Impact

When I look back I'm realizing the extent of the impact of technology on our lives. Technology in my life includes the move from a flip phone to a Blackberry (with no data time), my laptop (which is for course only), our desktop, iPods, Apple TV, the wii  and the GPS for new trips. The girls have LeapPads,  which they call their kids iPads, and other Leapfrog technologies and a dsi. 
I thought we were doing well. We've wanted an iPad. Our reasoning has never been for all of the Apps, it's always been about the convenience. Convenience around the house and especially for travel.  In reflection of the past couple of weeks, I can't wait to get one (Christmas 2012) and begin to download some Apps for the girls to use to  build on some of their skills.
Technology, not just iPads,  allows people, anyone, but especially students and  adults with disabilities to move from feeling of  exclusion to inclusion. The impact is even greater on those with disabilities. For some it offers them an avenue to finally communicate with others, for others the communication becomes clearer and more effective, maybe even a source of enjoyment. 
The power of appropriate motivation! It doesn't happen instantly, or because you want it now.There is a process and a learning curve. I can see more dramatic changes in the disability community

The Process of Writing

When I picked up the girls from Mom's today, Emma asked how was my day. I replied that it was busy and muggy. She next asked what did I learn? Talk about role reversal. I said "the writing process." Her reply was interesting. "That's easy Mom, you grab a piece of paper and a pen and write down what your thinking. Was that all you did today? Cause that was pretty easy, and Acadia is supposed to be hard." I smile and pull in the driveway.

Today had the potential to be an overwhelming day. Task analysis is stressful, but I'm feeling better about it. Handwriting in simple terms is using a some sort of pen, pencil, crayon or marker to get symbols on paper. As seen in the PowerPoint today, Kay describes it is the grapho-motor execution of sequential symbols to convey thoughts and information. 

We know that symbols represent oral language and that in order to write well you have to be a good reader. Emma prefers to write over reading. I think it has more to do with the freedom of writing. Maybe it's a decoding issue. She does come from a family with a strong construction background. I'm constantly on her about slowing down to reconstruct her sounds better. Sometimes she prints what she hears, and it's up to me to make her pronounce her words better. For instance when in primary, the "th" sound was the "d" sound until I corrected her enough on her pronunciation and then  she made the switch to "th" in both her speaking and writing.

Attending to tasks and Executive Functions run deep in this analysis, in all task analysis'. Only here we have lower and higher skill levels, content and mechanical. It's just so  much more complicated! 

   As a primary teacher, I really like the Handwriting Without Tears program. Emily informed me later today, that although the PD I received just over a year ago from an OT from the IWK and someone else is no longer recommended by the HRSB. I wonder why. It certainly isn't the be all and end all, but it is a great program. I try to use an abbreviated version in my classroom in September to assess and build on students fine motor skills. I din't realize that Letter formation was so involved. It not only includes attending to the task, which can be more challenging when you're 4 or 5 years old, plus all the executive functions, and spelling, Orthographic processors, letter recognition, phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, prior knowledge, retrieval, recall, experience, memory, language sound letter correspondence, auditory processing, visual processing, fine motor, organize ideas, sequential processing, conventions of print, spatial awareness, TIME, automatic letter form, accuracy, punctuation, vision, concentration, and the list foes on... who would have thought?

QR Code update

I saw this link and found it to link to our introduction to QR codes. Maybe we could take the suggestions, change the market and make millions!



5 QR CODE MARKETING MISTAKES 

The next link discusses how QR codes don't live up to consumers expectations. We want coupons and discounts from the 2-D bar-codes, companies want to give us information about their brand.

 

QR codes aren't giving customers what they want 

Monday July 16, 2012.

Another day, another adventure in technology. Today we examined Kurzweil 3000. Download it here. I have heard of the program before @ SPT meetings, but had no idea of what it was for. To start I was happy to finally know that it was for students with diagnosed LD and visual impairment. 

My mood going into the program wasn't very positive because of all of the time spent downloading the program and reading about issues my classmates had with the download. I lacked faith and was worried that because I hadn't opened the program prior to class it wouldn't work. It did and all is well. I appreciate the time spent getting familiar with the program.

I appreciate all that it is UDL, but again, I could see all students benefiting from some aspect of this program, not just the students with LDs or visual impairments. It was super easy to magnify and zoom out and I really liked that you could adjust the rate of speed as your choice voice read to you. 

Reads page to you. You can adjust speed of the reader and have a variety of voices you could choose from.  what pleases me most is the ability to have access to this program in French. I wasn't surprised that the cost for the French version was double that if the English version. Again the ability to highlight text, add stick notes and bubble notes could not only benefit students with ADHD and Aspergers. It allows the possibility of differentiation. Another noteworthy feature is ability to save the text into an MP3 format and just listen to it without the text. 

A demo video made @ Newberry Elementary Schooll Floridain their inclusion classrooms, where students with special needs learn alongside their peers. The video speaks to the strength of implementing Assistive Technology such as Kurzweil 3000 within a whole class environment.

Exploring Wikispacces :

Starfall - is a Literacy Link that my 7 year old introduced me to. Her grade 2 teacher showed the class how to navigate the website. She can navigate this site independently, and does so happily.  She's happy and motivates. the site uses kid friendly language.

Inkless Tales - is more a teacher site, than student site. Allows lower elementary teachers to find short stories (that can be heard as audio books) that reinforce particular site words. There is only one image per story but with the text, it could allow classes to visualize and create the images that go with the text. 

