Funding and a collection of AT resources

Before you can implement many of the suggestions made throughout this blog, you'll need money. Lots and lots of money. So, here a few links that address funding issues to get you started.

• How to get Medicare funding for AAC Technology
• Grants for hospitals, education & libraries
• Funding sources from Disability.gov
• Using mini-grants to fund AT
  

The rest is a catch-all post for an assortment of resources that didn't fit anywhere else. Check them out when you get a chance...

• Oprah's Book Club - Oprah just did her first "global webinar" for a book called "Say You're One of Them" about stories from Africa.
• Animusic - a content creation company focused exclusively on computer animation of music.
• Abilities! and the Kornreich Technology Center - an assistive technology demonstration, education, and evaluation center.
• Closing the Gap - a conference on assistive technology.
• Microsoft Accessibility Newsletter
• Sony Wonder Technology Lab
• Tikatok - Let's kids become authors.
  
• Evaluating Websites for Accessibility - How to get started.
  

I hope these will be helpful as you add to your AT repertoire.

Adaptive Technology for Classroom Use

There are so many interesting topics in the area of Adaptive Technology that it's hard to know where to start. But, the important thing is that you DO start. Listen to this video of several students explaining why it is so important to figure out how to include all students in the classroom. See the list of AT devices referred to in the video.

So, what is the best way to start thinking about AT devices that are appropriate? A general rule of thumb is to look at low-tech and mid-tech options first. Some good places to start include:

• The Assistive Technology Online Training Project
• Susan Fridie's Kaboodle list of Low Tech Writing Aids
• This keyboarding vs handwriting checklist
• Microsoft's AT Decision Tree
• Mid-tech Writing Aids like the Neo
• Form Pilot for completing paper forms through typing
• The Kurzweil for read-aloud of paper and electronic documents
  
• PhotoStory for presenting content in multiple ways
• Susan Fridie's video about low-tech writing aids. Part II.
  

This video highlights some low-tech alternative that helps students and others to live more independently:



Beyond this, there are some higher tech AT devices which may be appropriate. It's always important to remember, however, that each student should be evaluated prior to AT recommendations to ensure the correct match and effectiveness. Trial usage of AT devices should also be encouraged, as available. There are two main categories that I will discuss with regard to AT devices: Adaptive Input & Augmentative Communication.

Adaptive Input - These AT devices generally include alternatives keyboards and mice, and other input methods. There are also Adaptive Output devices such as screen readers and braille printers. Check out this interactive presentation highlighting many of the available adaptive input devices. Here are some additional resources on the subject:

• Susan Fridie's Kaboodle list of alternative keyboards & mice.
• Free Screen Readers
• Braille technologies & Braille keyboard
• Dragon NaturallySpeaking - voice recognition software
• Microsoft's Accessible Technology Guide

To introduce what I mean by Augmentative Communication, here is a video from one teacher explaining how technology has helped her improve the ability of her students to learn and communicate:



Adaptive and Augmentative Communication (AAC) - This area of AT devices encompasses the technology that allows students to be more active participants through alternative means of communication. This 30 minute AAC video highlights many of the devices available today. Other resources include:

• A selection of synthesized speech demos
• Myths about AT & AAC
• Profiles of people using AT & AAC
  

To wrap up, you can find lots more resources at NATRI, the National Assistive Technology Research Institute including a segment on how AT services can go awry. This is useful as you prepare to utilize these technologies in the classroom. Another great resource is this Assistive Technology Implementation Plan that should be used as part of an IEP to ensure that students get what they need to be successful.

The Kurzweil

This exercise asked us to explore a popular tool in the world of literacy and learning support known as Kurzweil 3000, or just "The Kurzweil". You can request a 30-day demo CD from their website. So, I took it for a spin.

First of all, I was quite frustrated with the installation process. The first time I tried to install it I was told that I had to restart my computer before it would work. Well, I have about a dozen different things open that I was not prepared to shut down. So, I tried my backup computer but alas I have no speakers on that computer and it didn't want to work through the sound card. Then, I tried my laptop but I didn't have enough space on C and it wouldn't let me install to D. So, back to the first computer, write down what's open, shut everything down, install, restart and finally use Kurzweil.

