Assistive Tech in Practice: A Look Back and Beyond

If you ask a teacher today what it means to "be a teacher", chances are their response will be quite a bit different that the responses you would have collected from teachers who were posed the same questions 25 years ago.  Even when reflecting upon my career to date, there are marked difference in the profession from my first day in the classroom (6 years ago) until now.  Classroom compositions are changing; expectations are changing and how we go about daily business is changing.  So when I contemplate what I have learned from this course it can be answered simply: I have learned how to be a better teacher.  I have a better appreciation for not only the necessity to engage and reach all learners, but I have gained a better understanding of how to accomplish this feat.

As classrooms continue to diversify, the demand is heightened to create inclusive practices.  We have a duty as educators to provide opportunity and occasion for optimal learning for all.  This is a tall order.  Through our exploration of the Universal Design for Learning, I have gained an understanding of the brain networks (recognition, strategic and affective), how the function of these networks is unique to each individual as their fingerprints and how to best offer and provide options within these networks to meet the specialized needs of the individuals within a classroom.  

     In our quest to provide the options each individual needs to best experience, digest, explore and express their learning, it is of little surprise that technology can play a significant role.  As technology permeates nearly all aspects of living and learning in the 21st century, it has its place in lessons, explorations and expression of learning.  As I walk the halls of my current school, there is not a classroom to be found where the teacher within is not attempting technology integration in some form.  However, using technology just for the sake of using technology is not enough.  Technology is a powerful tool and understanding how to harness and wield this power is the secret to using technology as a means to unlock the world for certain individuals. 

The SAMR model is a framework that helps educators consider the context within which they are using technology in their classroom.  And while the Substitution and Augmentation levels of technology integration can certainly benefit needing children, it is within the Modification and Redefinition levels that the true magic of technology transforms learning.  It is the Modification and Redefinition levels of the SAMR model in which technology is employed to wield its true power.  Within these levels, educators are using technology to achieve tasks and feats that would be unattainable without the employment of technology.  If educators aspire to use technology to its true potential, they must strive to integrate it at these levels of the SAMR model.

 

Currently, the bulk of my teaching assignment is courses in the acquisition of French as an additional language.  In my classrooms for Core French and Integrated French alike, I have students with varying ranges of ability, with varying degrees of knowledge of the French language.  One of the most powerful learnings I have gained from this course is the ability to discern which technologies, apps and programs are best suited to the needs of my students as they pertain to the acquisition of an additional language.  I feel that I have a more developed sense of awareness of how to make a good match of a piece of assistive technology to the needs of the learner.  

For example, one of my Core French classrooms is comprised of multiple English as an additional language students.  For many of these students, French is not a language to which they have been previously exposed.  After evenings 3 and 4 of this course,  I know that I can know use Siri Speech to text as another method of helping these EAL students make connections between the phonetic sounds and the accompanying letters that we find in the French language.  It is also a means for students to view words and phrases and have them translated into their native language to increase effective communication in the classroom.

Read and Write 4 Google is another invaluable tool now in my arsenal for providing necessary assistive tech to my students with LD.  As French is a language option for this extension, these students now have a compensatory option to aid them in their viewing, production and comprehension of the French language.  

Often, students from the Special Education class in our school are members of my Core French class as well.  In particular, I am working with one girl who has selective mutism.  While we have been working with Chatterbox kids and Sock Puppets, after exploring options for those with disabilities in oral communication, I now have an expanded selection of options of AAC from which I can select to help her achieve goals in my classroom.  This allows us both to make more precise choices that facilitate a better AT fit for the task and situation, such as Proloquo 2 Go, in addition to a multitude of others.

As I continue to further my AT competencies, I can see the express need to share what I am learning with my colleagues.  Our school holds both full staff meetings, grade level meetings and PLC meetings on a monthly basis.  Within these meeting times, carving out a portion of time that specifically focuses on technology would be an effective course of commencing conversation about effective practices and methods of technology and AT use.  Creating a Google Classroom designated to discussion on technology and AT within our school will also give teachers direct access to documents and links to useful apps, programs, videos and strategies that may be beneficial to their practice.

