The Final Post: Reflection on Literacy AT

Here it is... my final post on the reading and writing process!

We've come a long way in a short period of time! I sometimes felt like I was hanging on to the back of the bus, going at full speed!
Several things have really stood out for me, and will serve as really good references over the next few years- I have 7 years to go before full retirement. I'm really glad to stay current, fluid and flexible ( the new HRSB catch- phrase for us!)

• David Sousa's article on Reading Disabilities: loved the practical breakdown of the reading process, and how decoding and comprehension are key components to the process. This whole article will be a great reference to share and refer to with students encountering reading difficulties.

•   2009Technology in Action: Assistive Technology and Writing article: Great practical resource I will share with examples of low, medium and high tech solutions for children requiring handwriting assistance

( Onion Mountain Technology: http://www.onionmountaintech.com/ - different low tech writing implements)
The Writer with spellchecker and word processor: medium tech
https://www.writerlearning.com/writer_overview.php
Dragon Naturally Speaking: text to word processing: high tech             https://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/products/preferred.asp

• Kidspiration and Inspiration as great tools for charts, maps, and other forms of visual learning.

                                       http://www.inspiration.com

• UDL for Learning and how important it is, referencing UDLToolkit.org for graphic organizers, audio books, writing tools, digital storytelling, text to speech and speech to text.

                                                 http://udltechtoolkit.wikispaces.com

• All of the new ipad apps I can't wait to buy when I get back to school and share with my Assistive tech team, as well as my Learning Centre/ Resource PLC, when we meet once a month to go over new technology and apps we've found.

• I also plan to do more of Barb's webinars as they come up, now that I am officially finished my Masters with this course!!

• Can't wait to get settled in with my charts on the reading and writing processes, as well as where our apps fit- great as a visual reminder of where in the reading or writing process I need to focus with a particular child, and what apps are appropriate!

• I will remember how useful and easy piccollage is as an app to use for journals, visual schedules, book creator etc.

NOW, whenever I think of the reading and writing processes that I have always taken for granted, I will really try to remember how challenging, difficult and complicated each stage of the way is for students having dificulties. I remember when Barb Welsford said... " The writing process is twice as hard as the reading process, and you have to be a good reader to write!"

Thanks Barb!
Bev Anthony

Tuesday, July 17th- The Writing Process

The Writing Process: Twice as hard as the reading process and you need to be a great reader to write well!
Here is my writing process breakdown:

• attention to task
• motivation for writing activity
• sit down which takes into account kinesthetic processes including gross motor cordination, spatial awareness
• fine motor control for picking up paper and orienting the page ( left or right handed requires different skills)
• locate the pen or pencil ( writing device)- vision, spatial awareness
• pick up writing device ( motor planning, executive function, fine motor control)
• properpincer/ tripod grip on writing device- some kids don't have this skill and might need adaptations!
• proper pressure including grip, fine motor, attention, wrist extension
• orient page for task
• motor planning required for either printing or cursive text
• executive function for planning of what you want to write including attention, focus, long term memory, visualizing, there might also be long and short term retrieval, as well as the actual organization, prior knowledge,
• transferring pictures in brain to language
• structure, grammar needs to be explicitly taught
• sequencing info from long term memory
• actual writing: proprioception is critical to prepare for the task, as well as neuromotor
• writing is the opposite of reading- decoding text as opposed to encoding with reading
• recall the shape of the letters, syntax, graphomotor ( sequential symbols), spelling etc.
• lots of central auditory processing info required for the writing task
• time factor always comes into play throughout the process

I'm exhausted and I haven't even written anything down yet!!

Barb's version on powerpoint:

1. Graphomotor
2. Content skils: Lower level content skill- initiate
3. Organize ideas, mental planning, knowledge of language, vocabulary, sequential processing ( all at the same time)
4. Mechanical Skills- takes lots of brain energy, especially for spelling, and require components of all
5. Upper level mechanical- lower level skills with content
6. Upper level content skills- prior knowledge, experience, metacognitive etc.