I then opened the Reading for Math.kes file provided by our teacher, a document that had already been scanned in. I went through the tutorials provided which basically showed me how to move around the tool bars and then began the process of trying to add a text note. The tutorials did not go through that so I checked the help menu. The help menu said to go to the "Study Skills Training" tool bar. Guess what? That's not where it is. It's actually under "Test Preparation". Anyway, I added several text notes to indicate where the student should fill in the form and what data was being requested. The text notes were next to name and questions 1-3, 5 & 6.

Question 4 asked the student to circle items in the picture shown.













The question is: How can a student do this within the program (or can they?). And, the answer is, yes they can but only after some edits are made by the teacher. As is, the student would not be able to use the circle tool on the "Basic" toolbar because the picture is not one of the zones. So, using Zone Edit (which I learned about from the video) I made the crayons into a zone. The students would now be able to circle the number of crayons the question is asking for.














So, yes it's possible. Finally, I added a bubble note to be read before the first question. This allowed me to review the task and ask the student to consider the appropriate strategy to use to solve the problems. The bubble note allows you to request input from the student but doesn't provide a mechanism for stating whether the selected answer is correct. Another flaw that I noted is that while you can slow the speed at which the program reads, there seems to be no way to add appropriate pauses or interjections. It just continues to read as if it were one long block of text.

I think that more exploration of this tool would be necessary to use it in real classrooms with actual students but I do see potential for this as a useful tool for some.

Using Storyboards in the Classroom

Storyboards are useful for helping students visualization content they are studying and there are several ways that they can be used in the classroom. The first way was demonstrated in my PhotoStory posting of Shel Silverstein's "Where The Sidewalk Ends." Teachers can either prepare these in advance for students to use, or students might actually create these storyboards themselves.

This handout describes Visual Think-Alouds and a process by which you can help students get started. You will also want to help students locate images and music that they can use in their digital storyboards. Here are some resources that you can share with your students:

• Google Image Search
• Bing Image Search
• Pics 4 Learning
• All The Web Image Search
• Clusty Images
• Free Play Music - As the name implies, music without copyright restrictions
  

Finally, this pdf document provides a simple Tutorial for getting started with PhotoStory.

Another way of thinking about storyboards is that they are alternative methods for "reading". For individuals with visual impairments or learning disabilities, there are many resources that provide books in alternative formats. Here is a sampling of e-Text providers:

• Accessible Book Collection
• Bookshare
• Unabridged
• The Children's Literature Web Guide
• The Online Books Page @ UPenn
• Franklin Free Library
• Project Gutenberg
• The Texas Text Exchange
• The National Academy Press
• ReadPrint
• University of Virginia's Electronic Text Center
• Audible
• Bartleby
• Rosetta Books
  

For a master list of these sites and more detail about each, check the CAST.org resources page. Finally, here is a list of some additional resources to explore:

• The National Instructional Media Accessibility Center
• Read:Outloud software for Bookshare
• Video Introduction to Bookshare
• A research report introducing HyperStories using virtual worlds.
  

All About Boardmaker

Boardmaker is a new software tool that was introduced to me recently. Unfortunately, it is not free but I was able to use it with a semesterware license. The idea behind Boardmaker is that you can help students by presenting information visually and associating it with words to help them learn.

I remember that my cousin Josh used boards similar to this when he was younger to help him communicate what he wanted or needed. I definitely see the benefit that this assistive technology can bring to students and others with disabilities.

Our assignment for Boardmaker was to create a "Memory" game for visual discrimination. We had to select an object and make 2 sets of 10 images that were varied in one way or another: rotated, flipped, color change, lines added, etc. I choose a Tennis theme because I could easily visualize the racket and ball in numerous positions. I also thought that this board could be easily adapted to discuss various tennis terms like overhand, backhand, net shot, practice, and love by simply changing the word "Tennis" above the image to the appropriate term. Here is a picture of what my Board looked like:

If you want to get started with Boardmaker, and are lucky enough to have access to the software, here are some tutorials that might help:

• BoardMaker Tutorial
  
• Making a BoardMaker Overlay
  
• Weather Overlay with BoardMaker
• Recorded Sessions from Mayer-Johnson (the manufacturer)
• Creating a Memory Game using BoardMaker

Remember, you can always use low-tech options if you don't have access to software or other technology devices!