Firstly, by sharing the AT strategies that work in my classroom with my fellow Grade 7 teachers, it may give them ideas as to how these strategies can then be employed in their practices.  We teach the same students and strategies that benefit them in one subject area may also be of service in another.  As these students advance into the next school year, collaboration with educators at the following grade level, and the sharing of useful technology and strategies will prove to provide consistency in support for the students in need.  This consistency will  ensure that needing students will be provided opportunities for optimal engagement and learning throughout their scholastic career.  Lastly, by opening this dialogue, I provide myself with the opportunity to continue my own personal growth and learning in this area, to learn of new and effective methods of using technology in my own practice for the betterment of the learning environment and explorations for all learners in my classroom. 

As this course comes to a close, I am prepared to move forward into my practice, confidant that the knowledge I have gained will shape how I teach for the better.  I have improved not only my understanding of why technology plays such an important role in education, but how I can optimize technology utilization to create optimal learning for all students.  By exploring assistive technology as we have, I have acquired and honed skills in selecting appropriate technology with a stronger grasp of the ideal clientele for specific technology.  I am excited to continue my education in assistive technology, knowing that I am on the path to supporting each individual in my class and future classes in surmounting obstacles in their educational journey, and can truly aid them in their quest of reaching their dreams and achieving their true potential.  

   

             

AAC- Giving a Voice to the Voiceless

Oral communication is an integral component of daily life in the classroom.  We rely on conversation to impart knowledge, to understand how students are interpreting and absorbing this knowledge and how they are using it to scaffold and deepen their learning.  We rely on verbal communication to share ideas, collaborate and build safe and productive learning environments.  Communication is not only the life blood of the classroom, but is also the life blood of the human experience.  So what happens if the ability to communicate is impaired?  How can we create meaningful educational and human connection when the means of connection are compromised?  That was the theme explore for our class this evening:  how can we build bridges to close the gaps of communication for those whose ability to communicate verbally or in writing has been altered?

Creativity paired with advancing technology have formed a formidable duo in creating practical and empowering solutions for those who do not possess the ability to communicate orally.  Our first video of the evening featured two university students who are attempting to give a better heard voice to the hearing impaired community.  While sign language is a well established form of communication for the hearing impaired, the majority of the population are not conversant in this language.  These two students are in the process of building a bridge to traverse this gap in communication.  Their invention:  a pair of gloves that, when worn by a person performing sign language, register the words being communicated and send the signal via bluetooth to a phone or device to be read aloud.  Revolutionary motion to speech technology.  This invention is an ideal example of technology can be used to increase communication for all humans, how assistive tech serves to empower and how we, as educators, can find ways to promote learning for all within our practice.

AAC, Augmentative and Alternative Communication, is another method of giving a voice to those that are seeking a way to be heard.  AAC strives to make the most of communications, making communication as quick and effective as possible.  Words and phrases can be created on various AAC devices, and with a press of a button, those words can be read aloud.  People with Cerebral Palsy, ASD (non-verbal), Parkinson's, MS, ALS and those who have suffered strokes and head injuries that have impaired their ability to speak are empowered to engage with others by sharing their thoughts and participating in conversation.  Proloquo 2 Go, as we have explored earlier in this course, is an AAC program that allows this communication to take place efficiently and effectively.  As we progress further into the 21st century, improvements in AAC have subsequently created more authentic and accessible communication.  Programs now contain features that allow the users to "speak" with accents and dialects, connectivity via Bluetooth and communication from device to device have changed the game for AAC.  As educators, AAC permits authentic and meaningful communications between teachers and students as well between students.  Due to AAC, educators can now have a more clear picture of student learning and comprehension, and a better idea of student interests and personality , which serve to optimize learning potential and forge bonds and develop stronger relationships between student and teacher.  In addition, the student is also able to develop deeper connections to their classmates and peers.    

AAC functions to break down barriers in communication, but it also works to break down myths, mysteries and misunderstanding around people that are non-verbal. Until very recently, lacking the ability to communicate via speaking or writing, it was very difficult to truly discern cognitive ability in previously non-communicative people.  AAC has allowed users to remove the mystery and show the world just how much they have to offer.  It allows users to self-advocate and dis-spell any misconceptions surrounding the inability to speak or write with the inability to think and learn.  Despite the fact that their bodies do not function to full capacity, they can be more than capable cognitively.  It gives a voice to the voiceless.  It gives back lives.  

