Assistive technology

The Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) defines assistive technology “as any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially, off-the-shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities (DEC, p. 149).” The federal laws, P.L. 100-407, the Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1988 and the IDEA amendments of 1997 “focus on expanding access. Thus, assistive technology has been expanded to include instructional technology (DEC. p. 149).”  DEC also defined assistive listening systems such as the FM system, the induction loop and the infrared (IR) system, high technology or high tech (complex electronic devices such as computers, voice synthesizers, Braille readers, augmentative or adaptive communication (AAC) systems, and environmental control units), informational technology, instructional technology, low technology, or low tech and search engine.  Chapter 7: DEC Recommended Practices: Technology Applications also gave me a list of four Print materials, two videotapes and thirteen web sites for technology information to connect children with disabilities with technology tools. As a professional, we have excellent information to use in planning for children with IEPs and with typically developing children. In the News and Observer April 3, 2011 issue of Parade magazine I read an article titled, “Autism’s Lost Generation” about Dana Eisman, who had not been able to communicate, but she learned how to speak at age15 at a program in Austin, Texas by typing and pointing to letters on a board. Her parents were stunned and proud. Her father said, “For 15 years, we thought Dana had the mind of a 4-year-old. What kind of parents are we that we didn’t realize this wasn’t true?(Parade, p. 9)”  I mention this article because I did not know about all of the applications listed in Chapter 7 or about this program for children with autism in Austin, Texas.

When I reflect on this assignment, “Write about your experience with assistive technology and how you will use it in your future profession,” I realize that most of my experience occurred with other teachers and typically developing children in preschool using educational videos, webinars, and teaching technology with a team. At a conference, one of the keynote speakers talked about Inspiration software.   I have used Inspiration or Kidspiration (www.inspiration.com) which helped my students to improve their writing and thinking skills. Inspiration’s website said: “With Inspiration® and Kidspiration®, students use symbols and images to represent ideas, create graphic organizers to break work down into manageable sections, and brainstorm, sort and organize their ideas. These visual thinking and learning strategies have been shown to increase academic performance for students with and without learning disabilities in content-area classes including language arts, social studies, science, and study skills. Specific to special needs, Inspiration and Kidspiration are recommended for students with ADD/ADHD, autism, Asperger’s, dyslexia, aphasia, and visual or auditory processing disorders.”   I viewed, “Welcome to my preschool” by the National Center to Improve Practices through technology, media and materials and saw some excellent examples on how to implement services in an inclusive preschool classroom.  I realize that if I have my own classroom, I will try to have a quality program that fully integrates research evidence to create an environment where children can learn with assistive technology applications and low tech items. The teacher (in Welcome to my Preschool), chose thematic units and showed how she used technology in the different centers in her classroom.  She used a single switch to enable children to be able to “pour the pot” and she used it at the water table. In housekeeping, she used communication boards to allow the child to point to what clothes they wanted to wear for “dress up” and a comment board for shared language to express how they felt when they were wearing the play clothes. The Big mack and the Little mack (button to push with recorded messages) were used to help the nonverbal students participate in the classroom in many areas. The software is by AbleNet (http://www.ablenetinc.com).  

Assistive technology and teacher instruction are both important, in order for children to gain full benefits. It is essential that teachers, parents, and therapists work as a team.  As we teach children to help them reach their goals and objectives, we need to follow the DEC “recommended practices,” the NAEYC “developmentally appropriate practices” and our ethical responsibilities.  We will have to be life-long learners, to continue professional development and become members of our professional organizations to stay current with assistive technology and current research.

References:

Cook, Ruth E., Klein, M.D. & Tessier A. (2004). Adapting Early Childhood Curricula for Children in Inclusive Settings. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Amendments of 1997, Public Law 105-17, U.S.C. 1401. http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS?IDEA/the _law.html.

http://www.ablenetinc.com accessed April 9, 2011

http://inspiration.com accessed April 9, 2011

http://www.newsobserver.com  accessed April 3, 2011

http://Parade.com/autism  (pages 9-11).

