized and thus, requires a lot of attention to detail for the recipient.

Day 8, July 14, 2010

Our task today was to prepare a video preparation story. We worked in groups and we first had to decide upon the student and task that we were going to prepare the story for. We then had to take the video shots, download the shots, write the text, and record the voice. Sounded like lots of fun and actually, it was. We had barrels of laughs doing the video shots. However, we ended up working into the evening hours as we ran into several technical difficulties. Just before we presented the project, we realized that we had forgotten to change some of the text to present tense. So, we quickly did this (thanks to Carl) only to realize we didn't have time or the environment to change the voice. What to do now? Nothing we could do other than accept it and use it as a learning experience. I doubt if this will ever happen to either one of us again. As I reflected on the day's work, I thought , "this is no different than the struggles that our students sometimes have". I can use this experience as a reality check or reminder that students' reasons for late or incomplete work is probably as legitimate as ours. It also reminds me to think of the frustrations that students with disabilities must experience when learning to use assistive technology and certainly before they are equipped with assistive technology.

Day 7 - July 13, 2010

The focus of today's class was doing video preparation stories. These video preparation stories are very similar to social stories in that they are used to teach students appropriate behaviors or routines and procedures. Video preparation stories should include descriptive sentences, perspective sentences, and directive sentences. They are always written in the 1st person and present tense. Finally, task analysis must be considered when preparing these stories to ensure all steps are covered. Barbara also informed us about FACTER www.starautismprogram.com
which is a functional skills assessment tool which is good for task analysis. We first prepared a video preparation story on a scenario given to us by Barbara. This required us to video pictures of a student spending too much time in the bathroom looking in the mirror. We then had to upload these pictures into a video and apply text and voice. This was a lot of fun and great learning, especially considering the fact that we had to use the male washroom to do this. Luckily, we had the only male that is in the class in our group. As a group, we now have to complete our next assignment which is to create a video preparation story for a particular student. We discussed a student that one of us is currently working with and decided to produce this story for a male student diagnosed with autism, entering into grade 12 in September and who needs to learn how to fill his car with gas as he just got his driver's permit. So far, we have sketched out the task analysis and should be ready to start taking the pictures tomorrow morning. Another great tool for the tool box.

Day 6 - July 12, 2010

We started today's class with downloading APPS to the ipod touch. We were to download the APPS we had searched for on the weekend that would be applicable to use with a student we are working with or have worked with. Our task was to preview these particular APPS to determine how applicable they would be to the student's individual program plan. However, due to downloading problems, Iwas unable to preview any of the APPS that I had found in my search. Therefore, I can only base my choice of the APPS on the brief description given at the itunes store and anything I can find on youtube.

We then viewed several low-tech. assistive technology devices that were incredible. I have used and even made a few of these in the past, but some of the ideas we saw today really demonstrated creativity and thinking outside of the box. A couple that really stood out to me were the tabs on the books using the clips and the milk in the pump bottle. I've attached tabs to books before but I used actual store bought tabs. I will definitely try the clips as this is so quick to make and doesn't have to be permanent.

We had lots of fun on our shopping trip to the dollar store. We found there were so many things that we could use directly off the shelf or with minor modifications that it was difficult to decide what to buy. Lots and lots of possibilities!!

Now for assignment #2, the student that I have chosen to find applicable APPS for will be referred to as "the student". The student is male, in grade 8 and has been diagnosed with autism. The student had never attended school until he was twelve years old and entered into grade 7. The student not attending school prior to grade 7 was a choice of the parents. According, to the parents it was because of severe behavior issues and the fact that this student was involved in a program with a Dr. ?????? from Montreal. The student has issues with wearing only certain types of clothing, not wanting to wear certain pieces of clothes such as underwear and socks, eating continuously, and being around others (groups larger than three or four). The student still exhibits inappropriate behaviors such as spitting on desk and floor, hands inside his pants, pulling pants down, pulling waistband of pants up under his armpits, eating until he gets sick, and refusing to go outside of the self-contained classroom.

A portion of the student's individual program plan focuses on social skills - eating properly, how to walk in and out of the school buiding properly, and how to behave appropriately when going on a field trip; functional daily living - cleaning himself and his workspace; appropriate clothing to wear in different situation/environments; as well as an academic focus.

To help address some of his difficuties with the social and functional living skills, I have chosen the following APPS:

Model Me Going Places - according to the itunes store description, this is a great visual teaching tool for helping children learn to navigate in the community. Each location contains a photo slide show of children modelling appropriate behavior. I chose this particular APPS for the above student as he has difficulty with appropriate behavior when going on field trips to such locations as: the park, playground, arena, store, etc. Also, this APPS would probably show appropriate dress for different enviroments such as going to the store vs. going to the arena or playground.

Social Skills Sampler: this APPS is designed to teach and reinforce basic social skills critical for independent living. For some, going on a shopping trip, using basic literacy skills, or understandiing what to do when seeing a warning sign are very difficult tasks. The social skills sampler application provides easy to understand information that allows users to become more capable of functioning independently at work, at home, and in the community. This APPS contains 80 videos. Again, considering the student's difficulties when required to leave the self-contained classroom, I thought this APPS would be beneficial in modelling trips out into the community.

Grooming: this APPS deals with personal grooming. With the student experiencing difficulties in the area of grooming; in particular, washing his face and hands after eating, I chose this as a means to deal with the issue. Hopefully, this would model the process of eating and then washing your face and hands when finished.

Manners: the manners application is designed to teach and reinforce basic social skills critical for independent living such as going on a shopping trip, using basic literacy skills, or understanding what to do when seeing a warning sign. I would like to investigate this further to see if it would address the student's issues with spitting on his desk and the floor.

