Overall Class Reflection

I thought this course was practical and hands-on, but there were too many topics that were covered for the time allowed. Except for the IPod Touches, we did not have very much time with any topic.

For the next course, I would recommend less topics to be covered, or expand the time frame of the course.

And, of course, the room SUCKED!

Dya 12 - Inspirational video about childhood blindness

When I selected child blindness as the basis for my inspirational video, I thought it would be easy to select a video that inspires. It wasn't!

This video talks about a teenager named Ben who is blind, but has amazing aim when throwing a pillow! He does not use a cane to get around, but a technique called echolocation, which is the same thing bats use. He makes clicking sounds with his tongue to determine where objects are in space.

Day 11 - Technological Help & Low Tech AT Inventions

Today we had a 'tech day' where if we were having challenges using BoardMaker + we could ask either Barb or our peers for help. I found this to be extremely useful, because the BoardMaker assignment took a lot longer than I had planned, so I really needed those few hours to work on the assignment.

I also learned how to import pictures from the internet to use instead of the program's symbols. The adaptive book I created was on voting, and the political system of Canada. So when I mentioned Darrall Dexter and Stephan Harper, I have an actual picture of them!

The last hour of class we were presenting our low tech inventions. There is a lot of things that you can use for Assistive Technology at the dollar store. All a person has to be is creative!

Here is a video I found that has some more great ideas for Assistive Technology. It is a mixture of low, mid, and high tech devices.

Assignment 3: Low Tech Assistive Technology

This assignment was the most challenging of them all! I'm not creative, and we had to think of things from the Dollar Store that we could create and adapt for Low Tech AT. We did alright, though.

Task A – Right off the Shelf

Elizabeth and I deal with many students who have difficulty with organization and memory. The students who always lose things or spend class time looking for something (Oh I don't have an eraser or a pencil) The student with the book bag that is overflowing with paper stuffed in it and when working on a test say “Oh it is on the tip of my tongue, I just can't remember the details”. They may or may not have an LD. We went into the dollar store with these students in mind.

We decided on an organizer to help keep students vocabulary organized or to store their cognitive cue cards. We found a picture album that would be a great way to store these items. They would no longer have to shuffle through the cards and loose track of where they started, or have one accidentally fall on the floor while using them. They can organize the album into subjects or have one for each subject. Colour is also very important for students who have difficulty with organizing. They have them with more pages as well but we thought the 2 cards per page layout worked well for vocabulary. They can cover up either the word or definition to quiz themselves.

Milieu – They can use it at school or at home.

Personality – Student has trouble keeping track of things and time management, wants to improve habits to be more successful at school. Has used cue cards for studying vocabulary before.

Technology – easily portable, lightweight, does not make student look different from others

Task – organize and help with studying and memory deficits

Time – instead of writing vocabulary onto looseleaf they can do it on cue cards and will spend less time routing through book bag looking for the cards.

Task B – Creating your own AT

Keeping the student in task A in mind we went in search of something we could create to help keep them more organized. We came up with a couple of ideas. One was to take dividers and use construction paper to create a pocket to hold the handouts for that subject in it. This way the student does not have to open up the rings on their binder but simply place it in the folder. They can still see the page, can easily flip through to the one the teacher is asking for. This is instead of stuffing it into their book bag at the end of class and getting lost. Then we thought about an even worse habit we would like to help a student with: Coming to class with nothing to write with!! We found a small garden tool belt that we changed by sowing a bit of the strap together so that it would clasp around the front cover of the binder. We then velcroed the pockets shut so nothing would fall out and labeled each pocket. The student will now have all their pencils, pens, highlighters and erasers at their disposal for working in class. It is not easy to lose because it is attached to the binder. It won't make then stand out to other students and it is easy to use.

Melieu: in school, in any class.

Personality: student has difficulty organizing things and is always losing things. Knows they need to have their supplies for class but always seems to come to class unprepared. Has tried other suggestions but they have not seemed to work.

Technology: a device that stays with the binder to hold and organize the supplies needed to be successful in class.

Task: to have all supplies needed for class to do the tasks assigned by the classroom teacher

Time: student will now be able to focus on the task they are assigned instead of looking for something to write with.

                                            Task C: Ten other low AT at the dollar store:

1. Coloured dividers
2. Colored sticky tabs
3. Post it notes
4. Coloured magnetic clips for organizing locker
5. Pencil grips
6. Calculator with large buttons
7. Magnetic picture frame (could be used on whiteboard to show a picture of lesson topic)
8. Roll on glue tape – for students who have a hard time using liquid glue or a roll of tape, this rolls on
     much like liquid paper
9. Balloons for gym class
10. Paper clips for students' zippers

Day 10: Introduction to BoardMaker

BoardMaker + was a lot of fun, but it took a while to get to know how to use it. But once I did, I found it a beeze! I even learned how to upload pictures, so I have a picture of Stephan Harper and Darrell Dexter in my adaptive book (my book is for social studies).

Here is a video of how BoardMaker + works:

Day 9: Answers to class questions on switches

Barb, our professor, asked us to post answers to the following questions on our blog, so here they are:

What is a switch?
                o Is a mechanical device that closes a electrical circuit to complete the circuit that
                    replaces any action that a person would normally do

Who uses switches?
                o People who have limited or no movement

Why do people use switches?
                o Allows people to access devices which they would normally not have access to

List the selection criteria in selecting a successful switch.
               o Position
                            • if the switch is not positioned right, unable to use switch effectively
                            • OT and PT helps determine this
               o Movement Pattern
                           • requires a consistent, voluntary movement
                           • key is to select switch to accommodate movement
                           • person must be able to operate switch with minimal fatigue
               o Control Site
                           • where on body person wants switch to go
                           • the hand is usually the control site
                           • more motor involved (uncontrolled movement) a person is, the less likely    
                             that the Control Site is the hand