Assistive Technology 2018-09-06 This video is posted online with the following chapter markers: Chapter 1. Assistive Technology - The Law Chapter 2. What, When, How Chapter 3. Environment Chapter 4. Personal Devices Chapter 5. Technical & Other Skills Chapter 6. Classroom & Materials Chapter 7. Checklist, Tips, & Strategies Chapter 8. Resources Description of graphical content is included between Description Start and Description End. Transcript Start [Music] Fade up from black. Animation: Text for TSBVI transform into braille cells for TSBVI. [Music face out] Fade to black. Chapter 1. Assistive Technology - The Law Cecilia: Good afternoon. Thank you for attending the webinar titled preparation of assistive technology for a successful school year. My name is Cecilia Robinson and I work with TSBVI outreach department in the area of assistive technology and here with my is my colleague Carrie. Carrie: I'm Carrie Farraje and also an assistive technology consultant here in outreach at TSBVI. This is also our first zoom webinar so note that you're not-- your audio is not active so if you want to say hi to your friends or if you have any questions about using zoom, please use the chat window. And also if you have any questions about the content of the presentation, please write it in the Q and A window. We will compile your questions and provide the answers and then send you a Q and A document at a later time. We will also try to make some time at the end of the presentation to answer a few of your questions. The presentation is in your handout that we're going to be going through today, so please feel free to follow along and take notes if you'd like. So we're going to go ahead and start out with a poll. We want to learn a little bit more about who you are. And a poll will appear on your screen. Note if you are a screen reader user, the question will not show up, but the answer choices will. So here is our first question: [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Poll: Who are you? Content: • Administrator • COMS • General Education Teacher • Paraprofessional • Parent • Related Services • TVI Description End: Who are you? And the choices are: Administrator, orientation and mobility specialist, general education teacher, paraprofessional, parent, related service staff, teacher of students with visual impairment. And if there is a choice that is not in there, if you can go ahead and type it in the chat. And so we'll give you about 30 seconds to go ahead and complete the poll. [ Slide end: ] And it looks like we have a couple of administrators and some orientation and mobility specialists. We have a parent, so welcome. And some related service staff, and quite a few teachers of students with visual impairments. Great. Cecilia: Today's topics include the following. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Topics Content: • What is Assistive Technology (AT) • Preparation • Tips and Strategies • Resources Description End: What is assistive technology? We need to know a little bit about the law and we're going to talk quickly about that. And then we are going to look at the preparation of assistive technology. [ Slide end: ] We're going to share with you some tips and strategies and then look at some resources as well. We will be more like a tour guide for you today, highlighting some of the things for you to think about and show you some of the resources. Please use the information and make it work for you so that you can support your student's unique learning needs. Carrie: So let's go ahead and talk about the law. So IDEA stands for individuals with disabilities education act. IDEA 2004 addresses assistive technology. And according to IDEA, assistive technology has two parts. The first part is assistive technology device. This is any item, piece of equipment or product system, whether acquired commercially, off the shelf, modified or customized, that is used to increase, maintain or improve functional capabilities of children with disabilities. Highlight or underline functional capabilities if you would like. This is the main purpose of the AT device. The second part of IDEA addresses the-- really services, assistive technology service. This includes any device that directly assists or any service that directly assists a child with a disability in the selection, acquisition or use of an assistive technology device. On the next slide we'll continue talking about assistive technology service. First be sure to evaluate the student in their customary environment. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Assistive Technology Service (ATS) Content: • Evaluate in student’s customary environment • Select, customize, maintain, repair, replace ATD • Obtain training Description End: Evaluating the needs for assistive technology is critical. It will provide data on why AT is needed or not needed. Part of AT service also includes selecting, customizing, maintaining, repairing and replacing the device if necessary. And finally, obtaining training is essential. [ Slide end: ] Training will provide the necessary skills to know how to use the assistive technology and how to implement the assistive technology with the student. As we all know, learning an assistive technology is not the same as teaching the assistive technology to the student. Preparing the instruction of the assistive technology will be a big part of your job. Through thoughtful preparation you will be able to individualize the assistive technology lesson and anticipate questions from a student and staff. Chapter 2. What, When, How Cecilia: So now that we got the law out of the way, the question to ask is how may I prepare for assistive technology? When I use the word AT, when we use the words AT, it means assistive technology. On the next slide you will see pictures of students. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Student Needs Content: Figure 1 A slide that contains six pictures of students: an infant playing with balls; middle school students playing musical instruments; a young child using a camera; high school students manipulating math materials; a candid photo of a student. Description End: It has a picture of-- several pictures actually of a baby, young students and then middle school and high school students. In your preparation for assistive technology, first think about your students. [ Slide end: ] Start with your students. Focus on each student's unique needs. Know their IEP goals. What do the goals say about their use of assistive technology? How may the student use assistive technology to support their learning? Then think about their needs. Their needs are going to change as they get older or as they progress to a different grade. The question to ask is how can I support the student's learning and their use of assistive technology when they're in school. A majority of our students may not be taking general education academic classes throughout the day. Many may use assistive technology, but more in the support of the Expanded Core Curriculum. Each state has its own set of Expanded Core Curriculum. In Texas we have nine areas. In your state it might be a less number or more number. I really don't know. But all I know is that each state will have similar areas in the Expanded Core Curriculum or ECC. In the upcoming slides we will focus on a few things that will help you in your preparation of AT for your students. We are aware that school has already started, however, the preparation of assistive technology may be ongoing, especially when you have new students coming into your district throughout the school year. Most of our students with visual impairments are going to public schools. Their school day involves seeing a few or a lot of teachers, para‑educators, related service staff persons and other campus staff. Most of you TVIs or teachers of students with visual impairments and orientation and mobility specialists provide itinerant vision services to the students. When you're not with the student you have to depend on the classroom teacher to help support the student's use of the assistive technology. Part of the preparation is collaborating well with your general education or classroom teachers. In my experience they ask three questions and those three questions are on your slide. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: What? When? How? Content: • WHAT is the student’s assistive technology? • WHEN is the student going to use it? • HOW do I support the student? Description End: Number one question is what is the student's assistive technology? What are they-- what they are asking is what does it look like, how is the student supposed to use it. Number two question is: When is student going to use it? Is it for reading, writing or for something else. Number three, how do I support the student, especially when something does not work correctly? [ Slide end: ] Please know that the classroom teachers have many other students to take care of. They will want to know how they need to help the student. They will may not be able to help your student if your student requires a lot of help in using the device or the equipment. Let's look at the next slide. There are three reminders. When you're collaborating with your classroom teachers or your campus staff, less is more. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Reminders Content: • WHAT is the student’s assistive technology? • WHEN is the student going to use it? • HOW do I support the student? Description End: What must they know now? Make it short and clear so they know right away. Number two is maintain communication. Always make sure you follow your district's guidelines on communicating with your district staff and also with the parents and the students. [ Slide end: ] Number three is provide the support system. That means when the technology does not work, the student will be able to get some help or the staff can contact you and ask you what's going on. So again, the reminders, this will work very well with your campus staff if you follow those guidelines. I'm sure that you will have other reminders for yourself, as well. Next we're going to look at the supports. As we're going through the slides you might want to think about some of your students and how this information may apply to them. Chapter 3. Environment Carrie: Okay. So, after you've answered the three critical questions of the what, what is the technology, when is the student going to be needing to use the technology and how do you support the student with the technology, you're going to want to begin to look at the where. So, the where includes the student's classroom and campus environment. You're going to want to look at the environment that the student is in and make sure that the student has access to the Wi‑Fi and Internet if that's what the other students in the classroom are accessing. Does your student computer have specialized software that they might need to access their instruction? Does the student have access to their textbook? Which could be a hard copy or it could also be in the online format. Do they have access to other classroom materials, including handouts, information on whiteboards or displays? These are just a few that we could name. Unless there are materials used in the classroom environment that you want to make sure your students have access to, as well. So, also check for access to any learning management system or online cloud environment that is being used in the current classroom today. If other students in the classroom have access to these systems, your student will need to be provided equal access to these systems, as well. If your student needs assistance logging on to these systems, then work with the classroom staff on helping the student get what they need to be able to access those environments. When the assistive technology of the student is working correctly, it will facilitate their efficiency and decrease any frustration they may have by not being able to access their instruction. Chapter 4. Personal Devices Cecilia: Before we go to the next slide, which shows some personal devices, Carrie