Writing on the Wall

A few different educators have made Mock Facebook activities for classrooms and all are creative and wonderful.  A couple of the ones I like (get it?) are these ones at Plug-n-Plan and this one at Teaching Blog Addict.  Also this teacher's explanation of using a Facebook style bulletin board to post her schedule.

Today I saw the Plug-n-Plan Mock Facebook on Pinterest and thought it might be perfect for encouraging choice making, reflection and combining symbols into sentences.  Students find their name/picture to replace the standard image.  They can dictate a "status update" using communication boards or devices.  If needed they can even choose from prepared "status updates".  This would be a great accompaniment to journaling or school-to-home notes. Students can "like" other students "status updates" to work on interconnection between students and pro-social behavior.

A mock Facebook is great for reflecting on activities, emotions and the self.  A mock Pinterest might be fun to use to hang photos and work on choice making and learning about peers.  Discussion can be held about what we learn about a peer who "pins" a picture of himself skiing or herself horseback-riding.

So here are my "Facebook" and "Pinterest" boards.  The originals are in Power Point and can be downloaded from the SlideShare web site or you can download from Google Docs (or choose make copy from the pull down menu on the left to save to your own account and edit).  You will want to edit the info in the "profile" to fit your class and make it more relevant.

Facebook classroom wall

View more presentations from Kate Ahern.

As always if the SlideShare doesn't work for you please check out the Google Docs version or email me to ask for the .PPTX file.

Free Online Switch Activities - Updated 11/9/2015

Updated 11/09/2015

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):

• Cause and Effect Sensory Light Box
• Carbon Lehigh School District 
• Fisher Price Infant Games*
• Help Kidz Learn*
• Hiyah*
• Ian Bean* (Downloads)
• Kneebouncers*
• Priory Woods Videos Revamped*
• Owlie Boo* (any of the activities under "Pressing Keys" with switch set to space bar or enter)
• Rock Paper Scissors
• Mother Goose
• Bugs
• Musical Monkey
• Transportation
• NGFL Switch User Activities
• SEN/Switcher*
• Sensory Stories (Downloads)
• Shiny Learning
• Silly Books (look for the "click through books" and set mouse arrow over "next")
• Special Bites*
• Build a Snowman
• Christmas Stocking Magic
• Discover What is in the Garden
• Humble Brussel Sprouts
• Penalty Shoot Out One Switch Wonder
• Roast the Turkey
• Rudolph Gets a Fright
• Rudolph Melts the Snowman

Single Switch Scanning/Timed Single Switch Response (sites may include some cause and effect games as well):

• A Sliding Puzzle for Helen (download)*
• Bullseye
• CBBC (UK only)
• CBeebies (UK only)
• Cow Jumped Over the Moon 
• Doorway Online
• Pelmanism (memory)
• Same or Different?
• Moving Targets
• ePlayground (four completely accessible games)
• Help Kidz Learn*
• Ian Bean* (Downloads)
• Learn about the Rainforest
• Mother Goose
• Jack Be Nimble
• My Switch Games by Scott McKay*
• NGfL
• Papunet*
• Priory Switch Juke Box
• Priory Woods Kids Only*
• Penalty Shoot Out (Soccer)
• 10 Fat Sausages
• African Sounds
• Bugz
• Farmyard Sounds
• Find Out About Shapes
• 5 Little Ducks
• 5 Little Speckled Frogs
• 5 Naughty Monkeys
• Tooting Reindeer
• Sarah Greenland Games
• SENICT Software
• SEN/Switcher*
• Shiny Learning *
• Blast the Pirate Ship
• Car Crusher
• Crazy Chicken
• Fireworks
• Fly Swatter
• Special Bites*
• Baseball Switch Game
• Baseball and Spikeys
• Baseball and Pumpkins
• Switch Recycle Sort
• Tar Heel Reader (online adapted ebooks)
• Tar Heel Typer (online switch keyboard) 
• The Great Fish Race (download only)
• Whiteboard Room Resources

Two Switches (unless otherwise noted you must click in the area of the game and then use tab and enter to play):

• Accessible Book Launcher*
• Bug Memory
• Fruit Memory
• Space Memory
• Sensory House (tab and enter)*
• Special Bites* 
• Tar Heel Typer (online switch keyboard)

Chrome Apps and Extensions

• Electra
• Just Touch
• Plazma

iPad Apps

• Jane Farrell's List of Switch Accessible Apps

Note: using the Puffin Browser app makes many switch accessible websites work on the iPad! 

