Assistive Technology Blog Carnival

Assistive Technology Blog Carnival #4, Issue: "Grab Bag"
Deadline: June 27 for submissions; Will be up June 30.

The next edition of the AT Blog Carnival, our 4th, will be out on June 30. We are calling for submissions by June 27 from those of you who have blogs and would like to submit a post on AT. This issue is a "grab bag" because we want to open this wide for folks to share whatever they have in their post archive or something new they would like to share on assistive technology. As submissions come in, I will group them as well as I can into categories. So, we want to hear what you have to say. What have you been learning about AT lately? What new gadget has you intrigued? What new area do you think is a frontier in research and development for servicing disability?

Incidental Teaching

One of the best things about my job is the opportunity to build learning into every moment. For example during community based instruction (CBI) we were at WalMart and one of my Down Syndrome/Hearing Impaired students became excited about noticing the hearing aid batteries in the aisle across from the cough drops I was looking at (summer colds are the worst).

"Kate! Kate! I did it!"
"You did what?"
"For my hearing aid!"

I turned around and saw that he had discovered the hearing aid batteries. That lead to discussions about what batteries he uses (the orange ones - we do love universal hearing aid battery color coding), whether or not he needs any right now (not really he has two or three left in the case) and how much they are ($10.99). We then looked for the sign that said "hearing aid batteries" and tried to figure out what section of the store they were in so we could find them again (pharmacy). In the end we spent about 20 minutes on this "incidental teaching" lesson, which I never could have planned to be as instructional as it worked out to be.

Later that day, when I was writing the daily notes home to parents he asked the question he always asks, "What's it say?" I read it to him. Then he said, "What about the hearing aid batteries? I am proud of me."

(Completely unrelated I want to share a funny story. This same student also bought a father's day card today. He chose one with Spiderman on it. Then he re-wrote the Spider-Pig song from the Simpsons Movie, "Spider Dad, Spider Dad, He's my dad, Spider Dad. He's so buff. He helps me out. Spider Dad, Spider Dad. He takes me to Special Olympics. He buys me all the binoculars. Spider Dad, Spider Dad.")

Ask me a yes/no question.

Many of my students have IEP objectives to correctly answer yes/no questions.

One of the many ways I work on this is the yes/no round robin. This is a great "fill in the gap" activity when one lesson ends before it is time to start another. It is also a great activity for this time of year when it is way too hot to actually expect anyone to move! We often discuss that yes.no questions usually start with some version of "can", "do", or "have" as in "could he..., "do they...", "have you" before we begin. Sometimes we compare yes/no to W5/H questions. Yes/no questions is my classrooms favorite fast and easy game after the Super Duper game All About Me, All About You.

We work the yes/no round robin by simply going around the group and having each student answer one yes/no question. Sometimes we keep score, but usually we don't. Asking one question per student from a list makes it very easy to differentiate instruction as the leader can ask each student a question suitable for his or her ability level. A student functioning on a more concrete level might answer a question like, "Is your teacher named Bob?" and another student might be asked, "Is 911 the correct number to call if your brother's feet smell?" while a third might be asked, "Is the automotive section the right part of the store to look for molasses?".

If your grouping is more homogeneous you can write your yes/no questions on cards or Popsicle sticks and have your students draw a question and answer it. Integrating AAC is also simple for this activity. My students answer the yes/no questions using everything from their voices to looking up or down for yes/no, to sign language, to dual sided rocking switches to dynamic display devices.

When more time allows I have also created a board game version of "Ask Me a Yes/No Question!" which I have posted on Yudu for all to download, if you wish, just download and print, line up the edges of the four pages and glue to some poster board, laminate, fine a die and some pawns and play.

