Assistive Learning for Education

          Hey everyone, this week is assistive technology in education. Special education is a subject near and dear to my heart. After graduation, my goal is to return to school to improve my teaching degree by adding a Special Ed degree to the end. I have worked with many special needs individuals. They are great people and deserve all of the advantages and extra help the can get!
         Children with disabilities sometimes need and are entitled to special equipment and services. Assistive technology helps to level the playing field. It allows both learning and physically challenged students to succeed in the "mainstream" world. It helps to create normalcy and preserve self-esteem. 
Assistive technology includes both devices and services. IDEA defines it as: "an assistive technology device means any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functionalcapabilities of a child with a disability, (34cfr 300.5) An assistive technology service means any service that directly assists a child with a disability in the selection. acquisition, or use of an assistive technology device (34 CFR 300.6)  (http://idea.ed.gov/).
     I have decided to focus my blog on those students that have trouble communicating with others. The North Central Regional education Laboratory has an extensive listed on assistive technology devices that addresses all different disabilities. Here is a list for communication disability devices:

 

<><><><><><> <> <><><><><><><><><><><><><> <><><> <><><><> <><> <> <><><><><><> <><><><><><><><><><> <><><><> <><> <>

Assistive Technology for Communication: Aids students who have difficulty in communicating effectively (i.e., they are unintelligible, have no or very little verbal skills, or have limited language proficiency).

Pictures, photographs, objects Communication boards Communication books Eye-gaze or eye-pointing systems Simple voice-output devices Word cards or word manipulatives Word window Writing guides Voice-output devices with levels Voice output with icon sequencing Communication software (allows for communication boards and visual displays) Augmentative communication devices (visualdisplay, printed or speech output) Dedicated augmentative communication system Text-to-voice and voice-to-text software Talking word processing with writing support Word prediction, abbreviation, or expansion options to reduce keystrokes Software that allows communication via pictures and symbols Head-pointing devices Touch screens Translating devices: voice language (e.g., English) to output different voice language (e.g., Spanish) Electronic and software dictionaries http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/technlgy/te7assist.htm

           I specifically chose to look at text-to-voice software. This software allows people who have difficulties with speech to "speak" through a computer or other voice synthesizer. It also allows sight impaired people to upload text that can be read back to them aloud. Some programs like vozME even allows the user to chose what language they want o hear the text spoken. vozMe is a free downloadable program that provides text-to-voice technology. If you would like to try out this software, go to:

http://vozme.com/index.php?lang=en . These downloadable software programs are most often compatable withWindows, Mac OS X, Linux, BSD, Solaris, OpenSolaris, and GNU.

         Technology, even assistiveinternet is in my opinion by far the best way to stay on top of this ever change field. Using the internet is a great place to start!

Tech Tools

        My newest assignment was to go online and discover and play with a new tech tool. A lot of the tools that were listed in our resource list I have already used. Though I have never put anything on YouTube, I have watched plenty of videos. The videos that are out there can be really funny. Still, there are numerous educational videos posted there as well. You just have to look for them.
        I regularly use Skype to communicate with friends who live all around the world. Since my husband is active duty military, we have friends and family everywhere. Skype is so easy that my daughters have been able to use it by themselves for years.
        Starfall is another favorite of mine. I became familiar with Starfall during my practicum hours. The students just love it. It is a fun and easy way to target individual student needs and monitor their progress.
        Google Earth, nasa.gov, and the National Geographic sites are excellent resources for any teacher to have on hand.

        Finally, I come to the new tech tool that I chose to explore, Tux Paint. When I first tried t download the program, I had a few problems. Well, I guess it was just me being confused. The program downloaded onto my desktop, but the program didn't open. The only thing that I was able to see was the tutorial. You can't open the program from here. after I finally opened the program, I had a blast. This is a sight that I think all children could enjoy.
        As I was laying with it, Becca, my youngest daughter came in to the room. She got excited too. She said that she used this program often in school. She is entering the sixth grade this fall. She started showing my different ways to use the program. The only issue that I had was that part of the program, the stamp application, is optional. It does not download with the original Tux Paint program. I had to go back and install it separately. Although the program is fun without it, the stamp program adds a different dimension to what can be done.
        I highly recommend this program for everyone.

Commoncraft Update

Hey everyone,
         I finally got some feed back from a couple of the people I sent the link to.
         My mom really enjoyed the site. She said that most of the videos were about stuff that she already knew.
          She did like the online Google calendar set up. My mom is forever creating calendars to send to people.
          Yvonne works with special needs people. She is excited about this site. She plans to use it to help her higher functioning people to better understand some of these areas. She said that she will let me know how it goes.
          My fellow student never responded to the email. I hope that she went in and took a look around anyway.
          As for myself, I have poked around a little more, but not nearly as much as I want. There just isn't enough hours in the day to get everything done.
          If I receive anymore feedback, I'll be sure and let you know.