Sandall. S., Hemmeter, M. L., Smith, B. J., & McLean, M. E., (2005).DEC recommended  practices: A comprehensive guide for practical application in early intervention/ early childhood special education. Missoula, MT: Division of Early Childhood. pp. 149-162.

Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1988, Public Law No. 100-407, 105, Stat. 1044 (1988).

Task Analysis

How to safely use scissors and to cut paper is a fine motor skill that my observation child, N. needs to learn.  After reading, “Special Considerations for Children Who Need Extra Time and Spaced Practice” in Exhibit 9-1 on page 307, I decided to use visual cues to assist auditory directions. Using scissors should always be a supervised activity that is done while sitting.  I took pictures of  how to pick up and hold the scissors and how to hold the paper to cut.  I will use modeling and let her imitate the task.  My student uses her right hand for writing and I will begin by using the correct size scissors.  Task steps: 

• 1          Pick up scissors by placing your thumb in the small hole and index and middle fingers in the large hole.

• 2.     Curl the ring finger and pinky finger into your palm.

• 3.   Turn scissors so thumb is on top. Hold hand so the scissors point out and the thumb is horizontal at waist.

• 4.      Give her a piece of paper to cut. The hand with the scissors should really hardly move at all, other then opening and closing.

• 5.      Open scissors by separating thumb and fingers.

• 6.     Place the paper between the scissors and move the paper while cutting. It is a two handed job.

• 7.      Focus on the thumb, index and middle fingers as you push them together.

• 8.   Repeat the steps of opening and closing the scissors across the paper on the line. 

If she is not able to cut the paper, I will let her practice opening and closing the blades in a pattern-slow and fast. We will practice cutting straws before cutting the paper again.  Teaching her to properly hold and use a pair of scissors helps develop the same muscles needed to correctly grasp a pencil, a skill daily.

References:

Cook, Ruth E., Klein, M.D. & Tessier, A. (2004).  Adapting Early Childhood Curricula for Children in Inclusive Settings. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.p. 307

Communication Skills and Strategies

“The three terms-communications, speech, and language – are related, but each has a different meaning: Communication refers to the exchange of messages through an interaction between two people, usually a speaker and a listener. For this exchange to be called a communicative act, it must be meaningful to both participants. Language refers to the knowledge and use of a symbolic code or set of rules involving syntax or grammar that transmits meaning from one person to another. The most familiar code system is oral language, but there are other code systems such as computer languages, Morse code and sign language. Oral language is often divided into receptive oral language and or expressive oral language. Receptive oral language refers to the ability to listen to and understand the language of others. For example, when Neveah can follow a direction such as, “Tell me what letter you see on the card?” she is demonstrating skill in receptive language. Expressive oral language is the ability to use language and communicate meaning to others in words so that another person will understand. For example, when Neveah says, “I want more milk; she is using expressive language to communicate a desire.  Speech is the verbal tool for conveying oral language. It consists of the speaker using the oral mechanism to produce actual utterances. The use of speech depends on the child’s abilities with oral-motor skills, coordination of breathing, sound production, use of the tongue, placement of the lips and teeth and articulation of sounds (Lerner, Lowenthal & Egan, pp. 214-215).”

Cook, Klein and Tessier define three dimensions of language: content, use, and form. Each of these dimensions includes several traditional linguistic subskills, such as semantics, syntax, morphology, phonology, and pragmatics (p. 253).” Problems in language in young children who have disabilities stem from a number of conditions. Often, the first sign of a disability is the child’s difficulty in learning language. Neveah’s disability was recognized at 15 months when an assessment determined that she had cognitive delays and communication delays. She continues to have speech therapy at her pre-school.  Children with developmental cognitive delays acquire language in much the same way as typically developing children, but at a slower rate and with less complexity (Lerner, Lowenthal & Egan, p. 226). “Speech disorders include problems in three areas: articulation, voice, and fluency.  1. Articulation disorders are caused by structural defects, neuromotor defects, or hearing impairments. The four types of articulation disorders are substitutions (using one sound for another), distortions (mispronouncing the sounds), omissions (leaving out sounds), and additions (putting in extra sounds). Articulation errors are considered by speech and language therapists as the least serious of the speech disorders and the most responsive to intervention. Many articulation errors are developmental and disappear as the child matures, usually by age 6 or 7. 2. Voice disorders include pitch, intensity, and voice quality problems. Possible causes are physiological, such as growths in the larynx, and voice abuse, such as excessive screaming and hearing impairments. Voice disorders are somewhat rare at preschool age. Less than 1 percent of preschoolers are estimated to have these difficulties. 3. Fluency Problems.  Most common fluency problem is stuttering (pp.227-228).  I cannot understand what Neveah says sometimes even though I ask her to tell me again. Other times, her speech is clear. I have observed that when asked a question about a story that is being read to the class, she is not able to answer the question.