Free Resources for Yes/No Questions

• Can Teach (scroll 1/2 way down)

Purchase Resources for Yes/No Questions

• Linguisystems Yes/No Software (Preschool)
• Linguisystems Five Set Book
• Multimedia Speech Pathology
• Just for Adults Yes/No Questions
  

Creating a Summer Book Program

Image via WikipediaSummer reading programs are a staple in schools. They are also often sponsored by local libraries, book stores and other programs. As I have written before such programs can be adapted to our learners. An article on LD Online suggests the possibility of developing a summer listening program for learners with special needs. I love this idea and all of the suggestions on how to do it. From e-books with text-to-speech, to parents reading to children, to downloaded MP3 audio books and audio books from the library on a CD player. Also there are interactive books like Silly Books, TumbleBooks, and Bookflix. (Our local library just added Bookflix to their website.)

Sites and Articles about Summer Book Programs

• Reading Rockets Getting Ready for Summer
  
• Adolescent Literacy Summer Learning for Teens
• Develop a Summer Listening Program from LD OnLine
• Summer Reading Article from Don Johnston
  

Where to Find Summer Book Programs (There is no reason a student with a disability should not be able to count books listened to instead of read)

• Active Bodies Active Minds Reading Challenge
• Barnes and Nobles
  
• Book It Brain Food Program
• Scholastic Summer Reading Buzz
• Reading Warriors
• Your school
• Your local library
• Your local book store
  

Free Recorded Books for Those with Disabilities

• Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic
• Bookshare
  

Download Audiobooks

• Audible Kids $$$
• Audible$$$
• Audiobooks for Free
• Lit2GO MP3 Stories
• Literal Systems Free Audiobooks
• Loud Lit
• Story Nory
  

Electronic Interactive Books

• Tumblebooks ($ubscription, many libraries offer)
• Bookflix ($ubscription, many libraries offer)
• Silly Books
• RAZ Kids ($ubscription)
• Kid Thing (purchase individual books)
  

Websites to Share with Parents

• Reading is Fundamental Reading as a Family

Worksheets

• Free Audio Thought Worksheets from Don Johnston
  

Two Free Online Book Sites For Kids

Lookybook and Big Universe have recently been featured on a few other education blogs. Both allow you to read commercially published children's books online for free. Both allow you to position your switch over the "turn page" button to create single switch access.

However, Big Universe, seems to me to be a little ad heavy and some of the books took forever to load, yet it offers a feature to create your own online books.

Maybe next there will be cell phone picture books for us?

Free Web Browser for Learners with Autism

The ZAC (Zone for Autistic Children) Web Browser was created by a grandfather for his gandson who has autism. It is designed to go beyond other "kid's browsers" which act as "walled garden's and limit what web sites children can see; it also stops unneeded keyboard buttons from working, takes care to have plenty of content related to areas of interest with autism.

Related articles

• Grandpa Builds Web Site for Autistic Boy [via Zemanta]

End of the Year Project

Image via WikipediaHere in the USA the school year is almost over (15 more days in our building). We will be sending our students off to extended school year programs, summer camps, and in some cases new teachers, new schools or adult services for the next school year. One end of the year project we can complete that is both fun and meaningful is communication and/or transition passports. If that type of project seems too big for the end of the year a one page "All About Me" to pass on may be just right!

Communication and transition passorts are one to several page booklets done in a low, high tech or mixed media format that gives current and future communication partners and caregivers information about the individual with disabilities. You can focus only on communication in a communication passport or the whole child in a transition passport. The communication passport focuses on all means of communication the individual may use from eye gaze and gestures to set-up and trouble shooting an AAC device. Meanwhile a transition passport features everything from feeding and hygiene to what to do in an emergency and what is calming or upsetting to the individual.

Here are some links to give you more information and even templates and samples:

All About Me

• All About Me under 8
  
• All About Me 8-11
• All About Me Template Ages 11+

Communication Passports and Transition Portfolios

• Personal Communication Passports
• Communication Passport Template (PDF)
• AACPC Communication Passports and Samples
• Communication Passports Slide Show
• CALL CENTRE Passport Example
• Introduction to Communication Passports Article
• Transition Portfolio
• The Transition Portfolio
  

Also this is a book for about thirty dollars about transition portfolios/