Self Determination- Be the Boss of Your Own Technology This video is posted online with the following chapter markers: Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Lesson Plan Be the Boss... Chapter 3. Discussion & Application 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. Introduction Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to our webinar. This is I'm Scott Baltisberger with the Texas School for the Blind and outreach school department. This is the latest in our series of webinars for the topic of self determination. And with me today is Chrissy Cowan and Cecilia Robinson. And the topic of the area we're going to be addressing today is Be the Boss of Your Own Technology. So let's just talk a little bit about the self advocacy project, what we've been working on. Chrissy, we started this a couple of years ago. Chrissy Cowan: Oh, gosh, four. This is the fifth year. Scott Baltisberger: Time flies when you're having fun, as they say. So originally we thought we came up with this idea because we're thinking about just the idea of self advocacy because that is part of the expanded core curriculum but there's not a lot of resources out there that kind of specifically draw all that information together into a lesson. We had talked about our experiences as when we were TVIs, and a lot of I know that my experience was that a lot of that self advocacy gets addressed sort of on the fly, sort of when it comes up. So, for example, you might have a student have an issue come to you one day and say, oh, there was an issue in math class where I didn't have my materials or a student would say, I've kind of been wondering about this topic and you would say at that moment I might say, oh, well, let's talk about that. And it seemed that there needed to be more of a structured way of approaching self advocacy, the same way we approach other areas on the ECC. Does that ring a bell with you, Chrissy? Is that pretty much the way it works? Chrissy Cowan: You know, at some point with the expanded core curriculum we had one of the areas with self advocacy and then pretty quickly that changed to self determination. And frankly we really didn't know what that meant. Especially for younger children, how do you become self determined? So Scott and I early on with these units felt like we needed to really focus on the self advocacy piece of self determination. Cecilia Robinson: And then where I came in with assistive technology is when I came back to work for Texas School for the Blind and last school year I've been thinking about how do I think a little bit deeper into assistive technology. And then during a conversation and during some meetings the idea of maybe making some lesson plans in the area of self determination when a student uses assistive technology. And that's where we continued that unit. Chrissy Cowan: Okay. Could we go on to the next slide, please? So we went through our rationale and Scott phrased that nicely. I think we're ready for the next slide. And we did that one, too. Okay. Now, our approach to the project. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Our Approach to the Project Description End: When Scott and I started these we felt like a lesson plan would be our biggest gift that we could give to people who would look this up on the Internet and have something to run with. [ Slide end: ] So we developed a lesson plan format that was that we decided was going to be universal. Something that we would use throughout. And so now each of these units, and we're going the run through a little overview of the units. Each of these units, we call them a unit because they each have lesson plans attached. So when you look online the website and you just go to the search field and put units and lessons, you will see those lesson plans. So we started with unit one. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Scope and Sequence Content: • Unit 1: The Eye and Sight • Unit 2: Student Toolbox Description End: If we could look at the unit one, is the eye and sight. And we felt like children really needed to understand about the structure of the eye and sight and how it relates to themselves. Then Unit 2 was the student toolbox. So these loosely defined, these are the tools the student needs to have to advocate for themselves. And I think there's how many lessons are within each unit? Hundreds. Lots. [ Slide end: ] Scott Baltisberger: There are quite a few. It depends. It kind of varies but there's usually around at least maybe eight? Seven or eight lessons. And, yeah, we kind of had the idea that they would they could move in a sequence from Unit 1 to Unit 2. In the first unit a student would learn about the structure about how vision works. And then they would have that would give them the ability to talk about their vision. To advocate advocating to themselves or explain or talk about their vision from a point of authority, awareness. And then of course going into student toolbox and really looking at kind of what the skills are for advocating in different situations. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Scope and Sequence Content: • Unit 1: The Eye and Sight • Unit 2: Student Toolbox • Unit 3: Your Rights as a Student with a Visual Impairment Description End: Chrissy Cowan: And Unit 3 is going to get into your rights as a student with a visual impairment. So in that unit we got more into the legal the laws and how as a student you can become familiar with those laws, not just in school but after school. So that they can represent themselves. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Scope and Sequence Content: • Unit 4: Representing Yourself to Others • Unit 5: Be the Boss of Your Assistive Technology Description End: Unit 4, we went into representing yourselves to these. And so when people come up to you and say something about your visual impairment and you may choose to educate them about that or you may choose to deflect those questions when you don't feel like answering it. So Unit 4 has lots of lessons related to representing yourself to these. Chapter 2. Lesson Plan- Be the Boss... Then that brings us to today's series of lessons, which is the topic Be the boss of your assistive technology. [ Slide end: ] Before Cecilia starts I do want to clarify that this group of lessons is not about teaching children how to use assistive technology. It's teaching them how to advocate for their technology needs. And so there are lots of other places on the Internet where you can find out how to teach certain pieces of technology. These lessons are, again, within the realm of self determination, self advocacy with assistive technology. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Format of the Lesson Plans Description End: So the format of the lesson plan, Cecilia followed this format for this, are all the same. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Lesson Plans for Unit 5 Content: • Lesson 1: Articulate visual tasks required in classes • Lesson 2: List visual tasks and the possible tools that might help them complete the tasks Description End: And you will when you pull up a lesson plan you will be able to see that. So the lessons I think Cecilia, I'm going to let you take over here. [ Slide end: ] Cecilia Robinson: Okay. So the lessons basically follow the same format, like when Chrissy says when you pull up the lessons from the Internet, you will see the same format. There is always a goal at the beginning of each lesson and then the lesson objectives, followed by the steps. And then also when you keep going on individual lesson plans, there are always notes for you to remember as a TVI. What you need to prepare for the lesson and then the materials, what work sheets you might need. And we listed some resources at the end of each lesson for you as well. So each lesson is in that format. The first one is identifying the visual tasks required for classes. The next one is defining the technology tools. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Lesson Plans for Unit 5 Content: • Lesson 3: Explore assistive technology (AT) options and identify AT tools that might help them to be more efficient when completing the stated tasks • Lesson 4: Explore and select AT tools to try Description End: And Lesson 3 is about exploring assistive technology options and identifying tools that might help the student. And Lesson 4 is continuing the exploration of AT tools and trying to involve the student in doing a little bit more for themselves. And as I go through the lessons, you see how it is being designed. [ Slide end: ] There are also worksheets, so on the next slide you see the worksheet. There are altogether four work sheets. The number one is near and distance tasks. Worksheet two is observation checklist and interview. Number three is the form for the student to help just kind of think about improving their strategies. And then worksheet four is a chart for the student to write things down, what I like or not like about the technology. Also, there is a sample of AT tools for access. We came up with a simple chart. Everything is kept very simple because these are not intended to be lengthy lessons but it's just a way to help guide you as you work on self determination in assistive technology for your students. So let's go to the next slide. All right. Here's a question. Have you had any success in involving the students in the selection of their own assistive technology? [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Audience Poll Content: Have you had any success in involving students in the selection of their own assistive technology? Yes. No. Description End: And there is a yes/no answer. You can think about it now or we can check back with you. You can just write something down for yourself. And then we'll come back to this. [ Slide end: ] Let's go ahead and look at the individual lesson plans. Let's go to lesson plan one. I'm being sequential today, so I'll just start with lesson one. [Screen start:] Sharing lesson plan documents on computer screen And just quickly walk you through what is going on. If you are looking at the screen, you see the goal and lesson objectives as I have talked about before. And under procedures there is always a question or a statement to help anticipate the lesson. The first one is do you have any technology that you use at home or in school? And then on the right hand side of that chart is the vocabulary for you to think about introducing or use when you are using this lesson. And then the introduction is very simple. Let's just find out about the technology that might work for you. And then stating the goal. So we wrote a little bit of information for you to follow along that during this lesson we'll talk about the tasks that your student is doing in class and the idea is to help the student think about what they are doing in class every day and the instruction is really asking the student to think about what you are doing in every class and think about like all the tasks that you have to do that are new tasks. On the right hand side there is the explanation of vocabulary. But you might want to define what is near task for your student and do the same for distance task. So in this lesson we would be using work sheets number one, which is a chart, a simple chart that has the student name and date at the very top. And then on the right hand side is the strategy. On the left hand side is the near task. And if you go to Page 2, it's the same chart but it is the distance tasks. So in this lesson you will just have the student write down exactly what they do in each lesson. I mean, I'm sorry, in each period, during each period. What do they need to do in terms of near tasks. Just write those things down. And then flip on to the next page and do the same for distance tasks. The idea here is for the student to think about what they are doing every day