Today I met with Dawn, and we worked on creating a survey for the teachers at the school where I am placed. The director is going to put this out herself, so that the teachers will actually fill out the information, and we will have great feedback on what direction our project should go in. We would like to have the project ready and in place by the end of this semester for the next one. Hopefully, I will be able to have a training session soon on how to work the smart boards because the lady in the education department has already been contacted by Dawn. I realized today when thinking about sustainability and making this project actually work, there has to be something to up the anti. People don't see a problem and just make changes very often because they are comfortable or afraid of making the change. The only way these teachers as wonderful as they are, are going to actually do more than complete a training on the boards is for them to have an incentive and reason to do so. In my opinion, for these teachers to actually need my support and for me to be able to offer my services, the teachers are going to have to be required to create lessons using the smart boards. Then I would be a wonderful resource for them that happens to be right there at their fingertips...I thought about how neat it would be if a different teacher every month was to create one lesson or project that incorporated the board, and then all of the staff met together to see the final project like a showing or viewing. This would also promote staff interactions, cooperation, self-confidence, and address peoples fears of being enable to work the technology. I also love the idea of people seeing how someone used the device and wondering how they could do that , too. Then the teachers are actually learning from each other and collaborating. If one teacher really liked a lesson plan, then they could share the saved lesson and use it in a different classroom. There is a lot of potential, but for the potential to be reached, the teachers are going to have to be required to do something. In order to work on the greater problem at hand here, (which is the lack of teachers using the technology available to them) someone has to create a problem (like having to make a lesson) in order for them to need to fix the problem (learn the Smart Board). Then they will want to actually fix the problem (come ask me for help) in order that they might be successful. Once they are confident in their abilities, then they will want to learn more and use the technology more to help with their teaching.
(2 hrs)
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Smart Board Idea
The center has two smart boards and has had trainings for the teachers, but no one uses them at this time. The director’s plan is to buy two new boards every year until every classroom has one. In theory, this is a great plan, but what if the teachers continue not to use the devices? For a center on such a tight budget, buying two three thousand dollar devices every year is not a reasonable or justifiable plan without confidence and assurance that the teachers will implement the new technology. At this present time the boards are being used just the same as regular white boards, which in all of the schools that I have been in, this has been a reoccurring theme. The teachers are not comfortable with the technology and need to be given a reason to implement the technology. If there is no incentive or reason to change, then why should the teachers use the technology? If they have trouble with the devices, at this time there is no one really set up to help them fix and trouble shoot the problems and issues that come up.
I would love to know how to work one very well and be able to be a resource for teachers who want to implement these boards to the best of their abilities in the classroom. For me personally, I would love to learn this technology, and the experience of learning how to use a Smart Board really well would be beneficial to my own classroom in the future immensely. Until this meeting, I did not even know there was a difference between Promethean Boards and Smart Boards. I not only would like to be trained like everyone else, I would love to have experiences with the device to a point where I could trouble shoot and be comfortable with the device and teaching others how to use it. Some people might say that it is a bad idea for me to take on a project where I do not already fully understand the technology involved, but given time, I am certain that I can master how to operate the machine. Because technology does not come naturally to me, I have found that this makes it much easier for me to relate to other people trying to learn the devices. I can empathize, and I had to figure these same things out on my own. Dawn said something to me about how much patience it takes to teach people how to use programming and technology. I believe that because of my demeanor and major, I have the capacity to take the time to teach people and make them feel comfortable.
If I were to address the issues of the Smart Boards what could I actually do to help? What would be the steps, benefits, or progress? I do not want this project to be another short-term spurt. I would love for this center to be my home project for the next year and a half before I graduate. The first step to the Smart Board Project would be to find someone who could train me on an individual basis and be able to go much more in-depth in the training than the average person. There is one lady in the Education Department who I believe would do a fabulous job of training me and understanding exactly what I need to know in order to help other teachers in the field. I would need to have access to a smart board to practice, make projects, and implement my ideas. This should be easy with all of the University Smart Boards at the school, and people here who would understand and trust me to use them properly. I would need to make lots of example lessons using different tricks of the programming to show the teachers exactly how this can make their lives better, the teaching more interesting, and how the technology could benefit their students. The director wants me to come into the school during teacher workdays in January to give some refresher information and training to the teachers. I would also be available to provide tech support for the teachers. How would this carry over into a long-term project though? I can only see this being a long-term project if the director made it mandatory for the teachers to make so many lessons on the boards and use the boards every so often for class time. The teachers also need to be at a level of comfort that they are willing and can teach their students how to use the Smart Boards themselves. I wonder if some incentives/ prizes would make the task of learning and making lessons on the boards go over better with the teachers? You would be surprised how competitive teachers can become. There is also the question of how to measure the results of this project. A pretest of the teachers’ abilities, uses, and feelings about the technology would be a great place to start. Then there would also be a posttest to see how much the use of the technology has improved. I believe this project has a lot of potential.
(2 hrs)
I would love to know how to work one very well and be able to be a resource for teachers who want to implement these boards to the best of their abilities in the classroom. For me personally, I would love to learn this technology, and the experience of learning how to use a Smart Board really well would be beneficial to my own classroom in the future immensely. Until this meeting, I did not even know there was a difference between Promethean Boards and Smart Boards. I not only would like to be trained like everyone else, I would love to have experiences with the device to a point where I could trouble shoot and be comfortable with the device and teaching others how to use it. Some people might say that it is a bad idea for me to take on a project where I do not already fully understand the technology involved, but given time, I am certain that I can master how to operate the machine. Because technology does not come naturally to me, I have found that this makes it much easier for me to relate to other people trying to learn the devices. I can empathize, and I had to figure these same things out on my own. Dawn said something to me about how much patience it takes to teach people how to use programming and technology. I believe that because of my demeanor and major, I have the capacity to take the time to teach people and make them feel comfortable.
If I were to address the issues of the Smart Boards what could I actually do to help? What would be the steps, benefits, or progress? I do not want this project to be another short-term spurt. I would love for this center to be my home project for the next year and a half before I graduate. The first step to the Smart Board Project would be to find someone who could train me on an individual basis and be able to go much more in-depth in the training than the average person. There is one lady in the Education Department who I believe would do a fabulous job of training me and understanding exactly what I need to know in order to help other teachers in the field. I would need to have access to a smart board to practice, make projects, and implement my ideas. This should be easy with all of the University Smart Boards at the school, and people here who would understand and trust me to use them properly. I would need to make lots of example lessons using different tricks of the programming to show the teachers exactly how this can make their lives better, the teaching more interesting, and how the technology could benefit their students. The director wants me to come into the school during teacher workdays in January to give some refresher information and training to the teachers. I would also be available to provide tech support for the teachers. How would this carry over into a long-term project though? I can only see this being a long-term project if the director made it mandatory for the teachers to make so many lessons on the boards and use the boards every so often for class time. The teachers also need to be at a level of comfort that they are willing and can teach their students how to use the Smart Boards themselves. I wonder if some incentives/ prizes would make the task of learning and making lessons on the boards go over better with the teachers? You would be surprised how competitive teachers can become. There is also the question of how to measure the results of this project. A pretest of the teachers’ abilities, uses, and feelings about the technology would be a great place to start. Then there would also be a posttest to see how much the use of the technology has improved. I believe this project has a lot of potential.
(2 hrs)
Meeting with Director
This morning I had a meeting with the director of the center where I am in placement. Dawn opened up the meeting by explaining to her what Digital Bridges is and what the non-profit wants to accomplish in Milledgeville. Then we began talking about how my scholarship fits in with Digital Bridges. When we began discussing the possibilities of projects here at this center, the first thing the director said was about the use of interactive boards. The University also donated 40 computers to the school last year, but because of funding, there is only one computer in each classroom with Microsoft Word on it. The computers are using a program called Ebuntu which neither Dawn nor I had ever heard of before this meeting. One really large-scale idea for the project was finding or creating behavior programs for these students that would help with social skills. One of the largest issues with the program is the huge turnover rate in teachers because of how difficult the type of students that these teachers are dealing with, and teacher burnout happens very quickly. There are also no computer programs here like Steep or Successmaker, which help students improve their math and reading skills. These programs also provide the teachers feedback as the students progress throughout the program. The students also need to be learning more of the basic computer skills like PowerPoints, copying, and pasting. The school does have a program called Bookshare, but there is no memory on the computers to use the program. All of the programming for math is extremely expensive to buy. The school does not have a tech support until something is actually physically broken and beyond repair. The students could take online CRCT tests, if they were comfortable enough to use the computers in the first place. Even the idea of teaching teachers how to better use PowerPoints in the their daily lessons would be a huge advantage and change in the classrooms.
After the meeting today, there is a ton to think about and plan. Dawn and I are meeting tomorrow to get the ball rolling on some ideas. The director is going to send out a survey to all of the teachers to find out what they would like to see happen with technology in the center and what ways that I could help support these teachers with my project. I really believe that I have the backing of the director, which is amazing. If there is one thing that I have learned from doing the project so far, it is that you cannot be the only one wanting the project to work. I am very excited to be partnering with this center and excited to see where this project goes. In the next couple of blogs, I am going to go into much greater details and thoughts about the potential projects. I just thought that it was important to get the gist of what happened at the meeting up onto the blog, and then take adequate time to explain the concepts completely.
Restated here are the bullet points from out meeting:
Smart Boards
Ebuntu
Behavior Programs
Teacher Networking
16 Social Skills
Success maker and Steep with feedback
Using Computers in general
Basic Computer Skills
Write Out Loud in IEP
No tech support
No computer Memory
No Microsoft Word
Lack of Comfort with Technology
Lack of Incentives
Lack of use of Technology in the classrooms
Lack of funds
After the meeting today, there is a ton to think about and plan. Dawn and I are meeting tomorrow to get the ball rolling on some ideas. The director is going to send out a survey to all of the teachers to find out what they would like to see happen with technology in the center and what ways that I could help support these teachers with my project. I really believe that I have the backing of the director, which is amazing. If there is one thing that I have learned from doing the project so far, it is that you cannot be the only one wanting the project to work. I am very excited to be partnering with this center and excited to see where this project goes. In the next couple of blogs, I am going to go into much greater details and thoughts about the potential projects. I just thought that it was important to get the gist of what happened at the meeting up onto the blog, and then take adequate time to explain the concepts completely.
Restated here are the bullet points from out meeting:
Smart Boards
Ebuntu
Behavior Programs
Teacher Networking
16 Social Skills
Success maker and Steep with feedback
Using Computers in general
Basic Computer Skills
Write Out Loud in IEP
No tech support
No computer Memory
No Microsoft Word
Lack of Comfort with Technology
Lack of Incentives
Lack of use of Technology in the classrooms
Lack of funds
Monday, November 16, 2009
Questions for Meeting
These are some of the general questions I want to ask, address, and learn more about during the meeting tomorrow.
How has technology changed over your years in teaching?
Do you believe it is a good thing?
What do you think about your students learning technology skills?
Do your students learn technology skills?
Do you have students who are technologically inclined and could use technology as a good outlet for behavior?
What technology skills do you believe to be important to your students?
How do you feel that technology could improve this school?
How much funding is there for technology within your school system?
You had mentioned to me at another time about a student with a computer program written into his IEP. Are you still having trouble with this?
Is there something I could do to help?
What do you want me to do and accomplish at this school?
What would actually be beneficial to this school and that the teachers would be on board with?
What would make a large impact on the society as a whole?
What can I do for you?
Are you interested in the Testing Powerpoint idea?
Are there any great social programs on computers to teach about appropriate conversations?
What do your students need technology to accomplish for them?
Can you think of any programs or ways that technology can be used to help with behavior management, modification, or positive reinforcement?
How do you feel about computers being a reward?
What do you think of Success maker?
What is it really?
How has technology changed over your years in teaching?
Do you believe it is a good thing?
What do you think about your students learning technology skills?
Do your students learn technology skills?
Do you have students who are technologically inclined and could use technology as a good outlet for behavior?
What technology skills do you believe to be important to your students?
How do you feel that technology could improve this school?
How much funding is there for technology within your school system?
You had mentioned to me at another time about a student with a computer program written into his IEP. Are you still having trouble with this?
Is there something I could do to help?
What do you want me to do and accomplish at this school?
What would actually be beneficial to this school and that the teachers would be on board with?
What would make a large impact on the society as a whole?
What can I do for you?
Are you interested in the Testing Powerpoint idea?
Are there any great social programs on computers to teach about appropriate conversations?
What do your students need technology to accomplish for them?
Can you think of any programs or ways that technology can be used to help with behavior management, modification, or positive reinforcement?
How do you feel about computers being a reward?
What do you think of Success maker?
What is it really?
New Leads
When my mind was all over the place coming up with ideas the other night, here were some of the leads that I came up with and researched.
One of the most useful programs for blind students is Text Aloud which allows the student to learn material independently.
Dawn and I were discussing the possibilities of the internet for people with special needs. I found a website: Disabledonline.com- internet for people who have disabilities. I thought this might be a great tool for people with special needs to use. The website works as a safer internet and simpler version for people with special needs.
I wonder if there is a place set up that has a lot of tools for people with special needs in one website? I believe that all of the technology and information is out there to make life easier and more technologically advanced for people with special needs. At the same time, how far and wide do people have to search to come up with the resources they need? The technology is usually located in crazy places that are all disconnected.
