Description of graphical content is included between Description Start and Description End. Transcript Start [Music] Fade up from black. Animation: sliding titles; Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired; logo appears [Music face out] Fade to black. Chapter 1. Young Braille Learners & AT [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title slide: Content: Consideration of Assistive Technology for Young Braille Learners February 4, 2020 from 3:00-4:00 PM (CT) Presented by: Cecilia Robinson, Outreach Consultant, TSBVI robinsonc@tsbvi.edu Description End: [ Slide end: ] Cecilia Robinson: Good afternoon, everybody. I'm Cecilia Robinson and I want to thank you for joining us on this webinar called consideration of assistive technology for young Braille learners. I hope you got the handout. If you don't, just feel free to follow along and we will go over a few things during this hour. If you have the handout, I am referring to the topics and we are going to talk a few things about the following: [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Topics Content: • Young braille learners • Assistive technology (AT): o When to introduce o WhyAT o Student skills o Tasks Description End: We're going to talk about who these young Braille learners are; about assistive technology, specifically how do we introduce it, when- when do we introduce it and why are we using AT and a few things to look at, such as the student skills, the tasks that they have to do, [ Slide end: ] and then we will look over the planning process and talk a little bit about how this will come about. And then there are a few tips and strategies and some resources to share. On the table in front of me, I might hold some low tech devices up, as I'm presenting. So watch out for that as well. I want to know who you are. Because I don't see you, I can only see some names on the screen. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Who are You? Content: Please write in Chat ... • TVI • COMS • Family member • Assistive T echnology Specialist • Administrator • Paraeducator • Related Services Staff • Other Description End: So I would like for you to write in the chat whether you are a teacher, TVI, TSVI, COMS, family member, assistive technology specialist, whether you are an administrator or a para-educator, related service staff or any other things that we did- that you do in the school or with a child that we have not listed here. [ Slide end: ] So feel free to write a few things in chat and let us know who you are. So I'm going to give you a few seconds to do that. I see AT, TVI, TVIs, OT and AT, wow. That's amazing. Access tech, wow, thank you so much for writing into chat to let me know who you are. It helps me to understand who I'm talking to. And, also, because I can't see everybody, I- I really want to be as personal as possible. So I appreciate you doing that. And you're welcome to write in chat any time during the presentation. I might be asking you to comment or if you have any questions or comments that you want to share with me, go ahead and write it in chat and after the webinar I can review it and then for any questions that you have asked, I can probably respond to it. And let you know what the- what the answers might be. So thank you for doing that. And we are going to go to the next slide. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Content: Figure 1; A collage of pictures of children (clockwise from top left): baby’s hands in the sand, baby playing with pots and pans, child running through sprinklers, baby with a stick walking through a doorway, two young girls at a playground on the beach, a young boy reading Braille. Description End: Here you see a number of pictures of young students, young children, playing with sand, playing with objects, household items, touching Braille, trying to walk with- looks like a walking stick, feeling the water and playing and all of the activities that they are doing. The idea is who are these young Braille learners that we're talking about? [ Slide end: ] Most likely, these young learners are using their hands. They are beginning to learn how to use their hands and then use their fingers for finer activities, such as touching, raised lines, touching Braille codes on paper. At the same time, doing activities like feeling around for the environment, for orientation and mobility, feeling for objects, experimenting with what does the object feel like, what does it sound like, is it smooth? Is it cold? Is it yucky to touch? And then there is also water, water is such a powerful for things to do, water can be hot, can be cold, can be splashing at you, can be water in the ocean, could be water in a swimming pool or just water coming from the faucet. So many ways to experiment with everything around them. These students, for the sake of this webinar, we are going to focus on the students who are beginning to learn Braille. They probably have some tactile skills. They can read some Braille. They are using their hands in everyday tasks and then, also, they are showing interest in books, touching hard copy Braille, touching tactile graphics, doing a lot of things and then feeling for the numbers on- on the walls before they enter a room. Maybe in some of your environments, you might have a tactile cue to help the student to remember where to where to align their bodies before crossing the hall and so on. In other words, they are using their tactile skills and other skills to help them move around their school or at home as well- as well as in the community. So, in other words, also, these students, if you are looking for assistive technology, probably you are using a Perkins Braille writer and you are thinking about more than just a manual Brailler. