Reflections of EDUC 5163 Assistive Technology

As this course draws to a close, I was saddened by the mere fact that we would not be gathering together to have fun with AT.  But in thinking about this, it isn't really over.... it's really just beginning!  When I looked at my first blog posting from our first Saturday together, I remembered the elation I felt in just creating a blog and seeing it posted!  After looking at other classmates blog sites, it is truly amazing how all our learning has evolved throughout the past few months.

As I go through my notes, I am reading comments that I wrote down, some which indicate confusion, fear, and the feeling that "I will never be able to do this!"  Well, I was proven wrong once again.  What I felt at the beginning of this course will resonate with me, especially during those times when staff are afraid of the mindset shift in using technology and assistive technology in the classroom.  We talked constantly about UDL and thinking about technology supporting all, not just students with challenges, and that is always an interesting topic of conversation, as many people I work with are not completely sold on the whole move towards technology, differentiating curriculum with technology, etc.  When outcomes and curriculum, assignments and assessments have been standardized to the point where data becomes one of the main objectives, and educators are systematically forced to produce this data on a continuous rate, it is no wonder at all why educators are exhausted, frustrated, and tired from expending energies into learning a whole new skill set when that will only get changed as well!  However, we know technology is NOT going away, and we will never be able to go back to where learning was even 10 years ago!  The video we watched in class on the developing brain reiterates the development process a baby's brain undergoes (before and following birth), synaptic growth, connectivity, experience, hard-wiring, environment, etc.  Not so different from my brain learning in class.  We become so 'hard-wired" in how we have done things for so many years that making the move to learning and doing something differently can be very difficult - I know it is a challenge for me.  However, if I let go of the notion that "I can't", "I won't be able to", "my brain doesn't work that way", "I'll fail at this", "What will everyone think" .............. and actually let the process happen, I am usually pleasantly surprised.  If it doesn't work, try something else.  Our students that struggle certainly feel defeat and all the other emotions and negativity that goes with learning challenges.  If they are given the right tools to use, and they experience success, a far quicker turn-around can happen.  Assistive technology has done just that!  Our brains hurt at the end of the classes, but it was a good 'hurt' in the sense that learning, growth, making connections was happening,  in our ability  to demonstrate our knowledge in different ways, and we had a lot of fun doing it too!

UDL was a term I had heard but did not really think about what it meant and the impact UDL makes with respect to overall learning and how we can reach all students through means of representing what students have learned and can demonstrate knowledge in other ways than what we have been accustomed to in the past (traditional versus progressive), and their 'expression' of that knowledge and learned skill set, and student 'engagement' in the learning process (all UDL language).  The A-ha moment for me was the connection with AT and UDL, and how AT is the conduit to UDL for all students, but again, for those students that need AT to demonstrate UDL learning - everything together and nothing in isolation. 'Accessibility' is one of those words where people might automatically assume that it is directed at individuals requiring special services, physical supports, wheel chair access, etc.  Accessibility now takes on a broader meaning for me now - accessibility allows everyone access to what they need to learn and get the job done, with as much independence as possible.

The big A-Ha moment for me was in learning how to use the iPad, how to navigate the various apps we learned through this little, but MIGHTY, piece of technology with eventual ease, and not being so afraid of doing something wrong with it.  There was much trial and error, but everything comes with practice, and the ease to which we all used this technology over the course of a couple of months was remarkable.  I am so sorry to all my classmates for the constant chatter I provided about what a difference the iPad has made for me in how I read, do my reports, work with students, creating programs for students, and so much more!  I am certain I appeared 'over the top' at times, but this has truly revolutionized and changed the way I now do so many things where before, there would be so much printing taking place (paper wastage), time consuming tasks, etc., that now can be done with such ease (files, PDFs sent to ClaroPDF and read to me), while I do something else...... dictating reports into report templates through Pages with such ease it is mind boggling, creating presentations with ease through Keynotes, and so much more.  I have been wanting to read the Nunn Commission Inquiry Report "Spiraling Out of Control" which is a 378 page document.  I started printing off sections at a time (way too much paper) and then started this course.  I have recently sent the document to Claro and it is sitting there waiting for me to listen to!  How easy and great is that???  I plan on playing around on the iPad over the Christmas holidays and getting more familiar with the vast amount of apps available.

