SuperTech Saves the Day

Day one of our second Assistive Technology course. I'm looking forward to learning more about using various forms of assistive technology in my classroom. This year my class is incredibly diverse and I feel like I will be able to connect much better with the content of the course now that I have realistic classroom examples to relate ideas to.
Prior to starting class today I looked up a few key terms that were suggested: Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Technology Convergence and Presuming Competency. I found an interesting opinion piece about presuming compentency that I wanted to link to. Presume Competence: Challenging Conventional Wisdom

First task! Use iMovie on the iPad to create a trailer about the importance of learning about assistive technology.  It was fun to play around with this application, and it was also interesting to hear different ideas for use in the classroom. I've previously used movie trailer style assignments to have kids create synopsis of chapters in our Social Studies textbook. I've found that the kids were really engaged in this process. Due to the controversial of our iMovie trailer I have chosen not to post it ;)

We watched a video about a young woman living with Autism. The video unlocks what her life has been like with Autism. She says that once she began communicating with a device, her mind "began to wake up." This really struck a chord with me. I have a student in my class who has cerebral palsy and is non-verbal. He is 14 and extremely reluctant to use assitive technology to communicate. Notes from his educational history imply that has  waited for so long for a usable communication device that he has simply shut down in terms of wanting to try another. However, this year we have seen his vocabulary grow from approximately 12 to over 30 words that he frequently uses. The only difference we can attribute is the introduction of an iPad with communication boards that are accessible to him, he does not have to rely on somebody else to select words for him. I wonder if he feels the same, that his brain is waking up?

This video demonstrates the same type of story, only with a young boy named Gage. Interesting ideas relating to how to give a voice to a non-verbal child.