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Content: When do I need to look at? Should I try a computer with a braille display or a note-taker? Description End: Two questions I get a lot from TVIs or TSVIs are these two questions, when do I need to look at assistive technology? Should I try a computer or a device, mobile device, with a Braille display? Or should I go with a note taker? [ Slide end: ] So when- when teachers ask me these two questions, I really want to give them an answer, but as you know, there are no clear answers to give. So the best response that I could give was it depends. And what does it depend? It really depends on the student's skills. And we're going to talk a little bit about that. And then, also, what does the team want the assistive technology to do for the student? Again, here, I didn't say what does the TVI or TSVI or family member or OT/PT want the AT to do for the student. I'm asking what does the team? So always look at a team's approach and if you want to highlight the team, these two words that I'll be using "The team" quite a bit. So what does the team collectively want the assistive technology to do for the students? [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Introduction to AT Content: Planning is essential: • Begin with an end in mind • Everyone on the student’s team, including family members, has buy-in • Evaluation of needs is necessary Description End: The introduction of assistive technology, here are a few comments. The most important thing to remember is when you are looking at assistive technology, begin with an end in mind. It's awfully important to keep the focus on what you want the assistive technology to do for the child and then everyone on the student's team, again, the team, including family members, everyone has buy in, everyone knows what's going on. Evaluation of needs is necessary. As you know, technology is awfully expensive. [ Slide end: ] Unless a student needs it, my suggestion is not to purchase it. These days, everybody is short on funds, so the- so the more you can stretch it, the more you can depend on data to tell you what the needs are. The better off you will be. As well as for the student as well. One of the questions that I typically ask teachers when they ask me about AT is why are you looking at assistive technology now? Granted that these students are young, they are probably- maybe- maybe a few might be in preschool and about to enter kindergarten. And then they are kindergarteners, they are first graders and second graders. Why are you looking at assistive technology now? And usually the common responses from the teachers or the team or the family members are the following: [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Why AT Now? Content: • Student is unable to do a task • Access to information and production of work • Someone in the team asks about AT • All students have to use technology in class • Student is ready for “something” more than just a manual brailler Description End: The student is not able to do something. They're not going to be able to do a task. And usually those tasks are related to access to information and the production of work. In other words, the students has to use something during class that they cannot read and then there is also a need for them to produce their homework, in ad to just the traditional manual Perkins Brailler. And the team is thinking, what else are there out there, what else might help the student? What other options are there? Other thing is someone on the team asks about assistive technology. The a lot of times teachers see assistive technologies in a conference or at a trade show or from an email that some vendors have sent them and they are curious, they want to know what's going on. Family members may ask about that. We all communicate when we see one another, so we do compare like, have you seen this technology? Have you seen that technology? And we- we are just curious. The team is curious and someone asks about technology. Which, by the way, if someone asks about technology, I would treat it as a request for looking into technology as the request for evaluation. So anyway, just remember that. And then, another reason is all students have to use technology in class. By the time they enter kindergarten, a lot of the sighted students are already exposed to technology. [ Slide end: ] Then what about our students, what about our young Braille learners? They also need to have access to technology and what those technology tools might look like for them. And then the- the last bulleted item is the student is ready for something more than just a manual Brailler. A lot of times, TVIs just kind of sense that the student needs something and I'm one of those, too. That sometimes we feel that something needs to happen, but we don't quite know what it is yet and we need to look further into it. So these are the most common reasons. I'm wondering if you have other reasons that you can contribute into chat. So if you have other reasons why assistive technology now that you don't see on that- on that PowerPoint slide, I invite you to write it in chat and share it with the others. So I will give you about a few seconds to do that. I'm going to stare at the screen and see if anyone is writing anything in there. School resources. I read school resources. Okay. I see a few comments- yes. It's very common, the Perkins Brailler, the keys are difficult for some of your younger students to press down. It's so true. And then the electronic Braillers, such as the Mount Batten, sometimes they have too many keys as well and the keys, the layout is a little bit further apart and then there are- the electronic- electronic Brailler such as the Smart Brailler as well. So there are some devices out there. But for our young Braille learners, you are so right. The traditional Perkins Brailler might be a little bit challenging. I know that later on in some of the slides we will talk about collaborating with other staff persons to help your student do some of those- learn some of those skills. So thank you for writing in chat. And if you think of anything else, any comments, feel free to write it in chat and share with everybody. Chapter 2. Focus on Skills & Tasks So how do we do this? There is so much technology out there and so little time. As you know, itinerant TVIs or TSVIs are very, very busy. So are the rest of you on everybody's team. Everybody's time is precious, there are so many choices out there, how do we do this? In the next few slides, we're going to walk through a few things for you to look at. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Content: Figure 2 Picture of a "think" bubble, magnifying glass, and four cartoon figures putting together puzzle pieces Description End: If you would like to contribute your ideas, again, feel free to write it in chat. First of all, the most important thing to do is so think a little harder and then also look a little deeper. Because we all know that for any assistive technology to work, it has to address the student's current technology needs. [ Slide end: ] I emphasize the word "Current" because, again, assistive technology is expensive. We cannot afford to purchase an expensive piece of equipment to wait for the child to grow into it. What if the child does not grow into it? Then you will be stuck with an expensive piece of equipment that you cannot return to the manufacturer and no one can use it. So don't go there. So- so focus on current technology needs and then also look at what are the options out there. As you know, assistive technology does not have to be high tech. It can be low tech, it can be mid tech, or it can be high tech. So we are talking about a combination of options or tools out there that might help your student. And then, collectively, we put those pieces together, the puzzle pieces together, as you can see, on the graphic, those stick figures, putting the puzzle pieces together. Collectively, we put our thinking power together and then make decisions on how do we prioritize the needs, what do we see, what do we all agree assistive technology can help the child. So there is no magic, except that we all need to work together. Again, the- the emphasis is a team's focus on the current technology needs. Student skills. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Student Skills Content: • Reading, writing, math • Braille: identification, accuracy in reading and writing, proof-read, make corrections • Listening skills • Able to read tactile graphics • Can produce simple tactile graphics Description End: The student is the center of attention in this whole process. The technology is not the center of attention. The little person is what we need to focus on, so the question to ask is: What is the student bringing to the table? We need to look at how they are doing in the core curriculum areas, which includes your reading, writing and math, and then Braille. How are they doing in identification of Braille? Are they accurate in reading and writing? Can they proofread, can they read their own writing? And then make corrections as well? A lot of students will write their Braille and then they will give it to you, the TVI or TSVI or the classroom teacher or whoever happens to be next to them and say, I'm done, here's my work. [ Slide end: ] So if they do that, you might want to help them to wait, take a look at your work, if you cannot read it, I cannot read it. So let's go through proofreading your work first and then have them make corrections. Can they do that? And then we also look at their listening skills. Can they listen, can they pay attention in class? Can they ignore other distractions? Are they able to read tactile graphics? Can they produce some simple tactile graphics? To me, Braille and tactile graphics always go together. You can't have one without teaching the other. So I always ask, what are their skills in Braille and tactile graphics? So what you would want to do is, as a team, just look at this, just list all of their skills and- and then, as a team, try to find out what the current performance level is. Now, pay attention to the first bulleted item is reading, writing and math. Those- the general ed teachers usually take care of them. And then the Braille and the tactile graphics, usually, is the special education visual impairment teachers and other teachers who work in visual impairments, we take care of that. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Listening Skills Content: • Is attentive in class; follows directions • Listens for important information; can ignore other noises or distractions • Shows patience by not interrupting when others are talking * Refer to student’s Learning Media Assessment for more information Description End: Listening skills, we all take care of that. General ed teachers, TVIs, COMS, everybody who works with the child, we pay attention to the child's listening skills. And then the tactile graphics skills, depending on who- what the child is working on and who is working with the child, we kind of all share that responsibility as well. So, again, the emphasis is general ed and special ed working together. So let's take a closer look at listening skills. A few things to ask is- is the student attentive in class? Can the student following directions? The student is listening for important information and can ignore other noises and distractions. Now, some of our students, this is hard, because- because there's so many things going on in the classroom. Especially when they are young Braille learners. Kindergarten classrooms are awfully busy and awfully noisy. So how will the child be able to learn to listen for important information and then, also, ignore the other unimportant noises or distractions? We also want to see if the student has patience to listen by not interrupting others when they are talking. [ Slide end: ] So here is- we're checking to see if the child is really paying attention to what you are saying or to what others are saying. You have a lot of reports that you probably can get more information from and one of those is the student's Learning Media Assessment. So don't forget to look at the evaluations that you have done in order to get some of that information. And then in school, another cue is you have a lot of announcements over the intercom. Can the student pay attention to that as well? And, also, the bell system. There are different types