and I talked about how difficult it is and how time consuming it is, when you have to check for all those things that are working, correctly, for your student at their campus or in their classroom. It is a process, so make sure you work with the staff and be patient. Sometimes I think it just takes time for everybody to make sure that the access is properly customized for your student. Then their personal devices, that means their battery and power cords, software updates and a lot of things. Many students use computers, note takers, mobile devices, communication devices, wayfinding devices and apps for those students who are working on orientation and mobility. You must locate and check the battery. If they have an extra battery, make sure you check that and make sure that they are all working. And the power cords, nowadays all the power cords look alike, so make sure you help your student to find some way and get their input, identify some way to identify all those cords just in case they need to use it and pull it out quickly. Make sure that the student has access to accessories such as ear buds, headphones and they're in good working condition. Nothing is more irritating when your friends are telling you that your computer or your note taker is just too loud for them. When you have a minute, teach the students on charging the device properly. This is critical. You don't want them to undercharge or overcharge. So, that means TVIs, read the directions when it comes with the manual of something like that. Try not to read the directions when something does not work. Be proactive and read the directions ahead of time. And label the cords if it helps. So teachers who have worked with me before, they know that I label everything and then I tie everything together. And in my years of working with assistive technology, I have found that colored rubber bands really does wonders. If the child is okay with using colored rubber bands, just use it to tie all those cords that belong to one device together so it will become a set. And if those students who cannot see, they can always tell you what velcro strips to use or what type of rubber bands to use. But the key is work with them, let them be a part of the process. If possible create a support system within the campus. When the assistive technology does not work, somebody needs to help the students. On‑campus assistance is usually more timely in case you are not available to help. Hopefully your students have been taught to do some basic problem‑solving on the device when it does not work. Number one thing is the child may need to tell someone if the device is not working. Some students are very comfortable with trying to figure it out in class during class. Tell them not to do that because they are missing the information being taught in class. And if the device does not work, then hopefully they'll have a backup device that they can pull out from their backpack to continue doing the work necessary in the classroom. Something for you to ponder. Have you thought about how you can help your student to ask for help and get positive results? Many students don't realize that other adults may not understand their assistive technology or the words that they use associated with their assistive technology. It is important to teach the students to think about what they want to say before they say it so that they can avoid spending time on rephrasing what they are trying to tell the other person or explain in words to help the other person understand them. So thinking about what they want to say before they say it is more along the line of begin with an end in mind. I know that a lot of times students just want to tell you everything, but if they need help right away they need to think about what they want the adult to hear. Chapter 5. Technical & Other Skills And after we think about all those things, the next chunk of skills to look at is the technical skills, the technology skills. If they're using a computer do they have the keyboarding skills? Can they touch type? As you know, a lot of our specialized software requires that the child uses a combination of keys. If they don't have touch‑typing skills, they will spend time on redirecting their commands or re-correcting what they have typed in. So it can be very frustrating for the child. So keyboarding skills, touch‑typing skills is awfully essential. Brailling. If they are using a BrailleNote taker, they need to be able to write accurately and be able to write it fast enough to take notes. They also need to have skills to access materials as well as produce materials. That means that work, using emailing, printing a hard copy and also putting a copy in cloud if that's required of all the students. Then troubleshooting the device when something does not work. We've said it in previous slides as well. And also using a backup system. For any student that is using technology tools, they need to have a backup system because your technology is not going to work 100% of the time. So looking at the other skills ‑‑ Carrie: So assistive technology may help reinforce other skills such as study skills, organization, communication and the student's tool bag. Think about the Expanded Core Curriculum. All of these skills are addressed in the Expanded Core Curriculum, in Texas, and probably are addressed in other states, as well. Cecilia, would you like to elaborate more on the student toolkit or tool bag? Cecilia: Sure. I like to talk about the tool bag because I've been hearing this term a lot more in conferences and meetings and so on. With so much technology out there, our job is to help the students acquire the skills necessary to use a variety of technology tools. As you know, no one tool is going to do all the tasks that are required of a student. If one tool breaks, another one can be used. It's all about having a variety of low, mid and high technology tools in the tool bag. And the ultimate goal is our student will not have to wait for help to come or they won't have to feel stuck all the time. So, they can continue their work. And at the same time if they're used to using different tools to do the same tasks, hopefully in the long run they will become more flexible in choosing what they want to use for what tasks. Chapter 6. Classroom & Materials So looking at the next slide titled classroom and materials. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Classroom and Material Content: • Student’s desk/activity area • Calendar and instructional material • Space for personal devices • Classroom staff’s needs Description End: I want to talk a little bit about our students who are not really taking regular academic classes. A lot of them are using assistive technology, as well. [ Slide end: ] For instance, many students with visual and other impairments, including those with DeafBlindness, may use a calendar with objects or symbols that have been individualized for them. Where are the calendar items and these symbols? Does the student have easy access to them? Does the student know where to find a certain symbol when something is not there or when he or she wants to talk about the activity with somebody else? These students are likely to follow a set of routines, carefully designed to encourage their participation and communication. Materials that they may use includes items such as a calculator, a communication booklet, items with teaching skills such as working from left to right, Braille reading, tactual discrimination, toys, books and pens and papers and so on. And if the students are using Braille along with tactual materials are these materials used to create Braille, are they working, meaning your Perkins Brailler, your Braille production systems and so on. Many people in-- I want to say their intention is good, but sometimes they forget that Braille production takes time and frequently the campus staff may not realize that until you tell them what this process requires. If the student uses a desktop video magnifier, space is needed, is there adequate space for the student to access and use the device safely and efficiently? All students who use assistive technology should be taught how to take care of the assistive technology. This means not abusing the equipment and also putting back materials after they use it. Even as simple as using a calculator or a video magnifier, some of our students can help to clean the little screen after they use it. It's all about being responsible and being a good user of assistive technology. [ Slide start: ] repeat previous slide The last bulleted item is important, it's about your classroom staff's needs. Be sensitive and responsive to the classroom staff's needs. Modeling how you work with the student is highly recommended. Invite their participation and suggestions. They're there with the student all the time. Their input is invaluable. [ Slide end: ] Be able to assist them when they need your help. Your student's success on using assistive technology depends on their help and your collaboration with them. Chapter 7. Checklist, Tips, & Strategies Carrie: Okay. So we're going to go to another poll. Again, a poll will appear on your screen. Remember, if you are a screen reader user, the question will not show up, but the answer choices will. Here is the question for everybody. Do I have the skills to support my student's use of assistive technology? [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: POLL: How prepared are you to support your student’s use of AT? Content: • Extremely prepared • Mostly prepared • Somewhat prepared • Mostly unprepared • Extremely unprepared Description End: And the choices are: I extremely prepared, mostly prepared, somewhat prepared, mostly unprepared, or extremely unprepared? Oh, I read that wrong. The question is how prepared are you to support your student's use of assistive technology? I'm going to give you about 20 more seconds to answer the poll. [ Slide end: ] So that's good, most people feel somewhat prepared, a few people feel somewhat prepared, and there's only a few that feel unprepared. A that's a really good start. Okay. So this is a good question to ask yourself, the question I read before, which is, "Do I have the skills to support my student's use of assistive technology?" So when you're working with a student who utilizes assistive technology, that's a good question that you can continue to ask yourself to make sure that you are prepared for the student to be able to use that in their classroom. You will be able to provide better support for your student's use of assistive technology, not only at the beginning of this school year, but throughout the school year. If you think about a few things: What do I need to learn? I need to keep up with software and hardware change. I need to know the resources and where to find more information. It's important to attend professional development, and webinars, or different types of study groups whenever you can. There's so many different opportunities these days through learning different types of training online or in person, so do whatever fits your schedule to keep yourself up to date with the different technology trends and assistive technology. Mainly, because there's so much technology being used by the typical student in today's date. So, we need to make sure that our students with assistive technology needs can access that technology the same way they're classmates do. And make sure you that teach the students what they need to know so they can access their instruction. Re-teach if necessary and provide plenty of opportunities for the students to practice what they've learned. Cecilia: So, now we're going to look at a checklist and then we are going to also show you some resources. We have prepared an assistive technology checklist for your preparation based on what we have said earlier in the slides. So, give me a second and I am going to switch to my Word document and share my screen with you. [ Screen start: ] You have a document that is called assistive technology or AT preparation checklist. This is a Word document that Carrie and I worked on