ALSG_2017-11-30 This video is posted online with the following chapter markers: Chapter 1. Intro & Forum Question Chapter 2. Review Active Learning Key Points Chapter 3. Active Learning Approach with Older Students Chapter 4. Equipment for Older Learners Chapter 5. Discussion 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. Intro & Forum Question [ Music ] [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired Content: Active Learning Study Group November 30, 2017 Facilitated by Charlotte Cushman, Education Resources Manager Perkins School for the Blind Charlotte.cushman@perkins.org with Kate Hurst, Statewide Staff Development Coordinator hurstk@tsbvi.edu and Patty Obrzut, Penrickton Center for Blind Children Description End: Kate: Good afternoon. Charlotte: Hi, everyone. [ Slide end: ] Kate: Welcome to today's TVI group, I'm Kate Hurst, with Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and this is my great co‑host. Charlotte Cushman from Perkins School for the Blind. Kate: We are so happy to have you joining us today. If you happen to have gone into the second active learning room, you may want to come out and join us in this main room right now because we'll fill one room up before-- so that we can all participate in the same chat. So that would be great. But we have a lot going on today, so we're going to jump right into it. I want to introduce a couple of other people that are going to be with us today. First of all, our other bud and partner in crime, Patty Obrzut, from the Penrickton Center for Blind Children in Michigan. Patty. Patty: Hi, Kate, Charlotte, hi, everybody. Hi, Patty. We're so glad to have you here. We look forward to seeing Patty in Texas late in February, early in March. Patty: Good time to come down here. Kate: Yeah. Also with us today is Sarah Lundgren, a parent from Northern California. She has shared some wonderful video of her son Dean and we will see some things about him, you will have a chance to chat with Sarah later on. [ Slide end: ] But we wanted to say hello, Sarah, we're glad that you are here. And Sarah is saying hi, everyone. Sarah, just so you know, if you want to share your voice with us at any point, just press star 6 and we will hear your voice, when you are through talking, press star 6 again and that will mute your mic. On the phone. On the phone, not the computer. Kate: Yeah, on the phone. That will let us know that you have something to share. Moving right along, I want to mention that we still have three more webinars after today. The dates are on the screen, January 25th will be our next one and that one is going to focus on Cortical Visual Impairment issues in active learning, which is a big hot topic for a lot of us and we have Diane Sheline joining us to help us think through some of that. I just want to mention, these are Study Groups. Some of the stuff that we're trying to figure out with you guys as we go along, that's why we're so glad to have Patty and the other spokesman from Penrickton there and the folks from Narbethong to guide us as we go through, figuring out how do we address the needs with the variety of the students that we all have. Also the other webinar dates are March 29th and May 17th. Just a reminder, you do need to register for each individual webinar in order to get credit for it and to receive the handout and the links. So if you haven't done that, do it. Join us. Charlotte: While we're talking about the handouts and links, some people have been worried if they don't get them well ahead-- in advance. But we send them out the day of the actual webinar. Don't worry if you haven't find beforehand, but we sometimes get people registering up to the last minute so that seems to work best. Kate: Yeah. They are always available in the files pod if you find yourself racing into the room at the last minute and you don't have your handouts printed out, you can always download them from the files and have them for later on. So ... also, I wanted to mention that all of our Active Learning Study Group webinars for this year and previous years have been recorded and are available in archive through the active learning space website, that address is on the screen. www.activelearningspace.org/webinars, so check that out, if you want to play catch up and-- and learn other things that we have talked about in previous years. Then, also, another little piece of housekeeping, if you would like to receive a periodic newsletter by email, please go to the active learning space website to the home page, scroll down towards the bottom, and you can put in your email address and we will-- we, Charlotte, will send you an electronic newsletter. Which keeps you up to date on any changes on the website, information about trainings going on and just other stuff that you might want to know about active learning in the active learning community. All right. And then finally, we have a section on our website called questions. This is where you can go and post a question. And different individuals will respond to you. Patty always tries to respond, since she is our true expert. But Charlotte and I generally chime in with some thoughts and other people in our active learning community do as well. So we encourage you, if did you have questions, put them up there. That way we all benefit from the knowledge that we discover in answering our responding