AT:

• Draft Builder- structured writing or graphic organizer
• Clicker 5
• Writing with Symbols
• Write Outloud Solo
• Cowriter- strongest word prediction product available
• Dragon Naturally Speaking- 3 gigs of ram to run, and very expensive!
• Dragon dictation and Dragon app are better
• Cloze Pro
• Write out Loud with Cowriter component ( around $100 on book bureau now)
• Inspiration/ Kidspiration
• Start to Finish books- Don Johnston
• Speech to Text
• Typo

Take the pencil out of the process- Leslie Broun
Neuroanatomical output is huge!

Last weekend- typed written task:

30th High school reunion time!
A three hour drive to visit my home town
Nervously wondering if I will even remember some of my previous classmates
Mom and dad are so excited to see me
I'm worried about missing worktime, for the coursework I have for homework this weekend!...

Very interesting how many processes are involved in even getting ready for the written task, let alone organization, lower and upper level content and mechanical skills!

Monday, July 16th, 2012- UDL

Kurzweil 3000: $1000 per copy- very expensive, and you do have to pay for updates! Created originally for people who are blind.

• Versions 10, 11 and 12, with 4 tool bars ( red- main; yellow- reading; green- study skills; blue- writing.)
• Collapse a tool bar to make it more user friendly and less busy.
• For kids who require compensatory strategies starting in Grades 3 and 4 if needed and have diagnosed LD in HRSB; but NOT just for kids with LD!
• Take a hard copy document, photocopy or enlarge to make a kesi file- ANY info can be scanned
• Reading, writing and ESL translation
• Auto defaults to Kesi folder
• Scans in 15 secs ( Saving the California CONDOR) Kids who are reluctant readers benefit from magnification of the text- UDL!!
• Hit read- it highlights and reads, by sentence and word by word. If too fast, you can adjust the synthetic speech to a slower speech level
• It becomes a multisensory reading activity!
• Self paced for kids with working memory, ADHD, Autism Spectrum, longer processing time, phonological issues etc.
• It provides access to the  text at their level- visual and auditory strengths , as well as prior knowledge issues
• You can also change the size and colour of the cursor to help teachers and students
• It works as a defaut dictonary as well( American Heritage children's) which helps for kids with vocabulary and comprehension difficulties
• Change dictionaries- reference, select dictionary, recommend rate of speech feedback, size of font and American Heritage children's dictionary
• Online translation- through gogle translate
• Synonym and pronounce works the same as a dictionary- kids with ESL, articulation or decoding issues can have words broken down, or word by word
• Syllable breakdown is great decoding help for kids with auditory processing issues- cursor in front of the word
• The HELP menu is awesome and provides an online information and help session
• The tool bar is well organized and you can also save in many different ways - might want to save in a text file, so students who require conversions to text and can take it to a natural reader without kurzweil format. ( file, save as kesi file, rtf- rich text format- takes away the formatting)
• Reading toolbar( yellow tab) Self paced is set in sentence at reading unit, so visual tracking issues would follow along better, as well as kids with CP, for example.
• You can adjust and modify settings to help different children
• Rate of speech feedback is really useful for kids with advanced auditory processing, as you can move to 3-400 wpm( words per minute)
• Page thumbnail is good for kids writing exams- with anxiety as it shows visually where you are on the page.
• Thumbnail of whole document helps kids segment the 15 pages of the document, for example.
• The biggest problem is that classroom teachers find it as a lot of extra work ( time, training, and additional time investment!)
• you can use camera, scan to PDF, voice reader, speech selection and read to loud with the ipads to do similiar activities!
• If the text was already digitized, UDL, life becomes a lot easier!
• Dept. of Ed printing company should be providing UDL for all text in the board!
• Making curriculum accessible is where this technology is headed.
• Study tools toolbar- is great for kids missing the main points, and highlighting is often an adaptation for students, where you can also give directions, instructions or do a sticky note for a student to reply, respond or drag over word choices. It will read aloud to the student, and you can move the sticky note( yellow background). Doing exams in Kurzweil, you can do text notes for word prediction, for example.
• It is a very comprehensive tool for kids with executive functions ( column notes), and bubble notes are cool as they can be used for comprehension assessment, attention, self regulation, and encourages independence. The down side is that they do take time to produce.
• Go to tools, note, and add bubble note, and provide a definition. Then choose cloud, size, open option ( open after unit is read), read note on open, and question options, then text answer.
• You can scan as a kezi file, import, copy paste text, import and have read aloud or convert to pdf. You can also save, export as an audio file ( convert to an mp3 file to be really portable for students) You can also email it out and put it in output audio file.
• We need to be able to read and with written output. ( file, new- word processing doc.)- kind of like Inspiration built into Kurzweil. We need to provide extra support through the Word rediction ( crystal ball) You have to make a topic dictionary ( ie: cowriter- great filter) open a kezi file, tools, and word lists, set up word lists, new and create word list from kezi file. Word prediction is great for kids with phon awareness issues, and takes so much less brain energy- think about how much time the reading and writing process takes. Research shows that because they are involved and interacting in the writing process, they become better spellers!