The strategy that I have used with Neveah is naturalistic teaching (language instruction that occurs in informal settings such as in the classroom). I follow her interests and the topic of conversation is initiated by her. “Two examples of naturalistic language interventions are milieu teaching and responsive interactions. Milieu teaching is a strategy in which adults, such as parents and teachers, deliberately arrange the environment with interesting materials to encourage a child’s language and development. Three procedures are used in milieu training:  1. Mand-model in which the adult attends to the youngster’s choice of an activity or toy, requests or “mands” (demands) a response from the child about the activity, provides a model to imitate, and then gives the child the toy or material of interest. 2. The second procedure is the use of a time delay procedure. 3. The third procedure is incidental teaching, which requires that the child initiate a topic of conversation and that the adult converse about the topic.  Responsive interaction (or pivotal response treatment) is another example of naturalistic language intervention. This intervention does not use prompts, as in milieu teaching. Instead, responsive interaction places emphasis on developing an interaction style that promotes balanced turn taking and communication between the adult and the child…Teaching strategies include the use of expansions expatiations (child: boy eats. Adult: Yes, he’s eating crackers), parallel talk (if the child is banging a block on the floor, the teacher may say, ‘Hit the block, Hit the block on the floor. Bang, bang, bang,’ and self-talk when adults talk about what they are doing, seeing, or feeling while the child listens nearby. Teachers need to speak in simple, short phrases as they describe their actions and thoughts. Self-talk and parallel talk allows children to hear models of more complex language and to realize that language is fun and useful (Lerner, Lowenthal & Egan, pp. 229-231).” “Appendix H in our textbook describes a common sequence of steps used in milieu approaches (Cook, Klein and Tessier, p. 278).”

Oral language is the most crucial area of academic focus during the pre-kindergarten years. It is the primary means by which children gain knowledge about the world and it is the foundation for children’s literacy development. Reading aloud to children is one of the best ways to facilitate oral language and vocabulary development.  I read a book (or two) to Neveah on each classroom visit. Some of her favorites have been two pop-up books, Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella. I have read The Big Red Barn, Peter Rabbit, Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes, the Three Little Pigs, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, The Three Bears and Brown Bear, Brown Bear. I have given copies of PBS Families UNC-TV Just for Kids to Neveah (and all students) for parents and caregivers to read about making bedtime a peaceful time. On Friday, I gave the teacher copies of A Child Becomes a Reader, proven ideas from research for Parents, Birth through Preschool, 3^rd edition by the National Institute for Literacy to send home with all of her students.  I donated a “spring” tree to the classroom. It is 20 inches tall with small items to hang on the tree which symbolize spring (flowers, garden tools, butterflies, ect). I try to expose Neveah to completely new words and pair it with a concrete object, an action or a brief explanation. Two key areas of oral language are vocabulary and phonological awareness (the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in language). Children cannot understand the words they encounter in text or the meaning conveyed by them unless these words are already in their receptive vocabularies. She pays attention to sound in language as we hear alliteration and when we clap syllables. She enjoys listening to and discussing storybooks and understands the overall sequence of events in stories. She is trying to act out familiar stories, songs, rhymes and finger and counting games in play activities. I engage her in conversations about books by asking her completion questions (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? I see a red bird looking at ___”. Recall questions to check her understanding of the content of the story. Open-ended questions to engage her in extended talk about the book. “W” questions-who, what, when, where, why-to teach vocabulary and Distancing or bridging prompts to help her relate some ideas in the book to life experiences beyond the story. At the end of Little Red Ridinghood is a picture of the grandmother, the woodsman, and Little Red Riding Hood having tea and eating cookies and cake. We talked about what foods she liked and she told me that her grandmother is having a birthday soon and that she wanted to help bake a birthday cake. I go to lunch with her and we talk the food that she is eating (or not eating) and what she is drinking (mostly strawberry milk). I give her opportunities to initiate communication. For example, a doll in the classroom had hair that was extremely messy looking and Neveah said, “My grandmother would say that the doll’s hair looks ‘nappy.’ That hair needs fixing” (Neveah’s hair is always neatly plaited).  In closing, I agree with our textbook authors when they said, “Key adult behaviors that facilitate communication skills are listening and responding to children’s communication attempts and carefully mapping language onto children’s experiences (p. 253).”