to your questions. And speaking of questions, we're going to jump right in to what has become one of our standard pieces of our webinars is to take one of those questions and share it with the whole Active Learning Study Group. And this question comes from Sheralyn, shared by Trisha, from our folks in Australia. [ Slide start: ] Slide read by speaker This question says ... [Reading slide]. When we're talking about leaving school, we're meaning graduation, not just end of day. [Reading slide]. Kate: And so the first place we went to, which is what we try to do on everything is go to our-- to the real expert, which is Dr. Lilli Neilsen and check and see what she wrote about it. This is what Lilli had to say about those older students. [ Slide start: ] Slide read by speaker She said two years before a learner will have to leave school, I find it necessary for teachers to discuss which skill the learner will be able to use by himself as an adult and then do whatever possible to help him or her to master such skills. By doing so, there will perhaps be activities for which there is no time for refining. In my opinion, it is better for a pupil to go out in the future with some real skills than many that are only mastered halfway. [ Slide end: ] I really like this and have to say that this year I had the privilege of working with two different students who are older. They are in, you know, the final years of school and that is one of the things that the team is really trying to address is-- you know, we have a student, they are just now beginning active learning, they may be 19, 18 years old. And what's realistic to try to accomplish in the short period of time and how do we prioritize those skills. Of course, we're starting out with a functional scheme assessment, so we know where that student is and what skills they already have, because that's what we're going to build on is skills that they already have. And the other thing that we're trying to use is to think about adult outcomes. Where is the student going to be going after they finish their education? For one student that I'm working with, they're going to be staying in their family home. And so we want to look at things that are going to be helpful to the family as the child gets older and that has to do with things that might make him a little bit more mobile and able to assist in transferring. So working on gross motor skills is very important, working on some fine motor skills so that this individual can be more engaged in things during the day. And do things with him instead of for him all the time. This student is very social. He comes from a very engaged and extended family. So looking at, you know, the social and emotional development is really important. And so we're trying to take all of that into account. And to identify things that can be used by the family, by that individual, as they grow older to just bring joy and pleasure into their life. For another student going into a group home, we're trying to come up with ideas and activities that can be carried out by group home staff that will make that person's day more meaningful. And when we do that, tracing back what skills we need to really focus on to be able-- for that student to be able to more independently participate in activities that bring enjoyment. And, again, we're not just talking about active learning equipment. We're talking about an active learning approach. So we're looking at those-- those educational techniques. How-- how much can the student do. Can they do-- are they at a level where they can do activities where they're sharing some of the work. Are they just at a level where for the most part they are looking at interaction, what do we need to do to sort of help a group home team be prepared to receive that student. We are thinking about things like video portfolios and how to pull that into it. And that's a very long answer for a very short question, but I think, as you will see today because we're going to be talking about older students, when you get to this place, I think some big decisions have to be made, and I think we have to bring in all sorts of best practice approaches to how do we hone in on specific skills, how do we prioritize skills for the IEP and how do we take what's learned about the student and share it with those adult service providers that are going to be coming into this person's life. I don't know, Charlotte, if you have-- Charlotte: I think everything that I have to say we've got coming up in the session today. So maybe-- Kate: Maybe we'll just-- Charlotte: Get ready to move towards that. I think we have a poll before we go there. Kate: We do. We certainly do. Will so let's find out how many of you are working with learners who are over the age of 14. If you would, just take a moment and complete the poll that's just popped up. Either yes, no or I don't work directly with students. Let's see. I'm curious. Okay, we have people voting. Looks like a great majority of you are working with older students and that's not at all surprising. It really isn't. I think for any of us who are related service or, you know, TVIs, COMs, you are going to be working across the age range, even a lot of classroom teachers I think are really-- will work across the classroom-- the age range in their classes. So-- okay. Only just a few that aren't working with