All kids in some shape or form want to fit in, and the internet can be a great tool for people with special needs to feel more connected. Dawn and I talked about using the internet spaces like facebook or chatting to help students learn appropriate social skills. There are going to be many times and places for these people to write emails, respond, ask questions and communicate with each other and need to do so in an appropriate manner. Dawn and I talked about a fake internet/facebook so that only the class could see or write to each other, and the teacher could monitor what was being written. Status updates could be a great topic of discussion about emotions and what is going on in each other’s lives.
I looked into the programs and services provided in Milledgeville to use as resources to learn more about the adult special needs population in Milledgeville.
Best Buddies: a one-to-one partnership with a GCSU Student and a consumer (an adult with developmental disabilities) from the Baldwin Service Center. I came across a personal success book and thought about all of the adults in this area who are under transition services and need people to help them be successful on their own and in group homes. There are actually about 11 or more group homes in Milledgeville.
The music therapy program also involves a lot of the Milledgeville area special needs population. The music therapy program actually comes to the school where I am working once a week to do sessions with the students in my class.
Huggers: This program provides support for our community's Special Olympics games and the Special Olympics Athletes. Students get to help run the events as well as encourage each athlete.
The No Boundaries Club serves as the umbrella organization for students who want to work with people with disabilities. Its mission is to "Build the leaders of tomorrow by serving people with disabilities today."
Special Olympics: This program, through year-round sports training and competition, empowers individuals with intellectual disabilities. Special Olympics is often the only place where they have an opportunity to participate in their communities and develop belief in themselves.
Life Enrichment Center (Formerly known as the Baldwin Service Center):This program provides individuals with developmental disabilities living in Baldwin County Georgia, with the opportunity to meet goals through Employment and Personal and Social Services. The Baldwin Service Center cultivates community partnership with local and state colleges, civic and service organizations and advocacy groups to provide a variety of community based experiences and opportunities for consumers.
After doing a lot of research, I found a lot of information about group homes and what Milledgeville is doing to help the special needs population here. I did not actually know what groups and services were available in the Milledgeville area for people with special needs. I am especially curious about the adult population after these students are finished with school. This was brought to my attention because of the students in my classroom right now who are in the transition stage where the schools and parents are working to place the students in the best environment for their adult lives and future. I wondered what technology and programs are available to them. What are some of the difficult situations and problems with group homes and other services? I would really like to research about these issues and also take this opportunity to interview with the head of The Baldwin Service Center. I believe I could receive great information and learn a lot from these people who continually work with the adult special needs population in Milledgeville, Georgia. I am going to work on setting up a meeting with these people to learn more about the services provided in the Milledgeville area and what needs there are.
I was so excited to get a text message from Dawn saying that we were on for a meeting with the director of the school where I am working. This is thrilling because I will have the opportunity to learn what this school really needs. Dawn will also be at this meeting to add a lot of validity to what I am doing. Then we can all decide together on the best course of action for this project. For now, that means that I need to come up with questions I want to ask to learn more about the use of technology at this school. In a response email, the director wrote some interesting statistics.
As you may have guessed, our technology is somewhat limited.
Georgia College donated 40 used computers to us last year but, due to lack of funding for software, we were only able to put Ebuntu on each computer. Teachers primarily use their student computers for educational games.
We have a smart board in two of the classrooms but those teachers are really not trained in how to make full use of the interactive board for instruction.
Only 2 classrooms have LCD projectors (the two with smart boards).
Our internet is slow, and goes down often despite a recent bandwidth increase through Alltel.
About my project idea with the powerpoint, she wrote
Your host teacher spoke with you about “taking the American Literature Terminology that is used throughout the state’s End of Course Tests as well as Georgia High School Graduation tests and putting them into a Power Point type presentation with pictures and audio to help students with recalling terms. Depending on resources, this could lead to embedding the presentation with a switch device to assist with turning pages for students with physical disabilities. Katie, you describe the project beautifully on the Digital Bridges Website under ‘student projects.’ ”
As I work with these schools and with technology, it would be a great idea for me to be trained in how to use a smart board because I believe that situation after situation will arise where I could be a help in using these devices and utilizing them with the teachers and schools I will be working with on into my student teaching and teaching years.
(4 hrs)
One of the most useful programs for blind students is Text Aloud which allows the student to learn material independently.
Dawn and I were discussing the possibilities of the internet for people with special needs. I found a website: Disabledonline.com- internet for people who have disabilities. I thought this might be a great tool for people with special needs to use. The website works as a safer internet and simpler version for people with special needs.
I wonder if there is a place set up that has a lot of tools for people with special needs in one website? I believe that all of the technology and information is out there to make life easier and more technologically advanced for people with special needs. At the same time, how far and wide do people have to search to come up with the resources they need? The technology is usually located in crazy places that are all disconnected.
All kids in some shape or form want to fit in, and the internet can be a great tool for people with special needs to feel more connected. Dawn and I talked about using the internet spaces like facebook or chatting to help students learn appropriate social skills. There are going to be many times and places for these people to write emails, respond, ask questions and communicate with each other and need to do so in an appropriate manner. Dawn and I talked about a fake internet/facebook so that only the class could see or write to each other, and the teacher could monitor what was being written. Status updates could be a great topic of discussion about emotions and what is going on in each other’s lives.
I looked into the programs and services provided in Milledgeville to use as resources to learn more about the adult special needs population in Milledgeville.
Best Buddies: a one-to-one partnership with a GCSU Student and a consumer (an adult with developmental disabilities) from the Baldwin Service Center. I came across a personal success book and thought about all of the adults in this area who are under transition services and need people to help them be successful on their own and in group homes. There are actually about 11 or more group homes in Milledgeville.
The music therapy program also involves a lot of the Milledgeville area special needs population. The music therapy program actually comes to the school where I am working once a week to do sessions with the students in my class.
Huggers: This program provides support for our community's Special Olympics games and the Special Olympics Athletes. Students get to help run the events as well as encourage each athlete.
The No Boundaries Club serves as the umbrella organization for students who want to work with people with disabilities. Its mission is to "Build the leaders of tomorrow by serving people with disabilities today."
Special Olympics: This program, through year-round sports training and competition, empowers individuals with intellectual disabilities. Special Olympics is often the only place where they have an opportunity to participate in their communities and develop belief in themselves.
Life Enrichment Center (Formerly known as the Baldwin Service Center):This program provides individuals with developmental disabilities living in Baldwin County Georgia, with the opportunity to meet goals through Employment and Personal and Social Services. The Baldwin Service Center cultivates community partnership with local and state colleges, civic and service organizations and advocacy groups to provide a variety of community based experiences and opportunities for consumers.
After doing a lot of research, I found a lot of information about group homes and what Milledgeville is doing to help the special needs population here. I did not actually know what groups and services were available in the Milledgeville area for people with special needs. I am especially curious about the adult population after these students are finished with school. This was brought to my attention because of the students in my classroom right now who are in the transition stage where the schools and parents are working to place the students in the best environment for their adult lives and future. I wondered what technology and programs are available to them. What are some of the difficult situations and problems with group homes and other services? I would really like to research about these issues and also take this opportunity to interview with the head of The Baldwin Service Center. I believe I could receive great information and learn a lot from these people who continually work with the adult special needs population in Milledgeville, Georgia. I am going to work on setting up a meeting with these people to learn more about the services provided in the Milledgeville area and what needs there are.
I was so excited to get a text message from Dawn saying that we were on for a meeting with the director of the school where I am working. This is thrilling because I will have the opportunity to learn what this school really needs. Dawn will also be at this meeting to add a lot of validity to what I am doing. Then we can all decide together on the best course of action for this project. For now, that means that I need to come up with questions I want to ask to learn more about the use of technology at this school. In a response email, the director wrote some interesting statistics.
As you may have guessed, our technology is somewhat limited.
Georgia College donated 40 used computers to us last year but, due to lack of funding for software, we were only able to put Ebuntu on each computer. Teachers primarily use their student computers for educational games.
We have a smart board in two of the classrooms but those teachers are really not trained in how to make full use of the interactive board for instruction.
Only 2 classrooms have LCD projectors (the two with smart boards).
Our internet is slow, and goes down often despite a recent bandwidth increase through Alltel.
About my project idea with the powerpoint, she wrote
Your host teacher spoke with you about “taking the American Literature Terminology that is used throughout the state’s End of Course Tests as well as Georgia High School Graduation tests and putting them into a Power Point type presentation with pictures and audio to help students with recalling terms. Depending on resources, this could lead to embedding the presentation with a switch device to assist with turning pages for students with physical disabilities. Katie, you describe the project beautifully on the Digital Bridges Website under ‘student projects.’ ”
As I work with these schools and with technology, it would be a great idea for me to be trained in how to use a smart board because I believe that situation after situation will arise where I could be a help in using these devices and utilizing them with the teachers and schools I will be working with on into my student teaching and teaching years.
(4 hrs)
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Behind the Scenes Stuff
This blog is much more about the behind the scenes stuff. I have put in hours, but they are all in weird ways like emailing the Speech Therapist who I was working with, getting a form, blogging, and meeting with Dawn twice. I also have been trying to contact the Director of the school I am working in to conduct a formal interview to see what the true needs of the school are and not just allow myself to come into a system and decide what it needs as an outsider. My ideas going in to this meeting are a power point with audio to help the class I am working with that does not have the funding to get the supplemental material which would help the students prepare for their graduation tests. The way the literature section is set up right now, only allows the students to view the literary terms from the textbook and read the definitions. While this does help the students identify what the terms look like and mean, the students still would not be able to look at a passage on a test and discern that the author was using one of those terms. Another issue with only reading the textbook is that the students have no idea how to pronounce these sometimes difficult words like "onomatopoeia". One of the students is actually working on his computer skills, powerpoint skills, and literary skills all at the same time. We are a team and creating a powerpoint using ten of these 150 terms. Each word has a slide with the word and definition. At school tomorrow, we are going to use the internet to look up examples of these terms, and the student will decide which example he likes the best for the powerpoint. If I was able to use this as a part of my project, I could make a full powerpoint of all of the terms, add sound, add graphics, add more examples, and could make this available online as a free resource for teachers to use with other students across the nation working to have their students to pass the graduation exam. I was really hoping to meet up with the Director this week, but I have not received any reply to my email. I may go ahead and send her another or speak with her tomorrow if I see her in the halls. I believe that getting people on board and contacting the right sources for meetings is by far the hardest part of this scholarship project. I want to help people and throw myself fully into the projects when I know what is to be done and what people want. This is just the difficult and frustrating stage of waiting, contacting, and researching. I am also planning to interview my host teacher tomorrow to see what she would like to see implemented at the school. I would also like to ask her opinion on how technology is used in the school and should be used in the school. I could also find out her background with technology because she has been teaching at this program for 10 years. I am sure that she has seen this school go through many large changes in the use of technology over the years. I am interested in hearing her responses and doing some research on my own. This school really does need people to support it and show these kids that someone really does care. One of my friends who is also student teaching at this school is painting a mural on the wall next week. This will be a reminder to the teachers and students that someone cares and add some beauty to the white washed walls and falling down buildings. So in summary a lot of this week's hours have been accumulated through observations, meetings, emails, reflection, and learning this about my new school environment in Milledgeville and how to help it. I really hope this next project is about to get started and moving to a point where I can really begin again to make a tangible impact on this town.
(14 hrs.)
(14 hrs.)
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Another Environment
Because of circumstances outside of my control, I am not going to be able to stay in the placement where I observed the blind student all last week. So, at this point the project is very up in the air. I emailed the original student's speech therapist to check in about how the project is going, and all is well, but there is really nothing left for me to do to help with their situation at this point in time. They would like for me to attend one of the student's sessions in the new year which I believe my new schedule in cohort will allow me to do so. This would give me an opportunity to see my hard work in practice with the speech therapist.
The setting I have been placed into now is very different from any I have been in before. The school is a center for children with emotional and behavior issues, and these students have been sent here from their home schools who do not know what to do with the students who are being unsafe and unreasonable in the regular school setting. This school does not have a ton of funding from waht I can see. The building is old and poor looking from the outside and in not the nicest neighborhood of town. Going in, I had no idea how much technology was being implemented in the school, how much funding there is for technology, and what the purpose of technology is in a school like this. Some of these questions remain unanswered at this time, but some have become much more clear to me. One of my fellow cohort students has reported to me numerous times that her teacher lets the kids play on the computers so much/almost all of every day which I believe is completely inappropriate and not addressing the issues the students are there to tackle. Computer can be used as a reward but no in place of instruction and the teacher. Technology has a very different role in my classroom here because the students I am working with are high school students. The computer is used as a resource in our classroom but is not used for games or fun time. The computer is for work. The students are allowed to research with adult supervision, watch videos the teacher has found to supplement the educational lessons, and the students also are learning functional computer skills by making power points and using word. I actually had the opportunity to talk to the principal of hte school for a few minutes today and explained my situation and scholarship to her. I asked her to think and brainstorm to see if she has any ideas of technological projects that I could work on or help her with at this time in the school setting. Her mental wheels began to turn very fast and one idea really caught my attention. She has a student that has a computer program recorded in his IEP to use, and the teacher does not know how to work the program. I would love this challenge to see how the student and teacher could better use and understand this program. This would improve this at risks students education, computer skills, teach the teacher, and keep the school under federal guidance by following the IEP goals. I will follow up with the principal next week to see is she has any different ideas or if she wants me to pursue the one she mentioned. I am curious where this project is headed next!