My school worked hard to do a PDAF grant last year for Earobics, Word Maker, Math Trek and  as a site license- the biggest problem was booking IT to come in and set everything up properly on computers in the school.( it ended up taking almost all year!)

I have highlighted 5 websites from http://udltechtoolkit.wikispaces.com that I would like to use next year with my reluctant and struggling writers:

1. mystudybar- freeware applications to support literacy software:  mind mapping, screen masking, word prediction, talking dictionary, text-to-speech. You can save as MP3 and voice recognition. It also has synonyms for a list of alternative word choices.

2. Story Jumper- Story building tool with scenes, props and text with spell check support. Can add your own photos to add to the personalization!

3. Little Bird Tales- story building tool that records audio and allows narration. It is fun and easy to use, especially for the P-2 croud!

4. Writing Fun- this is an interactive, online, structured writing tool to help elementary age students write descriptions, narratives, poetry.

5. StoryMaker- This provides structured support with audio input. Use this with reluctant writers. When the story is finished, it can be printed or linked to a pdf. This is an excellent tool for all reluctant writers!

I plan on using all of these next year, wherever I may be, and I will share with my Unit 4, Assistive Tech App group ( we get together once per month as part of our LC, PLC to share new apps we find- everyone tried to find 3 new ones per month to share with the rest! We hope to make a blog next year!)

Fine Motor Webinar, Friday, July 13th

Was it ever nice to carry my coffee out to the pool this morning, and boot up my blackboard collaborate session!
I REALLY enjoyed this session, and listening to a friend of mine, Barb Cochrane from Bridgewater on today's webinar!
The wheels were churning in my brain as to how I could use this info with parents, administation, our SLP and OT specialists. I had a close working relationship as a learning centre teacher, with our OT/ SLP/ Assistive Tech specialists the past few years, and enlisted their help many times for assistive tehnology options. Our school too, had a lot of referrals for OT and AT, especially surrounding fine motor/ printing/ handwriting skills. I tried to address this last year by having our OT do a session with any interested teachers or administration with the Handwriting Without Tears program. I am happy to say that administration was present, as well as most teachers from P-3 so that they all received the same message. One of the grandfather,s who is handy with woodworking skills, actually then offered to make class sets of the HWT templates for all teachers as well!
I will mention in my write up here how certain students could benefit from these apps- but I was especially interested to see how engaging and motivating many would be for our reluctant fine motor youngsters, who would rather play outside on the playground than pick up a traditional pencil! Even with triconda pencils, grips and lego pieces between pinky and ring fingers, many are not motivated to keep these up on a regular basis throughout the long writing process, especially once you consider how long it takes some to prepare for even the task of writing itself!!

Here are some of the apps:
1. Dexteria- $4.99 ( tap, pinch and write) I loved this one as it supports HWT principles and is great to use for tracking and data collection. I also liked the fact that different styluses could be used to target different student needs!

2. Bugs and Buttons- $ 2.99 This one was AWESOME- everyone should have this app! I could see many youngsters this one would engage, pinching and dragging/ grabbing those tarantulas in time to soothing music. I liked the auditory feedback this one provided- what 5 or 6 year old wouldn't love it?

3. Juno's Piano- 99 cents Good for finger isolation and control

4. Injini- $ 29.99 Expensive but SO worth it! Great for assessment purposes and loved how levels 1-9 go in progression of the developmental sequence of pre- printing skills ( vertical lines- polygons) Also, liked how it prepares the student for the activity with reinforcing clarity.

5. Touch and Write- FREE Liked the fine motor control with reawrd built in( who wouldn't like writing with chocolate frosting?!) Good for learning numbers, letters and modified word lists as well!

