Synopsis:
Michelle presented a student with all the classic signs of Autism but no diagnosis. She was able to use the iPad and apps including Pocket Pond and Pic Collage to support his needs. Michelle identified the right tool for her student! The fish program was calming and Pic Collage allowed him to create projects and show information that he had learned in an alternate way.
Adele presented a student who was presenting as oppositional, uncommunicative, and agressive, among other things. He was reading and writing well below grade level and spent most of his days in the Learning Centre when he wasn't absent from school. Through modeling, she was able to ease him into using the iPad as a tool for learning rather than just games. He was a perfect candidate with good fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. The draw of the iPad were the many app options that could be tailored to fit his interest level. High interest plus ease of use led to a good assistive technology math for her student. She began with navigation type games like Rush Hour and Busy Harbour and eventually moved to Pic Collage, Photo Booth, and Book Creator keeping his interest in basketball and non-fiction text in her mind. Her initial results were increased compliance and extended time in the inclusive classroom. She is hopeful for more growth due to this technology.
Kari presented a student who has had issues since premature birth. He is in the borderline range of intelligence in all areas with a full IPP. He's also been diagnosed with ADHD and spent part of his grade 2 year in day treatment at the IWK for students with behaviours. He's got a number of issues including stealing, pulling out lashes and brows, and getting into physical and verbal arguments on the playground. He is on several medications for anxiety and behaviour. Kari wanted to start with the basics with this student. She wanted him to be writing and working on sight words and learning his personal information including phone number and last name.Using an ASUS tablet, she downloaded the Whiteboard app for him to practice his phone number and last name. She also used the Handwriting Without Tears app (android only) to practice letter formation and beginning writing skills. Her student fell in love with the tablet and asked to use it daily. He also began showing other students and sharing and teaching them how to use it - fostering social skills. Her next move will be to download an app to create social stories for dealing with peers and taking others property.
Heather presented a grade five boy who is social and bright and responds well to praise but is emotionally immature and has a low frustration tolerance. Negative self-image and organization are issues although his psychoeducational testing showed average or above average in most areas and superior in math reasoning and listening comprehension. Pseudoword decoding, reading, and spelling were borderline - indicating a Learning Disability. Heather used the iPad with her student with the goal of changing the balance from remediation to compensation. She found that apps like Dragon Dictation and Typ-o were hugely effective for writing (text to speech) and the student enjoyed using them and worked hard. He felt some relief that he was able to share information. Transitioning to junior high, he will be using an iPod Touch.
Amy presented a 5 year old boy who will enter primary this September. The youngest of three, he is a happy and social boy who has a lot of energy and was beginning to find paper/pencil practice of letters boring and not engaging. Amy used the iPhone and iPod Touch with her student. She found the AT match to be much more motivating than paper and pencil tasks. She found success with ABC Training, ABC Magic 2, and Sound Sorting Beginning Sounds apps.
Shauna presented a junior high student who is pleasant and cooperative but struggles in reading and writing. This student has had lots of interventions and has been diagnosed with ADD and has a suspected Learning Disability. She is also quite unorganized and misplaces things. She is currently receiving SLD support, resource, and has adaptations. She has made gains through SLD but still has trouble with writing/reading. She has training on Kurzweil but finds it embarrassing to use in front of other students. She is very self-conscious of what others think of her. Shauna decided to try the iPad and iPhone with her student to try to avoid embarrassment because lots of students use this technology already. Dragon Dictation proved to increase production, improve punctuation, capitals and spelling, and increase details. The student was still somewhat hesitant to use the technology - most likely due to her being a teen who thinks everyone is watching her.
Jeff presented an 18 year old grade twelve student who loves animals, dirtbikes, the shooting range, and wants to be in the navy. He has been a topic of conversation for years now - presenting as disengaged, rarely completing class work, and socially isolated with limited interaction with others. He has low self-esteem and is on medication for ADD. This student is soooo technologically confident that he was actually banned from using the school internet because he has previously hacked the system. The student already has an iPod and an iPad and uses his iPad daily in Jeff's class. He was introduced to the Inspiration app as an excellent alternative to written assignments. Using this app, Jeff''s student was able to come up with a great framework for an essay, was engaged, spent time doing work, and created a completed piece. The student liked the ease of use and felt proud of the work he had done.
Anne introduced us to a 17 year old student with Severe Autism. He was initially diagnosed at age 2y8m when mom noticed some missed developmental milestones. She has been very proactive throughout his life in trying to help her non-verbal son. An iPad was donated to the family a few months ago but wasn't being used due to lack of training. This student loves books, drawing, watching movies, and adding to his homemade national geographic book. He presents with stimming, perseveration, anxiety, and self-injurious behaviours all typical for a student with severe Autism. Anne plans to meet with the parent again to help train her on more learning apps including Word BINGO, text to speech, iCommunicate, and possibly Proloquo2go. For starters, she had him use some puzzle apps, and taught mom how to create a social story to try to provide him with calming strategies and answers instead of self-injurious behaviours. Doodle Dandy was an app he enjoyed.
Alana presented a fourth grade student who frustrates with anything that takes longer than 5 minutes and has borderline tantrums. He has ADHD inattentive type and is always on the move - rarely sitting down. He started medication this year which he refers to as his concentration pills. Before meds, he had near muscle spasms similar to that of someone with Tourettes Syndrome. Alana's student wants to do well and takes pride in his achievements. She had him work on a portable laptop which helped keep him engaged. He was able to learn Co-writer and found the word prediction helpful. He also used Comic Life, office, and Kidspiration to help with writing tasks. This device helped with quantity and depth of work.
Jen presented a grade 8 student with a history of anxiety and some fine motor difficulties. The student attended resource for math and SLD for reading and writing. There was a gap noted between cognitive ability and achievement. Executive functioning seemed to be the culprit for disorganization. Jen tried a computer with the Google Calendar program although it was not as friendly as anticipated and focused more on events rather than being course specific for students. She then tried Soshiku which is an online course planner that was free, easy to acces and could be liked with email. Egretlist and iHomework are others she will try.
Jackie presented a grade 7 student who functions at a 4-5 year old level. In addition to the Smartboard with wand and Tumblebooks/Tumble Readables, she had him use TinyEye - an online speech therapy service that enables communication and recording of data. Students can log on and share a speech activity with a SLP live somewhere else in the world. This is a great website!
Amy presented a grade seven student with mild spastic quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy who also has progressive arthritis in his knees and whose visual motor skills are impaired. He is on adaptations and a full IPP. Although sometimes shy, her student willingly accepts help and wants to do well. He is only reading at a level H but can type. Amy chose Raz Kids which is a program based on PM benchmarks. The computer can actually assign a level to the student has he/she works their way through the program. This is a great activity!
Janna presented a 16 year old student in grade 10 who was diagnosed with a verbal learning disability in 2002 and also has ADHD. She has extreme anxiety and lots of fears and worries including the fear of getting lost. Math, comprehension, and story composition are challenges as well as organization. Janna chose the iPad technology and the Tools4Students, gFlash+Flashcards & Tests apps. She also used youtube videos for visual supports for the students comprehension and Google Maps for reducing anxiety about getting lots. These were great matches for her student and this was clear when she passed some major tests.
Jill presented a lovely grade one student with a global developmental delay who she saw in resource three times each week. This student comes from a tough background and now is fostered by her grandmother. She had early intervention and NS Hearing and Speech intervetion. She tests in the borderline cognitive range and has severely delayed receptive and expressive langugage skills. She is on a full IPP and receives ELT support. She is a happy and silly child who loves dogs, is rules oriented and responsible and a strong rote learner. Jill started by introducing her student to the Toca Boca apps to foster communication. She also used the iPad for some writing tasks with success. This device will be suggested for use in grade 2.
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