Assisstive Technology- - Week 9

Our task this week is to choose AT software that was mentioned in Chapter 7 in Bryant and Bryant's Assistive Technology for People with Disabilities. Teachers at Abbott Tech were exposed to Inspiration, a semantic mapping (information organizing) software at our pre-service professional development a few years ago. We made a graphic organizer. We started with a key word or concept, added shapes with other words or concepts, and connected them to each other with lines.  When the map was complete, we instructed the software to create a written outline using the words and concepts in our map.


The software is wonderful for visual learners. An instructor can use any of the graphic organizer tools to demonstrate through pictures the relationships between concepts.  A class or small groups can collaborate on an graphic organizer, adding pictures and descriptions, to better understand a topic. Students who struggle with outlines can use Inspiration to organize their writing.  For conscientious students who want to understand an assignment and produce good work, it is a great tool.

 According to a 2005 Education World review, it takes 30 to 60 minutes to teach the program t a class. Students love to use it during class and for presentations. So many children are visual learners due to the video games and computer time, the software is a natural fit. One negative comment had to do with a lack of boundaries on the page. The pages were endless. Another comment dealt with forgetting steps in the program, then learning it and doing well. 

In order to make a visually attractive product, it takes some time to make a visual map.  As far as individuals using the software for individual work, I have found that only the most motivated and students will use an extra step to do a good job. Even if the student and all of the adults in his learning community are trained, if the process takes too long, he won't use the tool.

Assistive Tech - Week 7

I must say, I was fascinated with Chapter 5 in Beard, Carpenter, and Johnson's (2011) book. Last week, I printed a list of the AT available in our school for our students with high-incidence disabilities. It is exactly along the lines of what is in the chapter. I read the book sitting next to the computer so I could look up the devices and see how they looked and how they were rated by consumers.

If Assistive Technology is "cognitives prosthetics," (Alper & Raharininia, 2006) we all use AT to some degree.  Eyeglasses, planners, and audiobooks are common in the world outside of the classroom. I think it is important to include AT in the general education classroom.

Text-to-speech software is the main AT tool at my school. Being a technical high school, a lot of students are sent from the suburban schools because they are "good with their hands." Many of these students have high-incidence disabilities: reading, writing, and math.

We participate in the Accelerated Reader program in order to boost our students' reading levels. This is a mainly K-8 program. We are grades 9 - 12. In my library, there are books written at the second- and third-grade level that circulate often because there are students who need that support. In contrast, our trade textbooks are written at upper high school and college reading levels. Our AT Specialist has permission to digitize the textbooks on a flash drive along with text-to-speech software (Snap and Read) for the weaker readers through SPED.  In many cases, I think it would be great to expose all of the students to the text-to-speech software because often trade material is so dense, it is hard to absorb on the first pass, especially for self-proclaimed non-readers.

Assistive Technology belongs in the general education classroom because it can bring support to both students who rely on it and students who can get by without it.  Using a planner to keep track of assignments, hearing text as well as seeing it, using a calculator to check work, and having a computer spell- check are independence-giving AT for some, and examples of good life skills for others.

Week 6 Mobility

As a wheelchair user, I would wake up in a completely different home. I would not be able to access either of the bathrooms in my current, "classic," 1960's ranch. Using the standard manual wheelchair measurements in Beard, Carpenter, and Johnson's book, I'm an inch shy, not including my hands!  All three bedrooms are tiny, and there would be no way to maneuver a wheelchair into my galley kitchen and open a refrigerator door that fills the width of the room. I park in the single-bay garage. I could either make my garage wheelchair accessible, OR park my car in it. 

Once at school, it would be a struggle to get in the outward-swinging doors at both the entrance of my building and of my classroom/library. Since renovations in 2008, I have a circulation desk at comfortable sitting height. The book shelves are 36" tall, and though it would be cumbersome to shelve, I would be able to find and retrieve books. I would be able to access the Polyvision controls and turn on the computers. Helping individual students at a computer would be tricky. My storage rooms are difficult to navigate on foot, so I would have difficulty in a wheelchair. Some aspects of my job would be impossible (like delivering equipment carts) but I could manage most daily things. I could get OUT of any room... just not IN!

In order to make my building wheelchair accessible, I would need a handicap entrance at the main doors, the library door, and the faculty room. We already have elevator access to all levels of the building. I would also need to clear out the unused items in my storage rooms. There are many televisions on carts that predate the building renovations. I would not be able to reach the top two storage shelves, so frequently-accessed items will need to be arranged on the lower shelves. The remainder of items would be "self-serve." I would need to rearrange some furniture in my office and around the circulation desk, but most everything is manageable.

One of our teachers was in a "motorized cart" for the first half of the year. I watched him struggle at the doorways.

Week 4: AT and Assessment

        As a school librarian, I do not attend IEP's or PPT's. I asked one of the Special Ed teachers to fill me in on PPT's at Abbott Tech.

    When reading about PPT meetings, it sounds like a smooth and wonderful process. Teachers with their various strengths and observations collaborate to determine the best interests of a student who has some kind of learning disability. Upon discussing it with Ms. H, the Special Ed teacher with a Masters' in Assistive Technology, with a few human glitches, it really does work that way.

     Time is one of the biggest obstacles to the PPT process. There just isn't enough time during a school day for a case worker who is co-teaching in specific classrooms to monitor the progress of all of her students. Ms. H's example was "Joe," who has a writing disability.  Ms. H is not the co-teacher in Joe's English class, where he does a lot of writing. Follow up must be done with that class' co-teacher who has her own caseload, and with the classroom teacher if the co-teacher did not collect samples. It is also difficult to find time to collaborate with teachers prior to the PPT.  Teachers often do not find the time to fill out the paperwork and must be reminded multiple times to get it in.