For me, it is all about mindset and how we can become so fixed in some of the things we do, how we think, learn, and can get stuck working 'inside the box'.  Our jobs are such that so much is expected from all of us, required from us, and it becomes too taxing and overwhelming having to navigate through it all.  I believe in making the move, making the mindset shift in how we use technology and work within the UDL guidelines, we can make more positive gains for not only our students, but for ourselves as well, and hopefully make our work a little easier and more satisfying in the sense that we DO make a difference, one student at a time.  But within the UDL concept, through technology and AT, we should be able to make a difference for not just one but ALL students.

I have learned much from my classmates and I thank you all for that.  I am actually feeling excited about doing more presentations for staff (have one coming up in January at my high school) and this is not just an opportunity to speak on supports for students on the topic of mental health, but in using my iPad, demonstrating the ease of technology (I am surprised how many people are not familiar with iPad), and putting a presentation together with the ease of dictation, inserting other visually stimulating information with ease, and not having to work with any paper-pencil stuff!

A huge THANK YOU to Barb for everything you taught me - the patience you have is remarkable :)
Thanks for teaching me not just the technical, the mechanics of AT and technology, but helping me change my fixed mindset, making me move outside my comfort zone, which was painful at times, but so very much worth the journey.  You have changed my life, and now, I hope and pray I can do that for the children and adolescents I work with, and people I work with as well!  You have shared so much with us all, Barb.  I hope I can pay it forward as well!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL, AND WISHING YOU ALL THE BEST IN 2014!!!!!

Reflections on Articles for Discussion

Learning From Text (Dave L. Edyburn, 2003)

"Learning to read is a developmental milestone celebrated by hundreds of thousands of young children everyday" (pg.1).  This resonated with me and made me stop and really think about how true this is, but how sad it is for our students that are challenged with this daunting task everyday.  I recently finished an assessment where the student is in grade 4 and is now diagnosed with an LD in phonological awareness, impacting reading and writing, spelling, etc.  There were working memory as well as executive functioning challenges identified, also compounding the learning process, as well as attention.  How many of these students do we see everyday?  Far too many!  When we think about the reading process, and thinking back to our assignment with respect to the reading process, the process (as discussed in the article) discusses the early grade levels as working on and supporting 'learning to read' and grades 4 and up take the shift where students then 'read to learn'.  What happens to these children that are struggling from the get go, and then are identified as learning disabled, and then the panic sets in and the question is "now what do we do"?

Throughout this course, we have been discussing the importance of remediation versus compensatory, when do we make the shift to compensatory strategies, and how can we support the students in this shift in learning?  Then I thought about this a little further - the real question is, how can we support staff in making the mindset shift from remediation to compensatory?  It is hard to let go sometimes of the more 'formalized, standardized, traditional" methods of intervention, remediation support. However, with knowledge, more skills and learning in technology (and certainly 21st Century Learning is helping with this more modernized moved for global technology learning in the classroom, etc) has helped in creating more of a bridge to walk across the rougher waters of resistance to change in how we provide support with all students, but in particular, our students that are 'struggling' or have learning disabilities.  The comment about "if a child has repeatedly failed to read and understand printed text, how much failure data do we need before we have enough evidence that the child can't perform the task?  When do we intervene? And, what do we do?"

Welcome to assistive technology!  Thank goodness!  I liked the the Systems Approach for Making Text Accessible (pg. 21) and how it relates to remediation, compensation, and how to bypass the painful reading process for so many of our students, and give them the means to acquire the knowledge, information in a way that is easier, less cognitively demanding and works!

As a closing remark, the student I mentioned above that was recently diagnosed with a learning disability, has been a reluctant reader, can be very anxious around the whole process of reading and writing, and now is beginning to avoid the process of reading and writing because it is becoming increasingly more difficult now, curriculum is getting harder.  The student has been an active learner, hard worker, great attitude, positive, upbeat, has has intensive support, has had great attendance, great family support, great resource teacher and teachers throughout the years.  Today, I worked with the student on a science text.  We used the Book Creator app, took pictures of the book, incorporated his voice reading text, took a video of the student discussing his previous knowledge of the topic, and then videoed his final comments about the fun he had creating this book. The student then asked if he could share it with his class!!!!!!!  OMG!!!!!!!  His teacher (who is phenomenal), totally wanted this to be shared with the class.  They even delayed gym class in order for the student to share the book with the class.  Following the presentation, classmates (in awe), clapped for the student and could not say enough times " great job", "wow, can I do that too", "you rock", "that looks like fun".......  I almost started crying.  The student was beyond excited and cannot wait to do more!  During the meeting with staff and parents yesterday, mom informed us that Santa has already purchased an iPad for the student (of course the student does not know this yet :)   The teacher and myself went through "must have apps" for the classroom iPad for all to use, and we are going to arrange for our AT specialist to come in and help both parent and student with apps on the student's iPad, which will happen after Santa comes!  What a wonderful day!  What a wonderful turning point for this student!!!!!!!!  