These students have had extremely hard lives and my heart breaks for many of the stories I heard this week about their lives. More than anything these kids need to be shown that they matter and can succeed because so many people have given up on them or hurt them up to this point. Many students at this school on top of having emotional and behavior issues have been sexually abused, have parents in trouble with the law, or have family members who also have emotional issues. More than anyone else I know, these kids need someone to care about them, and this school is where they are finding a place to belong.
(8 hrs)
The setting I have been placed into now is very different from any I have been in before. The school is a center for children with emotional and behavior issues, and these students have been sent here from their home schools who do not know what to do with the students who are being unsafe and unreasonable in the regular school setting. This school does not have a ton of funding from waht I can see. The building is old and poor looking from the outside and in not the nicest neighborhood of town. Going in, I had no idea how much technology was being implemented in the school, how much funding there is for technology, and what the purpose of technology is in a school like this. Some of these questions remain unanswered at this time, but some have become much more clear to me. One of my fellow cohort students has reported to me numerous times that her teacher lets the kids play on the computers so much/almost all of every day which I believe is completely inappropriate and not addressing the issues the students are there to tackle. Computer can be used as a reward but no in place of instruction and the teacher. Technology has a very different role in my classroom here because the students I am working with are high school students. The computer is used as a resource in our classroom but is not used for games or fun time. The computer is for work. The students are allowed to research with adult supervision, watch videos the teacher has found to supplement the educational lessons, and the students also are learning functional computer skills by making power points and using word. I actually had the opportunity to talk to the principal of hte school for a few minutes today and explained my situation and scholarship to her. I asked her to think and brainstorm to see if she has any ideas of technological projects that I could work on or help her with at this time in the school setting. Her mental wheels began to turn very fast and one idea really caught my attention. She has a student that has a computer program recorded in his IEP to use, and the teacher does not know how to work the program. I would love this challenge to see how the student and teacher could better use and understand this program. This would improve this at risks students education, computer skills, teach the teacher, and keep the school under federal guidance by following the IEP goals. I will follow up with the principal next week to see is she has any different ideas or if she wants me to pursue the one she mentioned. I am curious where this project is headed next!
These students have had extremely hard lives and my heart breaks for many of the stories I heard this week about their lives. More than anything these kids need to be shown that they matter and can succeed because so many people have given up on them or hurt them up to this point. Many students at this school on top of having emotional and behavior issues have been sexually abused, have parents in trouble with the law, or have family members who also have emotional issues. More than anyone else I know, these kids need someone to care about them, and this school is where they are finding a place to belong.
(8 hrs)
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
New Student Observations
This past week, I spent two days in a new classroom observing all new students and seeing how technology is being implemented in a new school system, county, and grade level. My main interest in this classroom was a boy who is blind. I had heard before going into this classroom that the student had more mental issues going on and was not only handicapped with vision impairments. I was looking into the possible technology available for helping him as a blind student and learning what technology he used at present in the classroom. The student is in the fifth grade and is in a resource classroom and does inclusion for one class period a day. In the mornings he has private lessons with a blind specialist at the school. These lessons were fascinating for me. All of his text books are in braille, and he is learning the braille contractions for letter combinations like th, ed, and the likes. For one of his lessons during the day, he listened to a book on tape about Paul Revere. During Math class, the blind teacher came back to work with him. He uses an abacus to do his many digit multiplication problems. I was so impressed with how fast he and his teacher moved the beads around and found the answers. I had no idea what they were doing or how they were getting the answers. On the second day in the classroom, the parapro was amazing and took the time to teach me how to use the abacus for math, too. The concept gets extremely complicated with the many numbers involved and carrying over of tens. It took me about an hour to understand and complete some problems correctly, and I could see what I was doing! In the afternoon, I went with the blind teacher and the student to work on his cane skills and mental map of the school. During this class period, the student is focusing on learning how to use different techniques for different types of hallways, rooms, and situations. Each hallway also has a name, so that he can know where he is and where he is going at all times. It is very difficult for him to memorize the different paths to get to different places. Schools are especially different because so many of the halls are exactly the same. He has to remember to read the braille numbers on the doors to make sure that he is in the right places. The main problem I had with the classrooms lack of technology for the student was in the afternoons. This is the time that the other students play on the educational games, but his only reward is to go listen to the others play which is not ok, fair, or right. There needs to be other alternatives that would be fun for him to do as well. No one wants to listen to other people enjoy their rewards while you do not reap any of the benefits from your own hard work.
The most I learned about Blind technology was from the blind teacher. I am going to look up the device she was telling me about that works like a computer, has braille that is removable and can read itself allowed. She said that the device is worth about six thousand dollars, if I heard her correctly. She is working with a student who has one in another area county. I would love the opportunity to see and work with a device like this one day. It reminds me very much of a Dynavox but for people who are blind. The teacher also has a program on her computer to make tests, write out braille, and convert anything into something for a blind person to read. I was amazed and impressed with what she did. When she is not working with students who are blind, she is brailling out different, books, tests, projects, and such for the students.
These two days of learning what technology is and is not available to make life easier for students who cannot see were great learning experiences for me. I am curious to see what possibilities there are for students who are blind and am interested in learning more about the technology available through some internet research.
(8 hrs)
The most I learned about Blind technology was from the blind teacher. I am going to look up the device she was telling me about that works like a computer, has braille that is removable and can read itself allowed. She said that the device is worth about six thousand dollars, if I heard her correctly. She is working with a student who has one in another area county. I would love the opportunity to see and work with a device like this one day. It reminds me very much of a Dynavox but for people who are blind. The teacher also has a program on her computer to make tests, write out braille, and convert anything into something for a blind person to read. I was amazed and impressed with what she did. When she is not working with students who are blind, she is brailling out different, books, tests, projects, and such for the students.
These two days of learning what technology is and is not available to make life easier for students who cannot see were great learning experiences for me. I am curious to see what possibilities there are for students who are blind and am interested in learning more about the technology available through some internet research.
(8 hrs)
Monday, November 2, 2009
Deep Roots Festival
On Saturday, I worked with Dawn at the Deep Roots Festival to promote Digital Bridges. It was an absolutely beautiful day for people to come out and enjoy down town Milledgeville. We set up the tables outside that were playing the new promotional video for Digital Bridges. All of the important people are on the video. The footage of the student and I is great! He looks so cute working the Dynavox, and the video footage really shows what I am doing and working on with this project. By the end of the day, Dawn and I were quite tired of listening to the video, but either one of us can do a great rendition of it, if anyone ever wants to hear what the video says. I thought it was a great idea to have us set up in front of the new home of Digital Bridges. That way people can know what the building is going to become in the future, and people can begin to put the name Digital Bridges with the place where it is going to be. We had a ton of candy set up outside for people to eat and enjoy. We also gave away bookmarks and asked people if they wanted to sign up for the email newsletter listing. I do think it is a great idea that only the ideas that people want to know about will be sent to them without other information that does not pertain to their individual wants. The crowds were really good for the festival overall, but the traffic near our table and store was low. This was because people are there to have fun and eat food. Learning about a new business was not people's first priority at Deep Roots. A lot of the people there were also parents of college students who are not from the Milledgeville area. Over all, I was very glad to have the opportunity to talk about Digital Bridges, represent the organization, and be a part of the Deep Roots festival.
(8 hrs)
(8 hrs)
Friday, October 23, 2009
The Final Catch Up
On Monday, I had a meeting with Dawn to discuss what is going on with the project, what direction the project is going in, and what I am going to be doing for the project this week. We want to keep the project very specific and localized to a limited number of students with needs for Assistive Technology, but also, I want to make the most out of the hours I am devoting to work on this project. For now, I am going to focus the project completely on the student with the Dynavox and the possible new student who I will evaluate on Tuesday next week. I am excited to see what will come of the new aspect of this project.
I also sent a lot of emails on Monday to confirm the time and place with the speech therapist for our meeting on Tuesday. I made sure that I knew when and where I was going, and everyone involved knew that I was getting the Dynavox from the school to take it to the speech therapist. That way there was no miss communication between the teacher, parent, speech therapist, and myself. The last thing I did on Monday was to work on editing my blog entry before uploading it to this blog spot.
On Tuesday, I went to meet with the speech therapist in Macon. She was completely amazing! We went into a conference room, and we talked about the project, and what we want for the student. I showed her what I have done to the dynavox, and then she really wanted to know how I did it. I was really impressed that she brought a pen and paper into our meeting to take notes and really learn how to work the device. When she thought of some pages she would like created, I walked her through how to do it, and then taught her how to connect the pages. She was so interested in how the device works and how I rewired each part that she actually kept the device after I left to make more pages and understand the device even better. I believe she was floored that I took the time, understood the device, understood her student, and wanted to help so much. After the meeting, I felt like I really had another person on the same page with me advocating for the student to use the device on a daily basis. The speech therapist is also willing to push the parent to use the device more often and in more situations than only at therapy or school. The largest complement she gave me was that she has met with two employees and representatives for the dynavox company, and in one hour, I had taught her and been more helpful than anyone else. She was amazed and sent me a thank you email after our meeting. She is also planning on us meeting up again, partnering, and helping her out in the future. This meeting was a great connection and leap forward with the project.
I worked a lot this week to update the blog and met with Dawn on Friday to prepare for Saturday's festival. The deep roots festival is tomorrow, and we are going to be promoting and educating about Digital Bridges. This will also let people know where Digital Bridges is going to be located now. The building is the one next to the Theater down town. I am excited to work the festival tomorrow and will blog about it very soon.
(5 hrs, 30 min)
I also sent a lot of emails on Monday to confirm the time and place with the speech therapist for our meeting on Tuesday. I made sure that I knew when and where I was going, and everyone involved knew that I was getting the Dynavox from the school to take it to the speech therapist. That way there was no miss communication between the teacher, parent, speech therapist, and myself. The last thing I did on Monday was to work on editing my blog entry before uploading it to this blog spot.
On Tuesday, I went to meet with the speech therapist in Macon. She was completely amazing! We went into a conference room, and we talked about the project, and what we want for the student. I showed her what I have done to the dynavox, and then she really wanted to know how I did it. I was really impressed that she brought a pen and paper into our meeting to take notes and really learn how to work the device. When she thought of some pages she would like created, I walked her through how to do it, and then taught her how to connect the pages. She was so interested in how the device works and how I rewired each part that she actually kept the device after I left to make more pages and understand the device even better. I believe she was floored that I took the time, understood the device, understood her student, and wanted to help so much. After the meeting, I felt like I really had another person on the same page with me advocating for the student to use the device on a daily basis. The speech therapist is also willing to push the parent to use the device more often and in more situations than only at therapy or school. The largest complement she gave me was that she has met with two employees and representatives for the dynavox company, and in one hour, I had taught her and been more helpful than anyone else. She was amazed and sent me a thank you email after our meeting. She is also planning on us meeting up again, partnering, and helping her out in the future. This meeting was a great connection and leap forward with the project.
I worked a lot this week to update the blog and met with Dawn on Friday to prepare for Saturday's festival. The deep roots festival is tomorrow, and we are going to be promoting and educating about Digital Bridges. This will also let people know where Digital Bridges is going to be located now. The building is the one next to the Theater down town. I am excited to work the festival tomorrow and will blog about it very soon.
(5 hrs, 30 min)
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Almost Caught Up
Also while I was at home, I spoke with a lot of my extended family about what I am doing with the project, showing them how the device worked, and telling them what I was doing to make it easier for the student, family, teacher, and therapist to use the device for communication purposes. They really thought this was amazing and became really interested in the technology and how it works. My Grandmother was having a really hard time getting her head around what I was doing, so I sat down with her and really explained what the device does and how it can help the student. Once she understood, she thought about my cousin who had a stroke and asked me if a device like this would help him. I was floored. Why didn’t I think about that before? My cousin had a stroke and gets really angry when he is trying to communicate but cannot say what he is thinking. He is completely competent in the head and would be the perfect candidate for a dynavox device. I am going to speak to someone very soon about whether or not his family would be interested in helping him receive a device like this. I don’t see how they could not want one because this could make all of the difference in the world for him. He would not need to learn the cause and effect ideas or have the device simplified for him. He just honestly needs the voice to say what he is thinking. I do not believe his fine motor skills are defined enough for him to write down everything he wants to say. Who wants to have to sit with a pen and paper all of the time at the dinner table and be trying to eat. He is such a very bright man who wants to be completely engaged in the situations around him, and he has such a large family that to have a voice would make a lot of difference in his entire life. Even though I have been working on this project for months, I still did not even think about my own family member who this device would benefit. It took my grandma understanding what I was doing for me to see its potential close to my own home. I am sure that this is a huge issue in all of areas because people don’t always think about all of the options but instead just learn to deal with it as things are. This also makes me wonder why no one has suggested such a device for him or if they have, why hasn’t his family done something about this.
On Wednesday when I got back to school, I worked very hard on putting all of the finishing touches on the device before giving it back to the student on Thursday. I changed a lot of little things to make it even friendlier to use and moved orders around and just double-checked all of the features one last time.
