Tuesday, March 31, 2009

ATIA 2009 - Chicago


ATIA 2009 - Chicago is set to be held at the Renaissance Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL about 5 min from where I live. I'm especially excited to attend in October because I've been unable to attend any conferences since last year.

I've also decided to submit a proposal to speak at ATIA, and would encourage all other professionals, bloggers, parents, any person using technology in their daily life to submit a proposal. You can find the information at the ATIA site. And if you are coming to ATIA please stop by my presentation - My Crazy Idea...-Web2.0 and student-centered learning for Students with SCD (if it's accepted). If it's not accepted, I look forward to meeting many of you!

Patrick

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Monday, March 30, 2009

My Crazy Idea...-Project Update


I feel as thought it's been so long since I've blogged, and it's really only been a week. I'm glad to have taken the break, and have enjoyed the time off from school. It's really time to get back to work and finish this year on a high note!

I wanted to take a moment to update some progress I've made on the research project the kids are working on. Just before break I made some discoveries that have changed the project slightly. I had been discussing my project with a 1st grade teacher, who had recently done a similar project with her students, and I realized I didn't know what the standards were for 1st and 2nd grade. In talking with this teacher I discovered that I may have become a little ambitious in the amount of work I wanted my students to complete. This was an important realization for myself, one I realized how disconnected I am from "General Education" as a whole. Even though I trained in both Special Education and General Education, I have never worked in a Gen Ed classroom, which leads me to my second realization - you always need a Gen Ed partner!!!! I realized that the majority of First grade students are required to write 4 sentences, 4 facts, in a research project. I had planned on my students learning several more than that, as evidenced by the Desert Animals Fact Worksheet I posted on Adapted Learning. This really made me sit back and take a look at my project, and reassess what I was asking students to learn, and make sure it was appropriate for their age level.

As I said this is a learning process for me, so the plan is to scale back a little. I will have the students fill out the worksheet, but then will use that worksheet to have them find the answer to 4 questions:

1. What does their animal look like?
2. Where do they live?
3. What do they eat?
4. Can you give 1 interesting fact?

This will form the base for our presentations that we will be sharing in the near future. I will keep you updated as the process continues. I hope those of you who had a recent break have a good week back, and for those of you getting ready for break enjoy your time off!

Patrick

Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons: CJ Sorg

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Sunday, March 22, 2009

Ways to Use Flip Cameras in the Classroom

Flip video cameras are cheap, easy to use, and taking education by storm. There are many great ways to use a Flip in the classroom. I myself have used them to create videos of the students doing simple tasks, and used as a video modeling tool. Take a look here at one persons ways to use Flip cameras in the classroom.

Patrick

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Friday, March 20, 2009

Spring Break

I'll be taking a short break from blogging.  Today is the first day of our spring break and I'll be heading out of town with my wife.  I will be back next week with some new posts.  Everyone enjoy spring!


Patrick

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Thursday, March 19, 2009

My Crazy Idea...-Project Status

So we've started our project. The students have picked their animals and the research has been stated! I started by creating an educator account (which is free!) Diigo.com and added a group to collect links about desert animals and the desert. These collection of links will be used to do the majority of the research, with help.

The students started reading through the facts and we wrote down what they liked. While this research is unfocused, I plan on changing that when we start the next part of our project. The next part of the project will have the students looking through the facts they've found (and we've written) to fill out a worksheet about the animal. If they don't have the information, they will go back and find it.

You can download a copy of the Desert Animal Fact Worksheet at Adapted Learning (make sure you log in first).

This part of the project may take a while, and we are heading out on spring break tomorrow. I will continue this idea when we get back into the project!

Patrick

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Wednesday, March 18, 2009

My Crazy Idea... - Where do I start?

It took me quite a while to figure out how to make this project a success for my students. As I stated before my students are mostly receptive learners, and over the years I've become really good at taking a topic, and breaking it down into the simplest terms. I've created many, many books that share this information with students, and allows for easy questioning, and information retrieval.

While there is nothing wrong with this, I've always wanted to include my students more in their learning, which is where the idea came for this project. So I decided to start with a topic that the students are more interested in - animals, specifically desert animals.

So here's my plan, the students will pick an desert animal that interests them. Once they have picked an animal, the will use the internet and books to collect information about both the desert and their animal.

This was my first snag, when trying to plan for this project. I knew my students would not be able to read at such a level to complete the research. I knew myself and my assistants would need to read the research to the students, but do I give them ownership of this research. I decided to use this by having students pick and choose what they liked and don't like. Here's a picture of the response boards the students will be using.

