Addicted to my iPod

Hello, My name is Beth Waite and I have an iPod Touch Addiction. I spend hours on iTunes looking for apps that will meet needs of students with disabilities - and there are so many amazing ones out there! My new favorite is called "Look2Learn" and it is simple communication app for a nonspeaking person. Priced under $25.00, it allows you to load your own symbols and photos representing desired activities and record your own voice. What is so great about this app is that is simple and straightforward - perfect for beginning communicators. Don't forget, with an iPad or iPod Touch you need an external mic - I found a great mic cord on Amazon that plugs into the ear buds you get with your iPod so that you have a mic and earphones all in one - for about $8.00!

You can come to my next iPod University workshop August 3rd for more tips and tricks for using ipod touch, iphone, ipad as assistive technology for people with disabilities.

I wanna iPad!

They call geeks who stay up hours before a product comes out, waiting in the rain and crowds, just to be among the first to get their hands on a new tech gadget "early adopters". I'm a middle adopter - I usually wait until those early adopters figure out the bugs, write indepth reviews and posts, then a revised version comes out, and I grab that one. With Apple, its a given that even the first run item is golden. I want to see how the iPad looks with augmentative communication apps - see how our students with special needs can access the larger screen. Every day, I'm hearing amazing stories about students of all abilities using iPod apps for communication, learning, and more. The demand for this kind of training continues to be out there - as evidenced by the great response to my two upcoming iPod trainings later this month. Someone needs to make a big enclosed speaker case for the iPad to protect it and increase the volume. Just the other day I got two more of these cases for 15 bucks for the iPod Touch.

It's too late to be an early adopter....but maybe I'll speed up my usual techno pace and grab the next iPad I see.

All In A Day's Work

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.

Teach Language With AAC

I have several young students who are learning to communicate using speech generating devices. Some of these students are using devices from Prentke-Romich. The icon symbols called Minspeak are used to represent multi-meaning words and phrases. I've used Minspeak symbols since the late 1980's when I had my first AAC student who was 4 and used a Touchtalker. Back then kids, before computers, we had to cut, copy, and paste icons on paper or notecards to make teaching materials. Today, PRC has a great link on their website called AAC Language Lab - it has tons and tons of ready to go materials to teach Unity, the language organization method used in PRC devices. I've found this a great time saver and amazing tool for teachers. Even if you aren't working with students using Minspeak icons, there are still great reasources for language development and teaching communication skills. Check out the stages of language development that can guide parents, teachers, and clinicians in how to introduce concepts.

Go to www.prentrom.com to see this and more!

Wii in Special Education

We started our Wii project this month at one of my highschools. It has been amazing to watch! The students, who have moderate or severe cognitive disabilities (some physical disabilities also) have taken the Wii challenge and are cleaning up. Each student made their individual "mii" character - a cartoon likeness of him or herself complete with appropriate glasses, hair, etc. This was a great way to learn how to use the Wii remote to access items. We are playing this game as a part of our students' adapted physical education class. Some of the kids have played the game before, but most have not. The first day we introduced playing tennis, one of our students with severe autism who is minimally verbal got the highest score! Another student(who has cerebral palsy, is nonverbal, and has limited arm movement) was able to return several serves and got 15 points. By hooking the Wii to a projector and showing it on the wall of the gym we make the image lifesize. It is also incredible to see the patience that the students have when they are waiting for a turn - these are students who have great difficulty transitioning between tasks. We are watching for the reactions of the students who have severe physical and cognitive deficts. Even though they made need hand over hand assistance, the kids are smiling and visually attending to the action. We are investigating adapting the Wii remote for switch use to give these students more options. More updates later!

There's an App for that...

The iPod Touch and iPhone are amazing assistive technology tools. There are many free applications as well as ones that cost as little as $10.00 all the way to $150.00 that can be use for communication and visual schedules. Proloquo2Go is a full-feature AAC software available for approximatley $150.00. It has a large library of symbols, natural sounding speech, functions of language for sentence construction, and typing view for typing paragraphs. On the other end, there is iConverse, a $10.00 program that lets you load your own photos (or screen shots of Boardmaker symbols) and assign text to the symbol that can be spoken aloud. The speech is more robotic sounding and there is less flexibility for programming, but it is $10.00 and it is a nice beginning step. Or, this is a great option for someone who needs visual prompts or schedules or a portable communication system so they dont' have to carry a larger device around in the community. I'm using this as an evaluation tool for my students before investing in additional applications. One of the snags I've run into with the iTunes store is their complete unwillingness to deal with tax exempt purchases. Public schools are tax exempt; however after lenghty discussion with many people at iTunes (from phone calls to online chats and emails)it is apparent that they don't understand or want to provide their products to tax exempt organizations. My last interaction with them ended with the statement "our products are designed for personal end use only". - I guess that means they don't want to sell to businesses, agencies, schools? Be creative and find a way around it, it's worth it.

How Many Crayons Are In Your Box?

I like the smell of crayons. No matter how old I am I always have an urge to buy a box of new crayons at the beginning of the school year. And not just the 24 colors - but the great big box with the built-in sharpener. I remember if you had that box as a kid, you were livin' large. These were essential tools in early elementary. While I didn't run out and buy crayons this year, I have been very fortunate to be able to add to my essential tools by purchasing new assistive technology equipment with the Education Stimulus Funds made available to public schools. This has included many useful items that will benefit students of all ages and abilities. There are so many items out there it can be overwhelming to choose. Parents and professionals alike often ask advice on what to purchase. For schools interested in AAC, I suggest looking at www.aactechconnect.com. Debby McBride, CCC/SLP, and her group offer a variety of tools for matching devices with features students need. They list all the major devices and comparison charts. Now, I think I may have to run out and look for crayons...I wonder if they make crayon-scented candles?