I'll be there!

Hi!  I just wanted to let readers know that I will be attending the Rett Syndrome Conference in Boston, Memorial Day as well as the Cockayne Syndrome Conference in Orlando the July 7 -9, 2011.  Please comment, e-mail or Facebook message me if you will be attending.  We should all have lunch together!

Are you part of the organizing committee for a conference?  Let me know!

Use Your iPod or iPad as a Switch!

This great new app from Attainment allows you to use your iPod, iPhone or iPad as a switch (or two switches) to access programs on your computer!  (Works with Mac and PC.)

This app needs you to use a wireless connection (wifi or ad hoc) and the free Switch Helper App for it to work.  (I am hoping that they add Bluetooth too! Since getting a wifi network allow access in a school can be tough.)

On iPhone:


On iPad:

School Nurse Day

Chances are as a teacher in this field that you have a classroom or program nurse.
This is your reminder to celebrate your nurse on Wednesday, May 11, 2011!

• DLTK Nurse Craft Directions
• Nurse Coloring Page
• Paper Nurse Hat
• Printable Card
• Send a free e-card

Or you can have your kids stick band-aids all over themselves, snap a photo and frame it with this Shel Silverstein poem:

Band-Aids

I have a Band-Aid on my finger,

One on my knee, and one on my nose,

One on my heel, and two on my shoulder,

Three on my elbow, and nine on my toes.

Two on my wrist, and one on my ankle,

One on my chin, and one on my thigh,

Four on my belly, and five on my bottom,

One on my forehead, and one on my eye.

One on my neck, and in case I might need ‘em

I have a box full of thirty-five more.

But oh! I do think it’s sort of a pity

I don’t have a cut or a sore!

New Logo Products

Mugs, shirts, hats, thermos, key chains and stickers for children and adults with multiple disabilities and their teachers. 

Free Switch Progression Road Map

Inclusive Technology is offering a free e-book called The Switch Progression Road Map.  It is a guide to teaching switch use in incremental portions.  The Road Map is useful in the way all task analysis are useful; you can assess to pinpoint where each child is, create goals and benchmarks and plan future interventions.  I should note that their is a fair amount of shilling of Inclusive Technology products in the guide, but it is very useful none-the-less.

PODDtastic!

 PODD.  PODD or Pragmatic Organization Dynamic Display is a both a method of communication/method of teaching communication and a set of manual communication books. PODD was created by Gayle Porter in Australia.  PODD materials are arranged especially to be used for social interactions (pragmatically).  Messages in the PODD flow from one page to the next by way of page numbers that guide the user through a conversation.  So a conversation can move easily through conversational turns.  

Wow!  First of all if you ever get the chance to attend a workshop Linda Burkhart presents you should go. Second of all it is seeing videos of PODD in action that really "sells" it for use with our students.  The first thing I did when I came home from the conference was apologize to our SLP.  The second thing was to lay out a plan to introduce PODD into my classroom.  PODD really is everything that people who use it rave about, but it can be hard to tell that from reading descriptions and looking at pictures.  If you really want to see what PODD is about you should start by going to YouTube or a similar video site and watch videos of PODD in action.

PODDs are intended to be as much for receptive communication as they are for expressive communication.  Communication partners of individuals using a PODD also use the PODD to communicate.  Modeling or Aided Language Stimulation happens constantly as both communication partners use the PODD.  For the first it pretty much only adults used the book.  Eventually our student started to internalize the way PODD worked and communicate with us using it.

The only way to purchase PODD right now, in the USA, is from Mayer-Johnson as a Boardmaker Add-on.  It costs $325 (in addition to the cost of Boardmaker if you don't already have it). You will have to customize, print and bind the PODD books yourself.  The PODD boards that are available for purchase are designed for direct selection.  It is possible to customize these yourself for visual, auditory or multi-sensory scanning or other means of access.  Gayle Porter, Linda Burkhart and others are working on creating alternative access PODD materials to sell.