In conjunction with reading, I now turn to the writing process.  The article we discussed on "Take the Pencil Out of the Process (Brown, 2009), was so relevant, as many of the students we work with that have specific reading difficulties (processing, letter-sound relationships, rhyming, fine motor/graphomotor control, phonological ability, etc), can be/will be challenged in the writing process as well.  Again, we talk about getting the information out in whatever means works for the student.  "Which is more important - being able to print/write the answer OR knowing the answer" (pg. 17).  The key discussion, again, is teaching skills in independence in communication, learning, learning and demonstrating knowledge.  "Take the pencil out of the process and see what happens" (pg. 20).  Again, the move to compensatory is where we need to go.  The sooner the better for so many of our students. We need to really think about why we continue to insist on paper-pencil skills, completing awful work sheets, writing on the lines, neat print, and measuring this as 'success' or 'ability'......   expression or demonstration of knowledge or ability happens in many other ways - Hallelujah to assistive technology !!!!!!!

Last Class Reflections (November 30th, 2013) Presentation Day

Last Class was wonderful, exciting, informative, and the learning never stops!  All of the presentations were very interesting and from each presentation, I personally took away new information about assistive technology, ideas to use with students and staff, that I will be able to incorporate on a regular basis and in a variety of ways.  We have truly come such a long way since our first class in September, and I will be honest.... I was not certain if I would be able to do this course as I assumed it would be too difficult to grasp, to work through, to learn "new" technologies and apply them.  Was I ever mistaken!!!!!!! I ended up loving the course, bought an iPad mini in the process, and allowed technology to transform ME, how I think about technology for all, but especially in supporting each and every student I work with, how to provide technology support and consult with other educators as to what might work well with students and assistive technology, to help support happy, positive and successful students, and  instill as much independence as possible.  This is what I see as true UDL for all, and thinking back to our UDL Learning Guidelines - representation, expression and engagement through multiple means of representation.  The apps we have at our fingertips are endless - and the presentations spoke to the great use of assistive tech to support so many of our students early into the start of their school careers, and to support them through school and into independent life and ongoing learning, professions, etc.  

I wanted to add a few comments about some of the presentations that I could not comment on via individual blogs because I continue to experience difficulty accessing some of your blog sites.  I did comment on other individual blog sites, but the following are my classmates that I could not access:

Elaine:  Your presentation was wonderful!  Your student was an inspiration and speaks to our students that have so many gifts and talents in other areas. The barriers that curriculum outcomes and curriculum in general (and lets not even talk about assessments) present for many students, but especially students with learning challenges, LD's, etc., continues to be a real problem.  It just goes to show what good assistive technology can do for students that have learning challenges in working memory, processing, phonological awareness, writing output/production, comprehension, etc.  

Amy: Awesome presentation!  I hope your student gets the assessments he needs!  Thank you for supporting this student and helping instill the much needed support, self-confidence he needs in making a difference and continuing to positively impact his learning, his knowledge sharing and output other than the traditional paper-pencil (argggg) tasks. Voice to text has certainly made a huge difference for so many students, and.... for me too!  :)  

Shawna: Your son is wonderful!!!!!  Thanks for sharing his story too.  Thank you for demonstrating the "old and traditional approach" to the "new approach" to spelling, working with sight words, and using the iPad and the various apps that have proven time and time again to be so effective in helping children in their learning through fun, positive, and super-reinforcing ways!  Little Speller app is great!  I love the Grasshopper and Alligator apps.  Will be using these a lot!

Thanks to you all for a great learning experience and learning so much together!  I wish you all the very best and Happy Holidays to you all.  What a course!

Donna :)

The following videos are neat!  

