Module 4

Chapter 14 Focus Questions

1. How can assisitive technology serve as a reasonable accommodation for students with disabilities in college?

        AT can be used to help college students during classes and testing situations and in completing assignments.
- a student is unable to take notes they may use a SmartPen to record lectures.
- student that cannot hear or understand lectures may be given a Sign language interpreter
- students that need to asscess the internet can be provided screen maghifications, screen reading, or text-to-speech applications.

5. How can apps for the iPhones, iPod Touch, and other handheld devices be used to provide visual supports for students with severe disabilities?

        Visual supports can make use of any of the symbol systems such as line drawings or tacile symbols. Visual supports can be created by taking digital photos of the actual student in each environment or completeling each step in an activity. (Example: Sample talking picture schedule, created with the iPrompt app.)

Module 4

 Chapter 12 Focus Questions

 

3. What type of strategies can teacher use to overcome “learned helplessness”?

      Teachers should allow the student to make his/her own choices whenever possible. Doing this will allow the child to use the augmentative communication system.

      Teachers can build a daily expectation of communication through specific activities.

      Teachers can create a brief report and have the child communicate this to the parents on a daily basis.

      Teachers should allow natural consequences to occur and also provide avenues for repair.

4. How can augmentative communication be integrated into the IEP?

      The students’ academic goals and objectivies should assume that his or her participation and evaluation will be achieved through the use of the augmentative communication system. Augmentative Communication evaluations should be component of the program development process and must be carefully considered for all nonspeaking students.

 

5. Why is it important to support the use of augmentative communication systems at home and in the community?      

      Family is a large and crucial importance in this type of process. The development of augmentative communication between school and home is critical and can impact the success of the student. Using the systems in other places will reinforce the communication skills learned in school and will help generalize them in other settings.

6. How can a students’ augmentative communication system be designed to meet the communication demands of home and the community?

      At home the students’ training should be provided to the family. The entire family should always be included in the evaluation of the process. School personnel must also provide direct instructions to parents.

In the Community, teachers, specialists and anyone that is one board with the students case should be included. When placed in a particular setting, the devices can be programmed to ask specific questions, and guests can answer them. This will allow the child to interact with people other than direct family members.

Module 4

Chapter 5 Focus Questions

3. What key questions should be considered when selecting educational apps to meets students’ goals and objectives?

Key questions that are considered are the following:

            What is the intended outcome of the use of the educational application? For example, is it meant to strengthen math skills in problems solving or is it meant to build speed and accuracy with basic math facts.

            Is the educational application likely to fulfill its stated purpose? For example, if the stated purpose of the activity is to build problem- solving skills, does it provide the explanatory feedback needed to do so or simply assess whether or not problems are solved correctly?

            Can the educational application be used as an alternative to traditional classroom activities to enhance students’ participation? For example, will students learn as effectively using online math manipulatives as they would using traditional manipulatives.

 

4. What kind of educational applications can be used to address automaticity/ math fact fluency?

            FASTT Math(Fluency and Automaticity through Systematic Teaching with Technology) is one application that helps students acquire math fluency. The program measures response time and will provide the student with work at their level (this level is based on their response time). The goal is to strengthen the memorization of facts so students do not have to rely on counting.

            Timez Attack (Big Brainz) is an application that has high tech video games which focus solely on multiplication (2-12 times tables).

            Arcademic Skill Builder is a program designed to enhance automaticity in addition and subtraction, multiplication, division, integers, fractions, and ratios. The games are designed to be played by 1-4 players online. The speed of the game can be controlled (slow, normal, fast) so the player can work at his/her own level.

 

5. What kinds of technology tools can be used to address visual-spatial or motor control difficulties?

            Virtual Pencil (VP) is software that is geared toward students who have difficulty operating a pencil effectively. This program allows students to solve problems that are similar to holding a pencil. The application offers speech feedback (for blind students), and tutorial mode (the “tutor” tells the students where they are in the problem, and which steps need to be done).

            Virtual Pencil (VP) Algebra includes most of the features VP has, but uses terminology such as square root of, quantity squared, and exponent.

            Number Navigator is a math processor that creates mathematics expressions and equations. This is a free program and it also has features to change color font, and font size.

 
6. What kinds of educational applications can be used to teach math concepts, math skills, and problem solving?

            National Library of Virtual Manipulatives

            Computing Technology for Math Excellence

            Internet 4 Classrooms

            Conceptual Math

            Virtual Laboratories in Probability and Statistics

7. What kinds of loew tech and mid tech adaptations can assist students with disabilities in completing math assignments?

