Thursday, August 18, 2011

AAC Advocacy

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Monday, August 15, 2011

Android Apps for Our Kids

iPods and iPads are slowly facing more and more competition from Android and Windows.  As that happens there are more options on those platforms for AAC-related and other apps for individuals with severe or multiple special needs.  Here are a few to get you Android users started:

Augmentative and Alternative Communication
  • AAC Speech Buddy, $27.99, uses the free Mulberry Symbol Set, 12 TTS voices and online management
  • Discover My Voice, $50.00, uses photos and TTS or recorded voice
  • Free AAC, speech output from screen full of proprietary symbols, free
  • iAugCom, $4.99, uses white on back communication icons
  • JABTalk,$9.99, uses photos and recorded speech
  • LangLearner Speaker, free, text based only, TTS, low quality voice
  • myVoice AAC, free but costs to increase vocabulary, complex vocabulary sets, uses photos, high quality TTS voices, GPS allows automatic location based board changes
  • My Voice, My Words, TTS with clip art images arranged in grids, $10.23
  • TapTalker, TTS using an adapted keyboard, $3.23
  • TapToTalk, free but upgrade costs $99.95 a year, uses included icons or user photos, TTS with subscription
  • Touch and Go, free, uses photos and TTS
  • Vocal Slides,free, a flip through photo slides and touch to make them speak
  • Voice4U, $29.99, uses proprietary icons or user taken photos
Visual Supports

  • Activity Timer, $.99, visual countdown timer 
  • AutiPlan, free for basic version, uses Screla Icons (black on white images) works with the AutiPlan software
  • Autism Turn Taker, $3.99, uses visual prompts to teach/supports turn taking
  • Easy Kid Timer, $1.00, A visual countdown timer that then gives a visual prompt to do what is next, also includes a photo cropper
  • Model Me Going Places, free, social stories to support children in situations like going for a haircut
  • myPrompts, $1.61, use photographs to create visual schedules, offer choices or use with the built in count down timer
  • Visual Auditory Primer Pro, $.99, visual timer

ABA/Data Collection

  • Behavior Status, free, track behavior, graph and be able to show a child is their behavior is red, yellow or green
  • Behavior Tracker Pro,$29.99 , track multiple behaviors for multiple individuals using many intervention designs (ABC chart, intervals, audio/video recording, etc) and graph data (also integrates with the Behavior Tracker software if you have it)
  • Easy Kid Tokens, free, set up a "I am working for..." sentence and number of tokens to be earned and use as a reward board
Other
  • Kid Mode, free, games, stories and more for kids
  • Synapse Apps, $7.99-$29.99, apps for SLPs
  • WebTeam Corportation offers 10 Android apps for children with autism that use principles of ABA to teach skills
  • Vizzle Player, free, if you use Vizzle in your school this free player app works with the Honeycomb OS to offer mobile access
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Friday, August 12, 2011

That Hurts!

It was 1999 and Danielle was a ten year old with cerebral palsy who was non-speaking and non-ambulatory.  Although she would soon have a defined yes/no we weren't there yet.  She lay on a mat in my classroom in the city and cried.  We tried music, favorite toys, hand lotion and massage and even scolding her to stop.  She didn't.  Finally I verbally listed body parts to her from the toes up touching each one and she stopped crying when I said "do your thighs hurt?"  Two days later we have confirmation of a femur fracture from previously undiagnosed brittle bones.  I filed away the memory of connection between the unusual behavior and the student being in pain.

In 2004 in a classroom for high school students in rural New England a young man, Chuck, with multiple disabilities including spastic quadriplegia, communication impairment and hearing impairment refused to transfer from his manual wheelchair into his power chair.  We argued, I insisted and he went off to his job in the community.  The next day the refusal to transfer chairs happened again.  Danielle came to mind and I asked if he was in pain.  He nodded.  It turned out his seat cushion had popped, all the gel had leaked out and he was sitting on a metal plate.  I again filed away the memory of the connection between unusual behavior and pain.