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.
• Ginger Tiger is another switch accessible subscription based site.
• Help Kidz Learn Subscriptions are listed here.  They DO take PO's.

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.

All Abilities ePlayground

All Abilities ePlayground is an accessible website that is part of the accessible playground movement in Queensland, Australia.  All Abilities ePlayground includes options to play using a mouse and keyboard, a single switch, Puff2Play (blowing into the mic), blind mode (This includes a blind and single switch version.) and interactive whiteboard.

All Abilities ePlayground has four games with multiple levels.  Ibis Buster involves "shooing" away birds and other animals from a beach your avatar is walking on.  Memory is a matching game (level one is animals, two is musical instruments and three is weather conditions).  In TrixMix you activate animals which each make a different sound in order to play or recreate music.  In Roo Hill Thrill you control your avatar as it surfs and tries to avoid balls.

In the single switch version you can use the settings (accessed by pressing "s") to toggle scanning on and off, control scanning speed, frame color (the box that shows hot spots), and switch activation type as well as background sound effects.

You will need to complete a free registration to use the site.

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):

• Fisher Price Infant Games*
• Help Kidz Learn*
• Hiyah*
• Ian Bean* (Downloads)
• Kneebouncers*
• Priory Woods Videos Revamped*
• Learning Tools (scroll down)*
• Owlie Boo* (any of the activities under "Pressing Keys" with switch set to space bar or enter)
• Rock Paper Scissors
• Mother Goose
• Bugs
• Musical Monkey
• Transportation
• NGFL Snap Matching Activity (teacher must set up, but arrow over the "Snap" button)
• SEN/Switcher*
• Sensory Stories (Downloads)
• Shiny Learning
• Balloon Bang
• Christmas Singing Sheep
• Press to Move
• Silly Books (look for the "click through books" and set mouse arrow over "next")
• Special Bites*
• Build a Snowman
• Christmas Stocking Magic
• Discover What is in the Garden
• Humble Brussel Sprouts
• Penalty Shoot Out One Switch Wonder
• Roast the Turkey
• Rudolph Gets a Fright
• Rudolph Melts the Snowman

Single Switch Scanning/Timed Single Switch Response (sites may include some cause and effect games as well):

• A Sliding Puzzle for Helen (download)*
• Bullseye
• CBBC*
• CBeebies*
• Cow Jumped Over the Moon 
• Doorway Online
• Pelmanism (memory)
• Same or Different?
• Moving Targets
• ePlayground (four completely accessible games)
• Help Kidz Learn*
• Ian Bean* (Downloads)
• Learn about the Rainforest
• Mother Goose
• Jack Be Nimble
• My Switch Games by Scott McKay*
• NGfL Switch Coloring*
• Papunet*
• Priory Woods Kids Only*
• Penalty Shoot Out (Soccer)
• 10 Fat Sausages
• African Sounds
• Bugz
• Farmyard Sounds
• Find Out About Shapes
• 5 Little Ducks
• 5 Little Speckled Frogs
• 5 Naughty Monkeys
• Tooting Reindeer
• SEN/Switcher*
• Shiny Learning *
• Blast the Pirate Ship
• Car Crusher
• Crazy Chicken
• Fireworks
• Fly Swatter
• Special Bites*
• Baseball Switch Game
• Baseball and Spikeys
• Baseball and Pumpkins
• SwitchedOn Games Bowling 
• Switch Music 
• Switch Recycle Sort
• Tar Heel Typer (online switch keyboard) 
• The Great Fish Race (download only)

Two Switches (unless otherwise noted you must click in the area of the game and then use tab and enter to play):

• Accessible Book Launcher*
• Bug Memory
• Fruit Memory
• Space Memory
• Sensory House (tab and enter)*
• Special Bites* 
• Tar Heel Typer (online switch keyboard)

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.

