Beginning communicators

It seems that every year I am working with at least one child who is a beginning communicator.  I am always looking for new ways to teach and more information to teach myself and others how to best work with theses students.  I stumbled upon this great series by  PrAACtical AAC about Pre-intentional communicators.  I highly suggest that you go check it out at PrAACtical AAC.

In my classroom I use a combination of PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System), American Sign Language, and Augmentative communication devices to facilitate communication with my students. Over the next few posts I am going to talk about what I use and what I have found successful.  I hope that these posts will help others when working with beginning communicators.   Make sure you are following via email, bloglovin', facebook or Twitter so that you can keep up to date on all of the upcoming posts!!

Thank you to app developers

In my last post I told you about the AT presentation I recently did. For that presentation I contacted some of the developers of some of my favorite apps and asked if they would be willing to donate app codes for me to give to the parents. Everyone of them did. SO I wanted to say THANK YOU to the developers of the following apps: Alien Buddies, Tozzle, IGetit Apps, Letter Writer Space/Oceans. The parents and teachers were so excited to get these apps. If you would like to check them out, click on the names of the apps or the pictures below to be taken to the app store. Enjoy!

 




 

Assistive Technology

If you follower me on Twitter or Facebook then you know that last week I did a presentation on Assistive Technology. Overall I felt it went really well and I was really excited to show the parents, fellow teachers, and therapists all of the different assistive tech that I use. The paraprofessionals in my classroom joked with me that I would need a truck to take it all with me. In addition to the presentation, I also created a handout that I gave to every that attended that had different information on it regarding apps, accessibility, make your own AT, etc.  I thought that I would share the handout with you also as I think it has some useful information on  it.   I made it a google document so that I can keep adding to it.  You can find it by clicking here.



   

Assistive Technology: low tech

If you don't know this already Assistive Technology is something I am passionate about. There are many types and I wanted to show some of the low-tech options that we use almost on a daily basis in my classroom. We uses wikki sticks( or their cheaper twin bendaroos) to do all kinds of things. We make letters to practice our alphabet or sight words. We underline or circle numbers, letter, or words in a passage. We also use them to outline something that the kids are coloring in. The kiddos are now working on outlining their own spaces when they color.




 We also use circle stickers for activities that require filling in the blank with a number or a letter. I pre-write the answers (sometimes with a few distractors thrown in) on the stickers. The kids then work on the problem and once they figure it out they have to find the answer on the sticker sheet. I use this with my students who are unable to write or have great difficulty with writing. It is also helpful as an alternate for of answering questions.


 

Amazing videos

I recently went to an Apple briefing for Special Education teachers, assitive technology specialist, etc. It was fantastic and quite inspiring. We met a fantastic Apple Distinguished Educator who is just doing some amazing things with assistive technology in North Dakota. He shared with us the back story on how Proloque2go came to be and he also shared some amazing videos. I would like to share some of those videos with you as I found them inspirational and a great reminder of the wonderful spirits and enthusiasm in the children we teach. As long as we believe, anything is possible. A warning, you may need a box of tissues.

This first one is about Sady.  Click here to check it out.

Next one is called One Thumb to Rule them All.


To check out more videos from assistiveware (company that made Proloque2go) and to find out more about the company check out this link.

Low tech assistive technology for writing

My latest blog post on TeachHub is live and I really wanted to share it with all of my readers. It is about using low tech assistive technology to help students with writing. Head on over to TeachHub and check it out by clicking here. Enjoy and let me know you feedback and what you use!!