versus the TVI reminding them what they are doing. After they write the tasks then we would look at each task and then ask the student, just write down your current strategy that you are using to fulfill the task and just, at this point, have the student write down what they are doing for each task and do the same for distance task. So after they complete this, if you would refer back to lesson plan number one, under the second set of instructions, the direction says looking at your two lists, tell me the current strategy in completing all of these tasks. And then now look at the strategies and which ones that are not really working well for you. Here, assume that the student has already written down strategies, it would be advisable for the TVI to maybe bring a highlighter and highlight the strategies that aren't working well for the student. You can also have the student highlight the strategies that aren't working well for them. So they would just go through this. And then this is the point where we are thinking that if the student is having some challenges with identifying like what is not working well or what is working well, then the teacher would jump in and say, well, I have observed you in the classroom and during the observation, these are the things that I observed. So if you pull out observation I mean, worksheets number two, observation and checklist, including an interview, the TVI can use this observation checklist and also the interview question to gather a little bit of information about what the student is doing in class. If the student is having some challenges with writing things down you can help the student by saying this is what I observed and let me share some of the information with you. And then you can help the student look at what is working or what is not working so well. So the end of lesson one is checking for understanding. Is the strategy working for the tasks that I need to do? Is it efficient? Is it timely? Those are the two vocabulary that you might want to address as well. What does it mean when it says efficient, what does it mean to be timely? Some students and I will talk a little bit more about this. Efficient and timely, we feel that that's the essence of using assistive technology, is to help you do the tasks quicker and efficient way, however some students may not fully grasp what does it mean to be efficient and timely. And then the closure for this lesson is, we'll keep referring to this list and then this will continue in the next lesson. So in lesson two you will review a little bit about what we have done in lesson one. And then the introduction will be, now we'll explore some technology options. So the idea is to build on lesson plan one and now we are adding a little bit to it. And in this lesson we will look at the possible tools that might help the student to complete the task. In this lesson we will look at the completed lesson one worksheet again, which is your worksheet number one. And we will review the strategies that are not working well. And here you will let the student talk and write down talk about the strategies that aren't working well and then again if the teacher needs to help the student by citing some observation data to help the student, you can do that as well. And here you would also, in this lesson, use worksheets number hang on. You will use worksheet number three, improve my strategy as well. So you will talk about what is not working well. Chrissy Cowan: Do you want to look at that worksheet number three? Cecilia Robinson: Yes, please. We'll take a look at worksheet number three. Here continuing with the lesson from the from lesson one, here we will identify looking at the completed worksheet number one, what is it not working well for me? And you see the highlighted strategies that aren't working well. You would write down on worksheet number three, the near tasks, what is my current strategy. Create a list using this. And then you will have the student go through the current strategy and then what is not working for both the near tasks and the distance tasks. And the distance tasks is on the next page. By the way, you can completely add on to this list and add your own information. The categories were created so that you can add on, use it or not use it. It's really up to you. But it's a way to capture the data for the student. So have the student talk about that. And then let the student talk. In this lesson specifically, under the instruction, it says let the student talk and write down the responses on worksheet number three. And if the student agreed that the there is a strategy that is not working well, then you can say, one of the ways to improve your task is to consider using assistive technology. And we can explore some samples. If this is what the student is needing to do, then you can also refer to the sample chart with the assistive technology tools. It's called sample of AT tools for access. And it's a simple chart with three columns, with the task on the first column, the tools listed in the middle column, and then it's defined whether that tool is mid tech, high tech, and so on. It's just a sample chart. And it's not completely including all the tools but it's a way to guide you to think about what's going on. So going back to Chrissy Cowan: Do you want to give a reason why you put the low, mid, and high heck box over there? [Screen end:] Cecilia Robinson: Okay. [Screen start:] One of the reasons that we put down the low, mid, and high tech is that I personally feel that there are so many technology options out there, sometimes a high tech or a mid tech solution or a tool may not be the most efficient. [Screen end:] If something breaks, the low tech device always needs to be kicked in, so the child can pull this out of the toolbox and continue doing the task. As you know, assistive technology is not going to be reliable 100% of the time. What our students need to know is that they can