Using AT to Assist Students with Autism, Cognitive Disabilities, or Multiple Disabilties Achieve Independence

 

In the previous post we discussed using AT to assist students with disabilities who are moving onto higher education. As with any student entering college, there is a need for independence. Assistive technology can help students with disabilities in reaching independence.  It is of course important that the correct device or system is chosen to allow the independence to occur. Factors such as usability and mobility should be considered to ensure that the use of the AT is successful. Making sure that the student is involved when choosing the device is also important.This will provide ownership and start off that feeling of independence for the student.  There are many types of software and applications available such as My House: Language Activities of Daily Living can be used to teach functional skills and can be accessed by students with a wide range of physical and cognitive disabilities. Assistive technology can also be used to provide visual supports to these students since they often have difficulty with self-managing and personal organization. Boardmaker and Pogo Boards can assist educators in creating picture schedules and other visuals to support their students. As discussed before, the iPad is also a useful tool when meeting the needs of students with a variety of disabilities. An iPad can be loaded with many differents apps to assist students in acheiving and maintaing independence.

Using Assistive Technology to Serve as a Reasonable Accommodation for Students with Disabilities in College

Throughout this blog we have primarily focused on using assistive technology to remove learning barriers for students with disabilities. Most of my posts have focused on school aged children, but I think it is important that we take some time to think about these students when they move onto higher education. “Under 504 and the ADA, colleges must provide-at no cost to the student-reasonable accommodations to make their programs more accessible to students with disabilities” (Dell, Newton, & Petroff, 2012). This is very important as there are no IEPs in higher education. Assistive technology can help college students in the same ways I have talked about in previous posts: completing writing assignments, reading text, removing learning barriers, increasing their ability to communicate, as well as maximizing their independence. In the text, “Assistive Technology in the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experience of Students with Disabilities, it was stressed that AT may be helpful to college students if the tools meet the following criteria:

·         Easy to use and easy to customize

·         Age appropriate

·         AT must be the student’s choice

·         Matches the task (note taking) and the environment (is there power source available, can it be done quickly enough while professor is speaking during a lecture?)

·         Easily accessed by the student

·         Training and technical support must be provided to the student and staff

After reading that the employment rate is significantly higher for students with disabilities who go onto higher education, I think it is very important that they are provided with AT to make learning as accessible as possible while attending college. This will ensure that they can learn to the best of their ability in the most least restrictive environment.

REFERENCE

Dell, A. G., Newton, D. A., & Petroff, J. G. (2012). Assistive technology in the classroom: Enhancing the school experiences of students with disabilities. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

Making it Work: Implementation of Assistive Technology Recommendations

There are often complaints that when is it recommended that a student uses assistive technology in the classroom, it fails to get implemented. There must be many details addressed in order to the assistive technology implementation to be effective. In this post we will look at two resources provided in the text, “Assistive Technology in the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experience of Students with Disabilities” to assist you in developing implementation plans.

Resource 1: Effective Implementation of AssistiveTechnology Guide as provided by Special Education Technology of BritishColumbia

This guide is a seven part file that was designed to provide educators with a guide for successfully implementing a wide variety of assistive technologies with students with special needs.  A comprehensive implementation plan and samples of specific tools are included in this resource. I liked how the guide began at the gathering information part of the process and brought you all the way to planning transition for the student. This is a great resource to refer to or keep in your “assistive technology” binder or file folder.

After viewing the guide I explored this website a little further and actually found great links to accessible books and boardmaker resources. This website contained so much useful information!

Resource 2: TexasAssistive Technology Network: Assistive Technology Implementation Module

This resource is a module which was created for people who are or will be involved in assistive technology decision making or implementation. As outlined on the website the objectives of the module were as follows:

Participants will learn:

·         The purposes and results of assistive technology

·         The big ideas in assistive technology implementation

·         How to plan for assistive technology implementation

·         Evaluating the effectiveness of assistive technology implementation

This module was very thorough and reviewed quite a few of topics I have touched on in my previous posts such as the SETT framework and QIAT (Quality Indicators of Assistive Technology). I found the PowerPoint presentation and the TIPS blank template to be the most useful resources provided in this module. The PowerPoint would easily inform or remind the viewer of the many processes of implementing AT for a student. The TIPS template was a great resource for me to keep on hand to make sure that implementation of AT is successful and that monitoring of the effectiveness of the AT continues.