If there was ever any doubt as to the power of assistive technology to give back lives, it would certainly be removed by the powerful video we watched of Tyler's journey.  Assistive tech that was made available to Tyler, such as switch access, motorized wheelchair, and Clicker4, over his years in school, have served to help him flourish academically and socially.  When watching this video, to me, the one piece of technology that seemed vastly enrich his school experience was the Ipad.  By employing direct selection via the tongue, there was a noticeable increase in his ability to engage with peers and curriculum in class with the Ipad (I feel that he has real potential as a DJ in the future!).  As Tyler grows and progresses, advancements in technology will continue to help him reach his full potential.  To me, it further stresses the importance placed on educators to stay abreast of these advancements, to seek out training in this technology and increase awareness of these devices and programs.  In this way, we will be able to work together to provide engaging, meaningful, and authentic learning for all, and have better means of helping all students to achieve their true potential.         

Assistive Technology and the Writing Process

With the nature of this course and the nature of our profession, it is no surprise that when it comes to assistive technology, my focus is often turned to its applicability in the classroom and school settings.  I've considered assistive technology almost exclusively through the educational lens.  The reach of assistive tech extends far past the threshold of the school doors.  Our inspirational video this week was an excellent reminder of how assistive tech can transform lives not only in the educational context, but also in quotidian living.  It empowers and permits scholastic achievement, but it also serves to empower in everyday communications and tasks that are most often taken for granted by the able-bodied.

This video features a women living with ALS who no longer is able to speak or move.  She is, however, able to use assistive technology in the form of Switch Access to power communications through signals activated by a muscle in her jaw to navigate the internet and type on a custom-created keyboard.  This access allows her to communicate effectively with family and friends, to shop and pay bills online, and allows her to continue aiding her husband with his research.  She has used this technology to create a website to share her story, her thoughts and ideas with the world.  In short, this technology has permitted her to continuing living a productive, inclusive life, where merely a few decades ago, it would not have been an option.

Our exploration of the complexities of the Writing Process throughout the evening was eye opening.  Much like the reading process, there are numerous cerebral, visual and motor functions and skills at play every time we attempt to put pen to paper.  As I set to the task analysis for writing, I felt as though I had a better understanding of where to begin identifying the initial steps of the process of writing:  I was prepared to wade slowly out into the pool instead of cannon-balling into the deep end.  However, during our group discussion, I came to realize that I did not fully appreciate just how profound of a task that writing really is: I may have started in the shallow end, but I skipped a few strokes getting to the other end of the pool!  The ability to write is truly a remarkable feat that demands much of the writers attention and energy.  Executive functioning meted out by the frontal lobe is present and firing at every step of the writing process.  With the need for mechanical skills, content skills and sensory integration to all come together to support writing, there are many aspects that are required to sync to allow writing to happen.  And there are also many places for the writing process to break down or go awry. 

I was surprised to learn of the integral role posture and core strength play in the ability to write.  As has occurred so frequently in this course, I have been taking for granted the abilities I possess that allow me to achieve the most simple (or not so simple as it turns out) tasks like penning a letter, or composing a reflection.  After viewing the short view on the OT perspective of the writing process, I have realized that the inability to sit with correct posture, or effectively grip a pencil can not only hinder the physical aspect of writing, but it can a major source of distraction for the writer: instead of focusing their energy on formulating ideas and how they can be expressed, the writer expends a good deal of this energy on maintaining a hold of the pencil or holding themselves in a position to write.  This drastically affects the quantity and quality of the writing produced.

Identifying the location of a break down in the writing process is paramount in selecting the appropriate AT to help students bridge the gap and produce written output.  For certain writers, the correct AT match is Low Tech: most of the options we explore for low tech writing AT promote a helpful grip on the pencil or writing tool.  Writing birds, Pen Again and standard pencil grips were all examples of AT that are affordable, portable and accessible to most students.    