      According to Ms. H, the LD issues in our school aren't severe enough, in most cases, to require AT. A handful of students have their shop theory books loaded on a flash drive along with "text-to-speech" software. Many are not motivated enough to use the AT, but for those who are motivated, it makes a big difference.  Ms. H said that teachers here are very good at differentiating, so many of the students with mild learning disabilities have sufficient access to the information. AT is discussed at every PPT, but at this time, only students who come into the school with some kind of technology assistance actually use it.

      Personally, I was impressed with the WATI Assesment in the Bryant and Bryant reading. It looks quick and basic with room to expand responses. The AT specialist from Central Office handles that kind of paperwork.  Our district has 16 Technical High Schools, and one AT person who conducts specific AT testing and training.
      I am interested to read others' ideas for improvements. As I do not have experience, it would be hard to say.

Analysis of Adaptive Tech #1

I looked for a list of school based assistive technology to do this assignment. One of the first products that caught my eye was Dragon dictation. It is on all the iPads at our school. I am doing this review using the free Dragon dictation app downloaded on my iPad.

After learning some simple commands like naming your punctuation, it isn't too difficult to make reasonable sentences and paragraphs. I didn't choose to learn the entire tutorial.

According to the creators Dragon dictation is good for

– Physically challenged people who have lost the use of their hands or people with repetitive stress injuries

– Language-based learning disabilities like dyslexia

– English language learners for notetaking, paraphrasing, and fluency

– It can also be used for all students as a tool for QDL, or universal design for learning

I looked at a number of reviews. A quadriplegic loves it! He was the one who recommended looking at the tutorial when he wrote his review. Overall, though, reviews are mixed. The adults on Amazon and Best Buy were either enthralled or disgusted by the program.

Learning works for kids gave it a high-scoring, but I couldn't access the reviews without a membership.

The University of New Hampshire offers Dragon NaturallySpeaking, a $140 program, as one of their disability services for students.

Pros: although the paid app is much more effective, there is a free version for dictation on iTunes. It is a great dictation tool for people who have physical and language based learning disabilities. With the paid version, you can watch your words comes up as you dictate.

Cons: there is a learning curve. If you don't know how to punctuate, the program cannot help you. The program requires that you speak out loud, which is not always practical in a classroom situation.

I have an admission. I am a paper thinker. I had to write this out, then dictate it. I made some minor corrections, but I needed to stop the recording, check the screen, and fixed what I needed to fix. Did you recognize some of the obstacles I faced in using the program?

THIS IS ME TYPING:

QDL should be UDL. I can see how, with practice, this could become a useful tool for someone with clear thoughts and poor writing or typing skills.  I can also see Dragon Dictation as a good tool for people without the use of their hands, or limited use of their hands.
It was hard to remember to, as I was speaking, add the punctuation. period. I looked up capital letters and it left my head when I came up to it!

Dragon Dictation app address:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dragon-dictation/id341446764?mt=8
There is also a link from the free app to the company website for more information on the paid programs.

Adaptive Technology Week 3

When I was in early high school, my neighbor's third child, Anthony, was diagnosed as autistic. He seemed "normal" until just before his second birthday. As his symptoms increased, he became difficult to babysit. Although he followed simple directions, Anthony was in his own world.

When I watched the documentary, I observed that the first camera shot of Facilitated Communication showed a woman holding the shirt sleeve of her pupil as he typed. As the documentary progressed, the next generation of facilitators seemed to almost guide their charges' pointed fingers to the keyboard. Even before the "big reveal" that FC was not what it seemed, I thougth it strange that kids who weren't even looking at a keyboard could type so accurately with one finger.

The New Hampshire pharmacist, Mr. Gherardi, who was accused of abusing his son observed, "If a new drug had just been discovered, it wouldn't be something that would be just thrown out into the market." (PBS) He questioned why Facilitative Communication, which almost destroyed his life, was allowed to be implemented without blind testing.

According to Bryant and Bryant, students, teachers, and families should all be involved in the use of a child's Assistive Technology. In the video, only one person per student was trained to work with a child. The adaptation could not be used in all environments. AT devices should also promote independence. Even if Facilitated Communication works as the originators believe it does, the autistic child is wholly dependent on a single facilitator in order to do school work. The PBS documentary showed a well-intentioned but poorly implemented type of AT.

History of Assistive Technology

Historically, AT was developed for the overtly physically handicapped. Aside from blindness and deafness, injuries sustained during the world wars were a huge catalyst for technology. As we increase our knowledge as a society of more and more subtle forms of disability, our definition and purpose of Assistive Technology changes.

Before the "Empowerment Period" of Assistive Technology (Bryant, 19), for people with disabilities, discrimination was common. Federal statutes were enacted and legal action more clearly defined these statutes.  Parents, who were already concerned about their children's education, got services to which they believed their children were entitled. From 1974, when FAPE (Free Access to Public Education) began to now, students with disabilities who were once discouraged from attending public school or who were confined to a "special" classroom are not included through differentiated instruction or Assistive Technology.

"For people without disabilities, technology makes things easier. For people with disabilities, technology makes things possible." (Bryant, 2)  Computer applications make our everyday lives simpler. Because technology is so common in every aspect of our lives, it is becoming less expensive. Because we all feel we "need" technology, there is no (or little) stigma about any technology use by students in our classrooms. The professionals' challenge is acquiring the most appropriate and least restrictive technology for students who truly need it. 

I see parent advocacy and the ease of acquiring cost effective technology as two factors that have strongly contributed to AT evolution.