I have chosen to review the TaptoTalk app first. This app is suited for a wide variety of users including those with Autism, apraxia, Down Syndrome, aphasia, and cerebral palsy. According to the website anyone with a non-verbal condition is able to use this app. The TaptoTalk app is free, however if you want the ability to customize the fee is $149.95. This is a one time fee. The app can be added to multiple devices and multiple users which is a definite advantage. Here is a video about the App.
The next app I have chosen is CommunicAide. This program is designed for anyone who suffers from aphasia or any type of language disorder. The main benefit of this program was that it is fully customizable to fit the user. There is a cost associated with this app of $69.99. I liked that you could record voices of various people to incorporate into the app. Here is a video about CommunicAide.
The next app is PandaPal AAC Application for iPad; which allows students with communication challenges to better communicate with those around them. It was originally designed for students with autism. It is a PECS system on an iPad.
My personal favourite was POGO, which has already been presented by Mackenzie. I enjoyed learning more about these devices and how I could use them with students. I think it is important to remember that the right app for one student may not be the right app for another student.
My journey through this course has been amazing. I have learned so much and found ways to access even more that at times the journey has been overwhelming, of course I mean this in a good way!!! This course has forced me outside of my comfort zone in many areas and for that I am thankful. As a result of this course along with a change in schools and teaching assignment next year I am going to step outside my comfort zone in my classroom. I will be teaching MATH 9 for the first time and plan to spend many of my summer days planning guided math instruction for thos course. I believe that this will benefit all of the students in my classroom and provide me with more opportunities to check in with each of them. My district has just started guided math in the high schools, so if any of you know someone who already does this in their math classes I would love to hear about the experience and/or share resources.
As a result of this class I now own an iPad Air and have joined Pinterest. Assistive technology has such a positive impact on the lives of students who can gain access to it that I am going to advocate for the use of iPads in our classrooms. I believe that this would opening so many doors for students that it would be amazing.
I would like to thank Barbara for all of her guiadance and mentoring over the last few months. This course has truly been inspirational for me and I look forward to taking your other course in the future. Thank you for everything.
Today was a day of reflection and presentation. Everyone presented their case studies and most previewed their AT Catalogues.
Nikki
Nikki chose a student who had attention challenges that came to her class in the afternoons and was not engaged in the lessons at all. Nikki started a chekclist that provided the student with a schedule and task focus. Following the implementation of the checklist it was noted that there was improvement with the student. The student has become more focused by following her checklists and has been developing more independence. The increasing independence will be important next year as she transitions to Junior High where there will be no EPA support for the student.
Her catalogue was great and divided into low, medium and high tech.
Shauna:
Shauna did her presentation of her case study in Prezi which was fantastic. Her student had reading and comprehension challanges which often meant that they were reluctant to put pen and paper together. Shauna introduced Classroom suite as a support tool. These was very beneficial as the student began to answer more questions independently with better results than before. On her own iPad mini she also introduced MyTalkToolLite to help schedule and task management for the student. Their was also succes as the student became accountable for the scheduke. I loved the video of the student playing checkers and seeing how their confidence has improved.
Chris:
Chris completed his case study on a student that had organization and task completion challenges. The parents had been using a visual schedule with her, but it had not been successful. Chris noted possible reasons for the lack of success as no names or numbering on the schedule which made it not feel like 'hers'. The app that was intorduced was for task completion that contained a reward system. Gold stars were awarded when a task was completed; after so many stars were collected a reward was given. There was success with the use of the app but more support was needed from both her parents and the school. His recommendation going forward was another app with a reward chart Epicwin.
His catalogue was great; I loved the stressball and low tech inclusions.
Whitney:
This case study was about a student who was on an IPP who has behaviour and literacy challenges. The goal of the case study was to encourage independent work from the student. In order to achieve this goal, the introduction of text to speech and speech to text programs were introduced. The student had needed 1-1 support but gained more independence with the use of these programs. They were able to dictate and edit their work with less assistance. One factor that hindered the student's progress was their high absentee rate.