Writing Bird AT for handwriting

         
Pen Again:  Using the Pen Again

Pencil Grips:  Using pencil grips








For others, high tech forms of AT may provide a more appropriate match to the writing need.  For students with motor disabilities and learning disabilities, Co-writer is an excellent platform by which to support the learner with their written output.  Co-writer boasts the strongest word prediction ability among assistive writing programs.  For me, this, combined with its extensive list of topic dictionaries (and the ability to generate topic dictionaries at a mouse-click) peaks my interest greatly and it is easy to envision how this program could aid certain students in my classroom greatly.  However, as the user is required to have a certain level of ability with sight words, this program may not be the best fit for everyone.

Moving forward, I am excited to have learned about Draft builder: an app that helps students who struggle to formulate ideas and to be able to offer this solution to a few of my students who have needs in this area.  I look forward to seeing how the utilization of this app affects the end result of the final product these students are able to produce.  I am also looking forward to learn of more high tech AT solutions that may prove to be a good fit for certain students in my classroom.    

Climbing the Wall: an Inspirational and Motivational Message for All

Climbing the Wall is not a cinematic masterpiece.  It is just under three minutes in length and the recording quality could be described as mediocre.  And it is the most inspiring, touching three minutes that I have experienced in a very long time.

The video features a man with severe gross motor impairment as he embarks on a challenge to climb a rock-climbing wall.  As he began his ascent, it appeared as though he would be able to maybe climb a marker or two up the wall.  What happened next could lift the most leaden of hearts.  Despite the incredible difficulty he was experiencing in placing his hands and feet in the correct positions, his sheer grit and determination propelled him further and further up the wall, to the final few seconds of video, which showed his beaming face as he sat perched atop the wall, to the complete delight of the onlookers and aids.  

We were asked to sum up the video with one word, but in truthfulness, I was left with a feeling that was difficult to describe at all.  To me, this video was a striking reminder of the dangers of pigeon-holing students; placing limitations on them, based on what we think their abilities, or lack thereof, will allow them to do, or prevent them from doing.  It was an inspiring demonstration of the importance of encouraging our students to never refrain from striving for a goal, and of helping our students to develop a sense of commitment and determination so that they will possess grit and resilience no matter which wall they are attempting to climb. 

The evening rounded out with the opportunity to work collaboratively in groups on a document in Google Drive.  There are several features that working in Google docs permits that I find to be incredibly useful in collaborative work.  The most convenient feature that I enjoy, as well as my students, is the ability to have more than one person working on the document at the same time and in real time.  For our group, the chat feature in Google docs allowed us to communicate and work purposefully, as we were in three different locations at the time of collaboration.  As an educator, being able to enter the document and access a log of the updates that were made to the document, as well as the name of the person updating  and times the updates were made, is an invaluable tool that gives much insight as to who was working on what, and how much time each person was spending on task.  Lastly, the automatic save feature eliminates the need for seeking for the correct place or folder to save the document, as well as being terrifically convenient for those who do not make it a habit to save their work routinely.  Google docs are a staple in my classroom diet, and have been very beneficial to my students and also to myself, in the role of both educator and student.   

Compensatory Reading Strategies and Read&Write4Google

When considering how we can best provide an optimal learning experience for all in our classrooms, it becomes clear that in any given classroom, there is a wide variation of strengths as well as needs.  We encourage students to expand upon their strengths while we seek to find the best solutions to meeting their needs in their quest to achieving their educational goals.  We are fortunate that in our 21st century classrooms, we have the advantage of accessing a gamut of increasingly improving technology like never before.  Ipso facto, we have the advantage of providing compensatory strategies to help "level the playing field" for our students like never before.

Read&Write for Google Chrome is an example of advancing technology specifically aimed at students that need extra support for varying reasons to perform academically within the classroom.  Read &Write for Google Chrome is an extension that is downloaded on the Chrome browser.  The features of this program allow students to perform reading and writing tasks along side of their classmates, and because it is not device specific, they can do so using the same devices that their classmates may be using:  special devices are not required, and therefore, is less likely to make a student feel as though they stand out among the crowd in the classroom.  At the grade levels that I teach, students tend to feel particularly vulnerable and sensitive to standing out.  