together along with some other colleagues, and we want you to use the checklist, but we need to tell you that this is not a complete checklist. Please feel free to add your own information, delete it, make it work for you is our intention. And this is a start. It's by no means a complete list. So, going down the list you would fill in the student's information, summary of needs here. You can write down the IEP goals, what their needs are. The important information, this part, I really appreciate a colleague of mine from the Dallas area reminded me about talking a little bit about the device because a lot of our students may not be carrying their device with them all the time, so where do they pick it up in the morning, drop off the device in the afternoon, who is going to charge it and so on. And some of those items are listed on there and there is a comment section. And then, moving on to the next page is your communication with your teachers and the campus staff. And there is a little space for you to write down who you talk to and what you talk about is the next chunk of information. Highlighting the next one is environment. As Carrie had indicated, what is the campus like? Do they use a Mac or other things and so on? And then the student's knowledge of technology. Again, remember, this is just for you to take a quick check of what you need to prepare for the child's information. So what does the student use. And a lot of our classrooms there is the Google Chrome and Chromebooks and all those things. A lot of our classrooms are beginning to use that, as well. And then the knowledge continues the basics. We just put down the basics for you to start thinking about what you need to put on this form for you. Like the icons and do they know what a desktop is about. For your children who cannot see the screen, do you have a way for them to link how you want to teach the desktop, using the desktop that they can touch and feel and then virtually moving on to the computer. Accessibility, do they know how to grasp those features, do they know what they need in order to help them? Keyboarding skills is essential and we have already talked about it. And then word processor. Most of our students are going to use the word processor to produce their work, so can they do everything and then be able to use spell check, use formatting to create a professional looking document? Especially for our children who are using JAWS or other screen readers, sometimes they may not be able to know that one space is missing and other things. So anyway, formatting and producing a professional looking document is essential. And then saving the document and so on. Braille, again, do they use a manual Braille writer, electronic, note taker, can they edit? Pretty much the Braille input is essentially the same as using a word processor. And then screen readers. You can specify if they're going to use the screen reader on the computer along with a refreshable display. Additionally, do they use a voice recorder, book reader and scan and read system and so on. And then here is what we just loosely put some information together because we don't want you to forget some of the specific student needs. So for your student with low vision, do they have an optical device or devices? What are they? And do they use other low tech supports such as a reading stand, reading guide, slant board, document camera. Nowadays there are very good document cameras that might just do the trick on reading information or accessing the information for your child. And if they use a video magnifier, specify if it's a desktop, integrated, and so on. Looking through the list on the next page again is your book reader. I hope that all your students, every child is using a book reader to access their books at some point. And mobile devices and phones, tablets, do they use all those gestures, do they know how to use the gestures? Do they know that when you activate say the speech, some of the gestures may change? So it's a quick check. Moving along is the cloud. So I don't know what your campus is like, but usually there are a few things that you want to check when they're using the cloud. So look through that. Your learning management system, do they know how to customize to accommodate their needs? Also, some of your specialized software may or may not work well with the learning management system. So in those cases you might need to talk to your campus staff and does your student know to talk to you when something does not work for them? And then continuing along, the assistive technology in the Expanded Core Curriculum, Carrie and I looked at the nine areas and we just put some ideas together. Again, it's a quick start for you to start thinking about how you would customize the information to suit your needs. And looking at assistive technology, we have mentioned a lot of those above, but I want to emphasize the backup system. Again, it's so important that the child has a fallback system they can use. And then also describe it so everybody can-- at the campus will know what it is. Career education is another area and there are a few things just listed there. It's not complete by any means. Compensatory skills, again, these are using the calendar for communication, using gestures, using activity baskets, and also active learning materials, voice recorder, abacus and optical device, study aids and so on. Independent living, adapted utensils. A lot of our household tasks can incorporate conventional technology so can our children also use their assistive technology in combination with that to do their tasks at home? Can they use online information for recipes? Can they budget? Can they do banking for our older students? Do they know how to do that? Do they know the security pieces, the alerts and so on, when they're also using a device to access their online banking and so on? Grocery shopping, organizing their activities. Orientation and mobility, TSBVI, Chris Tabb, our orientation and mobility specialist here with the outreach department, he has a whole