AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) provides strategies that assists people with severe communication disabilities so that the individuals can participate more in social activities such as education, employment, and with interactions between others.
No/low Tech Tool:
High Tech Tool:
The BIGmack Communicator: is large scale buttons that assist students with speech and/or language disorders, who are blind or have low vision. or have mobility difficulties. The BIGmack allows the teacher to record a message up to 2 minutes that the student can listen to again and again by pushing the button. The BIGmack can be used with compatible toys or appliance with the cable that is usually included. When I went and observed a special education classroom, a student was using the BIGmack Communicator. She was immobile and the buttons could be attached to her wheelchair. She struggled with both fine and gross motor skills, so the buttons were near her head and she could then tap the button with her head or look in the direction of her choice. The teacher was assisting her and talking to her along the way. She was working on writing a prompt about what they had done that day in class.Accessibility:
Alternative input devices allows there to be other options for students who can't or struggle with using the keyboard and pointer (mouse).
Hardware Tool:
Joystick: which allows students to use their hand, chin, feet, etc. to control the cursor on the screen. I think this a fabulous tool to use if students are struggling with their fine motor skills and need a bigger device than just a mouse to control the cursor. There also joystick that can be operated by the mouth, which can allow lots of students to use the computer. These joysticks could replace mice for the computer to allow students to use the computer: explore websites and play games.Software Tool:
Blooming Kids Software: this software is an online installation teaching tool that offers 37 individualized and growing educational programs. The program is designed to children with Autism or PDD (Pervasive Developmental Disorder). Within the software there are three programs, "mouse training", "painting", and "wooden puzzles". Each program teaches the child to point, click, and drag. There is also a program called "Talking Machine" that helps children improve their communication skills. The program uses pictures and animations as well as voicing the item to help the child learn the word or phrase. This program can help a child become familiar with a computer as well as improving their communication, comprehension, problem-solving skills, as well as many others. In the classroom, this program will stimulate the student's mind and it also keeps track of the student's progress throughout the program and builds on it.I commented on Angela's Blog and Emily's Blog
Sam! You Journal entry #8 was very informative and cool to read about. I think the BigMac idea is awesome and is a great tool to help kids learn while making it fun. The software tool also sounds very productive and even sounded fun to me. These are great tools that I didn't know about before reading your post. I did however talk about the joystick in my post so it was cool to compare what you learned to what I read about as well. :)
ReplyDeleteSam, I didn't come across the large joystick, but it is such a simple accommodation that can make a big difference. Also, the software sounds encouraging- especially the Talking Machine, I will look more into that one. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSam, I really enjoyed looking into the joystick tool. I can really see this being helpful in the classroom for students who want to participate on the computer but do not have the fine motor skills for a typical mouse. Interesting!
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