kids older than that. So very good. Charlotte: Interesting. Kate: Thank you. Well, I think we're ready to jump right into our prerecorded portion of today's broadcast and once that's over, we will return and have some time for a little bit of brief discussion. So let's go. Chapter 2. Review Active Learning Key Points [ Video start: ] Charlotte: The goals for today's session are to review key points of Active Learning; to recognize some of the ways in which principles of Active Learning apply to older learners; to identify steps in planning for an older learner; and to identify activities and materials. as well as equipment that may be appropriate for older learners. We’re going to focus on Active Learning, using that approach with older students. As in our other discussions about Active Learning, we would like to begin by reminding you that Active Learning is an 'approach,' not a piece of equipment. This means that it can be used by people anywhere, without expensive specially-made equipment. Dr. Lilli Nielsen designed the approach for anyone who is functioning below a developmental level of 48 months. This means that this approach can be effectively used with anyone in the birth to 4-year developmental range, regardless of their chronological age. Active Learning is based on the teachings of Dr. Lilli Nielsen, who maintained that children learn best through their own active exploration and experimentation. Neuroscience research now validates this, as well. While it's beyond the scope of today’s presentation to go through all of the basic principles, we would like to remind you of the key points of Active Learning, which can be found on the Active Learning Space website. First, Active Participation. This means that the individual initiates some actions without verbal or physical prompting from an adult. The learner is the one who determines when and how to act on an object, or make contact and engage with the adult. The key is to promote opportunities for the learner to be an active participant by ensuring that the environment is accessible, interesting, and inviting exploration without interruption. Second point is Repetition of Opportunities. Practice makes perfect! This is critical to learning for anyone. Learners with significant multiple disabilities need thousands and thousands of opportunities to practice a skill, so that it becomes automatic. This will help them to generalize the skill to other situations and environments. It needs to be Developmentally Appropriate. Learners with complex needs are much older chronologically than their developmental level, but it's critical that activities be appropriate the level where they are functioning. Remember that skills develop in a fairly predictable order. For example, you can't throw a ball until you have the ability to pick it up. You can't pick it up until you can coordinate the movement of your fingers. In Active Learning it's important to understand the developmental sequence of skills, and provide activities that require the skills the learner has. We invite you to watch a video on the Active Learning Space site about developmentally appropriate activities. It shows what happens when a typically developing two year old is given a task that is way above her developmental level. Number four, it should be Reinforcing to the Individual. This is true for all of us! We all need to feel that we benefit in some way in order to be motivated. Our role as the adults working with the learner is to figure out what is motivating for that individual. And finally, Limited Distractions. This is perhaps the toughest one for many teachers, parents and other adults. We need to learn to be quiet and not to interrupt the learning that is taking place. When anyone is trying to learn something new, distractions work against the process. For example, have you ever tried to learn a new computer program and people won't stop talking or asking you questions? If you're like most people, you probably had a hard time learning what you needed to until they left you alone. If we interrupt a learner's exploration and experimentation by telling that individual that he or she is doing a good job, or trying to show the individual what he or she can do, we're interrupt the learning. We need to minimize distractions as much as possible for all learners. This includes making sure a learner is not hungry, not tired, not wet. That the room is not too hot, too cold, too over-stimulating, or too under-stimulating. We must limit our comments to times when a learner takes a little break from what he/she is doing, and is paying attention to us. Then make comments pertinent to the learner's activities, and keep the language simple. You can learn more about this in a video with Patty Obrzut on the Active Learning Space website. Chapter 3. Active Learning Approach with Older Students So, now that we’ve reviewed some of the key principles of Active Learning, let’s look at how to use this approach with older students. First, we must begin with Transition Planning, just as we typically do for any student over the age of 14. This means that we look at what the learner will do after leaving school. Where will they be living? How will they be spending their time? What gives them joy? How much one-on-one support is available to them, and how much time will they be required to entertain themselves? This