 

For a Low tech device, Onion Mountain Technology  markets fraction rubber stamps, a manipulative number line, laminated addition and multiplication tables, and a special rulers that has transparent overlays to help students understand relationships between units of measure

 

For a Mid Tech Devices, The coin abacus and coin-u-lator contains keys that take the shape and size of coins. They are designed to teach basic money and counting skills

 

Module 3 / Web Resources

Below are multiple web resources that can and are used for Asisstive Technology


Writing Process

http://www.readwritethink.org

Even the most experienced, talented writers do not create quality writing by picking up the pen only once. Well-written material is an accumulation of 5 writing steps: pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing and presenting. Often times the writer has to return to a previous stage to change or develop.  Some ways for teachers to teach the writing process is to use technology. The website above is beneficial for students with reading and/or writing problems or typical students. These types of websites are very organized and have many different resources.  The website includes lesson places, interactive activities, mobile apps and printouts.

Graphic Organizers

http://www.inspiration.com

For visual mapping, outlining, writing and making presentations, use Inspiration® 9, the ultimate thinking and learning tool. Brainstorm ideas, structure your thoughts and visually communicate concepts to strengthen understanding with the Diagram and Map Views. To take notes, organize information, and structure writing for plans, papers and reports, use the integrated Outline View to focus on main and supporting ideas and to clarify thinking in written form. With Inspiration's Presentation Manager, transform your diagrams, mind maps and outlines into polished presentations that communicate ideas clearly and demonstrate understanding and knowledge.

http://www.matchware.com/en/products/mindview/education/examples.htm

MindView provides you with detailed curriculum-aligned templates for Language Arts, the Sciences, and Social Studies. These allow you to implement MindView easily in the classroom or at home. The templates can be copied, edited, customized and saved. These curriculum-friendly templates are supported by several hundred high quality clipart images that have been specifically created to match the templates.

Word Processing for Drafting

http://www.ldresources.org/?p=171

The LD Resources web site has been providing information for people with learning disabilities and people who work with people with learning disabilities since 1995. It started as a place for Richard Wanderman (site founder) to share handouts with people in digital form and since then has grown to include hundreds of articles by Richard and dozens of other authors on all aspects of learning disabilities. The site now contains lists of tools, schools, organizations and professionals and other resources for the LD community as well as new articles and commentaries.

http://www.donjohnston.com/products/write_outloud/index.html

The DonJohnston website is useful for many different language subjects, reading, writing and phonics. Their “Wordmaker” supports students at their own individual pace and provides enrichments practice in the essential reading and spelling skills that have impact. Talking word processors are great for students with reading and writing disabilities.

Word Prediction

http://www.goqsoftware.com

Whether installed on a single computer in school, at home, at work, or on all computers in an organization, users get the best of both worlds to address their unique challenges in reading and writing. For many, learning to write and then learning to write well is a huge anxiety driver, enough so that students refrain from practicing to write altogether. If unaddressed, many business professionals will carry the same anxiety into the office when writing something as simple, but important, as an email. The combination of wordQ+speakQ enables all individuals to develop stronger reading, writing and proofreading habits.

http://www.cricksoft.com/us/products/tools/writeonline/default.aspx

WriteOnline is the innovative writing tool for schools and colleges. Word prediction, great quality speech, and the unique Wordbar help students of all abilities to achieve their full potential. The product works by predicting the words as you type, making sure the words fit the context. This can help improve student confidence and success rate! This product could be beneficial for many different kinds of learners, especially learners who have difficulty with writing, spelling, grammar, and poor handwriting.

Speech Recognition

http://www.nuance.com/dragon/index.htm

Dragon Speech Recognition Software makes it wasier for anyone to use a computer. You talk, and it types. Use your voice to create and edit documents or emails, launch applications, open files, control your mouse, and more. Quickly and easily capture your thoughts and ideas while Dragon helps you get more done faster. All that is needed is a computer and a high-quality microphone.

 http://www.goqsoftware.com/product-details/speakq/

SpeakQ can be used to write short assignments or longer assignments. The SpeakQ plug-in 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 It offers suggestions for words you have difficulty pronouncing. It train its voice recognition to understand your voice, with no reading required.

Text-to-Speech

http://nextup.com/TextAloud 3 is Text to Speech software for the Windows PC that converts your text from MS Word Documents, Emails, Web Pages and PDF Files into natural-sounding speech. You can listen on your PC or create audio files for use on iPods, iPhones, and other portable audio devices. TextAloud 3 even has automatic iTunes syncing. It saves time and get more done by listening while you exercise. It helps those with dyslexia or other reading disabilities improve reading and comprehension by listening to text while viewing it. Business people, students at all levels, writers, lawyers, second language learners, and more find TextAloud 3 to be an essential tool they use daily

  
Phonetic Dictionaryhttp://www.donjohnston.com/products/write_outloud/index.html 

SPELL-2  is part of the Write:OutLoud, it is the only spelling assessment tool that determines why a student misspells words and recommends the type of word study instruction needed to improve spelling and decoding skills. Students receive targeted, individualized goals for instruction that have been proven to improve both spelling and reading performance. SPELL-2 makes data-driven recommendations for instruction in five key areas:

·         Phonological awareness

·         Phonics

·         Vocabulary

·         Word parts and related words

·         Mental images of words