Read and Write provides a text to speech feature that will read selected text aloud for students.  It also allows the user to to highlight passages in various colours, save highlighted text to a different document allowing the user to pull out key passages and gives users access to a dictionary and photo dictionary to help with particularly troubling words.  It can create a vocabulary list and also users have the option to insert voice notes any section of the text:  ideal for those using the text for test, quiz or project preparation.  These features make this a game changing extension for any student who struggles with reading, including students with dyslexia.  

In my own individual exploration of Read & Write, I found it to be very user friendly and the I found that the possibilities presented within the extension permits students to use as many or as few of the features as required to address a wide variety of needs and abilities.  Even the ability to use a different colour of highlighter aids students in developing organizational skills in their reading.  

Learn more about how to use Read and Write for Google Chrome

I currently have a student using Read and Write for Google Chrome frequently in her classes.  She enjoys using the extension and says it has been incredibly beneficial for her in her classwork.  She has dyslexia which impedes her ability to absorb information as efficiently reading as she can auditorally  and write as quickly as she can formulate ideas, or express her ideas as eloquently as she is able to do orally.  There is a marked improvement in her writing with the use of Read and Write that I have noted since she has commenced using Read and Write in my class.  

As of yet, the main concern for the use of Read and Write for Google in my classroom is language.  Although Read and Write can be used in various other languages, including French, there are many words that Read and Write are as of yet, unable to identify.  When this student uses Read and Write to complete writing assignments, there are many words that incorrect, as the program does not generate the word the student has spoken.  However, as this extension is relatively new, I expect increased and improved languages functions are on the near horizon for Read and Write for Google.

      

Add Read&Write4Google on the Chrome browser by clicking here

   

Assistive Technology and the Reading Process

One of the most satisfying and motivating moments in any educator's career is the "click".  That moment when a student, who has been struggling with a concept, is able to maneuver all of the pieces of their learning into place and suddenly can make sense of the over all picture.  The light bulb is illuminated, it pours light over all and everything seems to now be visible.  These are the moments that drive educators to keep working to their top potential.  They are the moments that define our career.  Being able to see growth in our students, both academically and personally, makes everything worth while.  That was the sentiment created while watching our inspirational video with Aidan and Carter for the evening.  It was a powerful visual image of how assistive technology can foster both academic and personal growth in students.  It was evident that the use of switch and eye gaze technology and well as motorized wheelchairs and upright walkers in the video were working effectively in promoting and developing a stronger independence, stamina and endurance in these two boys.  Subsequently, their personal growth, in their confidence and self-esteem shone through.

Being able to provide students with any assistive technology that they may require to achieve their academic goals is an "iceberg" process.  On the surface, it appears that matching a piece of technology to the needing user is relatively straight forward.  Most of the time, the understanding of the underlying conditions that create the need for assistive technology is a much deeper and more complex process.  One that is necessary to correctly identify the most effective tool to accomplish a task.  This became evident when we began

examining the Reading Process.  When completing the task analysis of the sequential steps of how we read, I immediately jumped in with both feet and began recording the process that I was following while reading the provided text.  What I failed to recognize was that I had launched myself clear of shallow waters and had catapulted directly into the deep end of the pool.  I had not stopped to consider all of the minute yet crucial tasks my brain and body had accomplished to render the reading of the text possible, such as controlling the movement of my eyes to the top left corner of the excerpt to commence the reading, my frontal lobes firing the correct messages to affect executive functioning, employing efficient visual processing.  In short, I had not stopped to consider the deep, intricate recesses of the submerged iceberg: I was foraging around on the surface.  

Reading and making sense of reading is all about brain processing. The act of reading and gleaning meaning from text is decidedly complex.  What was impressed on me the deepest was the utmost importance of pinpointing the location in the reading process that is breaking down when a student is struggling to make sense of text.  If the location can be discovered, a plausible explanation of why it is happening can be formulated.  It is in this way that an effective form of assistive technology can be selected to best suit the needs of the students to eliminate the obstacle that is preventing him or her from gathering information via text.

With the overwhelming amount of choice for reading remediation options, it was enormously helpful to have had a demonstration of those apps that have been proven to be effective in helping students in their quest to develop reading skills and overcome reading obstacles.

Speech Tutor

 

 Speech Tutor was an excellent example of an app that is design to help students develop phonetic awareness by demonstrating the optimal position for the lips, tongue and mouth to create a sound.