On Thursday, I took the device back to the school, but the student was not in class that day which was very disappointing because I had hoped to run a check with him and work with him some that day to see how the school day ran using the device. I also wanted his teacher to see how I would incorporate the device into his daily routine of classes and activities at school. This is what I believe will be the biggest challenge for her. I do not know whether or not she is going to think to go get the device, turn it on, and use it for all of his classes. Will she remember to charge the device before the next day? Naptime would be the perfect opportunity for her to make sure the device was fully functioning and ready for the next day. I did take the time to sit down with the teacher and explain what all I have done with the device to make it easier to use. Because I had the opportunity to be in his classroom for seven weeks for my own schooling, I know his classroom schedule and what he is working on in school. I made sure to include these on the device. That way he can answer questions, participate, and take initiative during classroom time. When I got home from school I left a message for his mother on the phone to let her know that the device was back in the classroom and ready for her to use. Then I began contacting some speech therapists to move forward to find out how they viewed AAT and whether or not they have patients using the device at this time. I contacted the center where the student I am working with receives speech therapy, and they told me how to get in contact with his therapist to set up a meeting time to talk about what I have done with the device. My next step was to contact a speech therapist in Milledgeville because I wanted to know how AAT is received in Baldwin County specifically. In as nice a terms as I can use, they were very not agreeable, not interested, and rude to me. This saddens me because whether they realize it or not, I am actually here to help and could be a real asset to what they are trying to accomplish through speech therapy. There is another speech center in Milledgeville, so I am going to work on trying to contact them in the near future. I have done a lot of emailing back and forth with the student’s speech therapist, and we scheduled a meeting for Tuesday morning to talk about his device, which was really encouraging to me after the last bad experience.
I hand picked who is taking over the classroom where I was placed as a student teacher, so I went over to the new girl’s house to train her about the dynavox and what I would like to see accomplished with the device in the classroom. I drew her some pictures, explained what was on the device, how to use the device, and what the student is like to deal with in the classroom. We talked about my concerns for the teacher not using the device, and I am very grateful to have her being my eyes and ears in the classroom for the next seven weeks. I am excited to hear how things are progressing. The student teacher that is going in is very excited about working with the student, the teacher, and the dynavox, which is awesome! She is going to check in with me to let me know how things are going, what needs to be fixed, and what is or is not actually happening in the classroom. I will be very thankful for some honest feedback. She is also the kind of person who advocates for what is right, so I know she will encourage the teacher to incorporate the device into daily activities in school. I am very optimistic about her working with the student after the time we spent together in training and talking about the project.
(6 hrs)
On Wednesday when I got back to school, I worked very hard on putting all of the finishing touches on the device before giving it back to the student on Thursday. I changed a lot of little things to make it even friendlier to use and moved orders around and just double-checked all of the features one last time.
On Thursday, I took the device back to the school, but the student was not in class that day which was very disappointing because I had hoped to run a check with him and work with him some that day to see how the school day ran using the device. I also wanted his teacher to see how I would incorporate the device into his daily routine of classes and activities at school. This is what I believe will be the biggest challenge for her. I do not know whether or not she is going to think to go get the device, turn it on, and use it for all of his classes. Will she remember to charge the device before the next day? Naptime would be the perfect opportunity for her to make sure the device was fully functioning and ready for the next day. I did take the time to sit down with the teacher and explain what all I have done with the device to make it easier to use. Because I had the opportunity to be in his classroom for seven weeks for my own schooling, I know his classroom schedule and what he is working on in school. I made sure to include these on the device. That way he can answer questions, participate, and take initiative during classroom time. When I got home from school I left a message for his mother on the phone to let her know that the device was back in the classroom and ready for her to use. Then I began contacting some speech therapists to move forward to find out how they viewed AAT and whether or not they have patients using the device at this time. I contacted the center where the student I am working with receives speech therapy, and they told me how to get in contact with his therapist to set up a meeting time to talk about what I have done with the device. My next step was to contact a speech therapist in Milledgeville because I wanted to know how AAT is received in Baldwin County specifically. In as nice a terms as I can use, they were very not agreeable, not interested, and rude to me. This saddens me because whether they realize it or not, I am actually here to help and could be a real asset to what they are trying to accomplish through speech therapy. There is another speech center in Milledgeville, so I am going to work on trying to contact them in the near future. I have done a lot of emailing back and forth with the student’s speech therapist, and we scheduled a meeting for Tuesday morning to talk about his device, which was really encouraging to me after the last bad experience.
I hand picked who is taking over the classroom where I was placed as a student teacher, so I went over to the new girl’s house to train her about the dynavox and what I would like to see accomplished with the device in the classroom. I drew her some pictures, explained what was on the device, how to use the device, and what the student is like to deal with in the classroom. We talked about my concerns for the teacher not using the device, and I am very grateful to have her being my eyes and ears in the classroom for the next seven weeks. I am excited to hear how things are progressing. The student teacher that is going in is very excited about working with the student, the teacher, and the dynavox, which is awesome! She is going to check in with me to let me know how things are going, what needs to be fixed, and what is or is not actually happening in the classroom. I will be very thankful for some honest feedback. She is also the kind of person who advocates for what is right, so I know she will encourage the teacher to incorporate the device into daily activities in school. I am very optimistic about her working with the student after the time we spent together in training and talking about the project.
(6 hrs)
Monday, October 19, 2009
Beginning to Catch Up...
I have had some really amazing experiences working with the device over the last week. On Monday, I had the opportunity to speak and be interviewed through Skype at a conference in San Antonio, Texas where Digital Bridges was being represented. There were over a hundred people in attendance at the conference, and I was able to talk about what I am doing with this project. When I explained that I am working with this child to fix the device to be more user friendly for him to communicate with society and that I am taking the device back to him very soon, the room erupted into applause. I was thrilled. The mayor of Milledgeville was also being interviewed alongside me, so I got to meet him, too. He was there to represent Milledgeville and to tell what Digital Bridges is going to bring the area and community here. I was proud of how I interviewed and that I was able to communicate my thoughts clearly to the audience at hand.
On Tuesday, I updated and showed Dr. Wills what I have been doing with the project. He helped me figure a few things out with the Dynavox. The film team came to school that day to get footage of the student and I working together with the device. He did great. There is definitely a great attraction to the on/off button, but once we got past that, he really took to the idea of pushing a button and receiving the item he asked for by using the device. I would hold a cracker, and when he pushed the cracker button, I would hand over the cracker. The instant gratification really helped him see the connection between hitting the button and getting the desired response. I also sent a note home to inform and update his mother on the progress.
On Wednesday I received an email from the student’s speech therapist and learned a lot about what to add and work on for the student. It really hit home for me when the Speech Language Pathologist wrote that she would use the device in therapy, if I can make this work for him. This just reminded me how much ability and use this device could have and that the impact on the child’s life could really be huge. I really want to set up a meeting to show the SLP what I have done and see if the changes work with what they are trying to accomplish with the student.
On Friday I attended a luncheon for my scholarship put on by GCSU. I enjoyed the opportunity to represent the Knight Foundation, talk about my project, and meet a lot of interesting people. It is a great honor to be invited to eat lunch with all of the scholarship donors. These people have worked hard in life and have a ton of wisdom to share with this next generation of students. The lunch was held in Magnolia Ballroom and was very well attended by students, faculty, and donors. I loved the opportunity to meet and mingle with other very bright students who are also working very hard in their fields of study. It is important that all of the students receive some recognition for the efforts, sports, good grades, personality, and so many other things about the individuals that got them the scholarships in the first place.
I worked extremely hard to finish up the “My Phrases” section and get some recommendations about what changes should still be made to the device. I found out that I really needed a larger and more visible way for the student to get back to the home page at any time. I reprogrammed one button in each section to be a back button with a new symbol that better represents what the child would see as moving back to the home page. I deleted all 390 something pages of phrases! There is no way that a three year old needs that many pages of phrases!!! He needs six or so main phrases. That is it. I have it set up to close after he presses a button from there to go back to his main page. I am going to create five more complex phrases in a different area that could be accessed by the parent, teacher, or Speech teacher in order that the information is there, but only accessible when needed. I will surly need to teach the appropriate people how to work the other sections. These phrases will move the student’s use of the device forward without making it more complicated for him to navigate. Simple is still the best idea at this point in his life. I can always add more and more information, but right now we are going for simple. Very, very simple.
(10 hrs)
On Tuesday, I updated and showed Dr. Wills what I have been doing with the project. He helped me figure a few things out with the Dynavox. The film team came to school that day to get footage of the student and I working together with the device. He did great. There is definitely a great attraction to the on/off button, but once we got past that, he really took to the idea of pushing a button and receiving the item he asked for by using the device. I would hold a cracker, and when he pushed the cracker button, I would hand over the cracker. The instant gratification really helped him see the connection between hitting the button and getting the desired response. I also sent a note home to inform and update his mother on the progress.
On Wednesday I received an email from the student’s speech therapist and learned a lot about what to add and work on for the student. It really hit home for me when the Speech Language Pathologist wrote that she would use the device in therapy, if I can make this work for him. This just reminded me how much ability and use this device could have and that the impact on the child’s life could really be huge. I really want to set up a meeting to show the SLP what I have done and see if the changes work with what they are trying to accomplish with the student.
On Friday I attended a luncheon for my scholarship put on by GCSU. I enjoyed the opportunity to represent the Knight Foundation, talk about my project, and meet a lot of interesting people. It is a great honor to be invited to eat lunch with all of the scholarship donors. These people have worked hard in life and have a ton of wisdom to share with this next generation of students. The lunch was held in Magnolia Ballroom and was very well attended by students, faculty, and donors. I loved the opportunity to meet and mingle with other very bright students who are also working very hard in their fields of study. It is important that all of the students receive some recognition for the efforts, sports, good grades, personality, and so many other things about the individuals that got them the scholarships in the first place.
I worked extremely hard to finish up the “My Phrases” section and get some recommendations about what changes should still be made to the device. I found out that I really needed a larger and more visible way for the student to get back to the home page at any time. I reprogrammed one button in each section to be a back button with a new symbol that better represents what the child would see as moving back to the home page. I deleted all 390 something pages of phrases! There is no way that a three year old needs that many pages of phrases!!! He needs six or so main phrases. That is it. I have it set up to close after he presses a button from there to go back to his main page. I am going to create five more complex phrases in a different area that could be accessed by the parent, teacher, or Speech teacher in order that the information is there, but only accessible when needed. I will surly need to teach the appropriate people how to work the other sections. These phrases will move the student’s use of the device forward without making it more complicated for him to navigate. Simple is still the best idea at this point in his life. I can always add more and more information, but right now we are going for simple. Very, very simple.
(10 hrs)
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Forward Motion
I worked with device on settings for the average adult. I made myself a setting temporarily on the device to use for testing and to learn the functions that are too complicated for such a young child as the one I am working with on the project. I am working through the manual to make sure that I understand a lot of the functions and can teach someone else when the time comes.
In class on Friday, I tried to use the device without talking which was the plan, and it worked for the first ten minutes. Then Dr. Wills wanted me to talk about the project and what all I am doing, so I, of course, had to talk. This showed me how difficult it would be to only be able to communicate by using the device. There was no way I could have explained to everyone in the room what I was doing while trying to use the device as my only means of communication. This experience alone taught me a lot.
I met with Dawn on the phone that afternoon because our schedules did not match up htis week. We talked about how to move the project forward, bring in volunteers, add students, gather more data and so much more.
For this scholarship, I will be attending a scholarship luncheon this coming Friday.
I also worked with device to learn how to search, use the navigator section, and the eye control software.Then I did some ground work to find out which groups might be interested in getting service hours by working on this project with me.
For the student's Dynavox, I have almost finished programming his device. All that I have left is to finish the "my phrases" section before I am ready to work with him and his mom. I should send a note home to try and set up a time to meet with her next week some time.
(6 hrs)
In class on Friday, I tried to use the device without talking which was the plan, and it worked for the first ten minutes. Then Dr. Wills wanted me to talk about the project and what all I am doing, so I, of course, had to talk. This showed me how difficult it would be to only be able to communicate by using the device. There was no way I could have explained to everyone in the room what I was doing while trying to use the device as my only means of communication. This experience alone taught me a lot.
I met with Dawn on the phone that afternoon because our schedules did not match up htis week. We talked about how to move the project forward, bring in volunteers, add students, gather more data and so much more.
For this scholarship, I will be attending a scholarship luncheon this coming Friday.
I also worked with device to learn how to search, use the navigator section, and the eye control software.Then I did some ground work to find out which groups might be interested in getting service hours by working on this project with me.
For the student's Dynavox, I have almost finished programming his device. All that I have left is to finish the "my phrases" section before I am ready to work with him and his mom. I should send a note home to try and set up a time to meet with her next week some time.
(6 hrs)
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Post Parent Meeting
I am so excited because I got to meet with the parent today of the child who I really want to work with for this project. The meeting went wonderfully, and everyone is on the same page and on board with the project. We will be doing a filming of us working with the device either Tuesday or Thursday of next week so that other people can see exactly what we are doing with this project. I also got the parent to fill out the initial evaluation which gave me great background information for the project and some information about how to move forward from where we are right now.
I am going to have to change the third/social scenario, but it makes complete sense because the student does not enjoy restaurants, so the social environment needs to be some place that the child cares about and is motivated about in order to have a great reaction there. His favorite social place is church, and I would love to make him feel more successful and comfortable there in his Sunday School class.
I actually was granted permission to take the device home with me today and have it for two weeks to work with it, learn it and reprogram the device for him to try along with his family and teacher. I am so excited to work with it and learn about how it works and what makes it so difficult. The hardest aspects of the Dynavox are the social aspect and the technological aspect. I am ready to see these challenges right up close and personally these next two weeks.
