Assistive Technology in the Classroom Session 8 Assistive

Assistive Technology in the Classroom

Session 8 Assistive Technology in Action

Presentation Agenda Introduction Diana – Kindergarten student with quadriplegia Meagan – Grade 1 student with cerebral palsy Aaron – Grade 3 student with Down syndrome Samuel – Grade 6 student with cerebral palsy Nick – Grade 7 student with FASD Ilyaz – Grade 9 student with visual impairment Rebecca – Grade 10 student with LD

Introduction – Think about this… What are the important concepts to remember when implementing AT with students?

Diana Kindergarten student with quadriplegia Limited facial movements only Requires constant physical support Can communicate verbally Literacy focus in her educational program Schedule includes Reading, writing and mathematics activities

Diana’s AT Solution Laptop with ‘Sip and Puff’ mouse control Onscreen keyboard / literacy and math software

Meagan Grade 1 student with CP – basically non-verbal Severe physical challenges – gross and fine motor issues Can reliably hit a 1” target when asked Needs to be able to communicate Schedule includes Circle time, “All About Me” theme, Buddy Reading, Centre Time

Meagan’s AT Solution Boardmaker for low tech AAC system

Aaron Grade 3 student with Down syndrome Knows the alphabet and 30 Dolch words Interested in books but not able to handwrite Laboured and non-conventional size, spacing Gap between Aaron and peers is growing Schedule includes Morning Meeting, “Dragon” theme, Math (basic computation), Science “Growing” unit

Aaron’s AT Solution Clicker 5 to support reading and writing

Samuel Grade 6 student with cerebral palsy Has fine motor control difficulties Difficulties with handwriting Completing Grade 6 academic program Schedule includes assignments in Social Studies Science Language Arts

Samuel’s AT Solution Fusion

Nick Grade 7 student with FASD and LD Grade 2 writing / Grade 3 reading level Very distracted, few reading or writing strategies Strength is auditory processing Schedule includes LA (poetry “Belonging”) Math (Fractions) Computer class (website analysis) Social Studies (“Ancient Rome”)

Nick’s AT Solution SOLO to support reading / writing in content areas Learn more about SOLO

Break Time!

Ilyaz Grade 9 student with ASD and visual impairment No vision at all Distracted by speech output Difficulty with auditory processing Difficulty with organization Modified program

Ilyaz’s AT Solution Pac. Mate for file storage and braille display Pac. Mate connected to laptop See another student use her braille notetakers

Rebecca Grade 10 student with Learning Disabilities Difficulty completing writing assignments Difficulty remembering content of what she reads Grades much lower than would be expected Good verbal ability Schedule includes English (individual novels) Science (“Cellular structure”) History (“Canadians who made a difference”)

Rebecca’s AT Solution Kurzweil 3000 to support writing and reading

Session Activity Think back to the beginning of the session presentation when you considered the important concepts when implementing assistive technology with students – one of the most important is matching technology features to student need. On the chart in your session handout, summarize the needs of the various students you met here and what technology features the team selected to meet those needs.

Discussion Forum Your final discussion task is to design an Educational Assistant’s AT Toolkit The AT Toolkit should contain what you think are the essential tools that no EA should be without Specific technologies Resources Examples Discuss what you would put in the toolkit with your group Report back to the whole group

Session Summary Activity Link to Session 8 Summary Activity Will be emailed to you after this session!