Bitsboard

The possibilities presented by Bitsboard are numerous!  This app provides a variety of interactive activities to help the user make connections between phonemes and their letter representatives.  As the number of EAL students increases in our classrooms, this app can prove to be a very effective tool in increasing comprehension when linking oral and written English.





Montessori Crossword

Like Bitsboard, Montessori Crossword is an engaging and interesting way for students to explore the relationship between letters and sounds.










In addition to their appealing, engaging nature, these apps are easily accessible to most students in the classroom and affordable.  These components combined make them a powerful and more feasible alternative to expensive software as we progress into the 21st century, especially in a province such as Nova Scotia, which historically has dealt with a down-turned economy and greater restrictions on educational budgeting.

All of the above mentioned apps are available from the iTunes store:
www.apple.com/ca/itunes/

The Triad of Optimal Learning: UDL, SAMR and Assistive Technology

The introductions and explorations of UDL, SAMR and Assitive Technology continued this week with a series of well organized, thorough and incredibly informative presentations.  As the evening drew to a close, I felt as though my grasp of these three concepts, which will be the cornerstones for the learning in this course, is strengthening and expanding.

Although I have heard of Co-Writer, is it not a program with which I have worked at any great depth.  Our introduction to Co-Writer was an impressive demonstration of the power of assistive technology in the classroom.  The samples of student writing that we examined showed how assistive technology can not only aid students in increasing the volume of the written output, but also the quality of their writing.  The word prediction feature of Co-Writer helps remove barriers that may be preventing students from being able to clearly communicate the message that they are trying to impart.  The support this program provides allows students to focus more on the flow, message and quality of writing without continual distraction or impediment of mechanics and matters of correctness.   The use of this program for certain students promotes greater student success and empowerment.  

UDL

The presentations of UDL this evening ( Dan, Nikki ,Tina and Jean Luc and I), although presented in different formats were both successful in accentuating the importance of diversifying lesson planning and lesson delivery to meet the needs and interests of the students found in the classroom.  They also demonstrated the importance of providing students with multiple means of representation, flexibility in expression and variety in how we engage students.  Tailoring lessons to meet specific needs for students, utilizing means that students find relevant and engaging and allowing students the freedom to personalize their demonstration of their knowledge embodies how UDL affects optimal learning for all.  Learning is not a one size fits all process!  As an added bonus, Dan, Nikki and Jane introduced me as well to Piktochart:  a site used to create infographics and posters.  I can't wait to provide my students with the option to create a Piktochart in upcoming units!

SAMR

The SAMR model, which was presented by Peter, Kate and Jane, is a model designed to assist educators in effectively integrating technology into their teaching.  By this model, educators should strive to incorporate technology that does not just enhance their teaching or lesson delivery (Substitution, Augmentation) but transforms teaching and learning (Modification, Redefinition).  The graphic this group created with the mountain climber ascending a mountain with Substitution at the bottom was a great visual of how we should be working toward Redefinition at the top of the mountain to optimize 21st century learning by maximizing the potential of the technology to which we have access in our classrooms today.   After being introduced to this concept, I have begun reflecting more frequently on the technology that I am implementing in my practice and thinking a little bit more of both why I am using it, and its effectiveness in helping my students in their learning goals.

AT

All three groups that present the basics of AT did an excellent job of breaking down the basics and explaining the concepts related to AT.  So often to me, the term Assistive Technology conjures the images of expensive devices or complicated programs or software to mind.  After listening to these groups present, I now understand that the imagery of which I was thinking strictly falls into a high tech category.  However, Assistive Technology is comprised of 3 different categories: low tech, medium tech and high tech solutions.  Assistive Technology refers to a device or object that helps a person or student accomplish a task that they would not be able to otherwise undertake.  In the classroom, it is meant to assist learning, by helping students overcome barriers and work more quickly, accurately and more purposefully.  Its overall goal is to foster a greater autonomy and empower a greater independence, regardless if it is as simple as a pencil grip or as complex as a software program for a specific device.    

As we continue to examine these concepts in greater detail, I am looking forward to seeing how these 3 concepts blend together to create an accessible and authentic learning experience for all students in all classrooms.