Recently, in a classroom nearly 60 miles from that classroom in rural New England another young woman with profound, multiple disabilities was crying every day, during every transfer and every slight shift in positioning.  She was unable to indicate in any way what the tears were about.  A few days passed and some people questioned if the behavior was manipulation.  Danielle and Chuck entered my mind and I asked the nurse if we could try giving her some Tylenol just to rule out pain.  The next morning we did just that and to our thrill not a tear was shed all day and for the first time in weeks the student was able to participate in active PT exercises! 

I wish there was some way I could thank Danielle and Chuck (and all my other students) for teaching me that all behavior is communication and that sometimes that communication is simply, "that hurts!"


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Crocs for AFO's

Image from Mothering.com
Here's a tip passed on by a parent - Crocs can work great with AFO's (leg braces)! They stretch a bit to get on, are generally a little wider than other shoes and are cool too!
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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Special Stamps

 Check this out:  Circle Stamps, Checkmark Stamps, Yes and No Stamps are available at Giving Greetings/Say-it-with-Symbols.  We have all of them, plus Personalized Name Stamps for most of our class and we LOVE them!  We use them everyday!






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Monday, July 4, 2011

ESY and the Wizard of Oz




Here are some ideas for an integrated thematic unit on the Wizard of Oz! (The movie Wizard of Oz, not the book which has a more complex plot.)  Alicia Odom of SMD Teacher will kind enough to share with me her resources from when she did a Wizard of Oz Unit.  Here is a week-by-week outline of what we will be doing.  Monica from Eliminating the Box did a similar unit and shared resources as well.  Some of the resources we will be using are the Wizard of Oz Free Printable Pack, an old issue of News-2-You and Pete Well's Sensory Story.*

*As you can see below we will be basing much of the unit on Pete Well's Wizard of Oz Sensory Story, which sadly is no longer online; so I will link to a copy of each section in my Google Cloud for reference.  Unfortunately it is just for reference because the Power Points loose something in their move to the cloud.  

Week One

Week Two

Week Three


Week Four


Week Five
Week Six
    Paper House Cardstock Stickers - The Wizard of Oz
  • Sensory Story Part Five: Melting Witch through The End Power Point and Script
  • Art: Scrapbooks (of what we have done this summer)
  • Science: Will It Melt? Experiment
  • English/Language Arts:  Choosing quotes from the movie for our scrapbooks and "There's No Place Like Home" Adapted Writing (students complete sentences describing their home using symbols)
  • Math: Survey and graph of favorite characters
  • Cooking: Flying Monkey Ice Cream
  • Life Skills:  Planning a Party
  • Leisure: Wizard of Oz Party

Through out the entire unit we will have the Power Point and related activities on the computer for use with switches and the following apps on the iTouch and/or iPad:
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Friday, July 1, 2011

Free Switch Activities for Learners with Severe or Profound Special Needs

Updated 11/18/2012
New: Doorways Online, Sensory Stories, Fisher Price Infant Games, Ian Bean

This is an update of the post listing online switch activities for learners with multiple or significant special needs. The activities listed are chosen because they can be used with switches, they are simple and they are enjoyable. The activities listed are free. Some activities may require set up by an assistant before switch use. Although care has been taken not to include switch activities with any violence or graphic images teachers and others still need to check activities for age and general appropriateness before use.

Cause and Effect (and Press to Play):
Single Switch Scanning/Timed Single Switch Response (sites may include some cause and effect games as well):
Two Switches (unless otherwise noted you must click in the area of the game and then use tab and enter to play):
Subscription Sites with Free Trials
  • Busy Things is a switch accessible site for young children out of the UK.  You can try it out for free for two weeks.
  • Help Kidz Learn has moved to being a subscription service except for 10 games in the Early Learning.  Subscriptions are $16 for home or $159 for schools.  They DO take PO's.
  • Switch Climber* (costs $14.95 a month and you can "try-before-you-buy" with a free two week subscription.) 
Also be sure to check out Game Base and One Switch for other (usually more advanced) switch games.

*Those sites with a star have multiple activities to try out!  Wednesday's With Sam lists these by activity instead of website if that is useful for you.
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