always pull out the low tech tool to continue doing the work. That is why we use low tech, mid tech, and high tech. We want you to think about that, as well, just because there are too many thanks available out there but not everything will be usable and applicable for your student, depending on their needs and the task that they need to do. [Screen start:] So thank you for reminding me to say that. And you can add on to the mid, low, and high tech column, as well, if you have more tools that we did not list on there for you. Chrissy Cowan: Back to the lesson. Cecilia Robinson: So back to lesson two, if the student wants to look at assistive technology then you will use the sample charts of AT tools and then continuing on lesson two, if the student does not agree that the strategy needs improvement, then there is a little bit of guidance on using your checklist that you have your observation and checklist and your interview from the teachers, which is the worksheet number two, to help the student understand why the strategy is not efficient enough. Sometimes students may sit in a classroom and they are doing their work because they can't see too clearly what other students are doing. They may be so involved in doing their task that they're not aware that other students may have already handed in the work to the teacher. So it's not really their fault that they are slow but they just aren't aware of what's going on. So in these cases there is a little bit of write up in the lesson plan to help you think about helping the student understand what is efficient, what is timely. And then help the student be sufficient in the current strategy and see if you can come to some consensus about how to improve the strategy. Does Scott and Chrissy have anything to add to this? [Screen end:] Scott Baltisberger: I think that what you're talking about is that sort of, a lot of times kids are not aware of what they don't know. And I know my experience is sometimes I would ask a student, you know, how are you doing in class, how are you doing, are you getting your work turned in in a timely manner, are you keeping up with the class? And, yeah, sure, I'm doing great. And they weren't necessarily pulling my leg about that. A lot of them, they really, like you said, they just weren't really aware of what was going on with the rest of the classroom. It's a neat way to get them to start thinking in that way because typically it's different than me simply just saying do they have oh, here's what's going on, here's what you need to do. It's actively involving them in that process, which I think that's one of the things I really like about these lessons that you've done. Because AT is such an area where sometimes we tend to just sort of hand the thing to the student, oh, here's what you need, here's how I assessed you, here's what you need. That's a really good example of how these lessons address that self determination part of tech, which is missing a lot of times. Chrissy Cowan: I think also it's helpful to know when there's equipment failure in a class. What does the student do? If they have, say, a Ruby or something they're using to read with and they didn't charge it or it's not charging appropriately, what do they do. So certainly when you observe and also get information from the classroom teacher, their classroom teachers about is it working smoothly or what needs to happen here, is nice information to have to share with the student. Cecilia Robinson: And here the idea is to have the student own what they do in class every day. Be a little bit more proactive about what I need to do and then also be open to listening to the TVI about what's happening in the classroom when compared to the sighted students because sometimes it's really difficult for them to see to. Also in the lesson there is a little write up about if the student does not want to try this adjusted AT option, then move on to the next strategy and don't be dwelling on what they don't want to do but rather let them talk it out, write down what write down their reason and then move on to the next strategy. It's not the idea is for them to talk about it but not to correct them if they don't think their strategy needs to be improved at this point. So the ending for the lesson is to check their understanding and ask them, tell me a strategy that you have changed or improved. [Screen start:] And then how does this help you to do your work? And let them know that we will talk about continuing to talk about assistive technology tools that might help them in the next lesson. So that's lesson number two. And then we will move on to lesson number three. Again, the format is pretty much the same. And the idea of lesson three is to explore the assistive technology options now. The introduction is we will continue to look at the AT tools and find out what each tool can do. Remember that we are not teaching them to use the tool. We are simply exploring what the tool can be for them. So using worksheet number three, which is improve my strategy, we'll continue in this lesson to use worksheet number three. We will look at very quickly what has been filled in, completed for the previous lesson and review the strategies that are not working well. Then remind the student that the tools can we can explore those tools. And for each tool the student will do the following. You will tell the student about the tool first and then let the student ask you questions about the tool. Then on worksheet number three there is the for each task there is what I want the technology to do for me. Here, assume that you have introduced the tool and also working on what I want the technology to do, what is not working, so that I can improve the way I'm doing the task, you would have the student think about what I want the technology to do for me. If it's possible have the student write a few things down for themselves. You can have them use pen, paper or you can have