Another Resource: Math Wire

When thinking about teaching math to students with disabilities, or any student, it is important to have a good amount of resources and ideas. Math Wire is a great site that I came across a few years ago when I first began teaching. The entire site is devoted to standards-based math activities. You can search for activities by topic, alphabetically, or by standard. This website has always provided me with great holiday math activities. My students absolutely love every activity that I  have ever used
from Math Wire. "Grab the Candy" has been a favorite over the years in my class to practice the concept of coordinate grids.

Looking Closer at Virtual Manipulatives

In an earlier post I provided you with the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives as a resource to use when teaching math to students with disabilties. After exploring this site more thoroughly, I felt it necessary to share some more information about it.

This site is easy to understand and well-organized. It is divided into the five major strands of mathematics (Numbers & Operations, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, and Data Analysis & Probability) and then furthur broken down by grade level. You are able to download a free trial as well! I thought that the manipulatives were very colorful and would certainly engage any student especially if they could get hands-on with them on a Smart Board. This site not only includes manipulatives, but also games and puzzles. This is certainly a resource that teachers should consider to enrich their math curriculum while meeting the needs of all students!

Low-Tech and Mid-Tech Adaptations to Assist Students with Disabilities in Completing Math Assignments

You might be wondering what types of adaptations you can provide your students with disabilities that do not require a computer. There are many products and resources available to assist teachers in the teaching of mathematic concepts. Some of these products include:

Low-Tech

·         Manipulatives (post pics) Most math programs today inlcude manipulatives. However, one could also use household objects such as beans and straws to accomplish similar tasks.

·         Rubber stamps (fractions, clocks, coins)

·         Number lines

·         Addition and multiplication tables

Mid-Tech

·         Talking calculators (great for students with visual impairments)

·         Large calculators with oversized buttons (fine motor difficulty)

·         See n’ Solve Calculators (allow students to see all parts of the problem as they are solving it.

Using manipulatives is a great way to incorporate UDL into your instruction. They not only engage students, but make learning more hands-on and provides a concrete representation of mathematic concepts for your students!

I frequently use manipulatives such as these in my classroom. Students love the hands-on approach to math and it really gets them thinking about the concepts they are learning! One suggestion is to let your students "play" with the manipulatives a few minutes prior to starting the lesson. This way they are less focused on touching them and more focused on you and the lesson!

 

Technology Tools to Address Visual-Spatial or Motor Control Difficulties

In previous blogs I have discussed and examined various devices and tools to help to remove barriers for students with disabilities in reading and writing. Because “students with disabilities may experience difficulty in writing numbers, aligning digits in computation problems, and creating visual representation (e.g., shapes or angles) for a number of reasons” (Dell, Newton, & Petroff, 2012) it is important to remove these barriers so that students many demonstrate their understanding of mathematical concepts. In this post I have outlined various tools as found in, “Assistive Technology in the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experiences of Students with Disabilities”: to assist students with visual-spatial or motor control difficulties in math.

MathPad- “is a talking math worksheet program that enables students to perform arithmetic computations with whole numbers on the computer in much the same way they would use a pencil and paper” (Dell, Newton, & Petroff, 2012). This program provides immediate feedback to students and has customizable speech output that prompts regrouping for struggling readers or students who are visually impaired. 

MathPad Plus- utilizes the same features of MathPad, but extends the skills to fractions and decimals.

Virtual PencilArithmetic- is designed for students who are, in the words of the publisher, “pencil impaired”. “VP Arithmetic makes addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division with whole numbers, fractions, and decimals accessible to students with disabilities” (Dell, Newton, & Petroff, 2012). Virtual Pencil also features speech feedback and a tutor that guides students along the way.