SwitchMusic.Org

I don't know how I missed this site, but it was enough to make me want to leave the comfort of my couch and go back to work right NOW and use it with some of my students.  (Too bad my students would not be there right now!)

The site is SwitchMusic.  It is a scanning menu of teen appropriate music videos (via You Tube, sorry to those who have it blocked at work) that works with a switch set to "mouse click" with the cursor left over the image of a switch... it is self-explanatory, go give it a try!

New Free Switch Activities

• Pop a Balloon at Shiny Learning
• Make a card (including Easter Cards - you know, if Easter Cards aren't a problem in your setting) with the new Switch Card Maker Program for free download at HelpKidzLearn
• Play Brick Out with one or two switches at HelpKidzLearn 
• Curl via Scott McKay's Switch Curling for one or two players - be sure to check out the rest of Scott McKay's collection as well!

One Switch Sliding Puzzle

thanks to One Switch Blog for the link



A Sliding Puzzle for Helen is a free, one switch activated slider puzzle that comes out of the A Game for Helen contest. The only other special needs slider puzzle I know of is Flip It Slider by MKP and it only works with touch screen or mouse.

Tone Matrix (and some things for your iTouch)

Tone Matrix is designed as a tool to write/create music. For our learners it can be a fantastic tools to use light and musical tones to encourage cause and effect using a touch screen, interactive white board or even a head or eye tracker.

Imagine one of your learners swiping his hand across the SMART Board to to make a glowing song and then clicking a switch (set to "space bar") to clear that song and make another!



If you are lucky enough to have an iPod touch or iPhone for your classroom you can do pretty much the same thing wigh the app Melodica or in color with the app Tripper. Another cool app that doesn't look like these (it is prettier), but meets the same purpose is Bloom (and I think it sounds beautiful).

Thanks to NCS Tech for the Tone Matrix tip.

Free Online Activities for Intensive/Multiple Special Needs

• Arcess Dice - switch or touch screen dice
  
• Arcess Number Spinner allows picking a random number 1-6
• Bullseye - switch darts
  
• CBBC - switch games requiring accuracy
  
• CBeebies - switch games based on children's tv in the UK
  
• Crick Web - has about 170 activities to teach skill to learners for the makers of Clicker 5
  
• Help Kidz Learn - is created by the makers of Inclusive TLC and Priory Woods, includes switch and touchscreen programs, new activities are added every few months
• HiYah - created by a mom these Power Point based programs address many topics in a cause and effect format that can be accessed with a switch if needed
• Horse Harmony - singing horses works with touch screen or tab/enter switches
• Jackson Pollock Painting - is fun touch screen or mouse emulator painting
  
• Kneebouncers - a simple cause and effect keyboard banger
• Mega Sparkles - touchscreen fireworks
  
• Moorcroft School - has games and sensory stories
• Moving Targets - is a suite of five programs for teaching targeting
• News-2-You the kids site is available without subscription
  
• NGfL Switch Coloring - offers a basic coloring book for switch users
• Online Jukebox - put switch over next song
  
• Papunet - offers a variety of games from early learning, cause and effect to games of skill for switch users
  
• Pete's Stuff Adapted Stories are well known stories adapted for our learners in a Power Point format which allows switch page turning
• Plasma Screen and White Board Room for Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities includes a variety of resources including cause and effect, sensory stories, targeting and choosing and visual stimulation
• Priory Woods Kids Only and Priory Woods Cause and Effect and Switch Activities
• Sarah Greenland has four games some for touchscreen and some for mouse to download
  
• SEN/Switcher - offers leveled switch programs for emerging to advancing switch users
• Tripico - offers a variety of resources and online adaptable spinners, tab/enter works for nearly all reasources, inclucing their calculator
  
• Woodlands Junior School - has a variety of interactive programs and links
  

Sharing of Activities for Specialized Software

• Boardmaker, Boardmaker Plus, Boardmaker SDP at Adapted Learning
• Classroom Suite at Intellitools Activity Exchange
  
• Clicker 5 at Learning Grids
  

See also Power Point Collections, Online Timers, Symbol Based Websites

Survival Skills 101

Survival Skills 101 is an online interactive activity for learners with special needs. There are three types of activities, money, weather and community. The money section focuses on having enough money for a small purchase, the weather activity on dressing for the weather and the community activity on knowing where to go to make certain purchases/run certain errands. The activities are touchscreen or interactive whiteboard accessible. (Being a flash activity tab/enter does work to some degree for two switch scanning on some activities, but I would not consider this a switch accessible activity).

