Accessiblity for ALL!

I entered class this morning with a mix of emotions. I am LOVING all of the new and exciting Apps that we are learning about, but on the other hand I feel as though I am in a constant state of playing "catch up". I tweeted today that all of this technology is BLOWING MY MIND! (Wow, did I just write that I Tweeted?) I have grown so much in just three days of class. Technology "blows my mind" because on the one hand I love the accessibility, the opportunities and the freedom that technology provides for everyone, particularly our highest needs students. On the other hand, technology is so quick to change and grow, that I am left with an overwhelming feeling of never being able to catch up. It is ever evolving and as an educator, I need to evolve with it. As I reflect upon the possibilities that  technology provides in my life as an educator, and the possibilities that technology has to affect the lives of my students, there can be no excuses. I MUST embrace it! All educators MUST embrace it! We started the morning by watching the short clip below entitled, Life on iPad. 

 This short clip shows the amazing versatility of the iPad. Once again, I am blown away with the capabilities of iPad. It seems as though there are no domains, no aspects of life that the reach of iPad has not touched! It is truly remarkable. It seems as though if you can think it, iPad can do it! I can only imagine what our students would come up with if given the opportunity to really explore what the iPad can do. Mrs. Welsford has talked about the accessibility and versatility of the iPad and this video clearly demonstrated that. Seriously...on the side of a mountain? 

Communication

 Today we talked about what communication was and about all of the different ways that we communicate. This really made me think because of course, my mind automatically goes to my most common and comfortable forms of communication. I had to be s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d to think outside of the box. The same goes for technology and it's uses. I need to think outside of the box and jump into the deep end of the pool so to speak as my co learner Maggie would say. Mrs. Weslford explained that in order to communicate we need three things: 
1. a communication partner
2. a common language
3. joint attention

EVERYONE...and I mean EVERYONE can communicate! This goes right back to the notion of Presumed Competency that we talked about on Wednesday. If we believe that everyone has the capacity to communicate, then it stands to reason that it is our job to ensure that we provide the appropriate tools for our students to do so. One such tool is the Proloquo2Go.

Proloquo2Go

I had never seen this App before and let me just say that once again, as is the common theme for me in this course, I was blown away! The one key word that came to mind when checking this App out was of course VOICE. This App provides our non verbal population with a voice. Imagine being able to be heard for the first time! That's HUGE! I only had a small amount of time to check out the possibilities that this App provides but I was surprised by it's capabilities. As Mrs. Welsford said today, this App is building communicative opportunities for people who would not have otherwise had these opportunities. Once again we see the power of technology. What I appreciated so much about this App is that it is customized for each individual. Not everyone has the same communicative needs therefore why would everyone have the same vocabulary to choose from? Although this App is expensive, it is worth it! It is versatile and portable, other modalities are built in to it (i.e. photo library) and it is a fairly easy program to use. 

We shall see! On Monday, my partners and I will dive in to Proloquo2Go to create some communication boards. I look forward to the challenge and appreciate having the opportunity to do this. Proloquo2Go has opened up a world of possibilities for so many people. 

Stay tuned...more to come on my Proloquo2Go journey after Monday's class.