of bells that signals for the change of class or if there is an emergency bell for- for fire drills, can they identify that? So all of these combined together makes up what the student is doing in the area of listening. So we want to look at some of their listening skills. The main reason is when we are looking at technology, all of the technology is going to do something in the area of audio feedback for them, so the listening skills need to be looked at that way, too. Another area we look at is tactile skills. Is the student participating in any tactile graphics or art work? Do they like to mess with their hands? [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Tactile Skills Content: • Participates in creating tactile graphics or artwork • Gives feedback about tactile graphics (e.g. I can’t read this; did you make a mistake?) • Uses hands/skills for other tasks (e.g. returns brailler onto a shelf, puts assignment into a tray independently, places cane appropriately) Description End: Can they tolerate touching different types of materials? What are some of the materials that they are really aversive to? If they are aversive to some textures, you might want to write down what they are aversive to. Then can they give feedback about the tactile graphics, such as, "I can't read this, this is too small, can you make it larger?" Or, if we make a mistake, sometimes it's not a bad idea to throw in one or two errors in there and see if they are paying attention. So they will ask you, did you make a mistake? And then if you really make a mistake, you can kind of cover yourself. I try to do that by saying, "Oh, I didn't mean to but, you know, it's a good thing that you found my mistake, I'm so proud of you." But, really, you are trying to see if they are, like, paying attention. Here, we are inviting the students to talk to us, to give us feedback. Everybody has an opinion. And I believe that every child, every young child, young Braille learners, also have an opinion. So encourage them to talk about it. And then we also want to look at, are they using their hands and their tasks for- for other tasks? Such as helping to return a Brailler on to a shelf or some of the students help to take materials from the work shelf on to- put it on to the table. Can they put assignments into a tray independently? Do they place the cane either at the entrance to the classroom or by their chair appropriately? [ Slide end: ] Here we're looking at what are they doing with their hands? Are they using their tactile skills in a functional way to help them do other tasks. There are other things that we look at in the area of tactile skills, too. Are they doing it in the area of, say, organization? Are they helping to do other chores? So here you might want to look at the other areas of the EEC that as the child is working with touching materials and doing tasks, what the other areas of the EEC might they be learning? So, in other words, be open to looking at the other skills that the child is working on as well. Don't be limited to one or two things, just look at the whole child, see what they are doing. Then another area to look at is the child's technology skills, what are they bringing it to the table? [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Technology Skills Content: • Has experienced “playing” with a phone or mobile device • Shows interest in listening to audiobooks, music or GPS directions in a vehicle • Uses devices with assistance (e.g. make popcorn in the microwave, turn TV or computer on/off) Description End: Have they had any experiences with playing with a phone or a mobile device? Many family members or parents, they may have a phone. So does the child ever experience pressing the keys or listening to the tones, music playing on the phone? Do they show any interests in listening to story books, listening to music? While they are sitting in a car and they are talking- and the talking GPS is giving the parents or the driver directions on where to go, do they listen to that? What's going on when they are exposed to audio stimuli in their environment? Do they use any devices with assistance, such as making popcorn at home using the microwave? They turn the TV on and off and even flushing the toilet, the- those low tech technology skills. And these are some of the skills that I can think of that- but please feel free to write it in chat if you can think of other technology skills in the- in the child's everyday life that they might have come across that is not listed on the slide. [ Slide end: ] I think as much as you can write in chat will remind everybody to look at technology, not so limited, just in the classroom, but also it applies to the rest of the activities that they do every day. Either in school, at home, or in the community. So feel free to write in chat and share your experiences as well. So looking at technology skills, some of TVIs would ask like keyboarding, when is a good time to introduce keyboarding? I know that in general students are being exposed to technology and a QWERTY keyboard at a younger age. I don't really know how to answer that question, when is a good time, except that I know that there are a few things listed as bulleted items on your handout. If you start the student at a young age, you are likely to help them develop some good habits. If the student has basic reading and writing skills, keyboarding may make more sense to them. In other words, the combination of letters to form a word and knowing when those letters are will be a little bit more meaningful to them if they know how to spell simple words. The student has patience to listen to audio feedback when the keys are pressed. As you know, they can't see what's going on on the screen, so their listening skills are going to come into play. The student needs to have the patience to listen to audio feedback. And then we, as the teacher teaching the student these specialized skills, can we stop talking to the student while the audio is going on. So really a lot is going on when they are keyboarding and everything is