The opportunities to support students with Learning Disabilities introduced in the webinar New Apps for Learning Disabilities were amazing. Again, the iPad was praised for its built in UDL features and we are reminded of its fantastic opportunity to support, engage and include ALL of our students.
Here is great link that highlights more great Apps for students with Learning Disabilites
iPad Apps for Autistic and Non Verbal Children
The number of Apps introduced in this webinar was out of this world! The reality of providing the avenue for information to be accessible to ALL STUDENTS is "right on our doorstep" and we need to ensure that we seize the chance to provide each and every student with the opportunity to be successful. The Apps viewed in this webinar emphasize the importance of fostering independence in our students so that they possess the tools & skills that allow them to ACCESS, PROCESS and COMMUNICATE information. As is stated in the above quote, thechnology makes things possible for kids with learning disabilities and we need to make a priority to provide these necessities to ALL children.
The findings in our survey, made me even more aware to the disparity of technology accessibility between and among different school systems. It makes me angry that there is not the appropriate Assistive Technology available to ALL students who require it and that we are failing these students. Each and every day, we have students frustrated in school and they "fall through the cracks" of our classrooms and our society because they lack the appropriate technologies that will allow them to SHOW WHAT THEY KNOW. The archaic tradition of paper-based activities must be left behind and Apps such as Enhanced Textbooks, Paperport Notes & Puffin (as just a few examples) need to be accessible to ALL students...not just those "lucky enough to be in a school or district that recived some 'extra funding & support'". We need to social justice advocates for our students and ensure that they have the access to what they NEED, and make Assistive Technology a RIGHT NOT a PRIVILEDGE!
So then we are left with some questions to think about...as we reflect on the accessibility to technology of the students with learning disabilities in our own school, we must advocate for their RIGHT to have what they NEED to be successful!
Here is an AMAZING VIDEO of a little girl named Maya. Her mom made this video to show (a simplified version) her daughter's progression towards communication.
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your passion and dedication to our students! I am in total agreement with you that Assistive technology is a means for all students to be successful and should therefore be a right and not a privilege. I greatly enjoyed your presentation from last week. It really helped to bring to the forefront that all important notion of accessibility for all!!
We as educators need to think about the needs of all, not just the needs of most. It is wonderful to meet such kindred spirits in this regard.
Donalda
Hey Michelle,
ReplyDeleteI love your thoughts and comments about technology being a right, not a privilege. I see the benefits of using an iPad for communication purposes at my school on a daily basis. Like Maya, Camryn is a little girl at my school who struggles to communicate. She is globally delayed and has many, many challenges. Dedicated, loving and patient staff work with Camryn on a daily basis, supporting her journey to independence and a life filled with opportunity. Excitedly, just the other day Camryn used her iPad to ask a new question...(this question has been programed in her iPad on Picture Card Plus for months and practiced every day)...The question was simple, but moving and powerful..."How are you?" Her SSP and I cried and immediately called her Mom to share the great news. It is sad to think what would have happened to students like Camryn and Maya if the right to technology was denied. Perhaps, they would have slipped through the cracks and not given a voice.