Virtual PencilAlgebra- contains the same features of VP Arithmetic, but allows students with disabilities to easily access and solve algebraic equations.   

Number Navigator- allows students to solve basic math problems on the computer, but does not have speech output.

 

Microsoft Word- commonly used for word processing, this program can also be used by students who have difficulty writing to show their work.

Scientific Notebook- designed for solving equations. “This program provides students who have disabilities the opportunity to participate in advanced math classes. Students can work with calculus, vector calculus, transformations, and matrices, among other topics” (Dell, Newton, & Petroff, 2012).

REFERENCE

Dell, A. G., Newton, D. A., & Petroff, J. G. (2012). Assistive technology in the classroom: Enhancing the school experiences of students with disabilities. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

Educational Applications to Teach Math Concepts, Math Skills, and Problem Solving

In order to be successful in math, students do not only need to develop automaticity, but an understanding of mathematical procedures and concepts to effectively solve problems. Manipulatives are a very useful tool for students to use when understanding abstract math concepts. However, students with disabilities may not always be able to effectively access this hands-on approach. We have looked at various applications that will assist students in developing automaticity and also applications that will remove barriers for students who may have visual-spatial or motor-difficulties. In this post, we will look at some applications that will provide students with disabilities a way to develop more a more conceptual understanding of math.  

Virtual Manipulatives

Teachers can look to the internet as a great resource to obtain virtual manipulatives. Here are some sites to explore for more information:

·         National Libraryof Virtual Manipulatives

·         National Councilof Teachers of Mathematics

·         ComputingTechnology for Math Excellence

·         Internet 4Classrooms

Other Resources to Teach Math Concepts, Skills, and Problem Solving 

·         Math Playground- provides math games, word problems, and logic puzzles for free!

·         Conceptua Math- Includes assessments to monitor student progress in fractions and teachers can use it for whole group instruction.

·         Destination Math (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Learning Technology) - Uses animation and audio output to engage students in their development of math reasoning, conceptual understanding, and problem solving.

As a teacher I know that many math programs being used in schools today come with virtual components that provide many of the same features as the above mentioned programs including virtual manipulatives that are great to use during whole class instruction!

Educational Applications that can be used to Address Automaticity/Math Fact Fluency

As mentioned earlier, student success in math relies heavily on their knowledge of number sense and basic facts. As math curriculum becomes more challenging, having automaticity (quick recall) of basic facts will assist the students in understanding and completing more difficult mathematical concepts. There are many education applications that can be used to assist students in developing automaticity. These were some of the applications mentioned in the text, “Assistive Technology in the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experiences of Students with Disabilities”:

FASTT Math: an intervention program that assesses the student then creates customized activities based on assessment results. Meets the common core state standards!!

Timez Attack: teaches the multiplication tables 2 through 12 in a video game environment. Watch the video!

ArithmAttack: Student practice can be targeted to meet their needs while practicing basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts.

Arcademic Skill Builder: games designed to help students develop automaticity in addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, integers, fractions, and ratios.

These are all great options to use with students of any ability to engage them and improve their math fact fluency and automaticity. I know my students love to go onto First in Math, which is provided by my school district to earn points for our class and school while practicing their facts!

REFERENCE

Dell, A. G., Newton, D. A., & Petroff, J. G. (2012). Assistive technology in the classroom: Enhancing the school experiences of students with disabilities. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

Selecting Education Applications to Meet Student’s Goals and Objectives

Lately I have been focusing on assistive technology in literacy (reading and writing). Math requires that students have a good understanding of number sense and basic facts. We will now look at the ways a computer and the internet can enhance instruction in math for students with disabilities.

Good Educational Applications on the computer are effective tools for students with disabilities because they provide practice and repetition to help students to master the skills that they need. Teachers can also modify these applications to present information in a way that best meets the student’s individual learning characteristics. Because students with disabilities often struggle to “attend to a task without stimulation” (Carroll, 1993, as cited in Dell, Newton, & Petroff, 2012), computer applications keep them engaged in the learning.