happening and does the student remember the location of the keys? Keyboarding is a lot of muscle memory. And it is also trying to help our student to learn touch typing. Whereas sighted students that age might be using two fingers or a few fingers to hunts and peck. Our students may not be able to afford the time to hunting and pecking. The reason is if you introduce any tasks and then later on try to correct their bad habits, you are going to spend more time on correcting the bad habits. So I would much prefer that you think about how to plan it and introduce it in a way that will be of interest to the child so that the child can be successful and you don't have to go back and re-teach and ask the child to do something else that he or she has already learned to do. So muscle memory and doing the right reaches is awfully important. And one of the things that I also remind the students not to do is change their fingers randomly on the keyboard as well. Keyboarding skills takes time to develop. And it will improve over time with practice. So, again, planning lessons that include structured instruction and then when they are done, when they have done the activities really well, [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Keyboarding Skills Content: • T ouch typing is the goal • Requires muscle memory • Takes time to develop; improves with practice • Plan lessons that include structured instruction and activities that capture student’s interest (e.g. silly or make-up words) Description End: then maybe include something else that will help them still work on the skills, but it's not so structured, such as- let's make up a silly word. What do you want to make up? You write it first and let me listen to it. Now, do you really want to write that word? Let me repeat to you. Will you know, just some interaction, some silly stuff to capture their attention. Just a word about keyboarding, it could be a very- I wouldn't use the word boring, but it is a- a skill that- that is asking the student to repeat, repeat and repeat. So these little guys, their attention span is not that long. So how much do you ask them to do during each lesson and what do you need to do in order to reward them for doing the lesson correctly or appropriately. [ Slide end: ] Some considerations ... proper posture. Before they do anything, actually, not only keyboarding or Brailling, before they read, before they write, before class, check their posture or ask them, check your own posture. Are you sitting up straight, are you ready to learn, how you sitting comfortably? If they are not comfortable, maybe the furniture needs to be adjusted. Ergonomics is awfully important. Kind of like us adults. If we have to sit in a child sized chair and work on a computer all day, I don't think we will be very happy, either. So the same for these little guys. They need to be using furniture that is fitting their little bodies. About the tactile cues on the keyboard, those are the locator dots that you can buy and you can put it on a keyboard. I recommend locator dots because they are easy to peel and won't stick to the keyboard. In other words, it won't be sticky after you remove the little dot. But if you use Velcro, you are going to be stuck with the Velcro for a while. Keyboarding practices at home, that's important. If they just do a few minutes of keyboarding in school, they are not going to go that far. So know that keyboarding practices at home is important and maybe talk to the parents about also allocating some time when they are working on the computer keyboard. The reason is we ask our students to do a lot. But if we don't model for them, we can't see what we are doing if we don't tell them what we are doing and physically model for them that I'm doing this and now you are doing this and we are setting aside the time so that we can both do it together, or the whole family can do it together. That makes it a lot less painful and is more like an activity that everybody does. It's kind of like practice your music instrument. Everybody has to practice. You're not going to become better unless you practice. So the same thing with keyboarding or Brailling or reading or writing at home. So remember to talk to the parents and see realistically how they can help with some of these skills at home. And then organization. Kids- if they are trained at a very young age to at least organize their work space before they work, I think work space, a clean work space will help them focus a little bit better. Not only physically, but mentally. So that they won't have to look everywhere for materials. And then, of course, without the unintended items on their work space, you will minimize a lot of the unnecessary distractions. Braille technology includes electronic Braillers and note takers, you all already know some of those Braille displays. What are the tasks the students be doing using this type of technology? The reason I'm saying the tasks again is that Braille technology is a little bit challenging for the sighted general education classroom teachers to follow. It might be challenging for us, too, because if you don't use it every day, you won't be that comfortable in using it either. And then consider the student's maturity levels and their abilities. Can they really take care of the technology- remember that these are young Braille learners. And kids are kids. Can they at least control their frustration, say, by not pushing the Braille display off the table. Because once it's off the table, you are running into a big risk of damaging those little Braille dots. And then their abilities. Can they learn it? Is that too complicated for them? Is it too abstract for them? And then the type of assistance that you have for the student and for the staff. I think- I can't emphasize more than be comfortable with what you need to do when you need help and then also what the student needs to do when the student needs help and then when you are not on campus, because you are an itinerant staff person, when you are not on campus, is there somebody on campus that can