As an Assistive Technology Coordinator for 5 school corporations, I get around. Recently when I stopped to look back at the end of a school day I realized that I had:
*been in 5 different schools
*worked with 8 different students/teachers using speech generating devices
*watched as a student with severe physical disabilities seemed to really get how to use auditory and visual scanning on his communication system
*witnessed a student with severe behavior and communication challenges due to Autism use an iPod Touch for the first time to play games.
We all have busy days. When I looked back at the end of this day, I didn't stop and think about how busy I'd been or how tired I was: as corny as it sounds, I thought about how lucky I am to be able to see the progress that these students are making with their communcation. Though their challenges are great - at the end of the day -these kids are kids who want to play and learn and grow. Thankfully, we have the technology,interventions, dedicated teachers, therapists and parents to make it possible.