One suggestion that was made was for me to contact the student's Speech Language Pathologist because she was also frustrated with the device. The progress that the device brings is obvious, but the SLP was not comfortable recommending the device to others because she could not help them when problems arose with the devices. The parent said that this woman would love to have me come in and teach her how to work the device better and make her more comfortable suggesting Dynavox devices for therapy in the future. This would be an amazing outlet into helping the community through helping one person.
Working backwards, on Monday I met with Dr. Wills to plan for the meeting, printed out information for the meeting, sent emails, made plans for the next few steps in the project, and got myself fully prepared for the meeting. The work so far took a great turn in progress today. I am very pleased.
(4 hrs)
I am going to have to change the third/social scenario, but it makes complete sense because the student does not enjoy restaurants, so the social environment needs to be some place that the child cares about and is motivated about in order to have a great reaction there. His favorite social place is church, and I would love to make him feel more successful and comfortable there in his Sunday School class.
I actually was granted permission to take the device home with me today and have it for two weeks to work with it, learn it and reprogram the device for him to try along with his family and teacher. I am so excited to work with it and learn about how it works and what makes it so difficult. The hardest aspects of the Dynavox are the social aspect and the technological aspect. I am ready to see these challenges right up close and personally these next two weeks.
One suggestion that was made was for me to contact the student's Speech Language Pathologist because she was also frustrated with the device. The progress that the device brings is obvious, but the SLP was not comfortable recommending the device to others because she could not help them when problems arose with the devices. The parent said that this woman would love to have me come in and teach her how to work the device better and make her more comfortable suggesting Dynavox devices for therapy in the future. This would be an amazing outlet into helping the community through helping one person.
Working backwards, on Monday I met with Dr. Wills to plan for the meeting, printed out information for the meeting, sent emails, made plans for the next few steps in the project, and got myself fully prepared for the meeting. The work so far took a great turn in progress today. I am very pleased.
(4 hrs)
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Amazing Success Stories and Products
While I was looking on the Dynavox website which is www.dynavoxtech.com, I came across some of the other products that the company is making to help assist people who have difficulties in communication. The company that created the Dynavox series is called Mayer-Johnson. Another device is the Dynavox Xpress is really small and light for traveling and reducing the weight for children.
I also really liked the Eyemax, which is for people who cannot use the touch screen because of the difficulties with the physical motion. The Eyemax is made to be sensitive to the eyes of the user. The sensor is made so that if the student blinks actions will occur as if he or she was touching a button. If the user also stares at one section of the screen long enough, the button will also active like it has been pressed. The EyeMax uses the eyes instead of hands to trigger the buttons.
While reading on the Dynavox website, I found an article about an event called Chatterbox Fun Fair which takes place in Fairfax county of Springfield, Virginia within the public school system. The event takes place one day a year and is for ages preschool through sixth grade who attend Fairfax County Public Schools. These students must all receive some type of Assistive Technology. The families are also invited, and the event lasts from 10 o’clock am until 1 o’clock pm. This is an opportunity for the children to meet other children with assistive technology, play games using the technology, feel important because of the technology, and celebrate who they are as people. The parents take this day to see what other types of assistive technology are available within their school system, to network with other parents of children who also use assistive technology, and to enjoy a day of fun with the family. Some of the entertainment of the day includes a clown, police department, fire trucks, and rescue dogs. This event has been a large success in the community.
Anther amazing story I found on the website was about a group called The Techno Troupe. This group of people who use Assistive Technology met at an AAC workshop at The Center for Creative Play in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. The group then began to meet up once a month to work on putting together the play, The Shoemaker and the Elves under the direction of a speech language pathologist. In the play, there were eight players who used Dynavox devices to speak their lines. The project had been in the works for over a year with lots of hard work by the players, parents, and the director. There were also assistants who rolled wheelchairs across the stage when needed in the play. Because the players were using Dynavox devices, the voices could be programmed to match the characters and changed from the student’s normal speaking voices. Jokes could also be programmed into the devices to bring laughter from the audience. The opportunity for these students to be able to not only speak but to use their voices to pretend, create art, and speak in front of people is priceless. An amazing advantage to this production was that the students were under the direction of a speech language pathologist who knew how to help and what to work on with the players individually in terms of using their own Dynavox devices for communication. The players gained self-confidence, practice in public speaking, and an opportunity to feel special through being a part of this production.
(4 hrs)
I also really liked the Eyemax, which is for people who cannot use the touch screen because of the difficulties with the physical motion. The Eyemax is made to be sensitive to the eyes of the user. The sensor is made so that if the student blinks actions will occur as if he or she was touching a button. If the user also stares at one section of the screen long enough, the button will also active like it has been pressed. The EyeMax uses the eyes instead of hands to trigger the buttons.
While reading on the Dynavox website, I found an article about an event called Chatterbox Fun Fair which takes place in Fairfax county of Springfield, Virginia within the public school system. The event takes place one day a year and is for ages preschool through sixth grade who attend Fairfax County Public Schools. These students must all receive some type of Assistive Technology. The families are also invited, and the event lasts from 10 o’clock am until 1 o’clock pm. This is an opportunity for the children to meet other children with assistive technology, play games using the technology, feel important because of the technology, and celebrate who they are as people. The parents take this day to see what other types of assistive technology are available within their school system, to network with other parents of children who also use assistive technology, and to enjoy a day of fun with the family. Some of the entertainment of the day includes a clown, police department, fire trucks, and rescue dogs. This event has been a large success in the community.
Anther amazing story I found on the website was about a group called The Techno Troupe. This group of people who use Assistive Technology met at an AAC workshop at The Center for Creative Play in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. The group then began to meet up once a month to work on putting together the play, The Shoemaker and the Elves under the direction of a speech language pathologist. In the play, there were eight players who used Dynavox devices to speak their lines. The project had been in the works for over a year with lots of hard work by the players, parents, and the director. There were also assistants who rolled wheelchairs across the stage when needed in the play. Because the players were using Dynavox devices, the voices could be programmed to match the characters and changed from the student’s normal speaking voices. Jokes could also be programmed into the devices to bring laughter from the audience. The opportunity for these students to be able to not only speak but to use their voices to pretend, create art, and speak in front of people is priceless. An amazing advantage to this production was that the students were under the direction of a speech language pathologist who knew how to help and what to work on with the players individually in terms of using their own Dynavox devices for communication. The players gained self-confidence, practice in public speaking, and an opportunity to feel special through being a part of this production.
(4 hrs)
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Dynavox Website
On the Dynavox website, there are step by step instructions about how to go about obtaining a device, where to look for funding and the paperwork to fill out in order to begin this whole process. There is also the option of borrowing the device for four weeks to find out if the child could really benefit and if the family is ready to fully invested in the device.
I researched when trainings were going on in the area. There are going to be seven trainings between September 24, 2009 and June 16, 2010 that are going to take place in Georgia. The places are:
East Point, GA (110 miles from Milledgeville)
3 trainings in Stockbridge, GA (93 miles from Milledgeville)
Alpharetta, GA (122 miles from Milledgeville)
2 trainings in Hapeville, GA (107 miles from Milledgeville)
The trainings are free, and people can register online to attend. The times for the trainings are from around 8:00 am until 3:30 pm on average.
While looking at these dates, I was curious about if the dates were doable for someone to give up an entire day, and then I found out that the trainings occurs on week days! Who can give up an entire day of work for this? There are so many factors that make attending trainings difficult for people. I found that all of the dates for the trainings in Georgia are on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Because the number of trainings is so limited and on such specific dates, there is not a lot of room for illness, changes of plans, or bad weather.
The upcoming online classes ranged from thirty minutes to an hour. The online classes are also done in two ways. Some are scheduled web classes, and the others are recorded web classes. This way you can still obtain the content without having to be in front of your computer at the specific time that the class is taking place.
While studying the website, I found information about how to deal with taking the device into all situations. To use the communication device in places where the device might be ruined or get wet, people can print out the pages and have them laminated for all terrain.
An interesting suggestion to make yourself use the device was to ask one question each morning to slowly integrate the device into everyday life. I liked this suggestion because then the device does not seem so overwhelming to the student or the parent. Any communication is better than none.
I also found the product list of all of the services that the Dynavox V is supposed to be able to perform. These are:
Pages
Popups
Buttons
Behaviors
Visual Scenes
Active Areas
Predictive Word
Phrases
Wireless Capabilities
Email/internet
Video tutorials-training modules
ebook
(2 hrs)
I researched when trainings were going on in the area. There are going to be seven trainings between September 24, 2009 and June 16, 2010 that are going to take place in Georgia. The places are:
East Point, GA (110 miles from Milledgeville)
3 trainings in Stockbridge, GA (93 miles from Milledgeville)
Alpharetta, GA (122 miles from Milledgeville)
2 trainings in Hapeville, GA (107 miles from Milledgeville)
The trainings are free, and people can register online to attend. The times for the trainings are from around 8:00 am until 3:30 pm on average.
While looking at these dates, I was curious about if the dates were doable for someone to give up an entire day, and then I found out that the trainings occurs on week days! Who can give up an entire day of work for this? There are so many factors that make attending trainings difficult for people. I found that all of the dates for the trainings in Georgia are on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Because the number of trainings is so limited and on such specific dates, there is not a lot of room for illness, changes of plans, or bad weather.
The upcoming online classes ranged from thirty minutes to an hour. The online classes are also done in two ways. Some are scheduled web classes, and the others are recorded web classes. This way you can still obtain the content without having to be in front of your computer at the specific time that the class is taking place.
While studying the website, I found information about how to deal with taking the device into all situations. To use the communication device in places where the device might be ruined or get wet, people can print out the pages and have them laminated for all terrain.
An interesting suggestion to make yourself use the device was to ask one question each morning to slowly integrate the device into everyday life. I liked this suggestion because then the device does not seem so overwhelming to the student or the parent. Any communication is better than none.
I also found the product list of all of the services that the Dynavox V is supposed to be able to perform. These are:
Pages
Popups
Buttons
Behaviors
Visual Scenes
Active Areas
Predictive Word
Phrases
Wireless Capabilities
Email/internet
Video tutorials-training modules
ebook
(2 hrs)
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Tuesday September 22, 2009
I have emailed Dawn the two different forms I made and put together last night.
I set up the printer to print out the forms, but all that it does is print in the excel form. Then you cannot see how the questions are set up. If I had printed the initial evaluation out, I would not have had the scale questions or the yes or no boxes or the multiple-choice questions. So I will have to use my computer to answer the questions when I actually do get to have my interview with this parent finally.
I also called the parent this morning and left her a message reminding her about the meeting today at 2:45 because I knew that I could not call her later to remind her while I am working at school.
The parent called to cancel the meeting and rescheduled for next week the 29 at 2:45. We will see if she actually comes then. If that meeting does not happen or go over well, then I might have to move on to another student as much I want to work with this one, the parent must be involved, invested, and easy to access. It would also be easier to work with a family in Baldwin County and be able to drop by to check in on the progress. I really need to get these initial interviews done very soon. Maybe I could make sure that mine were ready for the teacher on Thursday. I am frustrated that this puts us another week behind for the project. I keep thinking that I am finally going to get to move ahead, and I know exactly what I want to do, but now I have to get the parents on board which is taking forever and is very frustrating at this time.
I emailed Dr. Wills to let him know that the meeting was canceled, and I really hope that he got my message in time. I would feel terrible if he drove all the way out here and canceled something else for this, which is not going to happen. I am not allowed to have my phone at school, so I have no other way of contacting him at this time. I did try my best, which is all that I can do.
I need to figure out what I am going to do with the other time that I am going to work this week. Maybe I can get Cody to go take a great picture of me for the project .I already know that I do not have any great ones on my computer of me by myself that are any where near up to date.
I can also use the help tools for Dynavox online and look up success stories to learn more about the product and how it is implemented.
I want to learn about how a speech therapist recommends a dynavox and sets the parameters for the program. Do the speech language pathologists even know the Dynavox well enough to tell a parent the best mode to use? I would guess that the Speech Therapists are also undereducated about the potential of the Dynavox.
I went online and looked up Speech Language Pathologists that I can look into finding out how much they know and use Assistive Technology with their patients in the area.
The Dynavox website itself is incredible and so helpful. There are success stories, videos, online classes on specific topics, and articles to dispel myths about Augmentative Assistive Technology. This is just barely scratching the surface of their website. I will do some more researching and looking on their websites to learn more about what services this company provides the public and the users through the internet.
(2 hrs)
I set up the printer to print out the forms, but all that it does is print in the excel form. Then you cannot see how the questions are set up. If I had printed the initial evaluation out, I would not have had the scale questions or the yes or no boxes or the multiple-choice questions. So I will have to use my computer to answer the questions when I actually do get to have my interview with this parent finally.
I also called the parent this morning and left her a message reminding her about the meeting today at 2:45 because I knew that I could not call her later to remind her while I am working at school.
The parent called to cancel the meeting and rescheduled for next week the 29 at 2:45. We will see if she actually comes then. If that meeting does not happen or go over well, then I might have to move on to another student as much I want to work with this one, the parent must be involved, invested, and easy to access. It would also be easier to work with a family in Baldwin County and be able to drop by to check in on the progress. I really need to get these initial interviews done very soon. Maybe I could make sure that mine were ready for the teacher on Thursday. I am frustrated that this puts us another week behind for the project. I keep thinking that I am finally going to get to move ahead, and I know exactly what I want to do, but now I have to get the parents on board which is taking forever and is very frustrating at this time.
