Journal 8 Adaptive Technology

Adaptive Technology

Communication 

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) refers to all forms of communication apart from actual oral communication. AAC refers to communication that expresses the thoughts, needs, wants, and ideas of individuals. We use AAC when we make facial expressions and body or hand gestures, and also when we use symbols or pictures, even when we write. 

People with severe speech or language disabilities rely on AAC to help them communicate more fully. There are many types of special augmentative aids available to help these individuals express AAC. I’ve researched several of them but here are a few I found to be particularly interesting

An extremely low tech AAC aide option is a laser pointer attached to glasses. A person with extreme physical and/or speech disabilities who still has control of their neck and head movements can use the laser pointer on a chart across from them to help them communicate. The chart could have letters, commonly used words and terms, or pictures on it. Many severe to moderate special education classes have students who are unable to properly articulate their speech who also have certain physical disabilities that prevent them from being able to write as well. Communication for these individuals is severely limited. A device as simple as a laser pointer and a chart on the wall could give these students the ability to participate more in their classes and communicate with those around them.

A high tech AAC aide option is the Smart/128. The Smart/128 is a multi-level communication device. This device features a high tech grid display with interchangeable keyguards and visual scene capabilities. You record messages onto the grid associate with the visual images and the speech-impaired individual can then communicate easily by pressing the buttons associated with the message they want to convey. This device comes with an interchangeable flash card and overlay recognition to further add versatility to the device. It is expensive at about $1,185 dollars but if a school is able to afford this device they can provide their speech-impaired students with a great resource to add them with communicating with their teachers and fellow students. 

 

Assessibility

Input Devices

Input devices give individuals with special needs access to using a computer or electronic device. Input devices can be hardware or software related.

 

One hardware option I researched was the TM4 Mini. The TM4 Mini is an eye tracking device that you mount onto your computer. The device tracks the user’s eye movements and translates that into movement of the computer mouse on the screen. Staring at a button for a length of time equals clicking the mouse button. This device helps individuals with disorders and disabilities like ALS, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and spinal cord injury use a computer without any outside assistance. Helping them become more independent. A device like this would help students with these issues use a computer on their own to do homework, research, play games, search the web and more. 

 

A software option I researched was the Grid 2 program. The Grid 2 is a software package that allows people with limited speech function to use a computer as voice output communication aide. The Grid 2 also accepts input from switches, headpointers, touchscreen, mouse, and other options. This software is similar to what Steven Hawking uses to vocally communicate with people. In a classroom setting this software gives an individual with speech impairment the ability to vocalize what they want to. It also allows people to communicate via symbols through symbol chat and via text through text chat.

Click on these links to view posts on Adaptive Technology that I've commented on:

Julio's 422 Experience

Raihanna Siddiq Ed422

Jo422nne

 

Journal 7 PLN

Journal 7 (Personal Learning Network)

A PLN or Personal Learning Network is an online network for members of a website to gather information from and learn from others. I created several different PLN’s by utilizing Twitter, Diigo, Facebook, Wikis, blogs, and forums. These PLN sources allow me to connect with other educators and learn from them. It also gives me the chance to share my own ideas or resources. This will help me as a teacher because it will keep me connected with what is new in education and will provide me with places to reach out to when I need help or advice on something.

To build my Personal Learning Network I’ve started following several new persons involved in the field of education on my Twitter account. I am now following Jerry Blumengarten @cybraryman1 (educator and writer), Lisa Dabbs @teachingwthsoul (Educator consultant, former principal, and founder of #ntchat), Larry Ferlazzo @Larryferlazzo (Inner-city High School teacher), Rocco Versaci @rocco_versaci (English professor and writer), and Jeffery Heil @jheil65 (Educator and Google certified teacher).

Click HERE to take a look at some of the great educational resources I've recently used Twitter to share and explanations of why I found them to be worth sharing.

I’ve also started using Diigo, an online social bookmarking site, to build up my PLN. Diigo allows me to easily bookmark websites I find interesting and also to share those sites with others. It also allows me to search through sites that others have deemed worthy of note. Another great thing about Diigo is that it has provided me access to a new community of educators and education interested groups. I have added several people involved in education to my Diigo network. Including Vicki Davis, Rich Kiker, Shelly Terrell, Mary Beth Hertz, Dean Shareski all of whom I found through Professor Jeffery Heil’s own network on Diigo. I choose to follow these particular individuals because they all have posted very interesting sites about education, learning, and technology. Through a Diigo community search I found several very helpful sites that gave me tips on how to further build up my personal learning network and I tagged them as PLN in my Diigo library:

• PLN: Your Personal Learning Network Made Easy which is an article on WordPress that gives an excellent description of what a PLN is and how useful they can be.
• 5 Things You Can Do To Begin Your Personal Learning Network a blog post from The Innovative Educator Blog Site. The post gave five simple easy to follow tips on building my PLN.
• Creating a Personal Learning Network with Web 2.0 Tools, a Google site that provides a wonderful plethora of PLN links to explore.

I also became a member of the Educator's PLN, which is a public networking site in which you can add your own content and view others. You can also participate in forums and online chats. The site is full of videos, articles, and discussions about education, learning, and teaching. One of the video’s I recently viewed and found enlightening was a video by Rick Wormeli entitled “How Much Should Homework Count?” I’ve given this topic a lot of thought recently and believe that often homework is just assigned as busy work and can be detrimental to a student’s academic achievement. This video confirms and elaborates on that opinion in a very articulate fashion. Wormeli suggests that homework should be referred to as “practice” because that is what it is. Practice of the content learned in class. He argues that because homework is practice, it should not be counted heavily against the student’s overall grade; because the grade should only reflect the level of student achievement in understanding the standards taught. He suggests that homework should count for 5% or less of the students overall grade. I found his argument to be very interesting and it has given me much to think about in terms of how much I should make homework worth in my own classroom.  

I look forward to continuing to grow my PLN and connecting with more educators around the world.