Technology Access Project (TAP) Report
January 21, 2008
The Technology Access Project (TAP) was designed to examine the effectiveness of assistive technology as an educational tool for students with moderate to profound intellectual disabilities. During this 2-year pilot project, SET-BC is providing technology solutions for students, training school-based teams, developing curriculum resources, and carrying out research on the effect of technology use by these students.
Year One (2006 – 2007)
SET-BC provided assistive technology services and support to 172 students with Down syndrome in BC school districts. Some of the students and teams participated in a research study headed by Dr. Pat Mirenda at the University of British Columbia.
Project criteria for Year One:
- Students identified in C category with Down syndrome
- Students attend public school in BC
- Teams strong and interested in supporting assistive technology
- Training was carried out online and in-district.
- Districts willing to provide 2 days of release time for training
- Technologies chosen from three bundled solutions designed to support:
- Early and emergent literacy
- Beginning writing
- Communication
- Research participation optional
General feedback in Year One:
- Teams in the research project were asked to respond to monthly questionnaires and to provide monthly samples of student work.
- A follow-up form was sent out to all teams after year one. There was an overwhelmingly positive response from those returning this follow-up information.
- Many teams reported that the Balanced Literacy program being used by some of the students had resulted in more and clearer verbalization by the students.
Research results in Year One:
During year one, 68 parents signed release forms to allow their children to participate in the TAP research. The research team gathered writing and communication samples from school based teams between January and June 2007.
Dr. Mirenda reports that after Year One:
- Co:Writer use enhanced spelling accuracy and writing quality, compared to handwriting.
- Clicker 5 use resulted in significant improvements in writing quality.
- Teacher reports suggested a positive impact of Clicker 5 use on students’ academic, communication, and social interaction skills.
Year Two (2007 - 2008)
As of December 31, 2007, SET-BC has provided assistive technology service to 45 students in Category C. Approximately 65 other students in Category C are expected to be identified for SET-BC support during the remaining 2 service delivery cycles this year.
Project Criteria for Year Two:
- All students identified in the C category.
- Students attend public school in BC.
- Training and support for school-based teams provided in-district.
- Technology solutions chosen from computers, devices, software and peripherals in the SET-BC loan bank.
- Research: Students who participated in research in year one were invited to participate in a second year of research. 47 parents signed release forms to continue participation.
Student Stories
The following stories were submitted by teachers of students in the TAP project in year one.
Morgan
As Morgan works on his story about music, classmates walk by with curiosity. They stop to check out the program and tell him how cool it is. An ancillary benefit of the TAP experiment is the increased positive integration that has occurred in the classroom.
The computerized lessons have offered an opportunity for independent learning that is highly motivating, which is a key benefit. Repetition that is built into the structure of the lesson has been a worthwhile learning tool for this student with Down syndrome. While working completely independently for a time period of 20 minutes a day, he has gained a better understanding of word order and sentence structure. Overall, TAP has created an exceedingly successful learning tool that capitalizes on the very motivational use of computers with high interest story topics. All the topics chosen were of interest to Morgan, which kept him on task and keen to stay involved. Access to the computer has been a highlight for Morgan's Grade 5 year.
Denise
Denise enjoyed working on the computer. While using the Clicker grid set for the monthly writing sample, she could read the first sentence on her own:” This is a __________.” Near the end she liked to try and read the words by moving the mouse to each word while repeating what they said. Denise became very confident in setting up the computer and was able to move to the various screens. Denise really wants to read books on her own and this work has helped her with her vocabulary both recognizing the written word and with her speech. She is now speaking using 4 to 5 words in her sentences.
Justin
Justin, a grade 6 student in Saanich, has been using Balanced Literacy and Clicker 5 on a laptop from SET-BC. Justin’s team reported that participation in the TAP project has increased Justin’s language with familiar adults and peers, has increased his understanding of word families, and increased his awareness of grammar. Justin is very motivated by the software activities and for example, sings along in Balanced Literacy.
The Clicker 5 materials from curriculum SET were a perfect match for Justin’s language and literacy level. curriculumSET materials such as “Zoo Animals”, “Music”, and “Valentines” were very engaging and motivating. Justin’s team has used the curriculumSET activities as templates to create their own materials on shared student activities such as “Camping”. When asked about his computer, Justin happily stated “I love it!”
Colton
Colton’s team is pleased to share his success: “The computer has really boosted Colton’s self-esteem. Colton can show the other students how to do things on the computer. He really enjoys the computer and gets totally involved. I can't believe how he has taken off with learning to read.
He is an amazing young man. I can hardly believe how much progress he has made lately.”
Kevin
Kevin is keen to learn his TAP computer activities. He is willing to work on his Clicker 5 grids and has developed the ability to sequence 3 to 4 word sentences, and is able to attend to tasks for a longer period of time. He has also fine-tuned his mouse control. We have created interactive sentence strips that are similar to the sentences on his computer, to help Kevin with sequencing sentence structure. He is able to move and manipulate the words and sentences and then is able to transfer the skill to his computer work.
Overall we think that the program is well structured and of high interest to Kevin.
Karn
Karn has really taken ownership of his computer. In the beginning he was so excited to use it that he would often ask for it several times a day and constantly sign “more” when he was using it. The activities related to our monthly themes have helped to capture his interest and attention as well as teach him many new vocabulary words.
He does not like it when other people touch his computer and when our AAC Special Education Assistant would come to take it to add new activities he would get very upset telling her that she could not have it even after she asked politely. It was only until I explained to him that she is the one who puts all of the fun activities on his computer that he now allows her to take it. Most of all, it has really improved Karn's sentence building ability as he can now make four word sentences beginning with words other than "I", which had previously been challenging for him.
Jamie
When Jamie started to use Clicker 5, he struggled to read and comprehend at the grade one level. Jamie is 16 years old and many people would not expect further reading progress at his age. Now, several months later, he is at 94% reading accuracy, demonstrating level one competency. He reads every spare minute. He rushes to his computer whenever he has a choice of activities, and can't wait to see the latest instalments that the Speech and Language assistant makes. If Jamie is in my office, he picks up my textbooks and begins to read aloud from them. He reads newspapers, signs, labels, and books of any size. Jamie totes his laptop to his keyboarding class and works earnestly on his stories with the help of the very capable education assistant, who has worked intensively with Jamie.
The TAP program, combined with the Speech and Language Assistant’s creative updates, helped match Jamie's ability to read with his desire. Jamie's reading ability has outstripped what some would consider his potential. His speech has increased to using 2-3 word phrases regularly, rather than answering "yup" to any question. His social confidence has increased and he is willing to risk more communication with his peer tutors.
Vernon
On a recent visit to Chilliwack, I was happy to meet Vernon, who received assistive technology through TAP. Vernon was eager to show me the things that he could do on his computer. He opened Clicker and quickly wrote a journal entry using a journal grid set that his teacher had downloaded from curriculumSET. He was able to write the date, including day, month and year and write about the weather. He also demonstrated Balanced Literacy, which he loves. He sings along to the songs and has favourite stories. He has learned to read and use the computer for simple writing activities. His school team reports that he is a much happier student this year.
Connor
Connor’s is a real success story. Last year, in grade 1, he was a non-reader, a non-writer and had difficulty cooperating with his peers. This year, using the TAP technology combined with the Edmark Literacy program he has become actively involved in his learning. He is able to recognize letters of the alphabet and read many words. He can write simple 3 word sentences. He is interested and motivated.