them use a Perkins Brailler to write it down. Here the idea is to have them be proactive and do something for themselves that they are actually going through the thinking process and writing things down for themselves. If necessary, use the sample AT tools chart to guide you. For some students who cannot write too fast, you can also write down their responses for them. The main thing is they are doing the thinking. You're not providing the information for them. So they are going through each strategy and then think about what the assistive technology can do for me and what I want it to do for me. So you will go through all the tasks and then at the end of the lesson you will review the list of assistive technology tools and have the student talk about what the tools can do for him or for her. So here, the main idea for this lesson and the worksheet is to make sure that they go through the thinking process, identifying what technology they want for trial. They also think about what they want the assistive technology to do for them and go through each task one by one. And then for the resources, at the end of the lesson, in past literacy they have resources for technology with students with low vision. If you have time to prepare for the lesson take a look at what the paths to technology has outlined there. It's a pretty good list. Again, you can also add some of the tools to the sample of AT tools for access charts if you want to try some of those tools as well. [Screen end:] And the, hey, can I try that, that's a free download and it's a handbook to help the students think about how can I be outspoken and self determined when I look at assistive technology, is actually a really nice workbook with worksheets to help guide the thinking process. That worksheet that workbook is not really written with students with visual impairments in mind, however, it will work if you are thinking about helping the student build self determination. So take a look at it. It's a free download. We think it's a good resource for you to have. So that's the end of lesson plan three and lesson three. So we'll take a quick look at lesson four. Lesson four is the last lesson for this series. Lesson four is simply exploring the AT tools. [Screen start:] At this point it's really exploring it. We're not teaching it. We're not asking you to teach the student how to do it. We're just simply exploring the features that might help the student improve their strategy when they're doing their near and distance tasks. Hopefully you will have had a chance to look at some of the tools that the student would want to try and for this lesson you might want to bring the AT tools to this lesson so that the teacher can show the student what this tool is about. The student will have had a chance to touch it, feel it, and maybe turn it on, maybe if it's a low tech tool, to try it on something that they're reading or for distance use and so on. So have those tools ready. And then we'll begin the lesson for lesson number four. And you use it in lesson three and then you will start by saying looking at improving my strategies, which is your worksheet number three. And now the student has had already filled out what I the technology tool to do for me. So you will pull out the assistive technology tool and let the student try it, touch it, feel it, and ask questions. And it's all in your lesson plan under instruction. How will the tool help you do the task? What do you like about the tool? And why? What don't you like about the tool and why? Just because we think or the student thinks the tool may help me, by the time they touch it, feel it, they may not like it. Sometimes it looks good on paper, it looks good online, but when it comes to actually doing it, using it, it may not be that usable. So in this lesson the chance for the student to explore it and then make some decisions for themselves is the whole idea. And you will pull out worksheet number four, which is what I like and don't like. [Screen end:] This is a simple chart, again, with information that the student can fill out for near task, the AT tool that they are exploring, and then have them write a few things down about what they like about the tool and if they don't like it, that's okay. Have them write down what I don't like about the tool. [Screen start:] The idea is they own this information and they own the experience. So that as TVI you don't have to tell them what is working or not working. Let them make some decisions for themselves so they will go through each task and each tool that they want to explore and write down some of the things that they like or not like. Again, if a student cannot write fast enough, here is where you can also offer to write down some of their thoughts. Let them talk, let them express what they like or not like about the AT tool. And then out at the end of the lesson they will have the AT tool that they really want to try and they really like or and also the AT tool that they may not like that well. So both the set of near tasks and the distance tasks. And then at the end of this lesson the checking for understanding is do you know more about the AT tool that you want to try? Hopefully the answer is yes. If the answer is no then you can go back and maybe look at where the gap might be to fill in. And the other question is, is the tool likely to help you do your tasks more efficiently? And let them think about it and write some thoughts down if they are expressing what they think may work for them and so on. But again, the idea is they are the one talking. You are not the one giving them the information. And then at the end is the closure which is, we will learn to use the AT tools in the upcoming lessons. [Screen end:] So these four lessons is a way to help them start thinking about assistive technology. One of the things that I'm doing every day in class, what are the things that I need to look at near, what are the tasks that