6. Shape Builder- 99 cents I had this one on the school's ipad, and the students loved moving the various animals, letters and numbers.

7. Write pad for ipad- $9.99 More expensive, but as Barb says, you get what you pay for! Loved the adaptability throughout school to Grade 12 with handwriting recognition, as it converts to text instantly. I also liked how it reinforces activities from HWT!

8. Cars2 App Mates- FREE, BUT have to purchase cars on Amazon etc.
This was AWESOME- I have so many students who would LOVE this app! You turn the ipad into a virtual play mat and you really need to focus to control the car with a firm, tripod grasp. I have a few parents that asked for handwriting activities for over the summer, who have ipads at home that I am going to email with this info! It even develops non- dominant hand- wrist action!

9. Pirate Scribbeard's Treasure- $2.99
Very engaging as it animates at the end of each activity. I also liked how you could use the stylus or finger to complete. I had a few boys this year who were great illustrators, but didn't like, or couldn't hold their attention easily for the writing process. These pirate based activities would be great for them!

I can't wait to find out what school I will be at next year to try out these apps!
Bev

Friday, July 13, 2012

Here is our presentation on the 10 apps we found fit into the reading process. We tried to encompass as many areas of reading as we could!
Bev Anthony and Gary Sweet


Education 5163

Assignment 2 Gary Sweet and Bev Anthony


Assistive Technology:  10 apps to support reading remediation, executive functions, sensory processing, phonological processing, orthographic, meaning and context.

1.      Speech with Milo: Sequencing.

This app costs $2.99, and is great for kids who have difficulty with sequencing ideas and vocabulary in the reading process. There are 3 step picture stories where Milo asks you what order the particular event needs to go in. There is good feedback for the students- they all love Milo. There are other Milo apps, such as adjectives and prepositions to further develop reading.

We have used this app with students who are on the Autism spectrum, as well as students who are developmentally delayed in the reading process and have difficulty with sequencing. It provides corrective practice for these students in the classroom, so they can work independently on this reading strategy.

2.      ABA Receptive Identification based on Function, Feature and Class- cost varies from .99 to $1.99.

These apps are great for students who have difficulty identifying and understanding vocabulary. These apps would fit under the meaning processor, and more specifically the vocabulary and vocabulary retrieval. The task involves recalling the function, for example, using active working memory to hold the object in your mind while you search for categories to place the item.

We have used this app for students who have difficulty classifying and organizing information. Students with executive functioning difficulties would benefit from practice with this skill. This app could be used in the classroom with a partner or independently. As well, you could extend this activity into reading buddies with students in a younger grade who would have the same needs.

3.      ABC Pocket Phonics- $2.99

This app is designed for iPhone and iPad. It can start at the basic level of letter formation, letter sounds, vowels, blends and digraphs. The activities help students develop orthographic processing, phonological awareness and fine motor skills. This fits under phonological processing, specifically letter recognition, sound/ letter association and phonemic awareness. We could match this app with any student with difficulty decoding words while reading, as well as those requiring instruction and practice with letter formation.

4.      Ibooks- interactive books $ Free!

Interactive books are basically books in digital format as compared to traditional books printed on paper. There are amazing differences and most of them are improvements upon “normal” books. They take up no space on the iPad, they weigh nothing, they are cheap to buy and updates are easy to get and free. But the most amazing aspect is the interactive features that allow students to interact with the text, illustrations and diagrams. By touching the screen, the reader can go deep into the text to find meanings, have it read aloud and even manipulate pictures and diagrams to move and rotate them. The possibilities are endless. This app fits everywhere in the reading process! It helps with executive functions, provides sensory feedback and it is so interesting that it keeps the reader on task. The read aloud option makes accommodations for those with trouble decoding and other reading difficulties. It basically gives many students access to information that they didn’t have before. It is engaging and will motivate struggling and reluctant readers. This could be used during reading time in class and for teaching in content areas such as science and social studies.