Dress: Again, this application is designed to teach and reinforce basic skills critical for independent living. I would like to investigate this APPS further to see if it would help address the student's issues with appropriate dress; in particular, not wanting to wear certain pieces of clothing such as underwear, socks; pulling his pants down, pulling the waistband of his pants up under his armpits, etc.

Appropriate behaviors for some of the issues have been modelled with the student in the past as well as social stories in written format. The student has experienced some success with this; however, certain behaviors are a bit difficult to model such as the wearing of underwear. The student also enjoys watching movies and videos. I would like to try this video format of modelling the appropriate behaviors as I believe the student would experience success with this.

Day 5 - July 9, 2010

What an enjoyable class!! So much learning and, at the same time, the learning was so much fun! Our small group (Janice, Carl, and myself) finished our section of the assignment which was developing communication for the "home" needs of the grade 6 student in the case study. We really had to work at putting ourselves in the shoes of this grade 6 student in order to get some idea of what his wants and needs would be and the type of language that he would be using to communicate. Another task that proved to be a little difficult and required lots of discussion was prioritizing what the student would need/want to do with limitations of only using the three layers. However, teamwork prevailed, and I feel the end product was evidence of how well we worked together as a team. Great job, partners!
The actual use of the ipod touch and touch pad was very beneficial as it gave up first hand experience and I feel there is no better way to learn something than by doing it. I found the APPS that are available through the itunes almost too good to be true. I can't wait to play around with this at my leisure to see what I can use with students that I know I will be working with in September. The possibilities are endless. I will have lots to share when I return to my school.
Finally, I would like to comment on the class as a whole. I found that during the past two days, members of the class appear to be more cohesive in that there is more discussions, sharing, and asking each other questions. I think this is due to a combination of being together for a few days but more importantly, the group activity. Had a very enjoyable day.

Day 4 - July 8, 2010

We worked on our group assignment today of using the ipod touch as a means of commuication for the student in the case study. This type of project is very beneficial as it is "hands on" practice with using the ipod touch. In developing the categories and phrases, we were forced to really think about how well we needed to know the student in order to make this communication device as functional for the student as possible.
Thus far, the AT devices that we have viewed and in particular, the ipod touch, appears to have great potential for certain students and I will be advocating, on behalf of the students, to my Newfoundland School Board to provide more in the way of AT for our students.
I thoroughly enjoyed the group work as it gives us the opportunity to share and learn from each other as we often expect of students within our classrooms.

Day 3 - July 7, 2010

I really enjoyed the opportunity to view and actually use some of the AT devices that are available. Our group was given the crespeaker device to use in the activity where we had a non-verbal member that we were attempting to engage in conversation. There was a great improvement in the non-verbal's ability to communicate versus the previous day where this person had no AT device available. The crespeaker enabled the non-verbal person to actually engage in the conversation with more in-depth contributions rather than just "yes" and "no" responses. Even though the non-verbal person could contribute more to the conversation, the use of this device quickly made us realize some of its limitations and how important it is to know the person needing the AT device. This particular device required the user to have good motor skills (gross & fine) as the keyboard was very small, good vision as the display window and text was small, and good hearing as the volume was not overly loud. The user also had to be careful with the angle at which the device was held as the light reflected off the screen and made reading it next to impossible.

Day 2 -July 6, 2010 Communication

Today's class focused on communication in terms of its definition, different modes of communication, and the requirements for communication to take place. In order for communication to occur, two or more people have to be involved in a reciprocal exchange of thoughts, ideas, opinions, concerns, etc. with all parties involved paying close attention to each other and sharing a common language which is understood by all. Two highlights of today's class for me were the videos and the group activities. In particular, the video showing the use of assistive technology and how the use of this assistive technology had made life so much more meaningful for the young man. It was amazing to see the potential of this young man and what he could contribute to society. It is difficult to imagine what his life would be like without this access to the world around him. Again, as educators, we must believe in the students that we work with both directly and indirectly. The group activity that I was involved in required one member of the group to be non-verbal but yet be included into the conversation with the other two members of the group. This proved to be a very difficult assignment as we quickly realized that we could involve her in the conversation but only at a very basic level. The non-verbal member could only answer yes and no questions with facial expressions and/or gestures but couldn't give any in-depth responses. This was very frustrating for the non-verbal member as her facial expressions and gestures indicated that she had so much more to contribute. This activity proved to be very beneficial in that we could 'somewhat' put ourselves in the shoes of someone experiencing this type of exceptionality. Once again, similar to the video, it is a reminder that we must act as advocates to help students access whatever it takes for them to be more independent and contributing members of society.

Day 1 - "Autism is a World" featuring Susie Ruben

After working with several students identified with autism, the video, "Autism is a World" featuring Susie Rubin was really an eye opener to be able to see the world from Susie's perspective. Students that I have worked with have not been able to or have not had access to a communication device in order to communicate their thoughts, feelings, or opinions. Even though these students have not been able to effectively communicate, I've always wondered what their potential could be, if they could. As Susie points out, "I was a non person when I wasn't able to communicate". This comment from Susie really made me think and reflect on the students that I have worked with and how did they really feel. I also found it interesting when Susie referred to having to sometimes go into her autism space; i.e., the spoons or playing in the water. I think this is important for us, as educators, to realize as some of us often try to get students to stop these behaviors. However, this is their comfort zone and obviously is needed at times. I guess it is very similar to us using fidgets to self-regulate. As educators, we really have to believe in the potential of these students and do everything possible to help them reach their fullest potential.