I emailed Dr. Wills to let him know that the meeting was canceled, and I really hope that he got my message in time. I would feel terrible if he drove all the way out here and canceled something else for this, which is not going to happen. I am not allowed to have my phone at school, so I have no other way of contacting him at this time. I did try my best, which is all that I can do.
I need to figure out what I am going to do with the other time that I am going to work this week. Maybe I can get Cody to go take a great picture of me for the project .I already know that I do not have any great ones on my computer of me by myself that are any where near up to date.
I can also use the help tools for Dynavox online and look up success stories to learn more about the product and how it is implemented.
I want to learn about how a speech therapist recommends a dynavox and sets the parameters for the program. Do the speech language pathologists even know the Dynavox well enough to tell a parent the best mode to use? I would guess that the Speech Therapists are also undereducated about the potential of the Dynavox.
I went online and looked up Speech Language Pathologists that I can look into finding out how much they know and use Assistive Technology with their patients in the area.
The Dynavox website itself is incredible and so helpful. There are success stories, videos, online classes on specific topics, and articles to dispel myths about Augmentative Assistive Technology. This is just barely scratching the surface of their website. I will do some more researching and looking on their websites to learn more about what services this company provides the public and the users through the internet.
(2 hrs)
Monday, September 21, 2009
Assistive Technology
On Friday we talked about assistive technology in class a lot, and the teacher told us some success stories about students using assistive technology. I also sent an email to Dr. Wills to remind him about the parent meeting on Tuesday. I need to print out the questions for the parent and email the questions to Dawn. I also watched all of the how to videos that came with the machine so that I can better use the device and understand the functions to a greater extent. Here are some of my notes from watching the videos:
If the device gets wet, then it should be turned off for 24 hrs.
Get serial number off the device to be used as a proof of purchase.
The Speech Therapist is the one who should have set the parameters for the device. This includes cognitive ability options, number of buttons on a page, and so on.
You can use the orange button in navigator to erase phrases and words. Press the orange button, then the item you want to erase.
The Dynavox can be programed to be used as a remote control.
The Dashboard has a hot spot which is the blue corner to activate quick access to chosen pages. This can be pre-programmed for alarms, words, or volume control as examples.
I met with Dawn today, and she looked back over my questions, how they are arranged and so on. I am looking forward to the meeting with the parent tomorrow. To finish up my work for today, I am going to email Dawn the forms and print them out for tomorrow's meeting.
(4 hrs)
If the device gets wet, then it should be turned off for 24 hrs.
Get serial number off the device to be used as a proof of purchase.
The Speech Therapist is the one who should have set the parameters for the device. This includes cognitive ability options, number of buttons on a page, and so on.
You can use the orange button in navigator to erase phrases and words. Press the orange button, then the item you want to erase.
The Dynavox can be programed to be used as a remote control.
The Dashboard has a hot spot which is the blue corner to activate quick access to chosen pages. This can be pre-programmed for alarms, words, or volume control as examples.
I met with Dawn today, and she looked back over my questions, how they are arranged and so on. I am looking forward to the meeting with the parent tomorrow. To finish up my work for today, I am going to email Dawn the forms and print them out for tomorrow's meeting.
(4 hrs)
Thursday, September 17, 2009
I can work it!
Dr. Wills came by to check my work for the meeting on Tuesday. I confirmed for parent meeting Tuesday with the teacher. I emailed Dawn about not having a meeting tomorrow. I worked really hard on the Dynavox today and learned so much more. I created a front page with links to the individual ideas. I actually found that I can create one more area with six ideas inside. This is great news that with expand his vocabulary without confusing him. I still need to :
Contact parent for meeting Tuesday.
Reminder email to Dr. Wills.
Update Dr. Wills on dynavox progress today.
Watch some more tutorial videos. These help a lot.
I am going to finish up my hours for tonight by emailing Dr. Wills.
I was so excited about reading the manual and actually making the device do what I wanted it to do and understanding the information. I was so super proud of myself!!! I really know what I am doing now with the device and feel capable. I am almost ready to work with the child with the device!!! This is awesome. I cannot wait to see how the meeting goes on Tuesday afternoon.
(2 hrs, 15 min)
Contact parent for meeting Tuesday.
Reminder email to Dr. Wills.
Update Dr. Wills on dynavox progress today.
Watch some more tutorial videos. These help a lot.
I am going to finish up my hours for tonight by emailing Dr. Wills.
I was so excited about reading the manual and actually making the device do what I wanted it to do and understanding the information. I was so super proud of myself!!! I really know what I am doing now with the device and feel capable. I am almost ready to work with the child with the device!!! This is awesome. I cannot wait to see how the meeting goes on Tuesday afternoon.
(2 hrs, 15 min)
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Learning the DynaVox
Today I watched tutorials about how to work the dynavox and read about how to make new pages on the dynavox. That is what I am going to have to become very good at in order to program the dynavox so that the student can use the product without being overwhelmed by the options of buttons. I also came up with possible categories and specifics for the words that in each category that the student can use to communicate in many social situations. I will write more about this tomorrow. I also created a mock page to be able to show what I want to do with the dynavox system.
(2 hr, 15 min)
(2 hr, 15 min)
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Program Planning
Today was a great surprise. When my cohort leader came to visit me at placement in the school, I asked him to take a look at the Dynavox and see what he thought. In the past, Dr. Wills has programmed Dynavox before and has a great background for helping with this project. We ended up working on the machine for over an hour and a half straight. We made a plan for how to format the Dynavox to best suit the student, and the teacher agrees with the decisions we made. I am going to make a model and plan for the symbols and vocabulary that we want to use. The problem with the technology right now is that it is too advanced for the student at such a young age. I am going to have to reprogram and reroute the already existing pages. I will also add my own pages to be customized for the student to have available without having an overwhelming amount of choices. This will help the teacher and parents not to feel so overwhelmed by the technology, too. I am studying up on how to link pages from manuals and tutorials so that I can continue to work on the Dynavox and create a profile that will work for the student's actual needs at this time. It is also very important to me that the student has personal photos as symbols, so the meanings are clear and applicable for the student. The sections I have decided on are Needs, Social, School, Home, Outside, and Extra. The next step will be to decide what six symbols are the most necessary and useful to represent each category. Too much choice at this point for the student would be detrimental to the project. The best would be to only have four symbols, but that is not an option with the machine. I enjoyed setting up the basic content like sounds, voice, and backgrounds today. The machine was a lot more challenging to change users, settings, and controls than I ever thought it would be. I understand that this is because it has so much possibility for the student as he or she gets older. The initial frustration and fear would be hard to overcome for someone who is not interested, technologically inclined, or determined to make the technology work. The belief in its potential to achieve success is vital to working with the technology. I was very encouraged by the work and progress with the technology today. Dr. Wills is also going to come with me to the parent meeting next week to help legitimize the scholarship, my personal background, and what I want to do with this project.
(2 hrs, 15 min)
(2 hrs, 15 min)
Monday, September 14, 2009
Interview with the President of Dynavox
I finished typing up all of my questions tonight for the initial interviews in Google Forms.
http://www.theautismlife.com/interviews/interview.joe.swenson.dynavox/
I came across this awesome interview that really gave some great ideas and insight into what the company does and understands about its own product. These are all quotes of the President Joe Swenson.
"The AAC market is so small, that it’s very expensive to provide direct sales consultant coverage across the USA. We know that less than 10% of the children who would benefit from a DynaVox-like device ever get a device, and for the adult population, the penetration is even worse."
"The device has the flexibility and power to grow with the individual for years."
"More recently, that age had dropped to 3 or 4. Janice Light's research has demonstrated success using high tech AAC with kids as young as 9 or 10 months. There is no upper age limit either."
"One mistake is starting to program the device without having a clear idea of the end goal. This can result in more work (programming and then reprogramming or programming something that already exists somewhere else on the device) and pages that are not organized well. A second mistake is spending too much time programming new vocabulary and not spending enough time teaching individuals how to use the vocabulary that is already on the device. A third mistake is not doing enough modeling with the device as a teaching strategy."
(1 hr, 15 minutes)
http://www.theautismlife.com/interviews/interview.joe.swenson.dynavox/
I came across this awesome interview that really gave some great ideas and insight into what the company does and understands about its own product. These are all quotes of the President Joe Swenson.
"The AAC market is so small, that it’s very expensive to provide direct sales consultant coverage across the USA. We know that less than 10% of the children who would benefit from a DynaVox-like device ever get a device, and for the adult population, the penetration is even worse."
"The device has the flexibility and power to grow with the individual for years."
Key V Features:
· Rate Enhancement Features
· InterAACT page-sets – supporting both language use & literacy with a solid framework, structure & vocabulary
· AT&T Natural Voices
· Forward-firing speakers with increased output
· Email (free DynaVox account)
· Text messaging (via Bluetooth)
· Internet Access
· Environmental Control
· Drag-n-Drop Editing
· Boardmaker Bridge
· Digital Image, Video & Sound Import
· Digital Image, Video & Sound Import
· Speaking Dynamically Pro Included
· On-Device How-To Video Tutorials
"More recently, that age had dropped to 3 or 4. Janice Light's research has demonstrated success using high tech AAC with kids as young as 9 or 10 months. There is no upper age limit either."
"One mistake is starting to program the device without having a clear idea of the end goal. This can result in more work (programming and then reprogramming or programming something that already exists somewhere else on the device) and pages that are not organized well. A second mistake is spending too much time programming new vocabulary and not spending enough time teaching individuals how to use the vocabulary that is already on the device. A third mistake is not doing enough modeling with the device as a teaching strategy."
- We conduct training seminars called DynaVox University across the country for Speech Language Pathologists and Assistive Technology specialists
- The Yellow School Bus Tour has focused on training education professionals to the advantages of AAC
- We co-sponsor events across the country called a "Voice for Living" focused on families with a non-verbal loved one at home
- We have also been very aggressive in promoting AAC through our web-sites (I invite you to check out our website at dynavoxtech.com and watch the DynaVox testimonials).
- We are also involved in every major national and most state Assistive Technology Conferences
- Lastly, there is still no substitute for having local sales consultants across the country.
(1 hr, 15 minutes)
Planning
Today, I edited emails, planned scenarios, typed questions, and made up questions for the initial interview and later on to track progress. I also was able to talk to the parent on the phone today. I have set up a meeting with them for next week. I am excited and nervous. I think the phone conversation went as well as it could have. This project throws a lot in people's faces very quickly. As a parent, I am sure this is a lot to take in at one time. If I get the opportunity to work with the device for testing, learning, and programming purposes, I want to see the physical, emotional and social ramifications for using the device at a restaurant, at a home game night setting, and in a classroom at college with the teacher's permission of course. Teachers also need the opportunity to learn on the device as well. How are the next generation of teachers expected to know everything about the devices to help their students when the time comes. My friends in the Special Education Cohort would all love to learn more about the technology and how to use it to its greatest potential.
Here is a scenario that I would love for the child and family to go through and see what happens.
Make sure to have the Dynavox with them.
Let the child choose the restaurant.
Child orders by himself or tells parents what he wants.
the child has the opportunity to ask for extras like napkins, straw, or ketchup.
Asks to be escorted to the bathroom.
Has the ability to ask or be asked if he or she wants to play outside if appropriate.
The child can verbalize when he or she would like to leave.
While at the table, the child can carry on table conversations.
Keeping in mind that all communication must be made or attempted through the use of the Dynavox.
In reflection:
What did the child choose to point to rather than use the dynavox for?
How did everyone feel about the outing as a whole?
Would they want to do this again?
What were the issues with the Dynavox?
Was the child happy or frustrated when using the device?
How can the issues be addressed?
Was the device in the way?
How did the public react to the device?
Did the child have the words he or she needed?
Did the Dynavox help his verbalization skills?
I want to ask the teacher a lot of questions tomorrow about what she would like to accomplish for the student through using the Dynavox in school. I am actually going to take the teacher's initial questions tomorrow to get her answers and move forward with the school aspect of the project.
Here is another question that I want to ask her tomorrow.
Would she care if I worked with the device and the student while at school during down times?
After typing up all of the other initial questions for the teacher and student into Google Forms, I realized that I did not make any questions for the parent which is the very important third aspect of this project as a whole.
What does the family hope to accomplish with the Dynavox at home?
What do they want to change?
What do they like about not having to use the device?
How did they obtain the device?
What would make the device more appealing?
How long have you had the device?
Do you know how much the product is worth?
How did you obtain the device?
What is your background with technology?
Have you heard any success stories about what this device can do?
What stopped you from using the device?
How frustrated are you?
What did you think the teacher would do with it?
Are you willing to learn the device?
What situations would be best to start using the device?
What is your background with Special Needs?
How have you learned about the disabilities?
(1 hr, 55 min)
Here is a scenario that I would love for the child and family to go through and see what happens.
Make sure to have the Dynavox with them.
Let the child choose the restaurant.
Child orders by himself or tells parents what he wants.
the child has the opportunity to ask for extras like napkins, straw, or ketchup.
Asks to be escorted to the bathroom.
Has the ability to ask or be asked if he or she wants to play outside if appropriate.
The child can verbalize when he or she would like to leave.
While at the table, the child can carry on table conversations.