A week's Reflection

As our last class approaches, I am thinking about what learning has taken place over the course of the past several weeks.  I have learned so much from this class, from Barb and all of my classmates.  Thinking back to where I was in early September with respects to assistive technology, or technology on a whole, I feel as though leaps and bounds have been made, and this class has changed my life - literally!  When I look back on what technology meant to me (both personally and professionally), I am shaking my head at the growth and progress I have made.  From terrified to moonstruck, to in awe, that's what I feel right now.  I cannot believe what differences have taken place in the way I think about technology, UDL, and individual programming possibilities for all.  I have plunged into the world of technology beyond anything I ever envisioned (especially at my age :), and the old saying "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" really doesn't apply!!!!  Thank goodness!!!!!!  My iPad had been a life -changing device in more ways than one.  I never leave home without it.  The ease in which much of the assistive technology has made for me is quite remarkable.  The specialists I work closely with have shared and learned about the beauty of technology, and all the great programs that go with it, and what a difference it has made with some of the students I have been recently working with, but in the sharing of programs and apps with the specialists' and teachers I work with, and the fun that it has instilled in programming supports for many of the students we are programming for.  It is like this whole new world has been discovered.  I now find myself thinking about and looking for an app that can help support students in all areas of learning, but also looking for myself with respect to making my job more effective, more efficient, and in faster delivery of service provision.  This is all in supporting students and staff, with ready-to go supports for students in the classroom, throughout the school setting and ultimately creating the most independence for all students being supported.  Thank you so much!!!!  I owe you and Barb a world of gratitude!!!!!!!!

Reflections From The Past Week

I have spent a considerable amount of time really thinking about what I do for the students I work with, assess, provide support through academic, behavior and social-emotional programming, etc.  I had the opportunity to spend some good quality time with our unit Assistive Technologist Specialist for the first time ever.  It was a great conversation around technology, apps available, what resources we have, and how I can "share the wealth" of information with others in my role.  The more time I spend with my iPad and really get acquainted with some of the apps we have been learning about and getting to use, the more I am in awe of what technology means - the whole concept of UDL makes so much more sense to me.  Again, I think it is because I have been blessed to have found apps that have made a significant change in how I do my work, in being more productive, and manage to get much more done (both at work and in studies).  This video I have included from You Tube was quite powerful for me - it reflects what we are currently learning, where our students, our children and grand children, and yes, us as well, are progressing in this fast-paced world of ever changing digital technology.  Curriculum is changing, the look of how we present information, learn information, and move forward in this world is through the lens of technology.  Although technology continues to change everyday, we can continue to learn and move with that change in a more positive way when we receive the right information.  The video above referred to some of the bigger changes we have witnessed over the past decades, and we felt the same way with technology, and some continue to be 'skeptical' of the whole 21st century innovative skill building curriculum shift/concept.  This is changing as well.

I have been using the Pages app and ClaroPDF for not only work but school as well.  Reading has become such an easier task for me, and Claro has not only allowed me to have downloaded PDF's read to me, but the highlighting feature has also helped with attention to spoken text, and in helping support my comprehension of text.  I can go back and listen to text over again, stop and pause when I need to, and get through so much more information more quickly and retain information so much better since using this one app.  It was like receiving the best Christmas gift ever.  Could I have used this in university?  You bet I could have. And learning would have been so much easier, more easily accessible, and more pleasurable.  The Pages app has allowed me to dictate reports with great accuracy and ease, and the ability to create files and send them wherever I need them to go is a virtual dream (literally).  Just these two apps alone have changed how I read and write (or dictate).  Reading has become so much more pleasurable for me.... amazing!

These apps makes have made a huge difference in my life in such a short time.  So what assistive technology can do for all students is clearly life-saving for many of our students, especially students with specific learning challenges and disabilities.  Assitive technology is not cheating, it is not a means for 'taking the easy way out', but a way for all students to demonstrate active, engaged learning in a way that they can get the information out, and how they process information, develop critical thinking skills, and develop remedial or compensatory strategies that will enable students to become the best that they can be, to be successful in life, be as independent in life, feel growth, happiness, success, self-worth, and feel they are contributing to others, society, and lead a fulfilling life.  The way in which we program for and assess children is beginning to change, but we have a bit of a battle to fight yet.  Assessment has to change at the provincial level, and our means of supporting a technological learning community has to be reflected in how we assess students as well.  I hope I will get to witness this 'turning of the tides' before I retire.  I am hopeful.