Using PhotoStory for Accessibility

This task was designed to show how PhotoStory, a free download from Microsoft (if you have genuine Windows) can be used to extend accessibility for ELA. In this example, I have chosen the poem "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein.



The use of pictures and music alongside the words helps students who are visually impaired or struggle with literacy to appreciate the poem in different ways.

On the technology itself, I will say that Photostory does have some limitations and some advantages. Unlike MovieMaker, Photostory does not give you a way to add a credits slide or use video clips as part of your movie. It really is designed for slideshows with music or voice added rather than video-editing. A nice feature of Photostory is that it will automatically adjust music that is too long for the slideshow, fading it out on the last image. It's also very easy to use which makes it an advantage for students.

The Spiration Family: Graphic Organizers and Education

This post focuses on graphic organizers as a way to help students learn in a more focused and organized way. The Spiration Family includes Inspiration, Webspiration and Kidspiration. Inspiration is the original concept mapping tool designed for older students and adults. Kidspiration as the name implies is focused on younger audiences and Webspiration is online version of Inspiration. There are two parts to this post. The first identifies two sample lessons using Kidspiration. The latter highlights three sample concept maps that I have personally created and used.

Good Kidspiration Examples:
The first example that I want to highlight is the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere Cartoon Creator lesson at http://www.inspiration.com/sites/default/files/documents/CartoonCreator.zip. There are several reasons that I picked this one. First, the author provides both a .pdf of the lesson plan as well as a sample kidspiration file of what the resulting product could look like. The template that is used is built-in to Kidspiration under the Social Studies Content Area and the graphics are used from the embedded libraries but the teacher can also bring in their own symbol library. The lesson plan also emphasizes critical thinking skills by suggestion that the last two frames of the cartoon relate to the impact of the actions of the event. It’s also extensible to any social studies content area that the students may be studying.

The second example is actually from my student teaching experience. The teacher had his third grade class divide up into pairs to interview each other. They would be taking notes using the Writing view of Kidspiration. The template that was modified for this is the “Story of My Life” template in the Reading and Writing content area. The students then examine the graphical view to understand the organization of the interview, and to add images. The students then did a second round of interviews to provide the elaboration details. Finally, the students exported their kidspiration notes to Microsoft Word in order to publish their interview on the school bulletin board.

My Spiration Examples:
The first example is using Inspiration to design a webquest on the topic of Colonial Values and America today. In designing a WebQuest, organization is extremely important. Inspiration is a great tool because it allows for reorganization and multiple idea paths which is critical in WebQuest design. Using Inspiration in this manner would be helpful for students at the secondary level who are instructed to design a WebQuest of their own in order to gain a deeper understanding of the content areas that they are studying and to provide useful tools for students yet to come.

Here is the concept map that I designed for my WebQuest which you can find at http://questgarden.com/79/14/5/090327191304/:

The second example uses Webspiration as a group brainstorming platform. The advantages of Webspiration are that it is free and the concept map can be edited by multiple people through sharing. In a class where we had to design a lesson for a particular group of students using collaborative activities, my group chose to create a lesson on what it means to be a green citizen. It was targeted at the high school level. We all contributed to the resulting concept map shown below which was used to design the Green Citizen wiki and website that students would use to create their projects. This is a great example of how concept maps can be used by students working on group projects to get organized and come to consensus on the direction of their projects.

Here is the Webspiration map for the Green Citizen project (pbwiki: http://greencitizen.pbworks.com/, website: http://sites.google.com/site/greenhs4052/home):

The third and final example is a Kidspiration project I designed for a second grade class at my student teaching placement. They were beginning a unit on New York City and specifically transportation today and at the turn of the 20th century in NYC. They would be visiting the NYC Transit Museum and this lesson was to be an introduction to the NYC subway system. The students had not been exposed to Kidspiration before so I created several templates for them to use. The students were divided into groups of three and assigned a subway line by color. This allowed me to differentiate the lesson as some lines are easier than others. The students would be identifying end points, numbers or letters associated with the line, the original line company (IRT, BMT or IND), important sights along the line and the boroughs through which the line passes.

Here is a picture of the completed template for the Green line: