Unnecessary Roadblocks

Is your district user-friendly when it comes to downloading material from the Internet? Are you able to install software that supports your students without the need for the IT staff to make a house call? Is it possible for you to easily and seamlessly embed the use of Web 2.0 tools that promote universal design (such as Voice Thread or Wikis) as part of your instruction? No problems with blocked web sites?

If so, Rejoice for you are one fortunate educator!

For the rest of us, who "owns the airwaves" in your school?
You've seen those three dreaded words - "ADMINISTRATOR PASSWORD REQUIRED."
Those words present a unnecessary roadblock for educators which is often difficult, if not impossible to overcome. Precious time passes as a request to access a website, download a tool or install software is sent to the IT department. Then the "IT guy" has to schedule a time to complete the request. Depending upon the availability of staff, this can take as little as a day or as long as never.

Who decided that the IT staff (typically not educators) are the keepers of the knowledge ? Seems to me, it's time to remove those obstacles and reclaim the Internet. Utilize the abundant resources that engage students.

It's an incredible time to be an educator. Reclaim the Internet in your school - have a conversation with the IT staff in your building or district. Identify the roadblocks. Discuss how you can work TOGETHER to facilitate learning (isn't that why you're there?) and promote a culture of collaboration.

It is possible. Share your successes or effective strategies that worked here. We have so much to learn from each other!

Addendum: (Read here for an excellent blog post about filtering from a student's perspective. Good stuff here from Kevin Walter.)
Photo credit - http://flickr.com/photos/photojar/284190242/

Accessible Poetry

Thanks to a twit from my Twitter network, I found the Poetry Foundation, a website that includes a Poetry Tool which helps you find poetry by specific criteria, including by category, by name, by first line, by poet and by title.

Now we have another resource for accessible poetry online! Use Click,Speak a free Firefox Extension, to hear the poem read and it's all free!

I will add this to my Free Tech Toolkit for UDL in Every Classroom post.

Less is More! - Susan Stokes at Closing the Gap

Susan Stokes presentation at CTG - Less is More! "Low Tech" Receptive Communication Strategies for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Live blogging:

ASD processing skills: Strengths - visual processing, weaknesses - auditory processing

Is it non-compliance or non-comprehension?

How do we communicate to students with ASD?

"People are reluctant to understand how people with ASD best process information."

When someone doesn't get something what do we do? We usually talk more. We must stop and learn to communicate in a different manner. Seeing is understanding.

How does technology fit?

Primary function of "Low Tech" Visual Instructional Strategies

• As receptive communication tools
• To give information
• To increase comprehension
• Removes power struggles - visuals are the boss

These strategies WORK!! Why:

• Addresses/reduces challenging behaviors in a proactive manner
• Decreases anxiety/increases calmness
• Increases understanding
• GREATLY increases independent functioning

Identify best methods of presenting visual information (list is concrete to abstact):

• Real objects
• Mini real objects
• True Object Based Icons (TOBIs)
• Photographs
• Real Drawings
• Line Drawings
• Written Word

"Some kids don't understand line drawing software (such as BoardMaker) as it is too abstact for them."

The #1 intervention strategy is understanding ASD!!

Tip of the iceberg behavior, need to understand what is under the surface. (The tip is only 10% of the iceberg)
Showed an ASD Iceberg Planning Guide: What is the behavior? What is causing that behavior to occur? What are we going to do about it? Who is responsible for this team (considering the team approach)?

Gave some examples of students.

Examples of low tech tools.

• "Bare bones basic" - First / Then (forget the schedule - for some students too much)
• Time Timer - gives the student an understanding of the passing of time unlike digital timers
• Activity Termination Cards - helps with computer meltdowns -velcro cards Green GO, Yellow - ALMOST DONE, Red STOP - student was now able to transition off the computer.
  
• Group schedule
  

(Many students are anxious about writing - focus on the mechanics of writing, they become unable to write, use word processors! Electronic label makers for short answers!)

Carol Gray developed Five Point Scale - can adapt to any situation.

Shared many Visual Environmental Strategies. Use of "X marks the spot" on the bus, for example.

Gave examples of additional students and wonderful intervention strategies. If you have the opportunity to hear her speak, you must!!

K12 Online Conference Begins Today!

"We learn by teaching each other." - David Warlick

The second annual K12 Online Conference "Playing with Boundaries" begins today with a pre-conference keynote by David Warlick. The conference is run by by a group of dedicated volunteers through October 27th and addresses all things Education 2.0. Forty presentations will be available for view and download during the weeks of October 15 - 19 and October 22 - 26. This conference includes presentations from around the world and will reach a vast global network.

Watch the teasers here.

Access this year's schedule here.

Learn about last year's conference here.

Download the flyer here and pass it along to other educators with whom you work.

And expand your limits like never before! Be a part of a community of educators who create their own personal learning environments in the comfort of "anytime, anywhere."

(Pass it on....)

Assistive Tech Network

CTG. ATIA. CSUN.

Wonderful professional conferences. Incredible conversations and discussions.
But what do we do during the rest of the year for professional development? Technology changes so rapidly, it's often difficult to stay abreast of all the possibilities.

Enter the Assistive Technology Ning Network.

Have you heard of Ning, the site where you can create and customize your own social network? Check out the new AT network that already has almost 120 members, from around the country and throughout the world. This network allows us to connect and collaborate with educators using assistive technology with their students.

Explore the forum and discussion groups. Add a response or start your own discussion. Lurk or contribute to the activity. Share a success or a request. Follow the assistive technology consideration discussion. Or the Ablenet curriculum and accessible books discussion as part of the Literacy in AAC Forum. Or any of the many other topics. We all have so much to learn from and share with each other.

Learning.....Sharing......Creating....

So that our students benefit from our collective knowledge.

Free, Copyrighted Digital Books!

This is huge news!

Bookshare.org has this exciting announcement at their website:

We're happy to share incredible news, which will transform Bookshare.org. On Friday, the Office of Special Education Programs of the U.S. federal Department of Education made a major five-year award of $32 million to Bookshare.org. This will further the objectives of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), by supplying high quality textbooks and educational materials to students with special needs.

What this means is that all print disabled students can now have access to all copyrighted books and textbooks that are part of Bookshare's vast library of scanned materials. Those classic, copyrighted books that are read in high school - To Kill a Mockingbird, Catch-22, 1984, Grapes of Wrath, etc are now available for our students.

They will be able to access the recent classics independently and this is incredible news.

Check out the procedure at the Bookshare website. And introduce your students to the books that they may have missed. Digital text is accessible!!