also means having discussions with all members of the team, to be sure that priorities are addressed, and that the goals are the same for everyone. What are the family’s preferences? The learner’s preferences? The school’s preferences? We need to think outside the box when planning for most learners with significant multiple disabilities, as they will not be following typical career paths or living independently. The underlying question for all older students should be how current activities relate to future goals. When you get a student who is over the age of 14, everything you do needs to be focused on adult life and quality of life, both physical and mental health. This includes making choices, being actively engaged in one’s surroundings, rather than a passive observer, and developing meaningful recreational interests. It also includes hygiene and fashion, as well as self-care and independent living activities. So what does this look like for an individual learner? With recreation and leisure activities, it may mean, for example, helping them to create a collection of items they’re interested in; like rocks, shoes, or beads. Self-care activities, may include routines with lotions, powders, etc. or beauty routines. One young woman we know enjoyed going and getting her nails done regularly. Independent living activities could include cooking, vacuuming, doing the dishes. For some individuals, it might be helping to prepare favorite foods or participating in volunteer activities in the community. Customized employment may incorporate some of these highly motivating activities or materials that are reinforcing to the individual. We know of one young man who LOVED all candy, especially chocolate. He learned to help service vending machines, and was able to earn candy as a reward when he finished his work. I just learned about a young woman in the Philippines with visual impairments and multiple disabilities, and she loves to mix any and all kinds of liquids together. Her parents have helped her set up her own business with a line of beauty and cleaning products. I know another young man who is deafblind and he just LOVES shoes. He lived in a dormitory with other students at a residential school, and every morning when we went in to wake up everyone, all of their shoes were missing. We discovered that we could always find all 20 pairs of shoes lined up in John’s closet. When he got older, he got a job in a shoe store, dusting shoes and arranging them on the shelves. Do you have a student who loves water? Think about jobs like washing dishes and watering plants. These are a few examples of ways in which to incorporate motivating activities and materials into a work plan for an older student. So, what activities might be appropriate for older learners? We’ll start by watching a couple of short video clips with examples of some functional activities. The first one shows a girl doing recycling at Narbethong State Special School in Australia. Teacher: I've got a newspaper here with me, and I'm going to put it INSIDE [bang]. Inside... VoiceOver: Recycling is part of the curriculum for this student. So that game has become one of "putting into," turn taking, grasp and release, concepts of up, down, heavy, light, big, small, hard, soft; as she is immersed in the language of recycling from the teacher. Teacher: Here's another one. Innnn... Huh... side... [laughther] Student: [Indiscernible] Teacher: You put it in the bin. One, two, three, in... [bump] Ooh! It's in there! Well done. Student: Yeah... [clapping] Yeah... Teacher: Let's see what else we have here. Oh, we have a long tube. [banging] Yep, that can go in the bin, too. [bump] Charlotte: Now we’re going to introduce you to a student named Dean, and his mother Sarah, who has shared a number of videos that we’d like to show you. Dean is quite mobile and Sarah believes that he is at approximately a 3-year-old level developmentally. She has already purchased a home, with other families, where Dean will live after finishing school. She already knows the agency that will provide the care he will have, and she knows that he will have one-to-one adult supervision. The house is located one block from the YMCA, just down the street from where the family lives. And his day will be at a pace that suits him, in the context of jobs he loves. He will participate in all meal-making, he’ll help to care for chickens and gather eggs, pick fruits on the property, and help to make his own food. For recreational activities, Dean will go swimming and ride a trike. Sarah believes that Active Learning is an essential part of his program. She notes that he doesn’t need an adult to interact, and that sometimes we bring on difficulty by not giving him the time to do things himself. Given this plan of where Dean will be when he leaves school in 3 years, she believes that the focus of goals for him should be toileting with success, and setting up environments where he can practice skills with no adult intervention. While not all families will be able to plan as far ahead as Sarah has, and while not everyone will have equal access to the same resources, or staffing ratios, the example of Dean gives us a helpful way to begin to think about planning for older students. The next video shows 19-year-old Dean grinding coffee in his family’s kitchen. Student: [verbalizing] [coffee