I need to focus on when I'm in the classroom that are presented to me at distance, what are my strategies? Are my strategies working? Are they not working? And if they're not working, will the student own up to the fact that it's not working and is there a way to help them come to some more understanding of what's going on in the sense of being timely and efficient in the classroom. The vocabulary listed in each lesson plan are words that you might want to explore with them and explain to them. And we intended these lesson plans for elementary students and as well as all the way up to middle school students and maybe high school as well. It's really up to you to make decisions on how to use it but the idea is to use the steps and keep it simple so that the student will have a chance to work through each step as they are practicing self determination in using assistive technology. Chapter 3. Discussion & Application Chrissy Cowan: Cecilia, I know that for the lesson where you are showing the student different kinds of assistive technology, you know, collecting as much as you possibly can of optical device, et cetera, and putting them out on the table might be a challenge for some people. So you know, you can borrow some things. Also I know I had a student one year who and this was kind of an interesting occurrence, but this student wanted to look at some more video magnifiers. So I just called one of the video magnifier people, which was Crystal Vision at the time out of San Antonio, and the representative said, sure, I would be happy to set something up for you. So you know, a technology assistive technology fair, sometimes the service centers hold those where you can go and look. Invite your kids to those as well. Cecilia Robinson: Right. And also invite the parents. Sometimes parents may not have had a chance to look at what we are talking about. And some parents may not even know what devices are out there. One thing about borrowing devices, if you're in Texas you can probably contact your regional education service center and ask if they have the devices. Texas School for the Blind here in outreach, we have a few devices that you're welcome to borrow as well. And then also, like Chrissy says, the manufacturers and also the vendors, they might let you borrow some of those as well. Did I miss any other resources? Chrissy Cowan: I wonder, is there value on going online with the student to look at catalogs or to look at websites? Cecilia Robinson: I think so. I think for the students who are old enough to understand what's going on, when you look at devices online, go ahead and schedule that with your student and include that in a lesson. I think it's always good for them to take a look at what does it look like, about how big it is, for example, a video magnifier can be. And interesting you mention video magnifiers because there are many, many versions out there but they are not all the same. And some have a bigger viewing area and some have smaller viewing areas. And the way you use it can be a little bit different. So even though there are many options there, at the end of the day it's really about personal preferences. And the students are the ones who are making those decisions. What is efficient for me and what is timely for me when I'm using this device versus another device. Scott Baltisberger: I think in the gen ed curriculum and technology they now address that idea of critical thinking online. And it is an important thing for students as well, like Chrissy said, going online and kind of shopping around with what's available that way. And I think I believe in unit 4, Chrissy, I don't remember it's been a while since we talked about Unit 4, since I looked at it, it seems there were different section there's about how to talk to different people from different backgrounds, like how do you talk to your doctor, your ophthalmologist, how do you talk to your case manager from HSSC, I don't know if it said anything about vendors. That might be an area to think about with that. You know, how how do you talk to vendors and the other thing I thought of was talking to tech support online. Cecilia Robinson: Exactly, right. Chrissy Cowan: Oh, my goodness. Cecilia Robinson: Yeah. Scott Baltisberger: It just occurred to me when we were going through all this and I didn't think of it at the time, but that would be a really good one to include because that's huge for everyone out there. Cecilia Robinson: Right. Right. And this is so critical. It's not it's not only for the students but also for their family members, too. Because when you see devices out there there are so many different versions. And when you talk to vendors and their main focus is to sell the technology devices, whereas our focus and we need to teach our students their focus is to be able to talk about what I need, what do I need for the device to do for me because I have these tasks to do. Always focus back on what they need to do, which is the distance and the near tasks and what I want the technology to do for me. Scott Baltisberger: That's what I liked about your lessons, that sort of critical thinking component and self awareness. Sometimes with kids they would I know if you present them sort of a novel device that has some sort of bell or whistle on it, oh, yeah, that's the one I need, that's the one I want because it's got this sort of thing they haven't seen before. They circle back around, okay, is that really what you need for what task you need that for. Cecilia Robinson: That's a very good point, because with any devices, with any assistive technology, there needs to be a trial period. And as TVI you can get data on what is working, what is not working, so what is beneficial for the student versus what are some of the things that are nice but they are not really doing anything to help with the timely piece and efficiency piece. Chrissy Cowan: So if I'm a TVI and I'm trying to help the student choose