Key Questions When Selecting Educational Applications

It is important for teachers to first understand the features of educational applications in order to best meet the needs of students with disabilities. In my previous post I explained that educational applications help students to master the skills that they need through practice and repetition. The next step is choosing applications that will best assist in meeting the student’s goals and objectives. When selecting education applications, teachers should ask themselves these questions:

·         What is the intended outcome of the use of the educational application?

·         Is the educational application likely to fulfill the intended purpose?

·         Can the educational applications be used as an alternative to traditional classroom activities to enhance student participation? (Dell, Newton, & Petroff, 2013)

Reflecting on these questions will allow the teacher to make the best decision regarding the use of education applications to enhance instruction of a student with a disability. When using educational applications in my classroom I am able to choose specific activities for them to use on the computer. This not only helps me to best meet each of my student’s needs, but to also use classroom time effectively.

REFERENCE

Dell, A. G., Newton, D. A., & Petroff, J. G. (2012). Assistive technology in the classroom: Enhancing the school experiences of students with disabilities. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

Assistive Technology for Reading: Webinar

Students with disabilities often struggle with accessing text. The goal of this blog is to help teachers make instruction more "UDL friendly" or accessible for all students, with a focus on students with disabilities. After participating in the webinar about AT for Reading, I was more informed of the variety of platforms available for text readers and screen readers which help to make text more accessible for these students.

This helpful chart was provided for the listener to easily see the differences between text and screen readers:

Text Readers	Screen Readers
Software programs that read all the text in any given document or application. ·         Often includes reading the web. ·         Often includes study tools and supports for writing. ·         Most often used for students with a reading disability, but adequate vision.	Screen readers read all the text elements on the screen including, ·         Menu bars, icons, buttons, and dialogue boxes ·         May include screen magnification features ·         These provide access to program navigation and written text. Most often used for students with visual impairments.

When obtaining text, educators can look to the following resources:

·         Computers (PowerPoints, word documents, PDFs)

·         CD-ROMs (textbooks on CD)

·         Internet (Bookshare, see below for more information)

·         Hard Copies of text (use a scanner)

·         AIMS (accessible instructional materials) *CAST.org was listed as a resource for AIMS

Bookshare

This was introduced as a resource for getting electronic materials such as books, magazines, and newspapers. It was great to hear that the membership fees for Bookshare are waived for qualified students. Students with visual impairments, reading, and orthopedic disabilities can be qualified with their IEP. Bookshare not only provides electronic material, but also software to read the material such as Read:OutLoud (text-to-speech), for free with membership. The website also provides users with many resources including YouTube videos of how to use the program.

The webinar then examined the various features in commonly used text-to-speech programs and how they can benefit students who are using them. When choosing a text-to-speech program, consider the needs of the student and which of these tools would be essential for their success with the program.

·         Choice of high quality voices: natural reading fluency, gives some inflection like a teacher would.

·         Modify text interface: text can be read by letter, word or sentence; program can be set to read a complete paragraph.

·         Ability to control rate: slow down or speed up the rate of speech

·         Highlight and extract key information: students can select text and move on the screen or to a different document.

·         Ability to insert, create, or modify scaffold for reading: teacher can guide reading to important information in text.

·         Can read files directly from Bookshare.

·         Can OCR documents: optical character recognition transforms a picture or text to readable text.

·         Consistent format for internet and other reading: reading and other toolbars do not change making it easier for student use.

·         Can convert to MP3 files.

·         Includes a language translator: Important for second language students.

·         Dictionaries:

o   Recursive: students can look up words provided in definition.

o   Built-in: finite; but easier to understand.

o   Web-based: infinite, but may contain more difficult language.
 

WYNN text-to-speech software was the only option that provided all of these features with the exception of the language translator.
 

This webinar deepened my understanding of using text-to-speech software and ways to obtain text to use with my students. Looking at the specific features of these programs allowed me to see how much is really available to make text more accessible for my students and that they aren't simply a text-to-speech programs!