grinding] [coffee grinding] [verbalizing] [coffee grinding] [verbalizing] [coffee grinding] [verbalizing] [coffee grinding] [laughing] [coffee grinding] [snorting] [coffee grinding] [verbalizing] [coffee grinding] [laughing] [coffee grinding] [verbalizing] [coffee grinding] [verbalizing] Sarah: Dean. You found the coffee beans. Would you please put them right on the table for me. Dean: Whoa! [verbalizing] Sarah: Put them down on the table for me. I think they're all done. Thank you so much. Dean: Whoa! Charlotte: We don’t have videos for all activities, but you can use your imagination. Here’s a list of some we’ve tried. Each of these activities can be made as simple or complex as is appropriate for an individual learner; flower delivery, putting together herb sachets & potpourris, mixing spices, like mulled cider, chili, Indian curries, Italian seasonings, making tea bags, mixing essential oils, doing dishes-- rinsing them if the student loves water-- passing them to someone to put in dishwasher, watering plants, making popcorn and packaging it, making dog biscuits and selling them to a vet or to a pet store, going to an animal shelter, a pet store, a farm or ranch to help care for animals through grooming, or feeding, or cleaning, rolling coins, following a beauty or spa routine with makeup, fingernails, manicure in water bath, packaging materials, filling a vending machine. Sarah, who is the mother of Dean, a 19-year-old young man with CVI and multiple disabilities-- whom we've been talking about-- she's been using an Active Learning approach at home with him for his whole life. She has shared a list of some of her son’s favorite activities, and we will be showing you some video clips of a few examples. These Active Learning activities are for older students who are under the age of 4 developmentally, and may be especially appropriate for individuals who are mobile. The key is to set up the environments so students can explore and discover on their own, without waiting for teachers or parents to bring the activities to them. In Active Learning, students take the initiative. You can set up the kitchen so that appliances are always in the same place. For example, a salad spinner, juicer, coffee grinder, toaster, cuisinart, blender, popcorn maker, dishwasher, refrigerator. Give time to explore in the pool without interaction. And that's different from swim lessons. Riding a trike in an enclosed space, experimenting with pedaling and steering! There is a video of this on the Narbethong site, for anybody who's interested. Exploring inside and outside of cars. The individual can independently learn how to open and close doors, get in and out of the car, roll windows up or down, move the seats, turn on the music. Spending time in a parked bus. You can discovering it has many rows of seats, open space for wheelchairs, windows, driver’s seat. You'll need to call ahead to make arrangements to see a big bus. Learn the layout of a playground by exploring the structure. Move in an open field. Be allowed to roam on an open beach. Sarah’s son loves to spend hours moving on the sand and finding the waves, which he can hear and easily orient to. Spend time on a trampoline, by himself, or with another student. A learner could swing on every kind available swing at low level, so that the learner can get in and out on their own. They could swing near a spring board, like an Essef board, or a wall, so they can push off, or practice pumping. Learners can play with all types of balls, basketball hoop, or spinning contraption, like a chair. As mentioned earlier, one of the key points of Active Learning is allowing the learner time and space for independent exploration. One of our colleagues, Linda Hagood, who is a Speech Language Pathologist, shared a quote from one of her students: "Every time I start to think, they interrupt me with their teaching." We can’t emphasize enough how important it is to allow learners to explore and examine things without input from adults. This doesn’t mean that we are not present or available, but just that we don’t interrupt what the learner is doing. This independent experimentation is essential to learning and developing skills. We would like to share some videos that show examples of some of what can be learned through independent exploration. We’re going to start with a short video of Dean opening and closing a car door. [click] [click] Sarah: Good job. [click] [click] Dean: Mama. Sarah: I see you Dean. I saw that you opened and closed the door... to our car. He looks like he enjoyed figuring out how to close the door, open it again, and repeat. When he says “Mama” at the end, it seems like he's looking for affirmation that she is there and that she saw him do this. Dean clearly enjoys opening and closing things! This could be expanded with other ways to open things, like wrist rotation for a round knob, latches, hooks, sliding bolts. His learning could also be extended by opening and closing a variety of containers, like those with lids that screw on, or snap on. Small items could be placed inside the container, such as nuts, or something inside that he could hear, taste, smell, or touch. Here’s another video clip of a different type of door. This time Dean is in a park examining how the metal gate works. Watch to see what kinds of skills he is learning here. [birds chirping & distant