Assistive Technology in the Classroom. Session 8 Assistive Technology in Action

Assistive Technologyin the Classroom

Session 8Assistive Technology

in Action

Presentation AgendaIntroduction

Diana – Kindergarten student with quadriplegia

Meagan – Grade 1 student with cerebral palsy

Aaron – Grade 3 student with Down syndrome

Samuel – Grade 6 student with cerebral palsy

Nick – Grade 7 student with FASD

Ilyaz – Grade 9 student with visual impairment

Rebecca – Grade 10 student with LD

Introduction – Think about this…

What are the important concepts to remember when implementing AT with students?

Diana

Kindergarten student with quadriplegia

Limited facial movements only

Requires constant physical support

Can communicate verbally

Literacy focus in her educational program

Schedule includesReading, writing and mathematics activities

Diana’s AT Solution

Laptop with ‘Sip and Puff’ mouse control

Onscreen keyboard / literacy and math software

Meagan

Grade 1 student with CP – basically non-verbal

Severe physical challenges – gross and fine motor issues

Can reliably hit a 1” target when asked

Needs to be able to communicate

Schedule includesCircle time, “All About Me” theme, Buddy Reading, Centre Time

Meagan’s AT Solution

Boardmaker for low tech AAC system

Aaron Grade 3 student with Down syndrome

Knows the alphabet and 30 Dolch words

Interested in books but not able to handwriteLaboured and non-conventional size, spacing

Gap between Aaron and peers is growing

Schedule includesMorning Meeting, “Dragon” theme, Math (basic computation), Science “Growing” unit

Aaron’s AT Solution

Clicker 5 to support reading and writing

Samuel Grade 6 student with cerebral palsy

Has fine motor control difficulties

Difficulties with handwriting

Completing Grade 6 academic program

Schedule includes assignments inSocial Studies

Science

Language Arts

Samuel’s AT Solution Fusion

Nick Grade 7 student with FASD and LD

Grade 2 writing / Grade 3 reading level

Very distracted, few reading or writing strategies

Strength is auditory processing

Schedule includesLA (poetry “Belonging”)

Math (Fractions)

Computer class (website analysis)

Social Studies (“Ancient Rome”)

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

Learn more about SOLO

Break Time!

IlyazGrade 9 student with ASD and visual impairmentNo vision at allDistracted by speech outputDifficulty with auditory processingDifficulty with organizationModified program

Ilyaz’s AT SolutionPacMate for file storage and braille display

PacMate connected to laptop

See another student use her braille notetakers

RebeccaGrade 10 student with Learning DisabilitiesDifficulty completing writing assignmentsDifficulty remembering content of what she readsGrades much lower than would be expectedGood verbal abilitySchedule includes

English (individual novels)Science (“Cellular structure”)History (“Canadians who made a difference”)

Rebecca’s AT Solution

Kurzweil 3000 to support writing and reading

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

Discussion ForumYour final discussion task is to design an Educational Assistant’s AT Toolkit

The AT Toolkit should contain what you think are the essential tools that no EA should be without

Specific technologies

Resources

Examples

Discuss what you would put in the toolkit with your group

Report back to the whole group

Session Summary ActivityLink to Session 8 Summary Activity

Session 8 Summary Activity

Will be emailed to you after this session!