Using Computers to Assist Writing Instruction in Special Education

Writing is a complex process that requires many skills. Students with disabilities often struggle with writing because of this and the multiple steps that are involved. Luckily, there are many technological tools that can assist these students. Below you will see each step in the writing process and the tools that can remove barriers for students with disabilities:

Step 1: Prewriting (planning of writing)

Graphic organizers can be extremely helpful to students when planning their writing. In my previous blog I discussed Kidspiration created by Inspiration Software Inc. which allows students to connect their visual thoughts with words and pictures to easily create graphic organizers.

Step 2: Drafting (turning ideas into text)

In the drafting process, students develop their thoughts into meaningful text composed of sentences and paragraphs. Tools that can assist students with this step include word processing to remove the task of writing with pencil and paper, word predication software to assist with spelling, and speech recognition for students with physical disabilities that cannot write or use a keyboard.

Step 3: Reviewing (reading over the written draft)

This step can be a particular struggle for students with poor reading skills. A text-to-speech software such as Write:OutLoud will assist students by reading aloud the text making it easier for students to hear and identify errors in their writing.

Step 4: Editing (correcting mistakes)

After reading over a written draft, students may need to correct spelling or revise mistakes. Using a spell-checker or talking dictionaries  will allow these students to make the corrections with ease.

As a teacher of writing it is important that I am aware of the devices and options to remove barriers for my students so that they can be successful in each part of the writing process.
The assistive technology that I mentioned can be used by all students in the classroom depending on their needs. Kidspiration is something that I know my students would love and it would definitely engage them in the prewriting stage!

Useful Websites

When thinking about how to use AT to accommodate the previously discussed disabilities, there are many resources available. In this post I have outlined in detail two great resources that can be used across the curriculum to support a variety of learners:

Kidspiration, created by Inspiration Software, Inc.

Kidspiration allows students to combine pictures, text, numbers and spoken words to develop vocabulary, word recognition, reading for comprehension, writing and critical thinking skills. This software would support students with learning disabilities across all areas of curriculum. This software can be used individually by students to compose narrative and expository texts, practice math skills, and create graphic organizers to understand or demonstrate knowledge. Teachers can also use this on a Smart board during whole-class instruction. Single licenses can be inexpensively purchased on CD or downloaded for $39.95. Interested users can also download a 30 day free trial to see if it would be appropriate for them.

Here are a few (there are many) reasons why Kidspiration supports students with learning disabilities:

·    It connects student’s visual thoughts with written expression by allowing students to see symbols for their words in a single click.

·         Includes 13,000 words with definitions and recorded speech for pronunciations

·         Visual math tools

·         Graphic organizer maker

·         Talking interface to help emerging readers navigate the toolbar (very intuitive!)

 

wordQ+speakQ by goQ Software  

 

Although this software is a little more costly at $279.00 for a single license, the benefits as seen on the website for students with learning disabilities or communication disorders are incredible!

*Word prediction

*Offers a list of words with similar meaning to add variety to writing

 text to voice feedback

*Gives examples for words that sound similar by using them in a sentence (example: there, their | to, too, etc.)

*Text reading software reads aloud text you highlight, including websites, emails and instant-messaging

*Using text to speech when writing, poor grammar sounds off and bad punctuation disrupts the rhythm

*Helps only as much as you need with functions that easily turn on or off

*Lets you type the words you know and use voice to text to say the ones you don't

*Speech recognition helps you write everything you say from single words to entire paragraphs

*Offers suggestions for words you have difficulty pronouncing

*Train its voice recognition to understand your voice, with no reading required

*Allows you to mix typing and speaking for best results

*No voice commands to remember

This also came with a free 30 day trial. Having access to these software programs in my
classroom would not only help me to meet IEP goals and objectives, but incorporate
UDL into my instruction to reach all learners.

 

REFERENCES

Develop elementary reading comprehension, writing and math skills with Kidspiration® |    inspiration.com. (2013). Retrieved July 18, 2013, from http://www.inspiration.com/Kidspiration
 

goQ : Home of wordQ + speakQ : Word Prediction, Spoken Feedback & Speech Recognition Software. (2011). Retrieved July 18, 2013, from http://www.goqsoftware.com/