Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Teach K-3?

Free books for K-3 classrooms available on a first come, first served basis from Wilbooks.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

AccuPoint: The New Head Tracker on the Block

InvoTek, Inc. has released a new head tracked designed for individuals with disabilities called the AccuPoint. It is able to ignore tremors and reset itself without extra movements, even if the user leaves the computer. Weighing 9 ounces and compatible with any camera mount the AccuPoint is compatible with Windows XP and higher is InvoTek says they are working with major AAC manufacturers to make it work with work with their systems. The AccuPoint has two integrated switch ports. On the down side is the hideous "cluster of user

worn dots" that the system uses for tracking and the nearly fifteen hundred dollar price tag.

InvoTek also sells voice and sound switches.

Cool Chewy Jewlery

Teething Bling is food safe, phthalate-free, federally-approved silicone jewlery that is designed to be chewed on. It is sold as jewlery and key chains for mom's to wear or carry for their babies to chew on. However I thing that this age appropriate, fashionable jewlery might be great for our pre-teen to adult girls and women with disabilities who need something to chew on that is a little more fashionable and cool than chewy tubes and chewlery. The tan or green camoflage pendants could even be ok for the young men we work with.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

UPDATED

O.K. folks, short and sweet. My interactive whiteboard is likely not to happen. It needs nearly $2,000 in funding in the next three days or the $850 already donated will be redistributed as directed by the donors when they donated. Please, please, please help us out! Thank you.

Update: This project expired unfunded today, July 13, 2008. Thank you to the donors who raised over $900 for this project. Your money was either returned or re-distributed as you choose when you donated.

Although the blog is currently on hiatus due to some health issues on my part (see the post script on the last post) you may still support this blog/my students by donating to any of the Donors Choose Projects below or Adopting My Classroom. About 15-30 hours a week of UNPAID work goes into this blog, donating to a Donors Choose Project or Adopting My Classroom is a great way to express your appreciation.

Oh, and thanks for the tips about the D.I.Y. Wii Whiteboards, I just don't think it will work with learners with such intensive needs, we need things to be a bit more straightforward with a clear cause and effect relationship. I could be wrong, but I think that we will just stick with touchscreen until I find a way to make a SMARTBoard or similar happen.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Extended School Year

During the Summer I have a different role, instead of being a classroom teacher I am the administrator of an Extended School Year program for about 60 learners ages 3-22 with low incidence disabilities. We run five days a week, five hours a day for six weeks in a great camp location. The students are grouped by age and somewhat by homogeneously by ability into nine cabins with a teacher and a 1.5 to 1 student to staff ratio. The students swim/float daily in the pond and have opportunities for boating, fishing and arts and crafts in addition to the usual extended school year fare of (functional) academics, life skills, speech, occupation and physical therapy. We use a summer long theme (this summer is "All About Me"). Some of the older students run a camp store and run for camp mayor and assistant mayor (everybody who runs sits on camp council). Two of our cabins are high tech AAC cabins (at last count there were 11 or 12 dynamic display devices at camp), many of the others use moderate to low tech AAC and two cabins specialize in autism and related disorders. We have a total of five nurses serving our 60 campers this summer. I might be biased, but I think our program is amazing.

That is not to say it isn't with out its glitches.

We have had two Dynavox devices bite the dust in two days of camp, the first day a Dynavox V suddenly had a cracked LCD screen (luckily it is under warranty, unluckily it means a younster is stuck without a voice) and the second day a MiniMo decided it wasn't going to hold a charge and on occassion even turn off spontanesouly when plugged in (so now there are two voiceless youngsters).
I have had to change the swim schedule three times to accomodate nursing issues, therapy times and finally a shoratge of adaptive floatation devices. Changing swim times makes the grown ups very cranky!
Three times I have had to remove trespassers off the property. Kicking adults who should be able to read "No Trespassing" signs out of our camp, especially when they are taking off in our paddle boats makes ME very cranky!
the agency has always relied on me to use my laptop at camp, but this year it is just to broken to carry back and forth, so I brought my old desktop in and guess what happened? It broke today. I guess I will have to carefully bring the laptop with the broken hinge. I have a horrible feeling that by the end of the summer I may have NO computer of my own.

P.S. "something has to give" - I have debated posting this, but since June 6th I have been very ill with pneumonia. I managed to work for a while while I was being treated (I have a very high pain tolerance), but my efforts to keep working and fight it off lead me to miss the last week of school and then to be hospitalized from June 27th until July 1st. I have had three full courses of anti-biotics and am still finishing the fourth. I am also on two different inhaled steroids in an effort to heal my lungs. As a diabetic and someone with rheumatoid arthritis (both auto-immune diseases) I have a compromised immune system. I rarely get ill, but when I do I tend to get very ill. Add to this my sister's death in March, which I took very hard, and I guess my body just could not fight off this bacteria.

Although I now am working at the ESY program I am following doctors orders and only working 30 hours a week and sleeping/resting in bed 12+ hours a day. I may find I am too exhausted to post AND work now that ESY has started, please be patient until I am back on my feet again. I don't want this to drag on any longer than it already has. I definately want this cough, pain and exhaustion to be totally gone in time to go to my best friend's wedding in August and start school in September!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Mount'N Mover

Ever wished it was more possible for your students to move their mounted devices themselves? Blue Sky Designs has created a product to help with that exact thing. Called the Mount'N Mover this universal mount was created with a focus on the user.

The basic idea on the dual arm system is the hoop (that circle looking lever), which can be operated with one hand, is pushed down and the device swings from "in position" to "out of position/out of the way". Up to 12 different positions can be preset from over 1,000 choices of positions. A smaller paddle (the black "V" shaped level over the hoop, allows the angle of the device to be changed. A single arm and tilt only system are also available.

Only 1.5 pounds of force are needed to move the lever and swing the mount. (The Deassy locking swing away mount needs 5 pounds of force.)

The universal mounting plate can be attached to everything from AAC devices to cameras and more. It appears the Mount'N Mover will be carried by Ablenet and Saltillo (eventually). The dual arm system runs just under $1,000.00 and the single arm system runs about $800. The Deassy Positioner Mount, another dual arm (but not accessible like Mount'N Mover) runs about $900.00 and the Deassy Locking Swing Away Mount which is a single arm, accessible system runs about $750.00. Deassy has also announced a new design for a Locking Swing Away Mount to come out this summer. Deassy also carries plates that are compatible with just about every AAC device on the market, Dynavox, PRC, Tango, Tobii and more. I am not exactly clear on how the universal mount on the Mount'N Mover works.

Here are links to the info that is out there about the Mount'N Mover right now:

Hurry!

Okay folks, nine days left on my class's Donors Choose Grant to get an interactive whiteboard!

I want to thank these two donors who gave $111 towards our goal, which means we have raised $722 out of $2,833.

Nicole from Loganville, GA gave on July 3, 2008 who said, "I gave to this project because. I really enjoy reading your teacher's blogs - they are super helpful to me as a teacher. I know she will put this to great use and that you guys deserve it."

Lynda from Oconomowoc, WI gave on July 3, 2008 who said, " I gave to this project because your students deserve it! I appreciate all the information I glean from your blog...it helps me do my job so much better. I hope you are able to obtain full funding for this project! Blessings to you & your kiddos!"

Not to start sounding like NPR, but please call in your pledge now! Better yet, go to Donors Choose and sponsor our grant! Only nine days left or the $722 already raised will be reallocated to other class's projects.

P.S. If your class already has an interactive whiteboard (SMART board or Promethean Board) imagine all the great stuff I can share with you if I have one too! Pitch in to make it happen!