help to support some of those technical assistance. Braille technology is- it can be very powerful, but it can also be a little bit frustrating because- because, as you know, technology does not always work all the time. So training and building- and building a circle of support is- what I would recommend. Other considerations for the students is, again, look at their accuracy in Brailling. Editing. Can they put the Braille on the Perkins Brailler, can they move the embosser head back to the correct position before they start Brailling the correct character? [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Considerations Content: • Accuracy in brailling • Basic editing knowledge (e.g. make correction of braille errors properly, leaves a space between words) • Uses hardcopy braille • Focus on the task(s) to be accomplished using braille technology Description End: Then can they leave a space between words? The reason I'm saying this is because I have seen many times when students are not precise on hard copy Braille using a Perkins, they are not going to be precise when they use electronic equipment for Brailling. Uses hard copy Braille. I think it's awfully important that students have exposure to hard copy Braille, so that they can feel what proper formatting, professional formatting of a Braille document is. A Braille document, if they have to hand in homework to the teacher, should always contain their name, the date and the subject. Because that's what the sighted students are doing. So for our young Braille learners, they need to do the same thing. Then I would always like for them to skip a line before they start their answers or start writing. Sometimes when the Braille is squished altogether, it's difficult, also, for them to read as well as the sighted adults to read. So hard copy Braille will also help them to learn about what are the margins, what are the ending of a line, what are paragraphs, what happens when you have a paragraph? Punctuation is always the end of a sentence and then a capital always starts the beginning of a sentence. So hard copy Braille is good that way. These are things that the student can make a reference back to, so that by the time they are reading linear Braille, which is on your Braille display, they can refer back to what they are doing, hopefully, on to the experience that they have on hard copy Braille. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Tasks Content: • What does the student need to do in each class or activity? • How much assistance is needed? What type of assistance? • Where may the student experience challenges? • Can AT help? Description End: Again, focus on the task that needs to be accomplished using the Braille technology. The reason that I'm using some of these hard copy Braille and basic- basic things, such as editing and accuracy in Brailling and all of that, is that ultimately you want to build good habits and a good foundation of knowledge and skills. [ Slide end: ] So ... after you look at the student's skills, the next big area to look at is list of all of the tasks. What are the tasks that the student what to do every day? Either the class periods or within each class period, the specific tasks that you are looking for technology to help. And then how much assistance is needed? What type of assistance? These are young Braille learners. For us adults, it's really easy to give these little kiddos a lot of assistance. Sometimes way too much. And then, also, what type of assistance? Students learn to react and act differently according to who is working with them. So the ultimate goal is we want to pay attention to what we are doing, too, so that we can encourage them and enhance their independence when they are doing tasks. And then after you list all of the tasks, then highlight the tasks that they have challenges. What are the things that they can't really do that they have some challenges or obstacles that they are experiencing now. And then for the highlighted items, then think about how can the assistive technology help? Are there any options? Are there any devices that we can bring in? And, again, here, we need to collaborate with the team, see if everybody is helping to do this and everybody has a- has buy in and has contribution to what they think the child can do or cannot do within an activity or within a class period. Chapter 3. Planning, Trials, & Implementation After you do all of those things, then go back to a little bit of planning. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Planning Content: • Team’s expectations for AT use by the student • AT trials is necessary o Collect data o Avoid spending funds on devices that may not be beneficial for the student o Assist the team in making decisions based on documented evidence of needs Description End: Again, look at your team's expectations. What are we hoping that the assistive technology can do for the student? And then trials are necessary. In the trial period, you want to collect some data and you want to see exactly what the child is doing with the AT that you have brought in. Is it even helping? Is it beneficial? Or is it a waste of the student's time because it's too high tech or it's not doing what the team thinks that it should be doing. And in planning, you will also be helping the entire team to make- to make decisions based on documented evidence of needs. Now, usually, the trial period, teachers will ask, what is a reasonable trial period? I want to say 30 days or within a month. [ Slide end: ] In my past job, the previous job, we loaned equipment to the district for trial, no longer than 30 days. Because our experience told us that within 30 days, if the equipment has not been tried with the child, then the chance of the equipment being tried with the child is minimal. And then, also, if- if the child has been using the equipment for, say, 25 days already and you did not see a lot of result, it's time to not use that same piece of equipment and try another piece of equipment. So I want to suggest about 30 days is a reasonable trial period; however, within your team, you know your student the best. You need to make some of those decisions on what is a reasonable trial time for your student, given the pieces of assistive technology that you are using. Continuing on to planning- so that everybody will have a chance to contribute to the whole process. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Review Data Content: • Consider existing data: o PLAAFP o Grades o Reports (e.g. Learning Media Assessment, ECC) o Notes (e.g. from lesson plans, informal observations, communication with the team) • Identify tasks that are challenging for the student • Prioritize possible AT solutions Description End: And the written plan is necessary and, again, begin with an end in mind, it's awfully, awfully important. Then after you get the data, you will look at- after you do the trial, you will also be looking at the existing data. What is the PLAAFP telling you? The PLAAFP is the Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance. What is the child showing you and what are the grades and reports telling you right now about the child's abilities and some of the challenges? And then, also, you have lesson plans, you have some observation notes. You communicate with one another, hopefully, throughout the grading period. You can refer to some of that data. And then, again, look at the tasks that are challenging for the student. Now that you have some trial data, you look at everything, now prioritize the possible AT solutions. Prioritizing is important. You make decisions on what to look at, what not to work on right now, but again you focus- you are focusing on the current AT needs. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: AT Trials Content: • Formulate a plan: o Begin and end dates o AT to be used for “challenging” tasks o Person(s) responsible for collecting data o Expectations for “success” • Implement the plan • Review results and make recommendations Description End: Again, a little bit about the trials. Begin an end in mind with specifying the beginning dates and the ending dates and what are the AT options or devices going to be used and for what tasks? Who is responsible? And who will collect the data? And then what is the team's expectations for success? How do we know that it is beneficial? What are we looking for? After you do the plan, then you implement the plan and then you review the results and you make recommendations. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Implement AT Use Content: • Makes recommendations to the IEP team • AT is included in the student’s IEP • Designate team members who will monitor AT use, including collecting data • Is an ongoing process that promotes student achievement Description End: I want to mention here, and you might want to write it down, that in your references, there is a dynamic assistive technology evaluation collaborative worksheets form. There is a- an action- an AT action plan or trial plan in there. You might want to look at that and see how the suggested way to get some of this data is, but you can always make your own form to get data as well. Then after you prioritize, you implement AT use and make recommendations to the IEP team and include who is going to take the data and who will monitor the use. Most likely it's more than one person monitoring the AT use. And understand that implementation of AT use is really an ongoing process. That ultimately will promote student achievement. It's not a one shot deal. You are- once you start the AT process, you are always going to be looking at an ongoing process because you will continue to look at what is going to help the child as the child grows and go into different grades. Implementation of AT use is also setting up technical support, as I mentioned earlier. And then cheat sheets and quick starts to help the staff when you are not there and review progress. Do not be doing the same things if the child has not made a lot of progress. When you review progress, do address why the child is not making progress and make sure that you communicate with everybody about what's going on with the implementation of AT use. [ Slide end: ] It doesn't matter what you are looking at, but what matters is what you are helping to build, the tools and the options that the child can put in the technology tool bag. Either it's a note taker, hard copy Braille, a computer or another device with audio feedback, Braille display. Ultimately, we all want to make sure that the child has a lot of tools in their tool bag. So when they need something, they can always make decisions on which tool should I pull out for what task. Given that I have all of these options here. Ultimately, the question to ask is this: Am I meeting the student where he or she is at? In other words, it doesn't matter whether I'm using a mobile device or a computer with a Braille display or just a simple display, Braille display or a note taker. Am I meeting the child where he is at? If you are getting above the child a little bit, maybe above the child's head a little bit, then you might want to come back down to the child's level. And make sure that you are meeting the child where he is at. Because no one is going to be learning unless they are happy, unless they are comfortable and not stressed out. If every time you pull out that keyboard and they push things away or they put their heads on the table, that might be a little cue for you to know that the child might be a little bit stressed and I have seen little guys do that as well. So anyway, something for you to think about. Then another thing, another question to you to think about is how can I help the student build a solid foundation of skills? As you know, if the foundation is not firm, nothing will stick and it will not connect appropriately. Chapter 4. Tips & Strategies [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Tips and Strategies Content: • Capture student’s curiosity to learning AT • Encourage the student to talk about the AT • Consider short lessons; repetition • Use data to determine AT needs • Consistent