Using Technologywith Atypical Students

Rob Plaskett, SET-BC Consultant2005-06

Rob Plaskett, SET-BC Consultant2005-06

What are we actually trying to accomplish?What are we actually trying to accomplish?

students to feel capable, successful, proud, independent, and competent.

students to feel they can successfully be a part of what is happening in the classroom.

to minimize the disability that interferes with success in the classroom by allowing technology to support that disability.

to develop their skill and knowledge in using the computer as a long term tool for academic success and personal recreation.  

In most cases we want…

Reading disabilities

Spelling disabilities

Handwriting impediments

Organization

Attention

Motivation

Modality imbalance

Short term memory issues

What are the common areas of difficulty we can use the computer to support?

Using the computer frequently for as many aspects of the daily routine as possible.

Designing tasks that are at the student’s independent level of ability.

Allowing the student to be successful independently.

Beginning with smaller, easier tasks and slowly increasing.

Turning out a product the student can take pride in.

Allowing the student to accomplish the task more quickly.

What are the primary approaches that work?

Sending home a little bit of homework involving activities you know the student can do on his own.

Not worrying initially about what the classroom assignment is…modifying it.

Making the computer a pleasure in the student’s life.

Allowing activities that interest other students such as games, photos, music etc.

More approaches that work

Allowing the student to gain some status through his computer.

Using the computer in the classroom and if possible at the student’s desk.

Encouraging the student to learn to run the computer on his own.

Setting up a routine where once the work is done the student can have free time to do as he pleases.

More approaches that really work

Structuring tasks with a clear end in sight so the student knows what needs to be done and when he is finished.

Initially working at a concrete level based in facts rather than opinion.

Using EA’S time to prepare for what’s next.

Using the cut, copy, paste, download, and scan tools to minimize the amount of senseless typing the student has to do.

Can you believe it? Still more!

Material can be entered into the computer by:

typing it in

finding it online (copy/paste/download)

using CDs or online encyclopedias

emailing it

transferring from CD/flash memory

scanning it in

transferring from a camera

You will probably use all of these.

To use the features of the computer, you need to get the material into it.

Don’t worry about keyboarding skills initially. They come faster with practice. Touch typing is nice but not essential to start and not possible for all students.

Use Co:Writer for some students since it saves keystrokes, corrects spelling, encourages phonics, moves student ahead. Co:Writer is on your computer now.

Use spell and grammar check on word processor. Insert pictures for more impact. Word processor will read it out loud. Use Write:Outloud.

Typing – the slowest and most effortful approach

Use this for quick short information on a variety of topics. Cut and paste into word processor document.

You can add concrete questions below to turn it into an assignment. Then cut and paste answers from the text.

Works especially well when just beginning.

CD or Online Encyclopedia

Quick and easy - useful skills for students. You can find Current information on any topic. Use Google, Ask Jeeves for Kids, Yahooligans, or http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/teaching/kidsearch/kidssearch.htm

Often you can find age/grade level material on the topic you want

or find material to modify it for your child’s level. Download by copy/paste or save page as rich text file to insert into your word processor. Sometimes it is best to modify the assignment to use an especially good website. It’s easy to find pictures on line and paste into your assignment. Initially you may have to do the searching and inserting, but this is a good skill to begin to teach.

Finding it online

If you have material on one computer you want to get onto another computer email sometimes works the easiest. Especially good if changing from a MAC to a PC. Just copy the material into an email and send it.

May work well for teachers notes or homework.

Email

The laptop computers are equipped with a CD recording drive. You can copy material from one CD with a burner to yours, or burn a CD on yours to take elsewhere. CDs hold a lot of data and can be added to. A blank CD costs about a dollar.

Each computer comes with a USB flash memory drive. You can transfer material from one computer to another quickly and easily using this drive.

CD or flash memory

Using a scanner attached to your computer, you can scan in text, pictures, books, maps, tests, various body parts, and most anything else that will fit on the scanning plate. The material is saved on your hard drive as a file and can be inserted into other programs.

In its simplest form a scanned image is just a picture of the thing you scanned. You cannot use it as a text file or alter the words in it. To turn it into a word processor file you need an OCR or “optical character recognition program” which recognizes each letter and word individually and turns it into a text document that you can alter or add to.

Scanning it in

OCR scanning turns the scanned text into a word processor file which you can alter or add to in a program like Microsoft Word or Write Out Loud. The Kurzweil 3000 program, which you have on your computer, can do this as well as several other things.

It is the program you will use to scan in written material for your students such as notes, tests, documents, articles, text books, magazines, books etc. Once you scan it with Kurzweil it is saved on your hard drive and can be used over and over again.

OCR scanning

You can take pictures with a digital camera and download them to the computer hard drive. You can then use these pictures on their own, place them into reports or journals, add text to them, or print them into pictures.

Camera