favorite posts

So maybe I'm biased, but I think I've written a fair number of good posts! Some have lots of views, but some maybe didn't get seen because they were written before many people started subscribing to my RSS feed. So take a look at some of the posts I like:


Delicious
Beginning Literacy
Gmail
Pete's Stuff
Google Reader
Literacy For All
Just One Club Card


These are a few of my favorite posts, what about you? Do you have a post that you liked, one that got you thinking, or just something you found interesting. Post you favorite one here so all of us can see.




-  Patrick


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Most Comments

So here's a list of some of the posts that garnered a few comments. I have decided at this time that I am not going to moderate comments! Maybe this is a naive of me, maybe not, but until I see an issue I will continue to let you post whatever you want! Take a look:

Age...
Visual Scene Displays
Online Audio Stories
Data, Data, Data...

So now that you know the most commented on, what did you want to comment on but didn't? Leave a comment here and let me know!


-  Patrick

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The Picture Communication Symbols 1981-2008 by Mayer-Johnson LLC.
All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Used with permission.
Boardmaker is a trademark of Mayer-Johnson LLC.

Most Viewed Posts

As the end of the year approaches, I'd like to take some time to share some of my favorite posts, posts that have garnered a lot of comments, and posts that are the most viewed. I'll be sharing these over the next few days. So today let's start with some of the most viewed posts of my short blogging career!

Social Stories Sites

Making Talking Powerpoint Books
Boardmaker Plus Book Template
PODD & Partner Assisted Communication
New info on PODD, now has a US version for letter paper available here: US Letter PODD
Math Fact Cafe

So if you're new to Teaching All Students, take a look at these posts, and for those who've followed for a while feel free to take a look back and refresh your memory. Have a wonderful Christmas everybody, and Happy Hanukkah too!

Patrick

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The Picture Communication Symbols 1981-2008 by Mayer-Johnson LLC.
All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Used with permission.
Boardmaker is a trademark of Mayer-Johnson LLC.

Happy Holidays

I would like to take a moment and wish all my readers a very happy holiday season. I also want to take this opportunity to thank all my regular readers, this blog is nothing without you. Please have a very Happy and safe Holidays!

Patrick

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Age...

So it's 10:45 on a Friday night, I probably should be in bed, but I can't seem to get a question out of my mind. It's something I've been thinking about for a while and just now decided to talk about. I feel I'm very new the field of AT, I have learned a lot, but really have only been pursuing information for about 2 years. One think I have not seen a lot of research, opinions or facts about is "What age should we be looking at AT devices for student with significant cognitive disabilities & communication difficulties?"

OK, let me explain that. Here's what I know, from my college child psych class we know that typical children learn language the most effectively before they are 5 (as a general rule). So why are our students with SCD made to wait to get a device to help them communicate. I realize there are money issues, teams like to try out all the possibilities, etc... but shouldn't we be starting students ASAP when we know they have a difficulty communicating. I mean we all are aware that many of our students learn things using repetition over countless times, so why do we wait until they are 10 to start letting them communicate?

Also related to age, why are we not using more digital mediums to help students communicate? I am not against PECS, visuals, etc... to communicate, it is a wonderful system that when used correctly can open a world of communication for students, but as stated by Pyramid and other bloggers (check out TLWMSN about this) have stated PECS is not always done correctly. The other issue I have with PECS is how limiting it can be. A PECS book consists of everything "I" think a student would want to say...the problem is the student can't tell me what they want to say so you are limiting them. A digital system is more flexible in this way. While you can run in to the same limits, you are less likely because so much of the device is pre-programmed. Another feature I like is that many digital display devices allow you to scaffold your implementation, you can start with a small amount of choice and move up as the student becomes more comfortable. While this can be done with PECS it is more time consuming, in digital land it's a push of a button.

So maybe this is all just my bias, I admittedly despise paper. I keep all my notes in Evernote, my calendar is Google calendar, and my reminders are done at rememberthemilk.com. I will go out of my way to NOT take down information on paper. Tell me what you think, I know there are some people who specifically do AT evals and training reading this blog (Thank You for you support). What are you thoughts? Should we be looking at devices earlier? Should we be moving from paper to digital solutions? I'm curious, I want your opinions.


Patrick

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Visual Scene Displays - part 2

So I've gotten a few comments on the information I shared about Visual Scene Display's (VSD). I've also been contacted by the author of the original article and she shared some more information about VSD's. Again I want to state that I have not used VSD's, but am learning about them at this time. Here are some of the comments. Kate from TLWMSN said this:

I have to say that I am yet to have visual scene displays work well for a student. There is almost NO research to back up what is written above and the research that has been done was conducted mostly on 1) adults with aphasia, 2) typical preschoolers, 3) a very, very small sample of very young students with autism.

I want to see some serious studies comparing VSD to typical grid display.

The information I received from the original author did specifically list several studies that were done, but they seem to be on populations other than students with disabilities. I think that is a major deficit of VSD. Schools, parents, and teachers need research to help make the best decisions.

