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)
Friday, October 23, 2009
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)
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