The Learning Program

The Down Syndrome Foundation of Orange County has a free and comprehensive set of learning materials that are appropriate for learners with many different developmental or intellectual working on their Learning Program website.

Included are (you must be logged in to go to most links):

Literacy Materials

• instructional materials
• introductory sight word readers and flashcards (which use photo support and large print for low vision)
• emergent readers and flashcards which support the Lakeshore Learning Readers
  
• abc phonics materials
  

Math Materials

• Introduction to Numbers (numbers, counting, number lines, concepts)
• Addition
• Subtraction
• Money
• Time
  

Daily Activity Guides

Significant and Profound Disabilities:
Many of the materials would be great for students with very significant to profound intellectual disabilities who are not necessarily working on literacy or numeracy per se. The introductory sight word readers make fantastic photo based vocabulary concept books for our learners working on earlier cognitive skills, as do the Count to Ten book and Counting Fruit book; textures or objects could be added for students with low vision.

New Activities at Help Kidz Learn

Help Kidz Learn has added three new activities. The first is a mouse, mouse emulator, touch screen or interactive white board accessible coloring book. Next there is a mouse, mouse emulator, touch screen, interactive white board or switch accessible bubble popping game. Finally there is a mouse, mouse emulator, touch screen or interactive white board accessible piano.

New Basic Skills and Switch Accessible Activities at HiYah and Help Kidz Learn

Both Help Kidz Learn and HiYah have posted new basic skills and switch activities on their sites. Just in time for those end-of-the-school year blahs.

Help Kidz Learn has an Early Mouse Movements activity that also works with touchscreen, interactive whiteboard and was super fun on a Tablet PC with stylus for us. It can be set the color changes as you go over the paint spots and you can set it to have additional music or sound effects to add to the fun.

Help Kidz Learn also added a two player switch curling game with is higher level than many of their switch activities both in switch skills and in cognitive ability, but is a nice addition to the library of activities they have online.

Finally Help Kidz Learn has added a textless animated story called How We Used to Wash.

HiYah offers simple spacebar (or switch set to spacebar) programs about basic concepts for download or play online. They have recently redone many of there basic language programs (such as their nouns series) and added some new programs including: Spring, Yummy Tummy, The Earth Revealed...at Last!, Happy 4th of July, Colors-Basic, and Opposites-Basic.

Switch Accessible News Reader

My Blogger pal Barrie over at One Switch brought my attention to the new BBC switch accessible news reader for kids. The website is a well designed interface for children, 'tweens and even teens and adults with cognitive challenges/learning disabilities to read or have read to them via text to speech the news.

Seeing as it is from the BBC the site focuses mainly on UK news, which is why I would love to see PBS, NPR or PRI pair up with BBC and re-create this site with American news (and other countries do the same thing). If that can't happen perhaps News-2-You, who largely ignore access issues, could create something or Ablenet or Mayer-Johnson could leap at the opportunity (which would mean it would not be free, of course).

A great thing about the BBC Accessible News Reader is the level of customization. You can change how many categories of news from 1 to 6, you can use the scan feature or not and adjust it to 3, 5, 10 or 15 seconds for a scan rate. It does not currently two switch scan (except if you turn the scan off and use tab/enter - which means increasing cognitive load as it then scans everything and has no auditory scan). With the scan off you can also use what ever access equipment you have including touch screens, eye or head tracking, alternative keyboard with a custom overlay or a joystick. You can use the text to speech or not and choose from a high quality male or female voice (British accents, of course). You can change the color scheme of the text to high or low contrast or a color overlay for dyslexia (but they do not have a dyslexia friendly font choice in there font choice list). Overall this is an amazing, free resource

Lincoln Logs at Annie's Resource Attic

Annie's Resource Attic has just posted a great new activity around Lincoln Logs and log cabins. She explains it far better than I ever could so head over and check it out!

P.S. As always she has Clicker5, Classroom Suite, Dynavox and PowerPoint versions of various options.