Her AT Catalogue was fantastic and she had created it using Inspiration.
Donna:
This was the first time I had really seen Pinterest (I know I must be living in a cave somewhere). I thought it was really well done.
Donna had an interesting approach to the case study as she used her whole PEERS class, not just one student. Her goal was t encourage students to communicate and express themselves within the class. The students resonded really well to the various methods that were introduced for them to express themselves. Donna also had them create character names for themselves in their online works and had times when they worked alone, in partners or in teams.
Eleanor:
I did not receive a copy of Eleanor's case study so I cannot comment on it. I did receive the link to her AT Catalogue which I thought was very well done. There was a combination of high and low tech items in the catalogue and the categories were easy to navigate through. Fantastic job!
Reagan:
I wasn't able to see Reagan's case study but I really liked her catalogue. I liked the sections that were created for numeracy and literacy as well as her low tech options at the dollar store. Great Job!
Theresa:
I did not receive Theresa's case study so I can only comment on her AT Catalogue. This was my second exposure to pinterest today and I have now joined the site. I thought Theresa's catalogue was very well organized with a wide variety of sections that made it easy for the viewer to search for the type of devices that they were searching for. I thought this was an awesome catalogue.
I couldn't comment on the case study and AT Catalogues of Bernadette and Mckenzie as I didn't receive any links to their work.
This was another class of firsts for me. Today was the first time that I have participated in a class at Acadia through Blackboard Collaborative from the comfort of my living room.
I found that the AAC presentations were extremely well done. The groups created their communication boards using Proloque2Go. It was interesting that two groups had vastly different products based on the same case study(there were four groups and two case studies).
It is clear from these demonstrations that this technology could dramatically improve students lives. There was good class discussion on how to plan the boards for a student and I believe that student involvment in their board creation (if possible) is crucial for the success of the boards. By having the students involved you are giving them input in their voice and empowering them. Another benefit to them is that they can be changed within minutes which builds in adaptablity and flexibility. One part of Eleanor and Donna's presentation that caight my eye was the science project integration as I teach high school sciences.
Macknezie presented on three AAC Apps that she researched; they were POGO (14 day free trail), urVoice and GoTalk,
Shauna then did her presentation on her top three AAC Apps that she had researched, which were My Talk Tools Lite (full access $99.99), Smart AAC and Sounding Board.
Our next topic of discussion was Social Stories. Social Stories are used to teach social skills to individuals. They were originally developed to be used with students with Autism but are also good to use with students who have Downs Syndrome, anxiety and social issues.
They were developed by Carol Gray and have three distinct parts: Descriptive sentences, perspective sentences and directive sentences. Descriptive: contain information about a specific social setting or situation
example: At school, most students go to the cafeteria for lunch.
Perspective: these sentences describe the internal states of other people
example: Students like to eat with other students. Everyone likes it when each student only touches their food.
Directive: This sentence provides information on what the student needs to do to have succes in the situation.
example: When I eat, I will touch only my food.
The last part of the day was using iMovie. Here is my list of 10 ways I could incorporate iMovie into my classroom, if we had access to iPads.
1. role playing
2. photo essays
3. instructional videos (based on procedural writing)
4. book trailers
5. Drama production trailers
6. science experiments
7. story telling
8. field trips
9. reflections
10. News reports
After watching this video, I was asked to answer the following question: What was your main take away feeling from this video? I was asked to answer this question using wordle as seen below:
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is all forms of communication, other than oral speech, that are used to express thoughts, needs, wants and ideas. When using AAC to communication is done through symbols, pictures, gestures or writing.
A 'typical' user of AAC does not exist. This is largely because we are all users of AAC, often unintentionally, in our daily communication interactions we use gestures and writing. Since AAC enhances communication a wide variety of users are able to benefit from the technology; they come from various ages, races and social classes. AAC will be of use to any person whose current communication abilities are not meeting their communication requirements.