use of AT is necessary in order to yield usable data Description End: Tips and strategies. These are little guys and these are young Braille learners, how can you capture their curiosity to learning AT. And then also a short lesson. You need to repeat and go over some of the things and when you are repeating, can they tolerate it? Again, every time you are working with the student is your chance to take data. So make sure that you write some notes for yourself. Data does not have to be pretty. It just needs to make sense to you so that when somebody has a question, you can tell them based on your data what the child was doing that day and why you are seeing the things that you are seeing now, because you are basing it on data. In other words, you need to use data and let the data speak for itself. Consistent use of AT is necessary in order to yield usable data. So you want to remember that. And understand that AT implementation means change. Change can be stressful for us, for the child, for the family members, for the rest of the team. [ Slide end: ] We are asking sighted teachers to use Braille. Oh, my God, how frightening is that? So can we bring them goodies like a little Braille labeler? I'm going to hold up a little six dot Braille labeler here. Hang on one sec, bear with me. This is a six dot Braille labeler. The company didn't give me any bonus on sharing this with you. But to me this is low tech and it's a labeler and the child can do it themselves. It does not talk. However, it will allow them to write in Braille and make their own labels. And the other cool thing is there is a little USB connection back here, that you can also plug in a little keyboard. A QWERTY keyboard and you can type and it will spit out Braille for the student. So what I used to do is tell the students that, you know, you can help me do some Brailling, but it needs to be accurate. Can you help me by using this or something like this? And be accurate on it? And give some responsibilities to them. They like to help. Maybe it's a way for them to also help the teachers to make some labels. So the adult stress can lower a little bit. Implementation of AT means change and this is- it is a long process and it is ongoing and it can cause some stress on everybody's part. And then the supports for the team, again. Make sure that you have good supports and keep everybody informed. High expectations for learning. We must have that for- for our kids, expectations for learning and also for performance. I'm going to go over a few details. Actually, let me think. Oh, references and- they are all in your handout. But I want you to look at and please write it down, if you are interested, part of planning is writing good lesson plans. And if you go to the TSBVI.edu website, search box, in that search field write in self determination lesson plans. Self determination lesson plans. We have a number of units there that we created lesson plans to help teach a child on self determination. But the format of the lesson plans is what I would like for you to look at, if you want to refine your lesson plans and focus, really, on the few things that you need to share with the child each lesson. It's very, very explicit. Like what are the vocabulary you are going to introduce, what are the few things that you are going to do and how do you close a lesson and then carry on and link it to the next lesson and so on. So if you want to take a look at those lesson plans, write in self determination in the search field in the TSBVI website. With that said, I am at the end of the webinar and I want to ask if there are any questions? You are welcome to write it in chat and I will see if I can answer one or two. If you have any comments- feel free to write your comments and- oh, thank you so much. You are so nice. Feel free to write your comments or things that were not covered in- there is a comment, in Texas, the TEKS are grouped for K 2. Some of these TEKS can help make a case for AT with your team with a young student. We have to consider how we're going to give them access. Yes. You are so right. Standards- for those of you who are not from Texas, your state also has standards that every child is hitting as well. So what that comment is about is the Texas standards and how do we- work in all of these that our students are using, how do we do this? I'm not sure if I can give a- a response, but I need to think a little bit more about it and I will respond to that. I am reading- avoiding spending money, okay, on devices ... I agree, definitely. Not avoid- the money is not the main issue. The usefulness of the device for the student is really, really what you are looking for. For instance, the six dot Braille labeler, when I pulled this out in previous training, somebody said "Oh, my God, it's so expensive." Yeah, it is expensive, but we can't put a price to a device. We should always avoid ordering something that we don't know the result, if the child is going to be using it in a way that can benefit the child or not. We should never do that. But for something like the six dot Brailler, it's relatively inexpensive when you compare it to a note taker. So that- there's your justification. I do agree if the device has proven, based on documented evidence of need, that it is going to benefit the child, then by all means justify it and do the purchase. So I hope I did not- I did not say it in a confusing way, saying not to order it. What I mean is don't order it until we have evidence of needs that it is going to benefit the child. In Texas, you can always call us and call your Education Service Center about- about devices and if you are in other states, I highly recommend that you collaborate with the manufacturers or with other agencies that serve this population so you can borrow some devices. Thank you, everybody, I need to say goodbye. They are going to cut me off. Thank you very much and you have a good afternoon. Fade to black. Animation: sliding titles; Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired; logo appears [Music face out] Fade to black.