children's voices] [bang] Dean: Ha, ha, ha! [laughing] [loud children's voices] [bang] [bang] Dean: Hmmm [bang] Dean: Ahhh! [bang] [bang] Dean: Ha, ha, ha! [laughing] Ahhh... Hmmm [bang] [bang] [bang] [crow calling] [bang] [bang] Charlotte: Wouldn’t Orientation and Mobility specialists be thrilled to see this? He’s learning where his body is in relation to the gate, how to move in front of it and behind it, how to walk backwards without running over his feet, how to open and close it. This is a good example of the need for repeated practice, as well as the need to allow time for quiet exploration, without instruction or intervention. In addition to watching all of the learning that took place, I loved how happy the whole thing made him, as he giggled and clearly enjoyed himself. We have a couple more examples to show you. Here’s one of another type of gate. Dean: Ooo! Ooo! Ooo. [click] [click] [click] Dean: Ahh! Ahh! Ooo! Sarah: Ooo! That's right, open! Dean: Ahh! [click] ...closed! Sarah: That's right, closed. [click] Dean: ...Ooo! [verbalizing] [click] Did you hear him saying “open” as he practiced opening and closing the gate? And finally, yet another type of door… Dean: [verbalizing] Open it! Ooo! [click] No, no, no. Dean: ...Ooo! [hissing] [click] Haa! Haa! Ooo! [slam] Hoo, hoo, hoo! With the fridge we seem him exploring yet another different type of door that he can open and close. We hear him vocalizing and saying “open.” By watching this series of short video clips, we can see that Dean is comparing different types of doors-- how they open, how they close, how they fasten, how they unfasten, how he can move his whole body in relation to the door. We hear him saying the word “open” in various contexts, which indicates that he has begun to generalize this concept through repeated exploration and practice. Okay, now we’re going to move on to a completely different set of video clips, this time looking at Dean swimming. Please keep in mind that Dean’s mother was filming these clips and obviously this particular activity would not be possible or appropriate for all students. We'd just like you to look at how you might use an Active Learning approach with older individuals during this type of activity. [bubbling] [bubbling] [birds chirping] [bubbling] [car horn] [bubbling] [splash] [splash] [birds chirping] [splash] [splash] [birds chirping] So what did you notice here? Once again, we can see that no one was interrupting Dean’s exploration, or asking him to do anything specific. He was practicing skills that he has been working on, such as putting his face in the water and blowing bubbles, moving one, then both arms in the water, and getting in and out of the pool. He was also making some important discoveries about spatial awareness and positional concepts, as he explored where the edge of the pool was, where the water was, and where the ladder was. I imagine that he was also making a lot of comparisons in his head, as he looked at wet and dry, hot and cold, hard and soft. Okay, now we’re going to look at a different clip of Dean swimming, but this time with one-on-one instruction. [splash] Instructor: Oh, wonderful. Dean: [verbalizing] Row! Row! Row! Instructor: Row, row, row your boat.. [splashing] [laughing] Instructor: ...merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily... [splash] [bubbling] Instructor: [Indiscernible] Let's go have a rest, okay. [Indiscernible] use your legs to help you get there. Good job. The first thing that stands out here is the lovely rapport that Dean has with his swimming instructor. He clearly likes her and trusts her. Her manner is calm, and she's soft-spoken. The interaction between them is so nice to watch, as they are both having fun, while Dean is also learning new skills, and practices what he's learning. While she does tell him “good job”, she does not overpraise him, and she takes turns playing with him and asking him to do things. You can also see, now, that in the earlier video he was practicing some of what he has been working on with his swimming instructor. Allowing time for him to go at his own pace, and especially to practice independently without interruption has been key to Dean’s growth. It’s important to remember that “independent” doesn’t mean that there is not an adult present. The learner needs someone there for safety sake, but the adult needs to back off, and give the individual the time to explore with interruption. We’d like to highlight the Touchbase Center in Houston. They work with adults with deafblindness and their approach is similar to Active Learning. Have a look at their photo gallery, where you’ll see that there are a lot of great examples of ways to be actively involved in fun activities as an adult! Chapter 4. Equipment for Older Learners Okay, so let’s talk a bit now about equipment for older learners. Many of the standard pieces of Active Learning equipment ,or perceptualizing aids, can be used for older students. There are larger sizes of the Little Room and HOPSA dress, which can be ordered through LilliWorks. These are great for learners who are heavier or bigger. It’s also good to think about how equipment can be used differently with older learners. For example, using tap shoes on a resonance board can be a fun activity for older learners, which is something that their peers might also be doing. You can