Kindle 2 Might Have Applications in Our Classroom

The new Kindle 2 is much more likely to have a place in a classroom for learners with multiple or intensive disabilities with some of the changes that have been announced. The biggest news for our students is the new text-to-speech feature. The voices are not the state of the art ones most of us with Dynavox or similar device users are accustomed to hearing, but you can change the pitch. While I hardly see the Kindle 2 as an accessible device until the pages can be turned with a switch or two, the text-to-speech could be a selling point for some of our students.

So where is it? Where is the e-book reader that has a great voice and/or switch accessible page turning? Has anyone hacked a new or old kindle to make page turning switch accessible? Is Dynavox, Tobii ATI or PRC planning on adding some e-book accessibility to there devices anytime soon?

Schedule Suduko

As much as I love the community of support there is online as a teacher of learners with severe or multiple special needs sometimes what you need is another teacher who is right there. My classroom was in need of a new staff rotation schedule to begin after February break (yes, non-New England readers, we get a February break). Not being a sudoku or logic puzzle aficionado I was really struggling to figure it out. How was I going to make five students with 1:1 instructional assistants, four instructional assistants and myself work into a rotating schedule that was equitable and would not create issues with time in learning, toileting or behavior?

Luckily I sat puzzling this out as I awaiting the beginning of a meeting of mentor teachers. I commented that despite a decade in the field I really needed some mentoring to make my new schedule work. Another teacher, from another special needs program, who I see at mentor teacher meetings about four times a year, gave me a great suggestion, but I still couldn't make it work. Finally she offered to show me how to do it, I handed her the paper, she created a grid, plugged in all the students and staff in the bizarre way I needed it done and five minutes later I had the staff rotations for the rest of the year worked out (by the way 16 more weeks for us).

Sometimes this is what I feel I miss out on the most teaching a low incidence population, colleagues who can see and think outside the box or just possess talents that I do not, such as schedule sukodu. I wouldn't trade teaching my class for anything in the world, but I wouldn't mind having an accessible group of teachers who do the same thing I do nearby.

Resources for this Week's News-2-You: Westminster Dog Show

This week News-2-You is about the Westminster Dog Show. (Which for some reason makes me think about my thesis adviser.) Here are some resources you can use to extend your lessons.

Photos and Videos

• Westminster Kennel Club Videos
• How Stuff Works Video circa 1952
• How Stuff Works Dog Picture Slide Show
  
• News Week Video about new breed in dog show and the a Chow Chow prepping for the show)

Articles for Kids

• National Geographic for Kids - Story with Photos
• Scholastic - Article with Photos

Crafts

• Danielle's Place Dog Crafts for Kids
• DLTK's Dog Coloring Pages, Crafts and Recipes
• Kid's Craft Zone

Adaptive PE

• Obstacle course designed just for your learners (or with different levels for different abilities) including running/moving fast, jumping/rolling over, turning and more - students with significant physical challenges might enjoy being the "trainer" for typical peer or staff
  

Sensory/ADLs

• dog shadow puppets on a light box
• fill a sensory box with (edible for human consumption just in case) dog bones, dog toys and collars/leashes
• do some primping like the dogs do - washing hair and blow drying, combing/brushing, nail care, etc.

Don't forget Adapted Learning (there are already activities uploaded) and the Intellitools Exchange.

Making the Grade

Today I was feeling very grateful for a creative solution. You all know of my struggles with having only one computer online, which also happens to be the one computer attached to the LCD projector. In addition that one computer online does not allow me in anyway to install 99.9% of all software. Oh, and that computer does not have a printer and will not allow me to install a printer. However here is a work around that is going well for us.

1) Using the converter for U3 flashdrives we have been able to run Classroom Suite Player from a flashdrive on the internet enabled/LCD connected computer. (Read how to do this here.)