 

PODD can also be a great bridge to high tech dynamic display communication.  In our school we have modified it on a Tobii C-eye for a student who communicates through eye gaze and on Proloquo2Go on an iPad for use with direct selection.  (I am waiting with baited breath for Proloquo2Go to add two switch scanning so the student described above can user his iPad to talk!)  Currently using PODD on a high tech device means doing all the programming yourself, but it is worth it.  I have chatted with a few high tech AAC vendors about PODD being available as a vocabulary set, but currently none of the vendors has plans to do so (at least that they were willing to share with the likes of me!). 

You can read more about PODD from Linda Burkhart's website and handouts.  She also has a great hand out about using PODD with Partner Assisted Scanning, the hand out is meant for working with those who have Rett Syndrome, but applies to most, if not all, situations in which you would use partner assisted scanning.  Novita also has a great website about PODD.

As you begin or continue to use PODD I think these tips from The Tasmania School of Special Education are important to remember:

"Using the PODD book………. “go with the zen of the book”

• Don’t become overwhelmed by the size and organisation of the book, stress about where to find a specific vocabulary item, or worry that the child will not be capable of navigating through all the levels. The child doesn’t have to navigate the levels. The partner can make the level changes for them. 

• Always begin on the front page with a pragmatic branch starter 

• Follow the numbers to get to the end message 

• Follow the operational commands 

• DO NOT TURN PAGES ONE AT A TIME LOOKING FOR VOCABULARY. If the child sees others do this that is what they will do. 

• Go back to page 1 at the end of each message. 

• Re-auditorise or ‘re-cap’ the message when your partner is selecting symbols or when you are moving between multiple levels in order to keep the message ‘current’."

The only way to purchase PODD right now, in the USA, is from Mayer-Johnson is as a Boardmaker Add-on.  It costs $325 (in addition to the cost of Boardmaker if you don't already have it). 

Let's Go To AAC Camp!

My favorite experiences in life have happened at summer camps.  As a child I went to Girl Scout Camp, drama camp and lots and lots of sports camps.  As a teen I worked at a variety of special needs camps and attended student leadership camp.   I spent every summer of my life age 5-33 at some kind of camp for at least some of time, be it attending or working.  I love everything about camp, the friendships, the swimming, the camp fires, the singing - everything!

Most of our students attend some kind of summer school program to prevent regression and address emerging skills, but some are lucky enough to also go to summer camp.  AAC summer camps are for children (and sometimes adults) that use a speech generating devices.  Often times AAC camps are "family camps" with workshops for parents and activities for AAC users and siblings.  AAC camps can be a great way for AAC users to do a traditional summer activity and meet others who use AAC.

Here are some links to AAC Camps*:

Alaska
Camp Talkabout

California
Building Bridges Summer Camp
Camp Talk

Colorado
Talking with Technology Camp

Idaho
AAC Camp

Maine
Camp Communicate

Massachusetts
Camp Chit Chat

Mississippi
Camp JabberJaw

Maryland
JumpStart (ages 3-5)

New Hampshire
Camp CAN-DO

New Jersey
Camp Chatterbox

Pennsylvania
Once Upon a Story
AAC Camp at the ISAAC International Conference Summer 2012 ONLY

Vermont
VOICE

Wisconsin
Authentic Voices of America

Canada
British Columbia
Cool Communicators

If there are no AAC Camps in your area some alternatives are:

• find a summer camp (specialized or inclusive) which will support your child's device use
• look at the specialized schools in your area, do any of them do a great job at AAC?  Why not ask if your child can attend just for the summer?  Perhaps your school district will allow this instead of their in house summer school?
• locate an SLP or Special Needs Education college program and ask for volunteers to work with your child and one or two of his or her AAC using peers a few times a month
• start your own AAC Camp or even an AAC social group!

*this list deliberately only includes AAC only camps, not camps for children or adults with disabilities who may or may not use AAC, it also does not include AAC camps which do not appear to be running in 2011 or which do not have websites.

Did I miss your camp?  Please comment to add it!