also attach coke cans to the bottom of a regular pair of shoes to give a similar type of proprioceptive feedback. Penrickton uses tap shoes for many of their students, including in this next video we’re going to watch. When this video was made, Sonya had been using the HOPSA dress for more than two years, but had never moved more than a few feet. It took years of practice moving just very short distances, and over time she developed an understanding of the spatial relationship of where she was in the room. She's demonstrating the cognitive skills necessary to “trail furniture” or “cruise on furniture” even though she doesn’t have the physical skills to do so. You'll see in the video that Sonya has poor head control and she is working on lifting her head up in a standing position, while in the HOPSA dress. Sonya has one hip out of socket, but uses the other leg to move herself around the room. Her orthopedic surgeon is aware of the position of her hips, and agreed that the use of the HOPSA dress was a good idea, as it encourages her to move her legs,as well as other body parts. Sonya is unable to roll over or sit up by herself, but in this video we see that, in the HOPSA dress, she is able to move around and explore her environment independently. [radio playing soft rock] [staff & student voices] [banging & tapping] [radio playing soft rock] [banging & tapping] [staff voices] [radio playing soft rock] [staff & student voices] Staff: That is so smart. She's holding onto it the whole way. See how she's got the body the whole way, the entire time. I get to show this on Monday. I'm giving a lecture. I like this one. Other staff: It is good. Staff: Mmm hmm. [Indiscernible] I'd like to show people a year ago. and then today. Finally, I’d like to spend a few minutes talking about age-appropriate materials. Most Active Learning materials are appropriate for learners of any age. Typically, we use items of everyday use, like kitchen items, a wire whisk, measuring cups or spoons, wooden spoons, musical instruments, like seed pod rattles, different types of containers. You can also think about recreational equipment, such as a treadmill, swimming, tandem bike or trike, trampoline, rocking chair, porch swing. Food preparation involves exploring fresh fruit and veggies at the store, using appliances, such as a food processor or blender at home. Sensory items, such as lotions, a blow dryer, different types of fabric are great for any age. Things from the natural world are also interesting for anyone, with things like seashells, corn cobs, gourds, pine cones, rocks. So, to wrap up, the distinct features for using Active Learning with an older individual are in the planning phase, and looking at how activities and materials relate to adult life. The most essential consideration for learners of any age are to remember the five key points that we looked at at the beginning of today’s session. First, Active Participation. Second, Repetition of Opportunities. Third, Developmentally Appropriate. Fourth, Reinforcing to the Individual. And finally, Limited distractions. Later this year we’ll be looking at ideas for setting up a classroom space for older learners, and we hope you’ll let us know what you try, and what works for you and your students. [ Video end: ] Chapter 5. Discussion Charlotte: Well, I hope you enjoyed that as much as we enjoyed putting it together. Kate and I were each following different chat room, there was a lot going on in chat room one where I was, some where Kate was as well. We wanted to kind of summarize a couple of things as well as to invite Patty and Sarah to jump in if they have anything to say, either in the chat box or on the phone. Kate: Or any of you if you have questions to ask. Charlotte: Or any of you. One thing that we have a nice group of people here representing Dean, his teacher, OT, other folks who are working with him noted that he's doing a lot of those same kinds of activities at school. So it's great, he's clearly enjoying those. It's nice that there's so much carryover. Kate and I were also commenting that we kind of wish that we had Dean's life, right? [ Laughter ]. A lot of aspects, such good planning, I think many adults would enjoy that. Kate: I'm shooting for that when I retire. Charlotte: Exactly, I'm ready, I'm ready! A couple of other things that somebody noticed, Sally mentioned in our chat room that she's been working with a couple of toddlers who would really enjoy that gate activity and, you know, even though this particular session is focused on older learners, really, any of those activities would be appropriate for any age. Kate: You know, the thing about that, there was a lot of comments about the gate activity as well. It's like when you think about how many things have doors, you've got doors on cabinets, you've got doggy doors, screen doors, sliding doors, you have doors on closets, you know, on cars, buses, trucks you, all of that. Part of what I think is important for us to recognize, too, is that if you are working on physical skills, motor skills, orientation and mobility skills, all of those things, we are also working on cognitive skills. How do you know door-ness if you don't encounter lots of doors. How do you understand that doors open and close and that's a common feature, you know? It's just as important a cognitive-- activity as it is-- the motor