This board will allow the students to answer simple questions, "Is that a fact about a coyote?", "Do you like it?", etc... This is the ownership, this is the way students get to express themselves.

So the first part of the project will be completely student driven. They can pick and choose pictures, facts, and other such things that they like, they are in charge. With that being said, I feel there needs to be a little direction in this area, but that's a post for another day.

Patrick

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Tuesday, March 17, 2009

AT Blog Carnival - Sabotage!


I am excited to announce that Teaching All Students will be hosting the next installment of the AT Blog Carnival.

With the next upcoming holiday being April Fools, I thought I would steal an idea from another blogger/podcaster, Chris Bugaj at A.T.Tipscast - Sabotage! So let's hear you best examples of how you attempted to sabotage a student (for their better good, of course), or how your sabotage went horribly wrong. Or do you have another example of sabotage, maybe something in your own life? Be creative!

The Carnival will be posted Friday, April 9. I am accepting submissions until Tuesday, April 6. Please send all link to pblack00@gmail.com

P.S. - I'd like to invite all bloggers to participate in this Carnival! This is not just for teachers!

Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons: wabberjocky

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My crazy idea....



Have you ever had an idea that you just couldn't get out of your head, lately that's been me. I've always been an advocate for teaching students with significant disabilities as much as possible, and have wondered how I could include more student driven content in my classroom. The challenge is that students with significant cognitive disabilities are most certainly receptive learners, and student driven content is an expressive process, so how to bridge that gap?

So here comes my crazy idea, my students will be creating a presentation about the desert biome and an animal that resides in the desert. They will be creating this presentation from information they collect from books and the internet. This project will be student driven with help from myself and my assistants.

So join me on my journey. It will be interesting, but I think it will end with both students and teachers extremely happy!

Patrick

Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons: Cayusa

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Friday, March 13, 2009

Siftables

Siftables are an amazing interface for the computer.  They were just announced at the TED conference.  If you check out their site you can see the demo of how they work!


Siftables are a small block of computing power, that is connected wirelessly to a computer & each other. Imagine the alphabet blocks you played with as a child, now imagine that as you put them together, the pictures change, if you tip them the picture spins, you can pour the picture to another block or but them together to form words. Imagine using these devices to practice math problems, spell words, or even create music. This simple concept is an very interactive and different way to access a students knowledge. I'm excited to see what this product will look like in it's final state, but it has the ability to change the way we interact with computers.


-  Patrick

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Thursday, March 12, 2009

Creative Social Stories

There have been several additions to Diigo for comic strip creation sites. While I've not used them, I've always thought they would be a great way to create social stories for some kids. So I've take a look at a few of them, and here's what I think:



Strip Generator has a great interface and some interesting looking characters, an easy to use interface, and is pretty intuitive. As you can see I created a simple strip, and it took me about 5 min. The sites does limit you to their pre-selected items. They have humans, beings, objects, shapes and bubbles. You are limited to 3 frames, and if a student doesn't respond to line drawings this might not be a good choice for you.



Make Belief Comix is another very easy to use site for creating comic strips. You are again limited to 3 frames and the characters they have provided. One neat feature is that you can change the characters emotion! This I think would be helpful in creating a story for a student.


While not specifically a site to create comic strips the Story Creator allows you to create a story with sound. It includes sound effects as well as the ability to record your voice. The characters are limited to "myth" type characters and the theme is to create fairy tale or legends, but a powerful tool.



Toon Do is my favorite tool in this post. Toon do does require registration, but for good reason. It has more characters, objects, speech bubbles, etc... then any of the other sites combined! It again has a very easy to use interface, and even allows you to create different frames (not just the typical 3 frame). This tool would really allow you to create stories very specific to a student.


Well I hope I've inspired you to check this out and take a moment to create your own story. If you have any you'd like to share, leave me a comment with the link to your comic strip!




- Patrick


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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

WATI.org - free resources

The Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative is one of the premier AT resources in the United States.  It is also losing funding.  So they have decided to offer some of their resources for free.  The two big items are an article on Assessing Students' Needs for Assistive Technology (ASNAT) 4th Edition and D.E.S.K. (Designing Environments for Successful Kids).  One of my favorite resources is the How Do You Know It? How Can You Show It?.  Take a look at all the Free Materials!

Patrick

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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Managing Your Workload

Sue Waters of the Sue Waters Blog has asked for some help.  She is currently investigating the top 5 tools that we use to manage our workload.  Please take a moment and fill out this survey to help her.