References:

Cook, Ruth E., Klein, M.D. & Tessier, A. (2004). Adapting Early Childhood Curricula for Children in Inclusive Settings. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. pp. 253, 278 and Appendix H, pp. 434-435.

Lerner, Janet W., Lowenthal, B & Egan, R.W. (2003).  Preschool Children with Special Needs, Children at Risk and Children with Disabilities.  New York: Pearson Education, Inc. pp.226-231.

Neveah's Motor and Self-Help Skills

After reading Chapter 7 – Helping Young Children Develop Motor and Self-Help Skill, I began to keep a work samples checklist on Neveah's Self-Care and her Motor Skills and referred to Appendix A on pages 402-409 in our textbook. I observed her in physical education with Mr. Allison in the school gym and was able to assess her gross-motor skills. We have to walk down some stairs to enter the gym and she walks up and down stairs alone, alternating feet.  Mr. Allison gave each child a hula hoop and instructed them to roll the hoop and run after it and catch it. She was able to run and catch the hoop and was well-coordinated. He had them put the hoop on the floor and they had to jump in the center of the hoop and then jump out of the hoop. She is able to jump forward, landing on both feet. She was able to complete all of the other exercises he gave. Her “locomotor movement, going from one place to another require the use of the large muscles in the trunk, legs, and arms, whereas manipulative movements require the use of the many small muscles of the hands. Fine-motor development of the feet is also possible for children who participate in dance (Kostelnik, Soderman & Whiren, p. 321).” She was able to walk, stop, run, start, jump, and hop in gym class as well as bend, whirl, lift, stretch, turn, bend, stretch, using her nonlocomotor skills. “Fine-motor skills involve more precise movements of the small muscles, especially those of the eyes, speech musculature, hands, fingers, feet and toes (Cook, Klein & Tessier, p. 218).” Neveah has received speech therapy for the past three years. I observed her in art class today as she colored two fish with crayons and then used water color to paint over the fish.  She controls small muscles to hold her paint brush with some wrist action. She is able to perform fine-motor tasks such as precision coloring and writing. She wrote her first name on her drawing correctly and wanted to print her last name too.  “The mature finger tripod associated with adult writing is usually present in children by age 7 years (Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, p. 329).” She also writes letters anyplace on the paper. Today she wanted to make a capital B and a lower case b on some notebook paper in the classroom. She holds crayons with thumb and fingers. She cuts with scissors on line continuously and is also able to snip while holding scissors and paper correctly. She copies a circle, square, triangle and she asked me last week to show her how to draw a heart. When she draws a picture, she frequently draws the sun and will say, “That sun is so bright!” She puts on outdoor clothing, but needs help starting coat zipper. She does zip and unzip her book bag and can put her folder with her papers to take home at the end of the school day. She organizes and takes care of own materials. She is not able to tie her shoelaces. During play time, she independently selects materials and places finished products in proper places. She enjoys working with puzzles and has mastered multi-piece puzzles if they have color and shape cues.  She enjoys other manipulatives in the classroom, and playing in the block center once in awhile. Her favorite activity is playing with the doll house and its furnishings. I have not seen her lace, sew, thread small beads on a string or use any type of kitchen tongs or tweezers to move various materials from one container to another.