Preffered Learning

          I realize that this was suppose to be posted on discussion board, but I made a mistake and posted it here. I thought about deleting it, but decided against it. Maybe it will have more people looking into learning styles sometime in the future.Even though I have read a lot about preferred learning, I never really thought much about it. Sure, I would say to myself," I'm a visual learner".  I never thought about the people around me either.
          My oldest daughter, Hannah, is a visual learner also. It is easy for me to help her with her homework when she runs into difficulties. My youngest daughter, Becca, is a different story.I get so frustrated when I try to explain things ti her. We never seem to connect. If I see something something, whether it is in writing or pictured in a diagram, I can usually understand it. If I am trying to work out a problem or figure out something, I try to picture it in my head even words that I am trying to spell. I try to get Becca to attach her problems the same way. We both get frustrated. I get frustrated because she doesn't do it, and she gets frustrated because she still doesn't understand it.
          After reading these two chapters, another picture flashed into my head. Hello!!!! Becca is most definitely a kinesthetic learner. All of the fidgeting she does while I'm trying to explain her homework to her drives me insane. I find it distracting, and I often feel as if she isn't truly paying attention. I hate to say it, she often got in trouble for it too, but not anymore. I'm going to encourage different kinesthetic learning strategies in the future. Hopefully we can finally "see" eye to eye when I'm needed to help with her homework.
         I went to the website to discover what multi-intelligence category I fall under. My top two categories were linguistics and nature. That doesn't surprise me. What does surprise me is that I score so low in some of the other categories. I think of myself as a pretty well rounded individual in most areas except for math. Math is my mortal enemy. If I see it done, I will eventually conquer it, but it doesn't come easy.
         After seeing my results, it is my goal to work harder in these areas or to at least recognize them in others ( like future students) and provide plenty of different instructional strategies in order to try and accommodate everyone.

Connecting with Others

Hey everyone,
            Before I decided on whose blogs that I was going to connect with, I decided to go back and look at everyones page as well as look at the educational blog that they have choosen to follow. After doing this, I went back into the blog I thought I wanted to follow, and guess what? I decided to switch course and follow someone new. I decided to go with http://www.techfridge.com/ . I decided to switch after I read Sheng's page. She said that the reason that she chose this particular blog was because it was what she was going to learn all semester. In my opinion, that is good reasoning. This class is all about technology. What better blog to follow then one that revovles around the same subject. Sarah has also chosen to follow a blog about technology. I decided to pick her because I thought it would be fun to compare the two blogs. My final two picks are Ariel and Brianna. I actually followed Brianna's post through Ariel's blog. Both ladies have choosen blogs that are easy to follow. They both relate these blogs as potential tools for their futures as educators which relates back to my blog.All of our blog's are related to education. They all are potential tools in helping make our futures easier.
           After saying that, I want to leave you all with a quote from my choosen blog, http://www.techfridge.com/. I hope it offers inspiration on those days in the future when you wonder whatever possessed you to become a teacher.....

"TRY not to take things personally when kids treat us like garbage, because the more of your time, energy, enthusiasm and interest you give to your students, the more you open yourself up to experiencing difficult days and situations that feel like you have had your heart ripped out of your chest and stomped on by adolescent feet in skateboard shoes… to vent little.
You want to be a caring, compassionate, dedicated and electric educator that gives everything he/she has to their students? Great! You will be a testament to the profession and change the lives of young people throughout your career. BUT, if you do, you have to remember that sometimes they won’t respond to your kindness and dedication the way you would expect them to. They will break your heart, but they’ll come back the next day and put it back together. That’s life as an educator, and its hard, but its also pretty great."

  

Common Craft Videos

So, another assignment for my blog.

For class last week, we had to go to the common craft video web site and look around a bit. I did. I really liked what I saw. There are videos available on this site for people who are not quite up to par on their computer know how.

The next part of the assignment was to forward this link to several people and ask their opinion, see how they liked it, or if they even bothered to log on.

I picked four people: my mom, Carole, my neighbor, Yvonne, a fellow future educator, Britta, and myself.

I picked my mom because although she knows her way around a computer better than I do, she still has some basic questions. I chose Yvonne because she is going to school to be a social worker. She works mainly with high functioning handicapped people. I thought that this site might be useful to her when is helping these individuals try and surf the web. I chose Britta because I thought that she might find it useful for her future students, and I included myself, because I feel as if I only scratched the surface of these videos and I would like to explore quite a bit more.

The last part of this assignment is to come back in two weeks and let everyone know what my candidates did. So, I will keep you informed. If anyone else out there would like to view this wonderful, informative site feel free. http://www.teachparentstech.org/

Copyrights

Impressions and Selections:
The article that I choose to read was "Copyright 101 for Educators" by Wesley Fryer. The second paragraph begins with a disclaimer about not being a copyright lawyer. After reading this paper and browsing a few websites, it is my opinion that you have to be a lawyer to truly understand all of the fine nuances of copyright. It's confusing. What can be considered free use in one instance is considered copyright infringement in another. One thing is for sure, I will definitely think longer and harder before I include certain bits of information into my writings and presentations in the future. It would be easy to cross the copyright line and not even realize it.

After reading this article,
I plan to become better acquainted with copyright guidelines listed in the Copyright Act of 2002. As we become active educators, it is our responsibility to not only insure that we do our best not to break copyright laws, but to also insure that are students stay within those lines too.

What is copyright?
According to the same article, copyright is," a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States to the authors of "original works of authorship", including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works."

How do you get a copyright?
A copyright can be obtained either by online application or by submitting a completed application through the U.S. Postal Service. There are just a few simple steps that a person must complete in order to receive a copyright. 
For online applications:
1. Go online to the Copyright Offices website.
2. Go to register online.
3. Complete application.
4. Pay fees.
5. Wait for conformation of copyright.

For U.S. mail:
1. Go online.
2. Print out application.
3. Fill out application.
4. Pay fees
5. Mail application to copyright office.
6. Wait for conformation.

What is Fair use?
Fair use was introduced by the copyright office in order to allow the limited use of copyrighted material without first obtaining permission from the copyright holder. Basically, they are exceptions to the copyright laws put in place for limited use.

What is the TEACH act?
The TEACH Act was signed into law by President Bush in November 2002. TEACH stands for Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act of 2001. The TEACH Act expands the opportunities for the use of copyrighted materials in distance- delivered and/or electronically-enhanced education courses. It works along side the principles of fair use of the copyright act to allow for a wider use of copyrighted materials by educators teaching online courses.