Patrick

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A.T.TipsCast - Communication Bridges I use

I've slowly been going back through the podcasts from A.T.Tipscast and came across a very interesting one. A.T.TipsCast Episode #13 is all about Communication Bridges.  Chris explains that Communication Bridges are what you use to help students communicate what they have done during the day to their parents.  They can also be used to share what students do at home with the teacher. In listening to this episode I realized that I've been using something very similar.  My students fill in their Journal each afternoon to take home, as a way to share what they did with their parents.  Each evening the students fill out a Last Night I... sheet so they can share with the class what they did.  For my students it is a great way to connect with their same age peers, as they share it during a time in their general education classroom.

Here are the pages I use for my students journal:
Page 01
Page 02
Page 03


I've found them a very powerful tool for students to take charge of reporting their learning.  Parents love having the information and are more than willing to fill out the Last Night I... page!  I customize the pictures for each student by inquiring with each parent about activities they do on a regular basis.  Please take a look at the forms (they are in Boardmaker format), feel free to use & change to fit your needs.

Patrick

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Monday, March 9, 2009

Giving Your Child a voice in Learning - SWAAAC

Today's post is a guest post by Mia Hysteria from General Hysteria.

Mia Hysteria shares her inspirational, humorous and sometimes heart wrenching journey of raising 3 young children, one with special needs, while managing a life of chaos, in her blog: General Hysteria . Mia has been blogging on General Hysteria since September 5, 2008 about her son, Ben (1), her daughter, Violet (2) and her oldest son, Alex (6). Alex has cerebral palsy, autism, sensory processing disorder, developmental delays, epilepsy, and ADHD. Mia is a mother, wife, blogger, and practicing writer. Candid about her current and pre-insanity-brought-about-by-children life experiences, Mia’s writings will leave you shocked, laughing, and reminiscing. On a laptop, in a cul-de-sac, somewhere in Colorado, she is single-handedly attempting to share her stories, thoughts, frustrations and elations so that no person feels isolated, forgotten or unworthy of their own journey.

“Alex is a kindergarten student at The Elementary School with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy. Alex’s parents reported that Alex is verbal, with about 60-70% intelligibility. Organizing his communication is still a struggle for him. Alex can get overwhelmed or over stimulated easily. In the classroom, Miss A described Alex as being easily distracted by visual and auditory stimuli. Alex’s writing was described as slow. Miss A reports that he has difficulty with sentence formulation.”

This is the beginning of the Assistive Technology Report we received from SWAAAC. SWAAAC stands for State Wide Augmentative and Alternative Assistive Communication which is part of the Colorado Department of Education System, providing alternative services of communication for students within the CDE who need it.

The SWAAAC Team that evaluations student’s needs for communication alternatives are interdisciplinary, including a Speech-Language Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, Special Educators, Psychologists and Para-professionals, as needed. The goal of the team is to assist in designing communication devices to assist students with disabilities in achieving full access and participation in all educational opportunities.

According to their site, “In the broadest sense, Assistive Technology (AT) is any tool or device that helps a person with a disability function more effectively or independently at home, school, work or play. It is an important means to compensate for the effects of impairment and allows a person to move ahead to accomplish his or her goals….services can include: training the student and classroom staff in its use, consulting on the positioning or mounting of the device and coordination with other services.”

What this has meant for Alex…he was given a voice. An opportunity to participate in the classroom, in class assignments involving writing, learning sentence formulation. In addition to the academics of learning, it appears that he has a renewed sense of excitement for school. The struggle of learning and participation, and the ability to reach success has been made easier.
After meeting with a Speech Pathologist, his SSN teacher (special educator), an AT Specialist, and OT, they observed him in the classroom, determined what would be assist him, and implemented the IntelliKeys system by IntelliTools.

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The IntelliKeys System is an enlarged, alternative keyboard with an overlay. “IntelliKeys, enables users with physical, visual, or cognitive disabilities to easily type, enter numbers, navigate on-screen displays, and execute menu command.” The overlays are customized for each individual student, taking into account disability level, goals and likes. Set in a particular position for ease of use, Alex simply touches the overlay in the form of pictures to form a sentence.

Miss A has told me of some of the experiences that Alex has had on it. She says that when he makes a sentence, he is ‘rewarded’ with a sound from the sentence. For instance if he produces the sentence, “I like planes”, the computer program with either verbalize the sentence – for which Alex’s response is enthusiastically that he likes planes too – or it flies an airplane by (airplane noise) which Alex goes crazy for!

The proof that I’ve seen? We went to his pediatrician for a 6 year appointment. The nurse asked him his age. He responded with a huge smile, looking at the ground, “I’m 6 years old”. WHAT!?!?!? My husband and I looked at each other, both with our jaws equally unhinged and hitting the ground. We were proud, amazed, surprised; our hearts stopped. We have tried for years, I mean years to have Alex say his age when asked. It has never happened. Not once. Not ever. Until after he started using this system.

