Innovative Ideas for Students with disabilities and/or special needs.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Anne Pemberton on April 5, 2009 at 12:33pm

Lisa,

This is not specific to children in a wheelchair. The need originated with an autistic nephew who needed to "engage" with what he was reading other than by seeing a prior video (Disney fare). My Own Books provides personalized stories that can be read online with music, or printed into booklets and used as regular book. The stories are personalized to the reader, who becomes a hero in the adventure. There are some "First Readers", with only 1-2 lines of print per page, but the most popular by far are the History Hat Stories in which the reader dons a magical History Hat, to go back in time and meet a person to share a historical event with that person. In addition to the history stories, there are a few fairy tales (newest: King Midas), some government stories, a worker story, and a story in which the words are sung, as one Walks the World, going from to each of the Oceans and Continents. Jusging from the stats, it is a popular story.

These stories can be read to non-readers, enjoyed by readers at various stages of reading development, and they all include some sort of lesson (usually academic) within the frame of the story.

Oops, almost forgot the link: http://www.educationalsynthesis.org/books

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Peter Lane on April 5, 2009 at 1:21pm

Lisa,

As with Anne's submission, this comment is not specific to someone who is quadripelgic; however, it does apply to someone who uses a wheelchair from time-to-time as several years ago I was diagnosed with MS. At that time, I found I could no longer use the overhead projector (and now the SmartBoard) and whiteboard because of the "cannot reach it" issue. Fortunately, I had been part of a technology grant and had seen a Tablet PC (Motion Computing) and knew what to ask for to work around this issue. Since this moment I have been working to be aware of the classroom layout, what tools are out there, and what can be done to work with anyone who walks onto the campus. One tool that I am looking into right now is "cover overlays" that might help students who struggle to read, in part, because of the lighting in the classrooms. Here are two companies that carry the overlays: Irlen and LD Resources.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Anne Pemberton on April 5, 2009 at 1:58pm

Peter,

I used those color overlays with LD students some 20 years ago. When they work, they make an immediate difference, and the student will use them all the time. When they don't work, that will also be known immediately. It is important to get a set with all the colors to start with, and then re-order the colors that are most useful.

I will caution that I tried to substitute color films sold for overheads and they did NOT work as well as the films sold explicetely for this. It is not just a matter of the color, but there is more to what goes into the films and lense that makes the difference. For the student who must do a lot of reading, it may be worthwhile to invest into a set of reading glasses made up with the special lenses.

As for students with unique needs for technology, I would remind teachers that when the rehab people come in and set up the special computer that can track movement of the head, for example, be sure to ask FIRMLY about who will provide the replacement supplies - of the little stick on head sensor or whatever. One child I saw, had been outfittted with a special machine, but no one woould take responsibility for buying the stick-ons for her head, so it sat there unused! GET IT IN WRITING who will pay for any supplies! Know in advance, that the schoolo won't put it into the budget unless someone with a bigger stick than a sped teacher says to do it.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Peter Lane on April 5, 2009 at 3:22pm

Anne,

Thanks for the feedback... As for who pays for what and when -- I agree it is important to get everything in writing. For those students with IEPs or 504s, if it is written into the IEP then the expense is covered by the "special education" pot of money.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Anne Pemberton on April 5, 2009 at 5:07pm

Peter,

Oh, if it were that simple. Back when I was a sped teacher the whole pot of special ed money tended to go for our salaries and those of our aides. There was no other money. Because principals perceived that special ed had lots of money, they didn't make classroom budget sums available to the special ed teachers. I am not certain that in all places (I was in a rural area), that problem is necessarily fixed. In the case that I illustrated, those supplies simply fell through the cracks. No one really gave a rip that thousands of dollars of equipment was sitting there unused, and that the student was getting little or no education. She had enjoyed the computer when she had it, but so much for that!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kristina Cunningham on April 5, 2009 at 7:53pm

I sub in a lot of MD rooms and am amazed by some of the technology available to students with disabilities and special needs (when the funding is available). It is amazing how useful talkers are, and not the kind with a keyboard but those with pictures that match what many children with autism use when learning language skills. There are so many students with incredible receptive language skills that would not be able to express their own thoughts and needs without these devices.

Another teacher is just trained in eye tracking so that she can offer choices to one of her students with Rett Syndrome. She could probably use a variation on the gravity mouse or head sensors.

Touch screens are also a great innovation for those students who have control of their hands. It is amazing how it helps fine tune some of those motor skills.

Those are just some things I have observed. I love working in rooms with MD kids. There's always so much to learn and they are wonderful.

• ▶ Reply