According to Access IT, assistive technology is used for students with disabilities which might not be able to perform the function without the technology. This technology is includes everything from wheelchairs to special keyboards on computers with brail for blind students. There is a lot of assistive technology out there for all different types of disabilities, but there is always more needed. The goal is to allow students with disabilities the same opportunity as every other child. Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1988 stated that assistive technology is any technology or item which increases, maintains, and improves the capabilities of students with disabilities.
Autism has been a growing problem for children in America. Now 1 in every 200 students is diagnosed with some form of autism and researchers have little if any evidence where it came from and why our children are ending up with it. There has also been less than satisfactory research and attention on assistive technology for these students. There are a lot of different components of autistic disorder which prohibits students from learning like other students. These assistive technologies are use to try to help students with autism have a better understanding of their environment, acquire better communication and social skills, have better attention and focus. These technologies are used to help motivate, organize, and help with academic skills. The main goal for these assistive technologies is to help autistic students work into society and learn their own self help skills.
Autistic students respond far better to visual stimuli than any auditory or kinesthetic activity. Teachers are often recommended to give them visual schedules and instructions. One program which helps these students with this visual learning style is Boardmaker, a program created by Mayer-Johnson. There are over 3000 picture word communications with show pictures along with words or sentences. This is a great tool for autistic children because they are able to see and understand something in a visual way.
These technologies are always growing and changing in the education world. As a future educator it will be hard t keep up with all of them and if you think you can, you are crazy. However, if you do nothing and simply use what you were taught, you are not using all of your resources. These students need these assistive technologies so it is a teacher’s job to supply them with them. You can stay connected through the internet and all of the web resources, like blogs. Also taking a few classes would allow you to stay up to date and connected. All of the resources are out there so it is up to you to use them to your advantage.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
A Website Your Children CAN go to
After looking at a few sites with tech tools attached, I came across a wonderful program called Starfall. The program is a great way for a parent to feel safe leaving their child on. There are several programs that sound out letters and connect them to words. There are stories that can be read to the child, but the great thing about the website was that the child had to click on the letters to hear them. It was a really interactive program that allowed children to take part in their own learning. There were also interactive games for children to match letters to the rest of words with pictures attached. There were so many great things in this website that it would keep your child occupied for months. I loved looking through it and I think any child would love being part of this interactive program.
http://www.starfall.com/
http://www.starfall.com/
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
The Creator and his Pictures
Once upon a time there was a blog with lots of pictures. There were pictures of oceans, President Lincoln, and of evolution. Many people traveled from afar to look at these pictures because they were wonderful. One day a man came to the blog and became very angry. No one knew why and the creator of the blog seems worried. The creator has spent a lot of time and effort in putting all of his pictures together and information by the pictures for people to read. Many days and nights had gone by without seeing the angry man. However a few weeks later the creator saw the angry man standing outside his blog. Before the creator knew what was happening he was being taken to jail. The creator did not know what had happened and was very confused. One of his attorneys, Mayerly, told him about copyright laws. She said, “A copy right is the ownership of a person’s work, and without asking you have violated the law.” This had the creator worried, but he was sure he had gone through every channel to make sure he had understood the copyright laws. “No,” he said, “I asked and got clearance for every picture I used on my blog.” The attorney seemed stunned but went along with the creator and asked a police officer to go check out the new information. The police officer, Jeanell, seemed to understand the creators dismay. She explained how a fair use law was put into place and how teachers were allowed to use some information for educational purposes. The creator seemed to be cheering up and told the attorney and police officer how his teacher, Peter, used to explain all of these laws to him. He had told him to be careful using videos and materials outside the normal curriculum. Peter had told him about the Fair Use act and he had tried his best to make sure he had gotten permission. After a week of waiting, the creator finally had a trial. The judge seemed very nice, her name was Jessica. The judge asked the creator If he had anything to say. The creator replied, “All of my material is licensed under Creative Commons License.” The judge turned and looked at him and said, “Do you realize the angry man has the rights to his work, no matter the form, giving the owner the rights to copy and no one else?” The creator explained the definition of fair use and told the judge he had gone through every channel. After a few hours of the trial the judge decided the creator was a GOOD AND HONEST MAN so he let him go. The angry man seemed disgruntled but okay with the hearing and understanding the laws better. The creator decided to always ask permission from then on just to be on the safe side. And he lived happily ever after.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
A Whole New Meaning to Don't Copy off your Neighbor
As we began going to school, teachers started to show us how to cite papers. Reading some of the articles on copyright, even those citations don’t seem to be enough. As I read the article Copyright 101 for Educators, written by Wesley Fryer, I noticed my jaw dropping slightly on how severe copyright laws are. I knew that there was a lot of illegal downloading of songs off the internet and people disregard the labels on movies which even give a huge penalty for copyrighting. I had no idea that copyright laws were so extreme for teacher/student situations. Copyright is defined as the exclusive right to be able to copy material and the material is protected for the author’s lifetime unless you receive written permission. In order for a person to safely copy someone’s work and use it for classroom activities you must first receive written permission from the author or do not use it at all. Some ways that would break copyright laws include using a logo for a t-shirt, using work to create an essay, and to download and use a song while changing the file. After seeing all of the information I know that I will be very careful in my classroom. I no longer will want to copy files and images and just attach the website address. Instead I will think of fun and create ways to either create my own or have the class. For example if i wanted to use a picture of an elephant, I could either draw one or have each student do so. Fair Use is a guideline that is put into place for teachers about copyright laws. While the guidelines are meant to help teachers they seem to be incorrect according to this article. The fist was that citations are not included in fair use and also that portion limitations of media files do not exist within fair use. The four factors of fair use which determine how you are using this information include the purpose, the nature of the work, the amount you are using, and the effect of how much you are using. I would like to learn more about the specific nature of how all of these copyright laws came about. I find it interesting that there are rules about using information to educate students. I would love to know all of the specific guidelines that are put into place in copyright laws and it would be interesting to see how many people don’t listen to them.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Bloggers Galore
Blogging had become the new phenomena throughout the world. I find its a wonderful way of communicating with people that you might otherwise not know and learn lots of wonderful information. I have always loved perusing food blogs because you know that people have tasted these foods and they are good. Blogging is almost like having a friend tell you an opinion on something. Educational blogs seem to be no different. There is lots of wonderful information about technology in classrooms. I looked at four different educational blogs and found something interesting and new in each of them. Many of the articles talk about different situations when people use technology in the wrong way. They are very easy to find especially while navigating the resources the class was provided with. I was surprised by how many people had little to no educational background but that new a lot about technology to let their statements out. Blogging seems to be a new add on to the first amendment right, freedom to speech. These blogs would be a wonderful source for any teacher. Many people post different effective ways of teaching and their own personal experiences of horrible instances. In my teaching I will be able to effectively know what teaching methods are useful and which are bad without using them. I think blogging is a wonderful source of information.
http://www.assortedstuff.com/top101/- the one ill follow
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