At lunch she eats with a fork, cuts easy foods and opens her milk carton unassisted. She picked up her French fries with her fingers. Before lunch, she uses toilet independently and washes and dries her hands without assistance. She said that her grandmother is going to have a birthday soon and she wants to help make a cake. She has only been allowed to attend pre-school on Wednesday and Friday for the past two years. She is now five-years-old and will attend kindergarten in the fall. Her gross-motor and fine-motor skills have been fostered at home where she lives with her grandparents (who have taught her many drawing and writing skills). One day she drew me a picture of herself and her grandmother and put large circles on the dress. I asked her who taught her to draw and she said, “My grandmother.”  

References:

Cook, Ruth E., Klein, M.D. & Tessier A. (2004). Adapting Early Childhood Curricula for Children in Inclusive Settings. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. pp. 218, and 402-409.

Kostelnik, Marjorie, Soderman, A. K., and Whiren, A. P. (2007). Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum, Fourth edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. pp.321, 326, and 329.

Development of Social Interaction Skills

The development of social interaction skills through play will be my focus as I observe and prepare a social story for "N." It would help “N,” to take part in cooperative play and to communicate with other children. The title of her social story will be “I will use my words.”  When I have observed “N” in her classroom, she plays alone and I have not seen her in activities that require cooperation.  Our textbook described the work of Hewett and Taylor (1980) which “described a number o tasks that require at least two children to communicate and cooperate to reach a mutual goal (pp.187-188)” The example they used was “the pan-sorting task” which would be good for “N” because one of her goals is for her to follow directions that involve several steps. This is an activity that I could play with her to teach her this social skill and then on I would ask one of her classmates to participate in the pan-sorting task while she gave the directions (with assistance if needed). On Friday, I will donate an 18 inch Spring Tree with bendable wire branches and 24 ornaments that “N” and two other children can decorate. My role in facilitating cooperative play will include preparation of the space and encouraging the children to describe the different wooden items as they hang them on the tree (a bee, ladybug, gloves, gardening tools, birdhouses, watering cans, and butterflies). This will help with her communication skills and cooperative play skills. Yellow forsythia is now blooming and I will bring in some branches for them to compare living branches and the artificial branches of the tree. In April, I will give donate tiny Easter eggs to hang on the tree after they remove the spring ornaments.

“Children tend to play in ways that are consistent with their cognitive development…3 to 7-year-olds test their understanding of the social world through pretend play (Kostelnik, Whiren, Soderman & Gregory, p. 216).” “N” would benefit from imitating or modeling the behavior of others in the dramatic play center.  When I read the classic work of Parten (1931, pp. 189-190), “Six levels of social participation,” I realized that she prefers to play alone with the doll house in the classroom or with a puzzle at the table.  It would be my goal to see her play with other children primarily in association and cooperatively. Hopefully, I can select objects and games in the classroom that would encourage her to interact with both boys and girls. Her class is made up of typically developing children in the Title I program and children with special needs.

In the dramatic play center, I will donate menus from some of the local restaurants, order pads for ordering, a small apron, children’s size bowl’s and plates,  and free recipes cards from Wal-Mart and Harris Teeter that I found in the produce section. Girls participate more frequently in housekeeping settings, so “Let’s go to lunch and let’s get cooking!” is the play scheme I think she would enjoy. Two girls could be seated at the table in our pretend restaurant and “N” could say, “May I take your order?” and she would be wearing an apron and have a paper pad and pencil to pretend to write their food and drink orders. She would give me the order and I could do the cooking with her help using plastic food (hamburgers and French fries) and kitchen pans.  After we serve them, we will exchange roles and we would “read the menu” and give the waitress our order.  Short sequences of pretend play such as eating or cooking used in combination in dramatic play will be fun for all of the girls (or boys).

A second social skill that “N” could learn within the roles of pretend play is how to demonstrate empathy to others and how to display and read others’ pretend and real emotions.  The play frame would be “A visit to the doctor” because there are a nurse’s outfit and stethoscope in the dramatic play area. “N” could play the nurse and I could play that I was a sick child. I could tell her to check my heart beat, my ears, my throat and  to take my temperature and to give me some pretend medicine for my cough. Then I could ask another girl to pretend to be the nurse and for “N” to be the patient and I would leave the dramatic play area.

