Final Thoughts...

Last DAY--- Case Study Presentations

 

This last class was a great day. I love hearing from other teachers and seeing what strategies and tools they are implementing in their classrooms and how they are working. I learned something from every single presentation. Below is a breakdown of my takeaways from each.

 

1.  Nikki

Great catalogue-- very well organized.

Niki told us about a student with ASD and how they have had success using a binder system. The best AT is easy. It should be simple for student and teacher.

 

2.  Shauna

Shauna had another great catalogue and used wix. This is the first time I have seen a wix site and I already know it is something I want to explore this summer. Her whole site is fantastic.

Her student also had autism and global delay (10 years old). She used Classroom Suit, MyTalkToolsLite, Checkers. Classroom Suit is another thing I was not familiar with. I have not been in a school with a license, but I will definitely be keeping it in mind when I go to different schools. Using the student as the expert (in checkers) was an effective strategy for this student. I also thought MyTalkToolsLite was a great app.

 

 

3. Chris-- AT catalogue

A few things from Chris’s catalogue stuck out to me. One was the speakers. Interesting idea. The second was the Find it. I know I have a ton of students who would like that and I certainly think it is a neat thing to have in the classroom. The third thing I liked was the scooter boards. We have these in the gym and on “free day” the kids love them.

 

His student was Emily with ADHD. I thought the match of the student and AT was great. It is too bad there were so many complications with the school boards, but it looked like that was effective for her. It is an interesting app to keep in mind. It was another new app to me/. Thanks for sharing it!

 

4.  Whitney who teaches BIRT was looking to increase independence with one of her students. She used ClaroSpeak and Dragon Dictation for this. It sounded like this was a great match for the student and has/will improve the dynamics of the classroom.

Her catalogue was through inspiration which I thought was a great way to link things. It was neat and the layout was useful.

 

5.  Donna

Donna shared how she implemented some apps in the PEERS program that she does with students. Students were already using texting, notes, vision sim, evernote. She introduced the apps Visual poetry, Name Game, and Tellagami and had great success with it. I really enjoyed hearing how the different apps that your students enjoyed. Very simple apps but they draw a lot out of students. It sounds like this was very meaningful (and useful--sharing how to use EverNote) to all of your students. The next step part was excellent!

 

6. Susan

 

Susan did her case study on herself and CRPS-- Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, which I learned a lot about through her presentation. I was unsure how presenting through blackboard would be, but it worked well! Great job. You don’t think how difficult everyday things are when you can only use one hand. We got to see how the one hand cutting board worked. Though it would be extremely useful and make things easier, there still seems like there is a learning curve and that it would take a bit more time. But neat AT!

 

 

7. Elenore

Elenore told us about a grade 12 student that has difficulty with working memory and making connections. First, I have to say I thought the class she was teaching sounded like a very interesting a worthwhile class. I think I have heard mention of this class before, but I didn’t really know what it was. She used three apps with her student and saw different amounts of success with each. First, she used poplett which is another app that I want to look at over the summer and then use next year. I think it would be great for all writers. The other two apps were Dragon Dictation and Co:Writer. Both good apps an dI thought it was effective how she got the student to identify what he thought the strengths of each program.

 

Her AT Catalogue was also on wix. The layout was great and there was very informative. I also enjoyed your dollar store products.

Great dollar store products

 

8.  Theresa

For her case study she told us about a grade 3 student with downs syndrome. Her goals centered around student engagement/speech and early literacy. She used a slant board and stylus, made effective use of the guided access option, and used a choice board with her. The shared control was important with this student and it sounds like all strategies and AT devices were effective and appropriate matches.

 

There were a few things that really stuck out to me from her catalogue. I thought the resistance band around the legs of the chair to fidget was a fantastic idea! Also the bath treads on other devices to stop sliding was a smart idea.

 

9. Reagan

I could not believe that there were three new iPads that were sitting in a drawer. Reagan shared how she got them up  and going. She used OverDrive for books for students. The simple English on Wikipedia sounded like it was an extremely useful tool for one student in particular. Claro and Read Iris were also good fits.

 

10.   Bernadette

 

Bernadette shared how she used Story Jumper with students in her class. This is definitely something I want to look into. It sounds like a very challenging task and this seemed to be a good fit. I would love to see if this is something I can use.

 

Overall, it was a great day. It was nice to glance at the catalogues, but I thought the case studies were definitely the best part. I can’t wait to try out some of these apps, strategies, and ideas over the summer and next year. Thanks for a great course, Barb!