Apparently, one of the overlays is the individual letters of his name (to recognize his name, learn the letters and order of spelling his name) and the number 6 (his age). He puts it together and the system says, “I’m 6 years old”. Alex, again enthusiastically, responds, “I’m 6 years old too”.
After some kinks are worked out, we will be going in with Alex to see first hand how the system works for and with him. After that…fundraising to gain the technology for use at home.

Each state has their own version of the Statewide Augmentative and Alternative Assistive Communication. If your child needs assistance in this area, seek this service out. It doesn’t mean that the IntelliTools system is something that your child may need or utilize, but whatever your State’s Department of Education provides, it’s worth the time and effort to give your child a voice.

Please see the next post for resources from the SWAAAC site.

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SWAAAC Resources

Other Assistive Technology Resources (as pulled from the SWAAAC website):

ABLEDATA - a searchable database of information about AT devices at NARIC, the National Rehabilitation Information Center.

ATA - Alliance for Technology Access (ATA) is a network of community-based Resource Centers along with developers, vendors and associates dedicated to providing information and support services to children and adults with disabilities. Their goal is to increase their use of standard, assistive, and information technologies. Check the site "Resources" section for useful materials.

ATIA - Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA)is dedicated to serve as the collective voice of the AT industry so that the best products and services are delivered to people with disabilities. Their site includes info about an annual AT conference in Orlando, a journal called
Assistive Technology Outcomes and Benefits, and links to AT in the news.

Assistive Technology Outcomes - a website at the University of Toronto focused on measuring the success of AT services.

Apple Computer Universal Access
- a site with resources for modifying the use of Apple computers by students with disabilities.

AssistiveTech - information on AT devices and services created by Georgia Tech Center for AT and Environmental Access (CATEA) and supported by NIDRR, the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research.

ATRC @ The University of Toronto - a website with excellent resources on a variety of computer access issues. The site contains resources, tutorials, etc.on the topic of AT

Blissymbolics Communication International - is a communication system originally developed by Charles K. Bliss for the purpose of international communication and later applied to the communication of children with physical disabilities.

Bloorview MacMillan Center/Toronto - a Canadian academic health organization associated with the University of Toronto that is dedicated to developing and researching AT and other services for children and youth with disabties.

CAMA - the Communication Aid Manufacturers Association (CAMA) is a non-profit organization of the world's leading manufacturers of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) software and hardware products. Their site includes links to the funding resources of manufacturers as well as Medicare and Medicaid.

CAST
- a non-profit organization that uses technology to expand opportunities for all people, including those with disabilities and advocates a concept called "Universal Learning Design.". The site offers information on teaching and learning and policy and practices.

Closing the Gap, Inc
- an information source working exclusively in the field of microcomputers and persons with disabilities in education and rehabilitation.. Their site includes information about their annual conferences in October in Minneapolis, an excellent resource directory, ongoing forums and archived information and articles from their bi-monthly publication.

Colorado Talking Book Library
- A free service to Coloradans of all ages who are unable to read standard print material due to visual, physical or learning disabilities whether permanent or temporary. CTBL provides recorded, Braille and large-print books and magazines as well as a small collection of descriptive videos. The Library loans 4 track tapes players at no cost. Eligibility required.

Center for an Accessible Society
- a communications clearing house providing journalists and others with quotable sources on national disability policy and independent living issues.

Center on Information Technology Accommodation - Section 508 requires that Federal agencies' electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. The Center for Information Technology Accommodation (CITA) created this website to assist in educating about and implementing Section 508.

Center for Universal Design
- a national resource on Universal Design at the University of North Carolina. Site resources include: explanations of the concept of UD, guides to wheelchair ramp design, constructing inclusive child care facilities, stock home plans, and more.

Center for Literacy and Disability Studies
- a center at the University of North Carolina that is focused on addressing the literacy learning needs of students with disabilities of all ages.

CSUN Conference - the University of California Northridge has an excellent annual AT conference. The site includes information about their Center on Disabilities, their ongoing certification and training courses, and description of the resources offered to their university students with disabilities.

DO-IT - a national project located at the University of Washington focused on career preparation and college success for teens with disabilities who are interested in technology.

ERIC - the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education, produces the world’s premier database of journal and non-journal education literature. The website allows searching the ERIC bibliographic database of more than 1.1 million citations going back to 1966. More than 107,000 full-text non-journal documents (issued 1993-2004), previously available through fee-based services only, are now available for free.