The Writing Process

My writing sample using my non-dominant hand

As I read the materials regarding assistive technology and writing (Newton & Dell, 2009), it made me consider what I really need to think about when students present with writing difficulties.  After our assignment in our previous class, having to really focus and think about the actual steps involved with writing, forces me to reflect on what the actual area of difficulty might be that causes the writing process to be so difficult for the many students we see everyday.  As I read the article, I focused on some of the key points in this article:

1) physically producing the text through handwriting: fine motor, visual spatial perceptual, pencil grip, paper positioning, visual alignment and acuity, mood  and temperment, motivation, ability, motor difficulties, arm positioning, type of writing tool, etc.  When I did my writing sample, I had the luxury of a comfortable chair, relatively comfortable position, my 'favorite' pen, having the time to do this short assignment, and not being under pressure to get it completed, I was comfortable with the spacing of words, and this was not being graded or marked.  Many of our students feel the pressure as fine motor coordination, motor control, visual-perceptual difficulties impair writing output, directionality of print can be an issue, anxiety because print is messier, letters poorly formed, writing on the lines are difficult due to visual, perceptual, motor control, etc. 

2) Written expression: conveying thoughts through the use of words and the other writing processes involved, such as receptive language, expressive ability, being able to follow the basic writing process, organization of words and thoughts that flow and make sense to the reader, etc.  We have so many students that struggle just with word recognition, word meaning, being able to describe words, sound out words, spell words, let alone higher order ability to organize thoughts in a sequential process that tells a story, conveys meaning, makes sense, has a beginning, a middle and an end to a story, etc.  If a student has language-based difficulties/disability, this also impacts on the writing process.  Then if a student has motor, visual, memory, processing difficulties, everything is further compounded. 

A simple, short writing assignment we did in class certainly humbles me once again - how something that was easy for me can be so very difficult and anxiety-provoking (and behavior-provoking) for many students we work with.  So many of the tasks we expect from our students are measured in paper-pencil tasks (writing, math, etc).  Many of the assessments we do are paper-pencil tasks. This certainly makes me reflect more on my practises as a psychologist and finding better means of assessing the children and adolescents I work with.......

Reflections

As I reflect on everything we have covered thus far, with apps, to blogging, and reflecting on the articles and research information we have been reading throughout the course so far, it amazes me how far we all have come in such a short time.  My sense of "awareness" with respects to UDL and schools, mass technology, students learning in general, but more specifically, individual students and how best to support and enhance learning through assistive technology, has been challenged, and has forced me to look at assistive technology in a different light - that ALL students learning can be enhanced and supported through assistive technology, that we can use so many of these tools for remediation, and should be doing just that.  When we think about 21st century learning frameworks with respect to making the shift to having all students learn curriculum through the use of technology, how we facilitate that should be in keeping with All students, regardless of ability level, difficulties, disabilities, and other areas of challenge that can impact on a student being successful, happy, engaged in the learning process, being productive, and preparing them to be as independent and productive in their lives beyond the classroom.  Our beliefs and assumptions are going to be challenged as we make the mindshift from traditional to progressive and more current, moving away from the more standardized ways of instruction and assessment.  As I work my way through two books I am currently reading, one which is addressing the questions around the significance and importance of having emotional intelligence versus the traditional standardized IQ measures and why it can matter more that IQ, and the other is about teaching with poverty in mind and what schools can do to support both poverty and "feeding the brain", assistive technology is screaming at me.  Although we continue to teach to the test, we need to continue to challenge and have opportunities to have good conversation around what we need to do to address assitive technology use in everything we are doing to support curriculum and how we contiue to assess students knowledge and skill set.  Students need to be "ready" for life.  The way we were taught has long since changed.  Although there is still the need to strike the balance between teaching the foundations to reading, writing, and math, we have missed so many students in our attempts to meet each and every need through the traditional, "standardized" means.  We have seen teaching through the paper-pencil method certainly has not bode well for many students, and we have witnessed the fall out because of this.  If there is a way in which we can truly make changes to enhance the curriculum through the use of assitive technologies right from the beginning of school entry and remediate early on for our students at risk, maybe we will see more success and happier learning students in the process, and happier classrooms and class climate.  This probably sounds very 'flowery' but its the process that I am slowly picking away at for my own learning, in making the necessary mindshift I have to make in my practise as a school psychologist and how I can support students throughout their learning process, and how my recommendations can be designed to address each student's learning need in looking at more innovative, exciting and supportive ways that will truly be more successful and positive for the student in the long run.

This is an interesting video clip around IQ, traditonal versus a 'newer way' of higher order problem-solving, thinking, innovation, etc.  Let me know what your thoughts are around this topic :)  Thanks everyone!