5.      Montessori apps- opposites ( pre- language) or Montessori Words- phonemic awareness $2.99

This app teaches word meaning through teaching opposites. It actually teaches students visually by showing pictures of opposites. For example big/small is illustrated by a picture of an elephant and a mouse. It will increase a student’s vocabulary and understanding of words when they come across them while reading. There is text to go with the pictures so the student can recognize how the word is spelled. This would fit in with meaning processing and vocabulary development. It would also help with overall reading comprehension. You would use this app during class time when other students were doing reading or word study. This could be part of an IPP student’s word study program, be set up as a work station or used with partners for teaching meaning of words in the younger grades.

6.      Language, Question or Sentence builder- ( Sentence Builder)

This $5.99 app teaches students to build sentences with words in proper grammatical and syntactic form. Students move the reels of words to form sentences that match a picture. The settings can be changed for different levels. There is corrective feedback, should you choose. The program also keeps stats on student performance so their progress can be monitored.

This app definitely fits in to the sentence structure and syntax part of the reading process but also helps to develop vocabulary and word comprehension. You could use this app for a student who has a weak or delayed vocabulary to teach words but more likely for a student who has trouble recognizing sentence structure in print. By teaching patterns of sentence structure, the student can develop syntactic cues when reading text to help decode unknown words. As with other apps, it could be used during language arts time when students are reading or writing. This app has writing applications as well because in effect, students are writing sentences.

7.      Text to Speech Natural Reader- FREE!

With this app, the user can have text read out loud. You can set the program to highlight the text it is reading so you can follow along with it. The tool bar floats on the screen on top of any documents and it is available any time you want to use it. You can set the voice and the speed to your preference. It can read websites, digital text, emails etc. This app has obvious uses as struggling readers can have any text read to them allowing access to the same text as their classmates in all subject areas. This is an example of a compensatory strategy. This app would fit in the meaning processor area of the reading task analysis map as the true purpose here is to allow students to access the meaning of text.

8.      Monkey Preschool Lunch Box-  99 cents by THUP games for iphone/ ipad

 The #1 preschool game in the app store. Learn and have fun by helping monkeys pack lunch! Monkey Preschool Lunchbox is a collection of six exciting educational games for the preschooler (ages 2 to 5). The six activities include: letter identification, counting, colours, puzzles ( fine motor), difference, and a matching/ memory activity. This app works on the orthographic processes of letter recognition, recall, memory, as well as executive functions of attention and concentration. It is highly motivational, interactive and engaging for students in the Primary range who are developing their literacy and numeracy skills.

9.      Fluid 2- 99 cents

This app is a virtual pond with music that allows students to interact and receive sensory feedback. It encompasses the sensory component of the reading process, and prepares students mentally and emotionally to begin reading. This app is especially beneficial for those students on the Autism spectrum who benefit from sensory redirection to prepare for changes or transitions in subject or activity.

10.   Time Timer- $4.99

  A visual timer app with a clock that counts down the time. This is especially beneficial for those students with executive function challenges including self- regulation, sustaining attention, time management and pacing. All of these are skills that students use in the reading process. A reluctant reader may need a visual representation of time allocated to the task. It also can be used to alleviate anxiety for those who don’t have an understanding of time.

Thursday, July 12th
We finished our Reading Process Map today! Yah Gary and Bev!!
It was amazing how much this activity made us focus on the reading process, especially when it came to plugging apps into the appropriate areas. This is great to analyze how various apps fit into the areas of reading!





Here is our reading process map, complete with our 10 apps!

Wednesday, July 11th
Holy cow!! I can't believe the steps involved in blowing your nose, from getting the kleenex, to actually planning how to blow your nose and get the kleenex in the garbage can in the end! Here is the plan Gary and I came up with... you can see we got hung up on the choices and processes. I had to actually create a social story this year for a student with Autism who had great difficulty blowing his nose. The bottom line ended up being a sensory issue for him not liking the feeling of anything coming out of his nose! He also had difficulties with walking down stairs one not one at a time, and lots of washroom etiquette problems.

PBS documentary:
                               Episode 2 The Child’s Brain- Syllable from Sound ( PBS)

 

Dyslexia: difficulty learning to process language due to differently wired brains. ( hypersensitized on breaking down sounds in words and then putting them back together- what a lot of Speech Language Pathologists use as part of their programming- Linda Mood Bell) Interesting to learn more about the brain wiring with people with Dyslexia. I remember 20 years ago we were told by our school psychologist in Tri-County that children could not be assessed for Dyslexia until Grade 3!