Collaboration...

Our task today was to use an application of Assistive Technology for a student who struggles with reading and writing and who has a low incidence disability. My learning partners for this task were Jeanette and Chelsea. Here we are quite happy after having finished our task. 







As you will see in our presentation in class tomorrow, we used the information that we had on "Jude" to come up with a list of his strengths and challenges and then complete a Neurodevelopmental Framework for Jude. These helped us to determine which Assistive Technology would be most effective and efficient for Jude to use when completing his portfolio writing. Since Jude has aspirations to work in a grocery store when he finishes high school, we determined that his task would be to write a cover letter highlighting strengths that he would bring if employed at a grocery store. 

We decided that Jude would use Clicker Sentences to complete his writing task and our instructions would be given using Book Creator. Our feeling was that Book Creator was an effective means of communication as Jude would be able to access the instructions both in print and spoken format. It also gives him the opportunity to hear instructions several times if needed. 

Collaboration! I have to say that I was EXTREMELY appreciative of the fact that I was working with Chelsea and Jeanette. Hence the title of my Blog. We commented on more than one occasion about the importance of talking things out and trial and error when working with new Apps. When one of us didn't know how to do something, the other did. It was a real team effort. 

How user friendly would these Apps be in the school environment?

As teachers,we are extremely busy! We need to use Apps that will be quick and easy. All three of us felt that the Clicker Sentences and the Book Creator Apps are very easy to learn and use. They could be taught to the entire team of people working with a student  so that they could quickly modify the task if need be. This further emphasizes the importance of collaboration. 

I look forward to all of the presentations tomorrow. I'm sure that I will learn a lot from my fellow AT comrades.