between two different products, devices, where can I get information about the success rate or how those might work best for my student? Could they call you or e mail you? Cecilia Robinson: Yes, they can call us. If we don't know the answer, we can certainly find out for you. Basically I would highly suggest jotting down what you are seeing every time you work with your student. It's a chance to get data so go ahead and write some things down. And your written data would justify the educational benefit for the assistive technology that the student is wanting to use. So I think that data is critical. And as TVI, I forgot to mention that maybe I don't know if there are any O and Ms out there, the same process. You need to document what's working or not working that well. So that when they come to making decisions on what to purchase, then you can pull out the data and show everybody that this is what I know the student can do. And the student certainly can speak up for themselves as well. But I think it's really, really important to have everything in a written format so that you can go back to it when you need it. And then also there are also probably in JVIB research-based studies that also talk about assistive technology usage and things like that. And follow those research studies to see what others are doing as well. So we are always practicing evidence based practices. Chrissy Cowan: Well. Cecilia Robinson: So I think that's a good suggestions, like talking to vendors and how to talk to people who are on the other line when you need to call for tech support. Those are critical skills, too. And I might add on to that. And if I have it done, you will see more lessons online. I'm not promising anything but those are good suggestions. And we will consider putting those online as well. Chrissy Cowan: Are there any comments? I'm looking at the chat box. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Questions or Comments Description End: And we had asked earlier the question, have you done any kind of lessons with kids where you are teaching them how to make choices about assistive technology. [ Slide end: ] I'm not seeing anybody write in. And you know, frankly, the little twist we took on this was sort of new for us as well. Cecilia Robinson: Yes. Chrissy Cowan: We're so tuned in to training someone how to use something but not so much how you involve them in the process of selecting it and determining it, determining if it really works for them. Cecilia Robinson: And going through this process is makes me think about the step by step approach as well. A lot of times everybody is so busy and as TVI you just want to go and give them the device and hope that they would use it correctly so you move on to the next student. It's more challenging than that. We're hope that by providing the lessons it will give you an idea of how to plan your instruction a little bit more mindfully. Chrissy Cowan: I think, too, if you include the student on the selection process the likelihood and you provide the training on the device, the likelihood that they're going to use it is greater. I know I went to a workshop at Envision where there was a study done with adults who were issued an optical device and the study involved going to the door, ringing the doorbell, and asking the adult with low vision in this case, to please go get their device. And then they timed them. And so depending on how long it took them to retrieve the device they knew whether or not it was being used. Cecilia Robinson: You know, it's interesting, how many times have we asked our students when you walk into a classroom, where is your device and then they dig through their backpack and they can't find it. You can just assume that it was lost in space right there. Chrissy Cowan: There's your data. Cecilia Robinson: There's your data to show what is working and what is not working. Little things like that I think sometimes tells you a lot about the student's self determination. So, yeah, we hope you will take a try at the lesson plans and let us know if you have any comments. We can continue to improve what we do here. Are there any Chrissy asked a question, does anyone want to write any responses in the chat box? Chrissy Cowan: Okay. I'm going to since we can see my computer, I think, I'm going to walk you through getting to the website because if you're like me you're going to lose that link that's on that handout but I'm going to take you there. I didn't need to see all this. [Screen start:] Sharing website on computer screen So if I go to the TSBVI website and in the this little box up here, what's that called, the search field? And I put in "lessons and units" it comes right up. So you're just going to click on this. And all of the lessons and units on self determination for years past and this year are going to be right here. We need to go in and change colors on this, but just so that they stick out a little bit better because these should be red, not blue. But when you go all of the way down to Unit 5, assistive technology, and you click on that, you're going to see these lesson plans. And the supplemental handouts, all those work sheets are right here as well, that go with Cecilia's lessons. That's how you get to those. I think we're [Screen end:] Cecilia Robinson: Yes. Scott Baltisberger: Okay. Well, I think we're done for today. Thanks, everybody, for being here with us for our webinar about Be the boss of your assistive technology. Thank you, Cecilia, for building those lessons. I think they will be very helpful. I know I would have loved having those when itinerant staff. It addresses a need that has not been looked at typically in the past and sort of its own unto itself, a unit unto itself. Cecilia Robinson: Thank you, everybody. Scott Baltisberger: Okay. Thanks, everybody. We'll see you next time. [Silence] Fade up from black. Animation: Text for TSBVI transform into braille cells for TSBVI. Fade to black.