Below are some examples of available ACC technology:
Sign Language: used by people who were born deaf or have lost their hearing
Letters and words that have symbols associated with them that allow people who are deaf to understand a verbal communication.
Braille: used by people who were born blind or have lost their sight
The alphabet represented in rasied dots for those without sight to be able to read.
Picture Exchange Communication Systems (PECS): used primarily by those on the Austism Spectrum
PECS are pictures that are used to convey wants and needs of the user.
Gotalk: for beginning AAC users
A portable communication device that is programmable for a specific user.
Tellegami: This could be used for people on the Autism Spectrum, Cerebral Palsy, developmental delay disorders, apraxia, people who have suffered a stroke or traumatic brain injury.
This allows you to create and share 30 second animated videso called a Gami
LITTLEmack Communicator: Used primarily by those with a cognitive, motor or visual impairment
This device has interchangeable tops that is visible and easily accesible, with a recording time of two minutes.
Cochlear Implants: Used by people who are deaf or severly hard of hearing.
This device is implanted into the person's ear to allow them to have a sense of sound.
Evernote: Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Apraxia, Developmental disablities, and traumatic brain injuries.
This is an App that has many capabilities such as recipe filing, note taking or digital filing.
iPod touch: Used by everyone
This device is lightweight and portable; with the ability to run a wide variety of Apps.
iPad: Used by everyone
This device portable and has the ability to run a wide variety of AAC Apps.
As I was researching AAC, I watched a number of videos on Youtube. I found many that were interesting and inspiring; I wanted to share these two:
When I first read this question my reaction was, how could I ever put it into words, everything that is or could be communication. My first response is that it is my body, my expressions, words and touch are ways that I communicate. According to Merriam-Webster.com communication is "the act or process of using words, sounds, signs or behaviours to express or exchange information or to express your ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc., to someone else."
In one of my MBA courses I had a professor define communication as the act of transferring information from one place to another. She further went one to explain that the way information could be communicated could be broken into four main groups: verbal, non-verbal, written and visualization. This explanation has always stuck with me. I believe that everything we do is a form of communication; intentionally or unintentionally.
Here is my list of 20 ways to communicate:
1. body language
2. eye contact
3. written word
4. tone
5. art
6. hand gestures
7. touch
8. braille
9. songs
10. face to face
11. skype
12. blogging
13. mimicking
14. storytelling
15. texting
16. symbols
17. journals
18. laughing
19. shaking/nodding of the head
20. codes
Have you ever had a conversation and had the conversation end without knowing what the person was trying to say? I have! We all know people who are able to convey their message accurately and succintly while others talk for minutes an sat absolutely nothing.
Effective communication is vital to people and takes a great deal of work to achieve it. In order to have effective communication there must be: joint attention, communication partner and the users must have a common language.
With my second assistive technology class I feel like I have
so much to learn that will help the students in my classes. This was the first
online class that I had attended, I must say that I LOVE Blackboard
Collaborate. I found the tutorials they had to get started were very useful.
During class tonight we talked about how to use different sites and programs. I have set up my blog using blogger. I had watched this video before I started my initial set-up.
I had not heard of the next site that we discussed called
WIX. It looked really interesting and after seeing Shauna’s page I thought that
it would be very hard to use as I have very limited technical skills. I also
have very techy friends who implied that to do what I had envisioned for my
blog and catalogue that it was going to be very challenging and may be outside
of my abilities without taking additional courses. I was amazed at Shauna’s
website and how professional and well laid out it was.
We also looked at iBook author which was great. I definitely
need to get an iPad. I am researching what types of grants are available to
bring iPads into my classroom for students to use. I also found this video
about iBook author.
I have started to research and list assistive technologies
that will be part of my catalogue. One section of my catalogue that will
pertain to Seniors will also contain items that I have used after my hand
injury when I developed a chronic pain disorder and had limited mobility in my
left hand.