Popplet is a simple built for for mind mapping and organization of thoughts. It gives students the opportunity to represent their thoughts in a clear and visual way. Students can import pictures they've taken or search for pictures on the Internet to support and add visual interest to their points.

Story Jumper: Create stories from scratch or edit preexisting stories. High interest and easy to manipulate. It would take some time to figure things out. I started a story, choose my scene and began to add props. I had a hard time manipulating the font. I had to create my scene on one page and then on the opposite page add the words.

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives a great website for interactive math activities with manipulatives. I appreciated that it was divided into Math strands and grouped by grade level. 

Fine Motor Webinar

As a primary French Immersion Teacher, I more interested in the webinar on Fine Motor Skills verses the Math Webinar.  I see such a varying degree of skills entering primary that  if I could discover some OT recommended tricks and Apps, that would be great. I'm not looking forward to 29  4 and 5 year olds in just 6 weeks. Last year I attended a Handwriting Without Tears presentation and learned about pencil grip and their program. I recommend that lower elementary teachers check it out. I was also saddened that the workbooks and songs are available in English and Spanish. I spent some time over the summer translating some parts of the workbook into French for my students. I started my September focusing on fine motor coordination. I think many of my students benefited form the 15 minute lessons over the course of the month. In May, I could see the varying degree of control when students visited for orientation.

I was aware that fine motor skills are precise coordinated movements using joints and muscles of the body to manipulate pencils, crayons etc., I thought it had more to do with the arms down to the finger tips, I didn't realize before this webinar was how much of the rest of the body is involved. I was recently working on my task analysis and thought that this was yet another one we could. It could prove to be much more complicated than blowing your nose. Fine motor skills do not just involve using the muscles in your hand and arm; it involves shoulder muscles and having good trunk control, from the inside out. As I was watching I was thinking of Spencer and her fine motor development.

OT Referrals do go through our SPT, and as a member of this team I do hear of the referrals being made. Interestingly enough, there doesn't seem to be high hopes of ever seeing an OT visit our building. I wonder how many are in our board and how many schools are under each umbrella. i know our Health Nurse visits only a few times a year, on an as needed basis. 

 Here are a few I can see using in my classroom(if I had a class iPad):

Dexteria ($4.99 - Universal app)

Designed in consultation with OTs, this App provides therapeutic hand exercises for students, including dexterity, finger sequencing and individual finger isolation, and control. Tap it, pinch it, write it. I was pleased to note that it supported the Handwriting Without Tears program.  Using a stylus makes it more motivating.

Juno's Piano ($0.99 - iPad only)

A virtual piano app, it allows students to practice finger control through music. Easy to use. Bilateral hand development. Teaches child to play control finger isolation. Could be cheaper than starting Emma @ The Maritime Conservatory of Music this fall

ShapeBuilder ($0.99 - Universal app)

This app includes 146 different puzzles, where children must drag the pieces into the correct position. Gain strength, visual motor, control, learning letters, fruits and many other themes.The placement is quite precise, requiring steady placement and thus promoting fine motor development.

Cars 2 AppMates (Free, although you are required to purchase of physical toys to use with app available @ Amazon, iPad only)

Students will love this!This is a highly engaging App linked to Disney's "Cars" characters. The App does the user to  purchased special cars toys separately in order to play. These miniature "Cars" cars are placed on the iPad screen and are used to play on the screen. The fine motor link is the physical manipulation and grasp of the cars themselves, especially through the three-finger grasp.

Inspiration

I feel like I could tinker and work on this for hours. to be honest I'm not sure I understand all of the steps. It seems to easy to me. I am thankful that we were e-mailed a starting point. I'm not sure if I had much to add to it. I was really trying to attend to the task and understand, but had a moment in class where I felt completely overwhelmed. Hopefully my image makes sense to you all. Mary

FYI - When unsure of how to save your inspiration document to be able to import into your blog...Saving Inspiration for your blog post

Itunes Shopping Day!!

Inspiration takes skill, not a tonne, but some skill, practice and patience. Today Emily and I had the chance to also work with the iPad version as well. Blowing your nose, like reading is a complicated process! When you start doing a task analysus, there's  lot of thinking, decisions and steps involved. This morning we worked hard to create a task analysis for the process involved for the body and brain in order to blow your nose. I think the possibilities are endless. It also depends on the level of language you use in the process. I have learned that it  involves much more than getting a Kleenex , blowing your nose, putting the tissue in the garbage and washing your hands.


Blowing your nose requires much attention to the task, kinesthetic functions, auditory processing, working memory, visual processing, balance, gross motor skills, fine motor skills and the list goes on and on. There are so many steps and cooperation that have to attend to the task in order for it to be completed.


A short video of how "easy" it is to use Inspiration Maps on your iPad.

PBS The Secret Life of the Brain

This film contains five different episodes: The Baby's Brain, The Child's Brain, The Teenage Brain, The Adult Brain and the Aging Brain. If you're curious, below is a link to the PBS website with more information about the episodes on The Secret Life of the Brain. 
The Secret Life of the Brain

It was a fun day in class, much more relaxed that before. I hadn't really spent much time exploring itunes, let alone downloading an App and playing on it. The possibilities are really endless. 
How does one know if the app is worth it or not? You have to try it, or rely on word of mouth. You can investigate reviews on google, but those opintions are all relative. 
There's an app for that