Keeping in mind that all communication must be made or attempted through the use of the Dynavox.
In reflection:
What did the child choose to point to rather than use the dynavox for?
How did everyone feel about the outing as a whole?
Would they want to do this again?
What were the issues with the Dynavox?
Was the child happy or frustrated when using the device?
How can the issues be addressed?
Was the device in the way?
How did the public react to the device?
Did the child have the words he or she needed?
Did the Dynavox help his verbalization skills?
I want to ask the teacher a lot of questions tomorrow about what she would like to accomplish for the student through using the Dynavox in school. I am actually going to take the teacher's initial questions tomorrow to get her answers and move forward with the school aspect of the project.
Here is another question that I want to ask her tomorrow.
Would she care if I worked with the device and the student while at school during down times?
After typing up all of the other initial questions for the teacher and student into Google Forms, I realized that I did not make any questions for the parent which is the very important third aspect of this project as a whole.
What does the family hope to accomplish with the Dynavox at home?
What do they want to change?
What do they like about not having to use the device?
How did they obtain the device?
What would make the device more appealing?
How long have you had the device?
Do you know how much the product is worth?
How did you obtain the device?
What is your background with technology?
Have you heard any success stories about what this device can do?
What stopped you from using the device?
How frustrated are you?
What did you think the teacher would do with it?
Are you willing to learn the device?
What situations would be best to start using the device?
What is your background with Special Needs?
How have you learned about the disabilities?
(1 hr, 55 min)
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Preparations
On Thursday night, I got the opportunity to attend one of the forums that fit with my schedule. The turn out for the earlier one was much more successful. I talked with Dr. Wills about how to present the information to the parent and planning how the conversation should go. I tried to contact the parent but did not get a response at all. This has been frustrating because I am at a point where I need to either move forward or try a new angle completely. Dawn and I our weekly meeting on Friday where we edited the proposal, added initial questions, gave her access to the blog, and she taught me how to use Google Forms which is now my best friend. The program is amazing and is allowing me to set up questionnaires to study the progress made by the student, parents, and teacher. I am making one for the initial testings and adding some other questions to make a general questionnaire to use for tracking progress, spotting growth, and determining what is not working. The questions convert into a spread sheet, and the answers can be tracked from week to week to measure growth and progress. So at this point, I am waiting to hear from the parent and talk to them about the possibilities. While I am waiting to move forward, I am setting up the questionnaire, and planning situations to use the technology for testing.
(2 hr, 35 min)
(2 hr, 35 min)
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Initial Evaluation Possible Questions and Random Thoughts
Initial Evaluation and Questions
Questions for the Student:
Can the student turn on the device?
What does the student call the device?
Does the student even like the device?
Can the student carry/work with the device?
Can the student get the device home and back everyday?
Observations of the Student:
Questions for the Teacher:
What can the teacher think she can use it for?
Can the teacher work any parts of the device?
Is the teacher willing to learn the device?
When does she want to learn the device?
Is the teacher willing to incorporate the device into the daily activities?
Which activity would the teacher want to use it for first?
How does the teacher feel about the technology?
Why?
What is her experience with the technology?
How did the teacher obtain the product?
When did she get the product?
Where is the product kept in the classroom?
How much does she think the product is worth in monetary value?
What are some of the success stories with the technology that the teacher has heard about?
Is the product intimidating?
Is the manual easy to understand?
What are the problems with the manual?
What does her Paraprofessional think about the technology?
Is she willing to work with it?
Observations of the Teacher:
Questions for me to ask myself:
Are all of the parts available with the device?
What parts are available?
Is the device programmed and programmed well?
Random thoughts of today ☺
I need to learn the device.
Can Dr. Wills teach me how to program/work one?
Where and/or how can I get a hold of one to use/learn on?
Is this even possible?
Should I try living with a Dynavox for a day? An hour? Can a use one?
This would be a fabulous experience to learn how the technology feels to live with it! I would kill to have that experience!!! I wonder if the child I want to study with would allow me to use the technology for a day since he is not using it himself at this time.
Set up meeting with parents.
I need to set up a meeting with the teacher and parents with a scholarship person/adviser/official person who presence would make it all seem much more legitimate to everyone involved.
(1 hr)
Questions for the Student:
Can the student turn on the device?
What does the student call the device?
Does the student even like the device?
Can the student carry/work with the device?
Can the student get the device home and back everyday?
Observations of the Student:
Questions for the Teacher:
What can the teacher think she can use it for?
Can the teacher work any parts of the device?
Is the teacher willing to learn the device?
When does she want to learn the device?
Is the teacher willing to incorporate the device into the daily activities?
Which activity would the teacher want to use it for first?
How does the teacher feel about the technology?
Why?
What is her experience with the technology?
How did the teacher obtain the product?
When did she get the product?
Where is the product kept in the classroom?
How much does she think the product is worth in monetary value?
What are some of the success stories with the technology that the teacher has heard about?
Is the product intimidating?
Is the manual easy to understand?
What are the problems with the manual?
What does her Paraprofessional think about the technology?
Is she willing to work with it?
Observations of the Teacher:
Questions for me to ask myself:
Are all of the parts available with the device?
What parts are available?
Is the device programmed and programmed well?
Random thoughts of today ☺
I need to learn the device.
Can Dr. Wills teach me how to program/work one?
Where and/or how can I get a hold of one to use/learn on?
Is this even possible?
Should I try living with a Dynavox for a day? An hour? Can a use one?
This would be a fabulous experience to learn how the technology feels to live with it! I would kill to have that experience!!! I wonder if the child I want to study with would allow me to use the technology for a day since he is not using it himself at this time.
Set up meeting with parents.
I need to set up a meeting with the teacher and parents with a scholarship person/adviser/official person who presence would make it all seem much more legitimate to everyone involved.
(1 hr)
Update
I need to catch the blog up because I have been working but the blog does not show the progress that has been made. I went to the school and observed the student that I want to use for the project. This was I learned about when the technology is not being used, I watched him to learn his personality. By interacting with him, I learned what his abilities are and how the technology would benefit him. These 5 hours of observation on two different days gave me a great overview of him and what a perfect candidate he would be for the project! Because I have not attained formal consent to use him with the project yet, I will refrain from giving details or any distinguishing characteristics about the student. At a later date, I may be able to give my reasons for believing his a perfect candidate and in what ways I see the technology helping him to improve his life in all aspects and not just at school.
On Friday I had the weekly meeting, and it was very encouraging and productive. After the meeting, I went home fixed up the proposal, changed things around, and added sections and facts to improve the concepts and impact for the project. Because of how awesome and encouraged I was, I asked for the name and phone number of the parent in case I get the go ahead from Dawn and Heather to move forward. I really am curious to find out how the proposal went. I also made a time sheet/log with Excel to better calculate how many hours I have already worked for each week since I am putting in the hours at really random times and in awkward increments.
(7 hrs, 30 min)
On Friday I had the weekly meeting, and it was very encouraging and productive. After the meeting, I went home fixed up the proposal, changed things around, and added sections and facts to improve the concepts and impact for the project. Because of how awesome and encouraged I was, I asked for the name and phone number of the parent in case I get the go ahead from Dawn and Heather to move forward. I really am curious to find out how the proposal went. I also made a time sheet/log with Excel to better calculate how many hours I have already worked for each week since I am putting in the hours at really random times and in awkward increments.
(7 hrs, 30 min)
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Second School Placement Experience
Today I have been observing in the classroom of my field based class. I watched the main student really well to be able to determine opportunities that the student could use the Dynavox. I found many lost opportunities like when the child needed to answer any question in class. He could tell us what he wanted to play on outside, if there were programmed pictures into the Dynavox for him to choose from and if the Dynavox was around for him to use. He loves to say a few individual words every once in a while, and these could be much more frequent with the technology. He is also very “monkey see, monkey do”. This makes me think that he would do a great a job of hearing and repeating what was going on in the classroom and life, if he heard it on the Dynavox .
I also have encountered my first round of fear for what will happen, if I try to incorporate the technology into the classroom and change how an experienced teacher runs their formal classroom. I feel like I would annoy the teacher by always saying something to the effect of “we could use the Dynavox for that” or “Could they try the Dynavox with this assignment?” I really feel like the child should pick up the technology the second the class begins and never put it down. I don’t understand the idea of not using the system at all or for only really specific situations allowing the child to go use the communication device.
The classroom I am in just got a brand new computer yesterday. The problem with that is that the technology guy came to teach the teacher how to work it for like 5 minutes and that was it. After he left, we decided to use the new laptop to watch a sign language program called Signing Times. It was a Sesame Street-like program that explained the signs, showed the signs, reviewed the signs with music, and entertained the children. I want to learn how expensive the program is. I really liked it because the adults could learn the signs with the kids, and this fostered much better communication. After 30 or so minutes on the program today, we could communicate so much better with both of our non-verbal students. We learned a lot of signs like Good morning, bed, clothes, pajamas, toothbrush, brush, Wake up, floss, shirt, pants, shorts, comb, friends, and so many more. These really are only a few of the signs we learned. I believe we only watched two lessons worth.
Another way technology has been brought into this classroom is through music. The kids especially with Downs Syndrome love to sing, dance, and sign to music. This gives these students a way to learn things like the days of the week, the months, the rules, their colors, and more while not sitting at a desk. Kinetic motion is involved in the learning process, and they learn better like the chart in my last post said through doing, seeing, and hearing. Bringing music into the classroom is something that I feel is a necessity. Of course too much reliance on technology takes out the personality and individuals from the learning process. There is a balance to be struck between using too much technology and not using enough. No matter how much technology is involved there needs to be multiple people involved in the process of learning. No one wants to learn by him or herself when he or she is stuck in the corner on a computer for long periods of time. There must be interaction and lots of participation by everyone in the learning process.
(1 hr, 10 min)
I also have encountered my first round of fear for what will happen, if I try to incorporate the technology into the classroom and change how an experienced teacher runs their formal classroom. I feel like I would annoy the teacher by always saying something to the effect of “we could use the Dynavox for that” or “Could they try the Dynavox with this assignment?” I really feel like the child should pick up the technology the second the class begins and never put it down. I don’t understand the idea of not using the system at all or for only really specific situations allowing the child to go use the communication device.
The classroom I am in just got a brand new computer yesterday. The problem with that is that the technology guy came to teach the teacher how to work it for like 5 minutes and that was it. After he left, we decided to use the new laptop to watch a sign language program called Signing Times. It was a Sesame Street-like program that explained the signs, showed the signs, reviewed the signs with music, and entertained the children. I want to learn how expensive the program is. I really liked it because the adults could learn the signs with the kids, and this fostered much better communication. After 30 or so minutes on the program today, we could communicate so much better with both of our non-verbal students. We learned a lot of signs like Good morning, bed, clothes, pajamas, toothbrush, brush, Wake up, floss, shirt, pants, shorts, comb, friends, and so many more. These really are only a few of the signs we learned. I believe we only watched two lessons worth.
Another way technology has been brought into this classroom is through music. The kids especially with Downs Syndrome love to sing, dance, and sign to music. This gives these students a way to learn things like the days of the week, the months, the rules, their colors, and more while not sitting at a desk. Kinetic motion is involved in the learning process, and they learn better like the chart in my last post said through doing, seeing, and hearing. Bringing music into the classroom is something that I feel is a necessity. Of course too much reliance on technology takes out the personality and individuals from the learning process. There is a balance to be struck between using too much technology and not using enough. No matter how much technology is involved there needs to be multiple people involved in the process of learning. No one wants to learn by him or herself when he or she is stuck in the corner on a computer for long periods of time. There must be interaction and lots of participation by everyone in the learning process.
(1 hr, 10 min)
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Proposal Time
Today I worked on writing up a proposal and finding a template to format the proposal with it.
I am also working on reading another article that Cara Meade sent me.
I found out today that Dr. Wills knows how to program a Dynavox which thoroughly impressed me and might come in handy at some point on this project. I will type up any interesting notes from my reading tomorrow.
(1 hr)
I am also working on reading another article that Cara Meade sent me.
I found out today that Dr. Wills knows how to program a Dynavox which thoroughly impressed me and might come in handy at some point on this project. I will type up any interesting notes from my reading tomorrow.
(1 hr)
Grants and Products
http://www.specialed.us/autism/assist/asst14.htm
"Big Mack": A single switch/button device available from AbleNet (1) which allows for 20 seconds of record time. Approximate cost is $89.00.
There is also a more expensive one that is around 200 dollars.
The Big Mack allows for a single recording to be played whenever the button is pressed.
The one piece of information that I cannot find about a big mack is how a person says multiple things with only storage for 20 seconds. I am beginning to think that the messages can be switched out, but I do not know this for sure. This is just from what I gathered today.
Voice Output Communication Aid (VOCA): Children can express themselves with the assistance of any visual representation mode, or visual cues placed on a "simple" voice output communication aid/device. Many children with autism are motivated to communicate by use of these devices, particularly by the auditory feedback immediately given as they use the device. Use of VOCAs have proven effective in teaching a child the cause/effect of language through activities which are stimulating to him.
http://www.ucp.org/ucp_channeldoc.cfm/1/14/86/86-86/2938
United Cerebral Palsy Website
At this website I found tips for how to get grant money. There is quite a bit of money set aside for assistive technology. I also am beginning to realize that a lot of children already have the technology but are not using it. Here are the two main points that stuck out to me as different than I had originally thought.