References:

Cook, Ruth E., Klein, M.D. & Tessier A. (2004). Adapting Early Childhood Curricula for Children in Inclusive Settings. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. pp. 187-190.

Kostelnik, Marjorie J., Whiren, A.P., Soderman, A.K. & Gregory K. M. (2009). Guiding Children’s Social Development and Learning. New York: Delmar. p. 216.

How goals will be embedded into activities

DEC Recommended Practices defined Embedded as “Identifying times and activities when a child’s goals and the instructional procedures for those goals can be inserted into children’s ongoing activities, routines, and transitions in a way that relates to the context. It involves distributing opportunities to learn goals and apply instructional procedures for those goals across different activities, routines, and transitions of the day (p. 94).”  Our textbook authors said, “Embedded learning opportunities, or those activities that originate out of natural play behavior are very appropriate. For example, children can practice self-help skills in the dress-up corner, where they can learn naturally from their peers as the process of dressing and undressing occurs. In such an activity, each child’s unique needs can be accommodated. One child can be encouraged to put on colorful socks while another is attempting to button a shirt and a third is tying shoes. All through the activity, children have the opportunity to socially interact. This is even more likely if the teacher has contrived a purpose for the dress-up, such as ‘going out to lunch (pp. 154-155).”

My case study child, “N” is developmentally delayed and the goals on her IEP mainly focus on her speech and communication.  In Guiding Children’s Social Development and Learning, the authors said, Language is used systematically in play and can be the subject of play. “Children play with sounds and make up words, imitate adults or other children in amusing voices and repeat their own statements with rhythm and rhyme. Certain occurrences, such as a group of 4-year-olds chanting ‘Delicious, nutritious, delectable juice’ with great glee and accenting the syllables by pounding the table with cups or hands when faced with the detestable apricot nectar, are a playful variation of adult’s words (p. 216).” I hope to teach “N” songs and rhymes to help her with communication skills.  In my first activity, I will share nursery rhymes on a compact disc with a small picture book for each song and movements.  To develop her vocabulary and use of language, I plan to use the song, Oh, Here we are Together” and as we sit in the circle, each child would say their name. The next day we will clap the number of sounds we hear in each child’s name and make a chart for all of the children’s names with the number of sounds.  For another activity, I will read, The Big Red Barn, and ask her questions about the animals in the book. We will make a red barn book with die cuts of the animals for her to put into the barn book. “N” enjoys going to the dramatic play center with Angel, her playmate. “N” is not able to zip her coat or to tie her shoes, so I thought that while playing with dress up clothes that zip, so I will ask Angel, to show “N” how to zip a coat and to tie shoes because Angel likes to role-play that she is the mother and she has helped to dress “N” in the zippered raincoat for one of their pretend shopping trips. “N” will practice zipping her raincoat by herself and zipping the dress on the doll that she is taking with her to the store.  I will send a note to her grandmother to explain that N is learning how to zip her coat and learning to tie shoes along with a list of her favorite books that she might get from the public library. With her grandmother’s help, “N” will learn these self-help skills and gain self-confidence and self-assurance. Embedding learning opportunities during daily activities continues to have appeal to those working with young children and continues to show promise in terms of a research-based practice that can lead to improved outcomes.

References:

Cook, Ruth E., Klein, M.D. & Tessier A. (2004). Adapting Early Childhood Curricula for Children in Inclusive Settings. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. pp. 154-155.

Kostelnik, Marjorie J., A. P. Whiren, A.K. Soderman, & K. M. Gregory. (2009). Guiding Children’s Social Development & Learning, 6^th edition. New York: Delmar Cengage Learning. p.216.

Sandall, S., Hemmeter, M.L., Smith, B. J. & McLean, M. E. (2005).  DEC Recommended practices: A Comprehensive Guide for Practical Application in Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education. Longmont, CO: Sopris West Educational Services. p. 94.