Another comment from Kate:

Think about it - a traditional display has symbols in cell of any size. Where the symbol begins and ends is clearly defined. There is no cognitive load as to figuring out what is a symbol and what is just background.

This again makes sense to me. I've seen this many times with students, plain backgrounds, simple pictures work best. I use this with my current classroom and have great success. Here's one last comment from Sandy:

An addendum. I only voiced my opinion on VSD's for primary communication. I'm actually in favor of VSD's for fun and teachable activities. On Adaptedlearning.com, Maryannsdad posted a fun Christmas VSD. For instance, if you touch the plate of cookies - it asks you to pick what you're going to leave Santa. So it's a fun exploratory activity - the user is not trying to find something they need to communicate.

Now this is something I would use, and it makes sense, based on my experience. While I am not against this type of system, I don't think it appropriate for students with significant cognitive disabilities.

Thanks for all the comments, and feel free to share more if you have more to say!

Patrick

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AT Blog Carnival

This month the AT Blog Carnival asked us to come up with some of our favorite things. I did posted my "All I want for Christmas..." to the AT Blog Carnival. Check it out here - AT Blog Carnival

Patrick

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uptoten.com

AnneMarie of Talking SMARTBoards posted a great website today called Uptoten.com. The site is designed for children ages 10 and under and has many features. There is a free, ad supported section, a premium section, and a educational section. Educators can sign up for a free account, which is ad free. I've been playing around with the site and found several nice features:

-You can sign up 10 students to have their own account
-The site allow students to save favorite activities
-There are several simple, switch accessible games, including a left/right activity to catch snowflakes.
-Coloring activities to do online and offline
-No advertisements
-No external links
-Open full screen

The site would work very well on a SMARTBoard or on a large screen. Make sure to check out Talking SMARTBoards for other activities you can use!

Patrick

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Wordle

Several other bloggers have put up posts about a site called Wordle.  Basically it allows you to create word clouds, here's the description on the website:

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide.  The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.  You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes.  The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like.  You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

One of the ways to create one is to put in a website, or RSS feed and it will use the words that are most prominent.  Here's the Wordle for Teaching All Students.
This Wordle is interesting to me.  Teaching All Students has a focus on Assistive Technology and how we can use technology to help students learn.  So I was excited to see that communication was one of the most prominent words.  In my opinion communication is the biggest part of AT, if students can communicate they can learn.  Communication is the key.


Patrick

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Online Timer

Just a quick post tonight. Saw this online timer over at TLWMSN. Seems like a useful visual tool for students who needs visuals. Could be used in conjunction with computer games, or even as just a timer during a group time for how long you have to answer! Check it out.

Patrick

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Visual Scene Displays

I recently read an interesting article on Adapted Learning in the News & Views section. The article is about Visual Scene Displays. If you log into Adapted Learning then click on the link you will see the actual article. The article includes pictures, I have reprinted the text below. I have never specifically used a Visual Scene Display, but am looking to see how it might work. I'm not sure I completely understand how a visual scene might make a difference with students, so I'm looking for comments. Has anyone used these before? What sort of luck have you had, do you think it works?

Patrick

Using Real-Life Backgrounds for Communication Boards:Why Visual Scene Displays?

by Phyl T. Macomber, Assistive Technology Specialist

Augmentative communication systems have traditionally used single symbol target and grid-based symbol displays for depicting vocabulary and promoting language development. These single symbol targets can contain a photograph or digital image, pictograph or cartoon-like illustration, or word. The symbol targets are placed on a page in squares that look like a grid, often times in uniform columns and rows.

An alternative functional approach to these grid-based displays, known as Visual Scene Displays (VSDs), has been gaining wider use in recent years. Visual scene displays organize and depict vocabulary in scenes relevant to the communicator – child or adult. VSDs use background images, such as photographs of a particular event, to provide contextual support for the learner. They place the communication messages on the communication board in an environment image in which they exist or will be used.

Start by creating simple low tech communication boards using a visual scene approach:


1. Purchase basic file folders to use as communication folders.

2. Obtain 2 copies of your background image – one printed on photo paper and the other printed on cardstock.

3. Place the first photo paper background image on the inside folder. Next, cut apart the cardstock background image to make your communication symbols. I like silhouetting these symbol target images so they appear as part of the scene - as opposed to squaring them off.

4. Make the symbols durable by laminating them and placing your favorite adhesive (Velcro, two-sided removable tape, or Dual Lock) on the back of each symbol.

5. Place the symbols onto the background image and you are ready to provide your AAC user with a practical environmental scene in which to communicate.
Visual scene displays can be used in a number of ways using Boardmaker Plus! and Speaking Dynamically Pro to make them interactive. These software solutions offer quick and easy ways to drag and drop your background images onto a board. Then, you can create invisible “hot spots” over different parts of the background picture so that, when touched or otherwise selected, they say or do something relevant to that part of the background picture.

Boardmaker Plus! and Speaking Dynamically Pro offer excellent options for expanding vocabulary within a visual scene display. Using pop-up boards or variables, you can increase the number of communication intents for the augmented user and expand language usage.