A trial of a recommended device is essential. If you can borrow the device for a "real-life" trial at home, school, or work, you can determine its effectiveness. There are technology resource centers that may loan equipment. Some equipment suppliers or manufacturers also make "try-before-you-buy" equipment loans.
The way in which you plan to use a device will dictate your funding options. If a device is necessary to a student's highest functioning in the least-restrictive school setting, then the school should write the need for the device into the student's IEP (Individualized Education Plan) or IFSP (Individualized Family Service Plan) and fund the device. If the device is necessary for work, your state's division of vocational rehabilitation should help. If the device is medically necessary (essential to attaining or maintaining health or to replace lost or non-functioning body parts), private insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid come into play. If a device is necessary to enable a person to live outside an institution, a different government program may be the source of funding.
(45 min)
"Big Mack": A single switch/button device available from AbleNet (1) which allows for 20 seconds of record time. Approximate cost is $89.00.
There is also a more expensive one that is around 200 dollars.
The Big Mack allows for a single recording to be played whenever the button is pressed.
The one piece of information that I cannot find about a big mack is how a person says multiple things with only storage for 20 seconds. I am beginning to think that the messages can be switched out, but I do not know this for sure. This is just from what I gathered today.
Voice Output Communication Aid (VOCA): Children can express themselves with the assistance of any visual representation mode, or visual cues placed on a "simple" voice output communication aid/device. Many children with autism are motivated to communicate by use of these devices, particularly by the auditory feedback immediately given as they use the device. Use of VOCAs have proven effective in teaching a child the cause/effect of language through activities which are stimulating to him.
http://www.ucp.org/ucp_channeldoc.cfm/1/14/86/86-86/2938
United Cerebral Palsy Website
At this website I found tips for how to get grant money. There is quite a bit of money set aside for assistive technology. I also am beginning to realize that a lot of children already have the technology but are not using it. Here are the two main points that stuck out to me as different than I had originally thought.
A trial of a recommended device is essential. If you can borrow the device for a "real-life" trial at home, school, or work, you can determine its effectiveness. There are technology resource centers that may loan equipment. Some equipment suppliers or manufacturers also make "try-before-you-buy" equipment loans.
The way in which you plan to use a device will dictate your funding options. If a device is necessary to a student's highest functioning in the least-restrictive school setting, then the school should write the need for the device into the student's IEP (Individualized Education Plan) or IFSP (Individualized Family Service Plan) and fund the device. If the device is necessary for work, your state's division of vocational rehabilitation should help. If the device is medically necessary (essential to attaining or maintaining health or to replace lost or non-functioning body parts), private insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid come into play. If a device is necessary to enable a person to live outside an institution, a different government program may be the source of funding.
(45 min)
Class info
In class the other day we were talking about Universal Design and Assistive Technology. I found the topic to be very informative and pertinent to the project at hand. Here are my notes on the subject from class.
Universal Design vs. Assistive Technology
The design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without adaptation or specialized design.
There are two pyramid models Dr. Wills used in class. For Universal Design, the technology is made equally available to all people. This is especially prevalent with sidewalks, wheelchair accessibility and such. For assistive technology, the wide varieties of technology are used for one person's specific needs to be met.
Issues and Barriers:
awareness and training
Costs
Effort and Time
The future
This topic also connects to the idea of multiple intelligences. There was a graph in class that said:
People generally retain:
10% of what they read
20% of what they hear
30% of what they see
50% of what they see and hear
70% of what they say
90% of what they do and say
This just goes to show how important it is for technology to involve the whole person in learning. Technology can do a great job of incorporating multiple ways of learning into one lesson when used correctly.
(15 min)
Universal Design vs. Assistive Technology
The design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without adaptation or specialized design.
There are two pyramid models Dr. Wills used in class. For Universal Design, the technology is made equally available to all people. This is especially prevalent with sidewalks, wheelchair accessibility and such. For assistive technology, the wide varieties of technology are used for one person's specific needs to be met.
Issues and Barriers:
awareness and training
Costs
Effort and Time
The future
This topic also connects to the idea of multiple intelligences. There was a graph in class that said:
People generally retain:
10% of what they read
20% of what they hear
30% of what they see
50% of what they see and hear
70% of what they say
90% of what they do and say
This just goes to show how important it is for technology to involve the whole person in learning. Technology can do a great job of incorporating multiple ways of learning into one lesson when used correctly.
(15 min)
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
In the Real World
Wow. Today was an incredibly busy and productive day. This was my first day of field placement. A woman walked up to me and asked about service projects, and I explained to her what I was working on with this project. It turns out that she is the Technology person at the prek school where I am student teaching. She was incredibly interested and is willing to send home surveys to parents, hold a forum, a workshop, or anything else this project might need in the future. This connection will be nice to have for the future. This conversation led to my host teacher asking about the project. Then she told me that two of her three students have assistive technology. Well, having been with the students all morning, there was no sign of the technology. I am not at all blaming the teacher because she is doing a great job. A few minutes later, she pulled out a DynaVox and set it in front of me! She said that the parents had brought it in because they only used it to play games on it and was hopeful that the school could use the technology better than they were in the home. This item of technology is worth $8420! It is hidden in the classroom because no one knows what to do with it or has the time to learn the technology, implement it, or teach the family and child to use the product. I loved the opportunity to mess with the technology and get used to how it works and see all of the parts that make it up. I also had a chance to read the Manuel and learn some of how to work the product. I then asked to take the Manuel home and learn more in order to teach the teacher, parents, and student. Even if the student cannot be one of my cases because of certain situations, I love the chance to learn the technology, how it can be used, what all it can do, and how to help this family. I do not want such an precious tool that could give this child such independence not to be used for the child's benefit. I am very excited to see a real live situation were I could make a difference and see the need for this project that is not a statistic on paper!!! Even if this does not work out with this child, today greatly encouraged me on this project.
When I got home, I called my favorite Special education educator and resource person who helps teachers fix their classroom problems. She knows the PEC and DynaVox systems quite well and gave me some tips.
Take pictures using the DynaVox to allow for personal situations. This also allows the child to tell who he or she wants to play with or work with specifically. Even as detailed as asking for the "purple crayon".
If the student is in higher levels of study, the technology can be categorized by subject content to give specific answers to classroom questions.
She also encouraged me to look into an item called a Big Mac.
I signed up for an online catalog for Speech pathologists at her suggestion called SuperDuper. Their website was quite impressive which I explored this afternoon.
I was encouraged to talk to a speech pathologist to find out what is on the cutting edge with technology in speech communication.
I also found a "Go talk 9+" for $199 which is much simpler and basic technology.
I also downloaded all of the prices for all DynaVox technology and extras to buy with it. I do realize that this is the top of the line, but I needed to know what was the most expensive in the area of AT.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication is what these types of devices are called.
(2 hrs, 30 min)
When I got home, I called my favorite Special education educator and resource person who helps teachers fix their classroom problems. She knows the PEC and DynaVox systems quite well and gave me some tips.
Take pictures using the DynaVox to allow for personal situations. This also allows the child to tell who he or she wants to play with or work with specifically. Even as detailed as asking for the "purple crayon".
If the student is in higher levels of study, the technology can be categorized by subject content to give specific answers to classroom questions.
She also encouraged me to look into an item called a Big Mac.
I signed up for an online catalog for Speech pathologists at her suggestion called SuperDuper. Their website was quite impressive which I explored this afternoon.
I was encouraged to talk to a speech pathologist to find out what is on the cutting edge with technology in speech communication.
I also found a "Go talk 9+" for $199 which is much simpler and basic technology.
I also downloaded all of the prices for all DynaVox technology and extras to buy with it. I do realize that this is the top of the line, but I needed to know what was the most expensive in the area of AT.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication is what these types of devices are called.
(2 hrs, 30 min)
Monday, August 31, 2009
Assistive Technology Specialists
On Friday I had a weekly meeting with Dawn and Heather. My goal for this week is to come up with a full proposal. I need to do some more research on prices to have a budget worked up for them on Friday of this week.
I feel silly because I cannot for the life of me figure out how to allow Dawn to edit my blogs. I hope she reads this and tells me what to do. :)
Today I contacted talked with Dr. Wills, and he has agreed to be my faculty member to work on this project with me. I am very glad, thankful, and excited to have him on my team. He also gave me some great ideas about what products to look up for a price range. Part of the lecture in class today was about AT, so I took notes that I will post on here at another date. The lesson was very interesting and pertained here though.
I called a source and got the number for an expert on Autism and is a school teacher to hear her opinion on AT and learn some of how she has used it in her classroom. I will get in touch with her very soon.
I am super excited because Dr. Wills gave me a special placement to work with Assistive Technology. I am not sure whether he gave me the placement because of the child or the teacher or both. I am very excited to find out. Tomorrow will be my first day in the classroom, and I am super excited about it!
This is another one of Cara Meade's articles that I am reading through to get a better understanding of what AT is, the challenges involved, and other insights.
Assistive Technology Specialists
Bringing Knowledge of Assistive Technology to School Districts
By Elizabeth A. Lahm
Students per computer is now down to 4.9.
Under 20 years ago, it was 125 per computer.
Schools only spend 5% of their growing technology budgets on training.
In the early 90's on the limited budget, 15% was being used on teacher training.
New teachers are not being taught enough about technology in the classrooms before entering the work force.
The teachers are not aware of the range of possible AT for their students to help them.
The Oregon Report listed five problems:
1. lack of skills among many educators to access the AT needs of their children and youth with disabilities
2.lack of skills among educators to employ AT for children and youth with disabilities.
3. lack of understanding regarding the best ways to address AT in IEPs.
4.lack of resources available to help educators learn to use technology as an instructional tools,
5. lack of information available to educators on the best ways to teach technology skills to students.
RESNA, AOTA, ISTE, and the University of Kentucky were used in a study to determine in what skills special education teachers should be proficient.
With respect to the CEC standards, this article connected each standard to AT standards.
AT should match what the child is learning.
Under Development and Characteristics of Learners-the technology can allow a child to do the same work even though he or she has not have as developed motor skills.
Individual Learning Differences-AT needs to take into consideration diversity and how this relates to using technology.
Instructional Strategies-teach teachers how to use AT, allow trial periods before buying and showing demonstrations.
Learning Environments and Social Interactions-creating positive situations for learning by knowing the technology, making the physical space comfortable, make children feel socially accepted,
Language-possible AT for any special needs, communication devices
Instructional Planning-meet national standards for learning, manage and plan lessons, training for student, teacher, and parent.
Assessment-provides more accurate measure of child's ability, used to measure growth,
Professional and Ethical Practice-use technology as instructional supplement,
Collaboration-team members, look into outside resources
(3 hrs 5 min)
I feel silly because I cannot for the life of me figure out how to allow Dawn to edit my blogs. I hope she reads this and tells me what to do. :)
Today I contacted talked with Dr. Wills, and he has agreed to be my faculty member to work on this project with me. I am very glad, thankful, and excited to have him on my team. He also gave me some great ideas about what products to look up for a price range. Part of the lecture in class today was about AT, so I took notes that I will post on here at another date. The lesson was very interesting and pertained here though.
I called a source and got the number for an expert on Autism and is a school teacher to hear her opinion on AT and learn some of how she has used it in her classroom. I will get in touch with her very soon.
I am super excited because Dr. Wills gave me a special placement to work with Assistive Technology. I am not sure whether he gave me the placement because of the child or the teacher or both. I am very excited to find out. Tomorrow will be my first day in the classroom, and I am super excited about it!
This is another one of Cara Meade's articles that I am reading through to get a better understanding of what AT is, the challenges involved, and other insights.
Assistive Technology Specialists
Bringing Knowledge of Assistive Technology to School Districts
By Elizabeth A. Lahm
Students per computer is now down to 4.9.
Under 20 years ago, it was 125 per computer.
Schools only spend 5% of their growing technology budgets on training.
In the early 90's on the limited budget, 15% was being used on teacher training.
New teachers are not being taught enough about technology in the classrooms before entering the work force.
The teachers are not aware of the range of possible AT for their students to help them.
The Oregon Report listed five problems:
1. lack of skills among many educators to access the AT needs of their children and youth with disabilities
2.lack of skills among educators to employ AT for children and youth with disabilities.
3. lack of understanding regarding the best ways to address AT in IEPs.
4.lack of resources available to help educators learn to use technology as an instructional tools,
5. lack of information available to educators on the best ways to teach technology skills to students.
RESNA, AOTA, ISTE, and the University of Kentucky were used in a study to determine in what skills special education teachers should be proficient.
With respect to the CEC standards, this article connected each standard to AT standards.
AT should match what the child is learning.
Under Development and Characteristics of Learners-the technology can allow a child to do the same work even though he or she has not have as developed motor skills.
Individual Learning Differences-AT needs to take into consideration diversity and how this relates to using technology.
Instructional Strategies-teach teachers how to use AT, allow trial periods before buying and showing demonstrations.
Learning Environments and Social Interactions-creating positive situations for learning by knowing the technology, making the physical space comfortable, make children feel socially accepted,
Language-possible AT for any special needs, communication devices
Instructional Planning-meet national standards for learning, manage and plan lessons, training for student, teacher, and parent.
Assessment-provides more accurate measure of child's ability, used to measure growth,
Professional and Ethical Practice-use technology as instructional supplement,
Collaboration-team members, look into outside resources
(3 hrs 5 min)
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