Pam

Creating, Implementing and Organizing Resources in Special Education Technology

Pam is an intermediate student who has multiple handicaps. Over a period of several years her team has developed a variety of symbol systems to augment her communication. In addition to communication, Pam's behaviour and ability to work independently have also improved.

Boardmaker Picture Communication Symbols are used to create a schedule of each day's activities. (Monday screen shot) A new daily schedule is placed on Pam's desk, and she uses a stamper to mark off each activity. This provides her with a visual reminder of what will happen next. The daily schedule is also helpful for substitute teaching assistants.

Picture symbols have also been placed in the hall, classroom and other areas around the school. These help to familiarize Pam with symbols, and also give her a simple way to communicate about activities throughout the day.

Pam also uses AbleNet's Bigmack. This single-message voice-output device is programmed with phrases such as "I'm reading a story, " so that she can comment on what she is doing.

Computer activities have always captivated Pam. Initially, she had access to a computer in the school lab. She began by watching a partner and was then provided with some single-switch activities. Pam progressed to making choices with a touch screen, and sometimes using the mouse.

The school team felt that assistive technology in the classroom could help Pam to communicate more effectively, produce some written output, and interact with peers. They requested service from SET-BC. A desktop computer, Intellikeys expanded keyboard and access software were provided to meet the needs that the team had outlined.

After receiving training in the use of OverlayMaker the team looked more closely at how the technology would be used to provide Pam with access to the curriculum. They realized that adapting her current activities for the computer would provide Pam with some familiarity while she learned new routines. Also, this gave the team time to learn about the potential of the equipment before taking on more challenging activities.

The technology provided both voice and written output in a variety of activities. Overlays for sequencing, and colour matching were implemented along with the tangible symbols that Pam had previously been using.

Overlays were created or modified for reading and retelling stories such as Quick as a Cricket , Jump Frog Jump and Brown Bear, Brown Bear. A variety of non-technical strategies continue to be used with the stories. At times, resources such as "Hands-On Reading" from Mayer-Johnson are utilized for creating picture cards and hand-outs.

Pam's work is printed out when an activity was over. She can then have a finished product like the other children in the class.

As more materials were created the teaching assistant considered ways to organize them for use in a fast moving classroom. She added theme dividers to the overlay storage folder.

A filing box of manila envelopes helped to arrange tangible symbols by activity.

The team has observed that Pam is beginning to use symbols spontaneously to ask for favorite activities like music. The use of a variety of systems, including assistive technology, picture symbols and tangibles appears to be very beneficial in providing Pam access to the curriculum.