Federal Resource Center for Special Education
- Special and General Education Links. The site contains links to the US regional resource centers for special education and the implementation of IDEA.

Gallaudet University
- a national resource center for deaf and hard of hearing children located at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. Site contains a product index, resources for classroom instruction and transition, cochlear implants, etc

Job Accommodation Network (JAN) - a national project for making work & workplaces accessible to persons with a wide range of disability. The site will be useful for those planning work sampling and vocational educational experiences for students with disabilities. Also accessible by phone at (800) 526-7234.

Lekotek Play Centers
- a national non-profit organization that supports accessible play through toy lending libraries and compu-play centers. Site has useful resources on adapted toys and play for early childhood.

LD Resources - Richard Wanderman's collected resources & software for adapting reading, writing and math for students with learning disability. The site contains excellent resources and discussion areas.

Matching Person & Technology - the institute created by Dr. Marcia Scherer, which includes her tool (MPT) for creating match between consumer and AT devices, studies to validate its use, and links to her books and presentations.

Michigan State University Artificial Language Laboratory - the Artificial Language Laboratory (ALL) is an interdisciplinary research and teaching center established within the Department of Audiology and Speech Sciences at Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.

Microsoft Accessibility Group - the Accessibility Group makes computers easier to use for people with special accessibility needs. The site has excellent explanations for how to use the built in accessiblity options in their operating systems, links to their guide for selecting products by type of impairment and videos and case studies useful in learning about AT.

National Center for Accessible Media - a national project located at WGBH in Boston that is focused on making the WWW, CD's, DTV and other electronic media accessible to everyone.

NCIP - the National Center to Improve Practice in Special Education through Technology, Media and Materials was originally developed under a grant from the US Dept of Education. Site resources includes: resources on using technology in special ed, videos of kids using AT, spotlights on using various types of AT such as word prediction, voice recognition, etc.

Project EASI - Equal Access to Software and Information is a national project located at the University of Rochester focused on computer access at the post- secondary level.

RESNA - the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America is an international organzation of professionals dedicated to the development, testing, and use of AT. A credentialing organization for practitioners, suppliers and engineers. One of the special interest groups within RESNA is SIG-11: on Computer Applications, which contains links to many useful resources.

NIDRR - National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, the primary Federal funder of many AT projects, studies, and training programs.
Project Gutenberg - a volunteer-run Internet project that has produced over 15,000 free electronic texts or e-books. eBooks are older literary works that are in the public domain in the United States and may be freely downloaded and read, and redistributed for non-commercial use. See the online book catalog.

Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic - a national organization that provides recorded textbooks on tape and CD format for students with visual impairments, physical disabilities and learning disabilities. Eligibility required along with a registration fee and annual fee.

State Tech Act Projects - a listing based of the federally funded Assistive Technology projects in each state. This info is useful when locating AT resources for student who is moving to another state.

The Trace Research & Development Center - The Center is a part of the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Their current projects include access to voting machines, automatic tellers, access to the WWW, and other form of electronic business communication and telecommunications media.


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Sunday, March 8, 2009

oops!

For those of you who get my feed in a reader you may have notice a post by Mia Hysteria of General Hysteria. While this post will be coming soon, I hit the wrong button so the copy you got is incorrect. Please ignore and look for the actual post in the near future. Sorry for the confusion!

Patrick

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Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Touchbook

Karen Jankowski of EdTech Solutions announced a great product that will be shipping soon! The Touchbook is a netbook with many great features.
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Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Personal Learning Network - NING

The last suggestion I have for creating a Personal Learning Network is a NING. NING's are like Facebook for a specific topic. They are a very powerful tool because they combine chat, blogs, discussion groups, and more. My school district implemented one for our professional development this year and it allows us to have one place to check for all our needs!

The one NING I follow is assistivetech. It has many different groups for Literacy & AAC, Rhett Girls AT, Web 2.0 as Instructional and Assistive Technologies, and more. It's a great group to meet others, to share ideas, and ask questions.

Take a look today!
Patrick

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Monday, March 2, 2009

Personal Learning Network - Twitter UPDATE

Since my first post (Personal Learning Network - Twitter), I've come across a few more great sites on how to use Twitter. The first is a great look at what Twitter is (a way to explain it to your friends):

Micro-blogging - Using Twitter
Advice for teachers new to Twitter
Top 5 Twitter Tips

If you decide to sign up for Twitter, make sure you head to the Twitter4teachers Wiki and add your name. This is a great place to look up others who are in your field and check them out to see if you'd like to follow them.

Patrick

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