2) Using a "no software needed" switch interface (we like the Don Johnston Switch Interface Pro), the LCD projector and a Jelly Beamer students who are switch users, have low vision or both can do all sorts of academics using Classroom Suite (most of which I am able to download for free from the Intellitools Exchange)

3) Using the free program Cute PDF Writer (which does not install to the registry and therefore is part of the .1% of software I CAN install) we print completed work to a PDF and I e-mail it to myself for data collection and alternative assessment (and I can e-mail it to parents as well.)

This post is less about the actual solution we are using and more about creative problem solving. Sometimes it is difficult to see it, but most of the time there is a way to make things work.

When Technology Fails Our Students

On occasion I do some consultation in other special education programs, typically around assistive technology. During a recent session an OT commented about how frustrating it must be to do this kind of consultation and have half a session (or more) wasted when, for example, no one knows the password to install software (or no one has administrative priviledges) or free online switch programs will not run because the system does not have the current version of flash player installed (both of which happened in one session).

It was so saddening for the TEAM in the room and myself to watch this little boy, who according to all reports has never been so motivated or so engaged, become so angry when the technology failed him. He was so excited when as a final activity for the session I challenged him to a basketball game at Help Kidz Learn and then we couldn't play it!

Today Lon over at No Limits to Learning makes a call for us to change how we use computers in special education. I would like to not only second his call but to take a step back and ask school districts and administrators to think about how they limit students who's entire lives, from communication to recreation and beyond, depend on access to current, working, accessible technology.

Valentine's Fun

This year my class will be hosting a Valentine's Day Parent/Student Tea. My students will be giving their mom or dad a special gift (which I cannot reveal in case any moms or dads decide to catch up on the blog). In the event of low turn parent turn out we will join the class across the hall for a more traditional Valentine's Day party.

Here are some link's to some Valentine's Day crafts and activities to try out:

• Kaboose
• EdHelper (members section mostly)
• Enchanted Learning (members section mostly)
• ABC Teach (members section mostly)
  
• DLTK
  

Don't forget to check in at Adapted Learning (which appears to be down at this precise second, but when it is up I will post a Valentine's Feelings Book I just made) and The Intellitools Exchange.

Also I have changed how I have been adapting materials, especially comprehension materials, from sites like ABC Teach. Instead of cutting and pasting the essay or story into Boardmaker or Classroom Suite and then rewriting the questions and creating multiple choice questions with answers that can be marked using a bingo marker (I do this instead of electronic materials because it is easier for alternative assessment, because it is difficult for students to run AAC devices and a computer and because I don't have enough adapted computer stations to go around during a group) I just use the worksheet as printed and create "cut and paste" symbolated answer strips. I make one strip for each question and one "foil" (answer that doesn't match anything). The students can point, use a pointer, use their AAC device or use partner assisted scanning to make selections. This saves tremendous amounts of planning time and saves on ink and copying.

Resources for this Week's News-2-You: Jackie Robinson

General

• The Official Jackie Robinson Site
• The TIME 100
  

Multi-Media

• Free BrainPop Movie (this one is not longer free as of 2/3/09 sorry)
  
• CNN (video clip)
• MLB (video and speech clips)
  
• Biography Channel (video)
• Adapted Learning Activity (you must be logged in)
  

Biographies

• Time for Kids
• My Hero

Timelines

• Scholastic

PowerPoints

• Jackie Robinson
• Jackie Robinson

Educational Readings/Worksheets

• ABC Teach (members only)
• Ed Helper

Sensory Ideas

• switch activated "Take me out to the ball game"
• sensory box filled with sand, bases or pieces of bases, the soles of old baseball cleats, baseball caps (especially Dogders since that is what Jackie Robinson played for) baseballs, and bats (or miniatures of these things)
• switch activated slide shows set to music of baseball items, players and games

Adaptive PE

• Baseball of course, throwing baseballs, swinging a bat, hitting a ball off a T of some kind (try a large traffic cone)

Music

• Take Me Out to the Ball Game
• National Anthem
• See the song list from this CD on Amazon for more ideas