or recreational or whatever other kind of activity. That's what I think is really important for us to keep in mind. And I think this is what a lot of our students have missed because they haven't had the opportunity to explore 90 different kinds of doors in their lives, you know. Charlotte: I'm glad you said that, Kate, that was actually a discussion in our chat room was well was about the language. Sarah, Dean's mother mentioned that he's learning the words open and close and clearly he's super motivated. So that those words start to take on real meaning for him. Kate: Rich meaning, yeah. Charlotte: Exactly. They are integrated. Sarah: Charlotte? Charlotte: Jump in. Sarah: Can you hear me? Charlotte: Yes, speak up. Sarah: I just wanted to comment, thank you so much for this great how. I wanted to comment that the tricky thing as Dean gets older is to create a day in a week where he what time with another adult helping him in skills he needs help with, like cooking. But to be happy and calm in his body, he needs equal time doing things for hours at a time where he has no interaction and can think and practice and it's that balance. We live in a world where people want to help, instruct, do for our children. And students. And that's the trick. In my experience. Getting the balance. Charlotte: I'm glad that you mentioned that [Multiple voices] Sarah because I think with the swimming videos, it really came across that, you know, we had Dean by himself and we had Dean with his instructor. And both were important, right? That he's going to have that beautiful interaction with his instructor, he's clearly learned a lot of really important skills. But he really got a lot out of practicing and-- like Sarah had put in our chat box in the chat room 1, that some days Dean really likes to blow bubbles and get in and out of the pool and other days he just stays in the pool the whole time. How great that he can decide what he feels like. Kate: Exactly. Charlotte: What he feels like practicing that day to really explore. Kate: Well, my thoughts on that, too, Sarah, you were saying that, you know, in the world of DeafBlindness and interveners, we use the expression do with not for. I think that's one of the things that I have found so beneficial in active learning is the five phases of educational treatment help us as adults understand how we do with not for. In a way that matches that child's emotional and social development and skill development as well. Charlotte: And it's interesting that you say that, Kate, because Diane has also written that in the chat pod. She has written yes, I encounter so many students who are done to throughout the day, although they are capable of exploring on their own and figuring things out. That interactive piece like doing with is a whole other component as well. Kate: Someone tried to make a comment. Charlotte: I think that's Sarah. Sarah: I wanted to say I encourage everyone to watch the video, Charlotte, that you mentioned at the beginning, of the two‑year‑old, the typical two‑year‑old being asked to do things at too high of a level. The thing is, Dean is 19 now. He has been done to in so many different school settings, especially public school. And-- and that his tolerance for that has gotten less and less and you see behaviors, the minute somebody tries to do for him, really he's just trying to communicate, I can do a lot on my own. You just need to help me set up the environment. And that's whats tricky, as kids get older they are less tolerant. He was much more tolerant of that early on. Does that make sense. Charlotte: It does. I appreciate you mentioning that Sarah. I put the link to the video in the chat pod as well. So we're-- we only have a couple more minutes left. I wanted to be sure if Patty wanted to say anything about Sonia, who was a student that we saw in the resonance board, a lot of people were saying things in the chat box about how kind of inspiring that was, you know, here's a girl who has got her hip out of socket and that particular resonance board clip was part of about an hour long video. It's amazing, really amazing and she was on a roll. I guess that was really brand new that she was able to do all of that. Patty: I just wanted to add that part of the video at one point Sonya comes right up to the camera with this huge smile, and it was like her saying, look how proud I am that I can move around this room for a child who couldn't even roll over to be able to explore. It was so nice to see that pleasure in her face and how much she enjoys life, that she's moving, not someone is pushing her around a room in a wheelchair. Charlotte: Thank you for saying that, Patty. I remember the first time that I saw this video I just thought there's no way that she's got a hip out of socket and she's doing that. But in fact, you know, she's very happy, she's enjoying it. So-- Kate: That whole valuing of what you can do is so important. Charlotte: Absolutely. Kate: It is. It really is. I know that we are out of time here, just about. So we'll be on the chat for a few more minutes while you guys get the code. How's that? Charlotte: Thanks for joining us, we hope we'll see you in January and enjoy the holidays everyone. Kate: Happy holidays. [End of webinar]. [Silence] Fade up from black. Animation: Text for TSBVI transform into braille cells for TSBVI. Fade to black.