website of information on assistive technology and O&M as well. So, there are a few items listed there, but again, depending on what your child's needs are, this may or may not do the trick for you. But it's a starting point, we hope. Recreation and leisure, what are their hobbies? And do they play games with their families? Do they participate in sports activities? Do they also make use of the conventional technology off as apps for doing fitness, for doing relaxation and other things? And there are lots of materials and options out there. Self‑determination is do they-- can they speak up when assistive technology does not work for them? Can they-- do they know what they want? Can they talk about AT and tell other people what they want the AT to do for them? Sensory efficiency again is using their low tech, mid tech and high‑tech devices and social interaction is the next chunk there. And the other things is keeping a friendship, keeping their relationship going. And then the last part is other skills to think about when you're working with your student is the emerging technologies. This has nothing to do with the ECC, but it's an area that you might want to look forward to as the student uses technology because your technology is evolving all the time. And the key thing to remember is the tasks that the kids are required to do in school may remain the same, but the tools, the assistive technologies, may change. For example, years ago we used a recorder and now we have digital voice recorders, and it comes on the phone, it comes on your iPad, there are many ways to do the same things, but it's just using different tools. And then a little bit to write your notes. So that is the AT preparation checklist, and we hope that you will take it, use it and also add your information. But the most important thing is make it work for you and for your work. Chapter 8. Resources The next chunk of information we're going to look at are the resources. And again, these-- the list is not extensive. We focused mostly on a lot of the accessibility for your students because if they can't have proper access, nothing is going to work from there on. APH has a lot of materials and cool videos to check out APH's low tech, mid tech and high‑tech devices. Apple and AppleVis is a good website to go to. Let me see if I can go to that website and show you a quick look. This is the AppleVis website. It's really run by people with visual impairments and you can look at what people are saying, trending and so on. I'm going to go back. There is another one, active learning space for our children who are using active learning materials, active learning space has a lot of good information. I'm going to scroll down a little bit. So you can see what they are doing. And it's a wealth of information. On your list there is also Family Connect from American Foundation for the Blind. And when you click on it you will come to this page, and if you go to the right side at the very top, there is a tab called "Assistive technology." And you can click on that and look at assistive technology. The cool thing about this website is the information is explained clearly in a way that parents can understand. So, going down the list, let's not forget that assistive technology is also for our children with DeafBlindness. When you click on the national center on DeafBlindness site, on the left side you will see a search field. You can write in assistive technology and it will come up with assistive technology resources for you to look at. And then TSBVI's website also has a lot of information, and if you want to look at what you heard earlier in the announcement about what we do and our workshops, you can always click on outreach, technical assistance at the very top, and it will take you to the outreach page for you to look at. And you can look at what we do, you can look at the O&M page that I talked about that Chris Tabb has put on there for you. So let me go back to the word document with the resources. I want to just highlight one more for you. These are all good resources. When you have time please take a look at it. There is the national center on Accessible Educational Materials. And when you click on it, it will take you to their site, and if you write in the search field "AIM it takes a team," you will be directed to another page with videos on how a team of teachers, including the student, have worked together on using assistive technology to support the different content areas. Accessible Educational Materials is awfully important because if they cannot access their materials, the learning opportunities will be lost. In the spring we will do another webinar on Accessible Educational Materials, what TVIs need to know. So that will be a different webinar. But when you have time, peruse around the National Center on Accessible Educational Materials for more information. So let me see. Oh, also, the wonderbaby.org, let me see if I called up that one. I didn't. Okay. If you have your document and if you want to click along to go to the wonderbaby assistive technology document page, when you click on it it looks something like this. And I'm on the assistive technology-- on the landing page, but if you put your mouse pointer at the very top that says "All topics," assistive technology is one of the topics. And if you click on that then you will see the assistive technology page. And if you scroll down you can see what other teachers and parents have listed on there what works well for them. And this is again a website full of very cool information. If you have babies, younger children that you're working with. So make sure that you check out the websites. And I'm sure that there are other websites that you're aware of that you like as well. And if you want, you can put it on the question and answer page and share your resources with your friends as well or you can just put it on the chat, whatever works for you. So that we can compile everything together for you at the end. Carrie: And also, I think there's a few questions about where the checklist in knees resources are located. And there is a link at the bottom of the handout to a Google drive folder that has these resources in it. So just in case some of you are confused on where to locate the resources that we're providing you guys. [ Screen end: ] So, we're going to go back to the PowerPoint and talk about some tips and strategies for you guys to take with you from this webinar with assistive technology. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Tips and Strategies Content: • Collaboration and communication • Students learning style and needs • Planning • Training and Resources Description End: So, first of all, you want to make your best effort to collaborate with the campus teachers who work with your students. They're responsible for the content, but it's your job to make sure that the student can access that content in ways that are meaningful, along with the teacher. When there is collaboration and you can plan ahead to provide the student with the items or even the Braille codes to help them learn. Consistent communication with the IEP team is also essential, including the parents. And sometimes even the students. [ Slide end: ] It's a way to get everyone on the same page. Many technology options are possible these days in addition to emailing and phone calls to be able to make sure that everybody is on the same page for your student. Follow your district's guidelines on communication. And as a team, make it a priority to communicate so that everyone knows how to support the students with their assistive technology. Every student learns differently, so to be able to teach effectively we must gain a better understanding on how each student learns. This is where the I in the IEP comes from, individualizing for each student is part of the assistive technology preparation. Planning ahead on what to teach is also critical. How is the assistive technology going to help your students do the tasks in school? What goals might the students be working on? Does your student know his or her IEP goals? Are there assistive technology IEP goals? What other ECC IEP goals are there? So there's so many different goals that the student might have, do they know what those goals are? Because it's important that the students do know what their goals are for being successful. Write down the activities that you're doing with each student. Without a written plan it's difficult to focus on your students' needs and to report progress or lack of progress. And reporting on progress is so essential these days to be able to see what has the student gained, what are they still needing to do that they cannot do? Also, if the student cannot master a skill, say touch typing, without something written down, it's challenging to think about re-teaching these skills. So keep that-- keep information on the progress that the student is taking or the student is making with their assistive technologies. And how are you going to re-teach those skills if you can't be sure what the student is stuck on? Another example is a student not being able to put materials into a finished basket. Is it because the student does not understand the activity is done? Does the student know where the basket is in the classroom? Is the basket placed in a spot out of the student's reach. Or is it a random box that happens to be available? Again, having written documentation on how you implement an activity is crucial. Selective and professional development. Know your training needs and find the resources that may help you until a training becomes available. We are a resource here at TSBVI, in outreach, so use the resource that you have or the resources that you have. Nowadays there are many archived webinars that you can view online. There's lots of online learning materials that you can use. Different just in time learning for yourself. We also hope in the future to create some more online resources on assistive technology for our students with visual impairments in the outreach department. So, we plan on putting a lot more resources online this year and trying to get some more micro learning or small videos to help you guys with the assistive technology that your students use, especially some of the more robust types of assistive technology. You don't need to know everything, there's so much out there that you may not need to know, but you want to be able to know where to look for the resources on how to be able to help your students use these devices. So those are just some of the tips and then there's some more Cecilia will go over. Cecilia: Yes. And following through with what Carrie just said, if you have suggestions for topics for us to create some resources, you're welcome to write it in the question and answer or shoot us an email if you like and we'll take all the suggestions that you have for us. So moving along to the tips and strategies, keep us with the technology. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Tips and Strategies Content: • Keep up with technology • Focus on tasks • Build a solid foundation • Evaluate needs for AT Description End: There is just way too much out there, but you do need to kind of get a sense of what is current out there and what are the assistive technology options that are available. You may not be familiar with all of them, but knowing what is available is always good. Your students who are tech savvy or tech oriented, they will tell you. And also your parents, the family members, they might share some information with you, as well. The tasks that the students are required to do in school focus on those tasks. Those tasks are pretty much going to remain the same and technology is going to change on them. So for example, for work production, students need to turn in homework. They have to use the option of printing the hard copy or emailing an electronic copy. Using a calculator they can use a standalone calculate or they can use one on their tablet. But the task remains that they have to do math, they can just use different things to help them do the tasks. [ Slide end: ] And build a solid foundation of skills. Teach the students the skills that they can carry over when something changes. For example, computers and tablets nowadays come with many features, including accessibility features. They may be called different names, but every device has something similar. For example, voiceover is available on your idevices. Talk back is available on Android accessibility. When they receive a new device in school will they be comfortable on finding where all these features might be? For students who Jew a screen reader do they know how to-- who use a screen reader do they know how to speak up when an inaccessible document is provided to them? So, that solid foundation is also looking at continuing-- related back to the tasks, continue to look at what tasks that they are required to do. When they cannot do a task it's time to consider other technology options. Be sure to evaluate the technology needs. There is so much out there, but the needs and what the student is needing now currently for the school year is what this is all about. And remember, this is what IDEA requires us to do, not only provide the device, but also requires us to provide the service, which is to teach the child how to use the device and be able to support it when something changes. Carrie: And it's also just what is best for the students to be able to access what they need. Cecilia: Right. And I need to divert a little bit. I forgot to mention one resource. It's a PDF file that you will find in the link that we sent you. It's an article written by Stacy Kelly and Dr. Gaylen Kapperman. [ Screen start: ] This is an article that I learned about when I attended the CSUN conference this past year, or actually this past semester. And they had written an article several years ago on the type of technology skills that the students need to learn, and then this time they presented on this study in their article. When you have time take a look at it. There are many very cool information that they had highlighted that students should learn, and the list got bigger and bigger and bigger just because there are so many options out there. So again, the key is look at what the higher education people are telling us and what the workforce people are telling us, as well. Many choices are out there, but what is it that we need to focus back on in our preparation for the children that we work with so that they will have a successful school year? [ Screen end: ] It's not only about collaborating with the staff, it's also about making sure that you have high expectations for learning. And then high expectations for performance as well. Learning and performance are always up there. All students can learn and skills must be practiced in order for them to improve. The team must be consistent in expecting the student to do the tasks from start to finish. I know that it's easier sometimes for us to just have an activity basket or finished basket or something that magically appears in front of the student, but take time to let the student to practice these skills from start to finish. Again, each student is able to learn and it is our job to make sure that our students are working to their full left potential. You cannot do this alone, and that's why we shared some tips with you on how to collaborate with your staff, the people you work with, the teachers who are on your IEP team, the paraprofessionals, the related staff persons, your parents. Include the child in the IEP or the meeting, the ARD meeting if this is appropriate for them, even if they only can attend part of the meeting. The key is, you are investing a lot of your time in teaching them. I would love for every of our student to be responsible for their own learning, as well. They need to be able to contribute and invest a little bit of their time and energy in learning. So, the high expectation for learning and performance is critical. And you will have on the very last slide our contact information. You can contact Carrie and me any time you like. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Contact Us Content: • Carrie Farraje – Phone: 512-206-9469 Email: farrajec@tsbvi.edu • Cecilia Robinson – Phone: 512-206-9469 Email: robinsonc@tsbvi.edu • TSBVI Outreach Programs – tsbvi.edu/outreach Description End: You can give us a call or shoot us an email. And also, if you want to write any suggestions on resources we need to create for you, if you have any questions about something we said that is not clear, feel free to write it in the Q and A field and we'll compile a list and send you the information later. [ Slide end: ] Carrie: There were still a few questions about the resources. The webinar handout has a link to this document in a resource folder. If you download the handout at https://TSBVI.live/webinar, that's where you will be able to find the handout. And then there is a link in there, but we'll make sure that, somehow, we can send that link out to that folder, as well, if it's, for some reason, not accessible to you. And you can also reach out to Cecilia or I and we can also email that to you, as well, if for some reason, you just could not locate it. And then also just keep an eye out in the future for some assistive technology resources that we want to start getting online, and to provide you guys those tools and tips and resources for you to be able to help implement the assistive technology with your students. Cecilia: And please use the checklist and the other resources we have provided for you. And let us know if something does not work for you and you want us to change something for you. And also if you ask us any questions that we cannot answer right away, we'll be glad to check with people who are smarter than us, know more than us, and we'll get back the information, send it back to you. So thank you again for spending your hour with us. And again, feel free to contact us and have a very nice afternoon. Carrie: Bye. [Silence] Fade up from black. Animation: Text for TSBVI transform into braille cells for TSBVI. Fade to black.