I have had a great deal of success guiding teams in using this practical design approach with both low tech and high tech tools because visual scene displays:
• Empower the communication partners to be much more active in the communication process – it gives them something to talk to their AAC user about by referencing the real-life environmental image,

• Reduce the cognitive demand for symbol learning – it is easier to learn communication symbols displayed in the context in which they are used, as opposed to numerous squares,

• Improve the motivation of not only the AAC user, but also the team implementing the tool because it makes sense to them and they see successful communication quickly
Research shows that visual scene displays offer more immediate success for emerging communicators and for many individuals with communication deficits due to congenital or acquired disabilities. Simply put, it is a real-life way to display communication messages – low tech or high tech.

“Reprinted from Phyl T. Macomber’s free AT Solutions At-A-Glance Newsletter. Subscribe at http://www.PracticalATSolutions.com.”


Patrick

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Fair Use Copyright

Copyright is an issue that affects all people creating materials for students. Especially our student with significant cognitive disabilities who usually require photos of specific items for better understanding. Usually this is not a problem as we can take digital photos of items and that takes care of it. Sometimes we need photos and copyrighted materials to accomplish these goals, and with the ease of access to Google Images and such what can and can't we use with our students. Recently Jeantette of My Point of View... shared a simple explanation of what you can and cannot use under Fair Use.

Choice making boards are OK. You are not sharing the videos, you are only sharing the jacket covers and the name of the movie. I would see that as no different as me displaying my home videos and allowing someone to see to which one they wanted to watch.


Copyright is like this:

You cannot scan a storybook into boardmaker and put symbols with it and claim copyright. It still carries the copyright of the author and publisher. If you want to make story strips for books you can make them, save them and share them but you can't share the scanned book. Yes, there are people that do this. Yes, it can fall under fair use however, you cannot guarantee that other users have the books. So you are giving away a copy of the book that someone didn't purchase.

You cannot upload Edmark materials. For example, you can't scan Edmark materials and then put Boardmaker materials with the materials. The Edmark program is copyrighted material. You can post the boardmaker materials without the Edmark materials.

Music is copyrighted. There is some music that is not copyrighted. But popular music is copyrighted this includeds CD's. If you make a jukebox or song choice board you can set it up but you must remove the music. You may own the music but that doesn't mean you can share it. You can use short clips for example trailers and teasers, they are fair use.

Sounds - most of the time Sounds are not copyrighted. Rule if you paid for it, you can't share it. However, what the sounds - anything you create is copyrighted so the sounds are copyrighted but you are not using more then a few seconds of the sounds you are ok. For example, you make a board that has animals sounds, you are ok to upload that with sound (if we had room).

Patrick

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FileFolderHeaven.com

File Folder Heaven was recommended to me by a teacher I met at a recent workshop. There are many books of file folder activities, and these are pretty much the same thing. One nice feature is that the files are already colored (unlike the stack of 150 pages in my classroom uncolored at this time!), and are conveniently in a word document format. There are several free file folders, but the majority are available for purchase. The price is quite reasonable 10 - 11 file folder games for $3.50.

There is also a interactive book section. The books are also in word format, and are interactive in the "off-line" sense, they have movable words and such to use in the classroom. The books are themed and come bundled with several themed file folder games. The interactive book bundles are $5.00 a piece.

So check out File Folder Heaven, and get some cheap pre-made visual activities!

Patrick

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Videos in Boardmaker

http://adaptedlearning.com/SingleNewsArticle.aspx?ID=b390b78d-3e71-4776-b508-69373e31b3ef

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PHOTOsyms

Kate on TLWMSN posted an interesting program today called PHOTOsyms. This is a simple program designed to allow you to create communication boards using digital photos. Kate has several links to places that provide pictograms and such in her post if you need symbols.

I downloaded the program and tried it out. Make sure you take a look at the suggestions that Kate has, they help. I am using a Mac so I didn't need to copy my files to the My PHOTOsyms folder. It worked exactly as advertised, you can put photos into it, adjust their size, then add to a board. The board size is from 2 pictures up to 54 pictures. They can only be created in a grid format. The program is designed to run on Windows and Mac, and is a nice, free alternative for creating communication grids.

Patrick

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Aimee Solutions

So for my first post back, after my computer mishap (still not fixed on a loaner machine), I decided to talk about a great site run by some friends of mine. I'll start off by saying that I have worked with these ladies in the past, but would recommend this site to anyone who deals with students with significant cognitive disabilities.

Aimee Solutions is run by 3 women in Lake County, IL. They create materials for students using many different mediums. All the Language Solutions have a Boardmaker book, a interactive book using Intellitools Classroom Suite, language development and fun activities (songs, BINGO, etc...), and some have a writing component. The Language Solution kits are available on CD, and also fully put together.

In addition to Language Solution Kits they have PVC kits for easels, and switch holders. They also do trainings on how to create materials, find bargains at dollar stores, and student created art! Take a look at these ladies and all they do. They are a great resource.

Patrick

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