This document discusses various ways that assistive technology has helped students with different needs. It provides examples of students who struggled in areas like writing, reading, and life skills and how the use of apps on iPods or iPads helped improve their skills. Low-tech solutions like colored tape are also shown to help students gain independence. Data is presented showing academic gains students achieved through consistent use of assistive technology apps. The document promotes using technology to reinforce classroom instruction, for students to teach each other, and in speech therapy. It emphasizes that assistive technology does not need to be high-tech and lists potential apps that can be used for Tier 1 interventions.

1. Assistive Technology
Success
Joanna Staino, Speech Therapist
Jennifer Kalbfell, Occupational Therapist
Local Assistive Technology Specialists (LATS)
Lakeland Central School District

2. Student Profile
• 14 year old male
• Participated in an O.T. program for the past
8 years
• Student struggles with fine, visual and
sensory motor skills
• Impact in classroom - poor written
communication

3. Treatment Plan
• Visual motor skills
• Drill and practice
• Typing
• After 8 years of therapy, there was minimal
improvement in writing skills, but significant
improvement in typing skills

4. Initial Writing Sample

5. iWriteWords iPod App

6. iWriteWords

7. • Student was introduced to the app during a
30-minute therapy session
• Student purchased app for his own iPod
• Student used the app 7 to 8 times a day
• 2 weeks later.....

8. Handwriting Sample
2 weeks later

9. What made the
difference?
• Student was motivated to use iPod to learn
• iPod provided multi-sensory learning
• App provided consistent letter formation
• Student was able to create motor memory
for letter formations
• Student has become more successful in the
classroom

10. Student Profile
• 18 year old female
• Student has limited sight word reading
• Student participates in BOCES culinary
program
• Classroom impact- student can not read
recipes

11. Initial Assessment
• Student was assessed on the 40 words
most commonly found in her recipes
• Student was able to read 6 out of 40 words
on the first day
• Student was given iPod touch with audio
flash cards that included the 40 words
• Flash cards included word, picture, and
audio

12. butter

14. 2 Weeks Later...
• Student was given an assessment of the
same 40 words
• Student was now able to read 31 words
consistently!

15. What made the
difference?
• The student was able to see the word, hear
it, and see a picture of the item
• The student was motivated to review the
vocabulary many times a day
• Student’s teacher is able to use the same
pictures to further reinforce the words

16. Class Profile
• Self-contained class (middle school)
• Reading levels range from sight word
readers to 3rd grade level readers
• Classroom impact- students’ struggle to
read books at their interest level

17. Bookshare is a Digital
Reader with Audio

18. Bookshare.org
• Bookshare.org is introduced to teacher
• Students are signed up for books in a digital
format
• Students are able to read books at grade
level and or interest level

19. • Students are excited to read
• Teacher can provide instruction at several
levels and provide reading for all students
• Students can access both books to read for
pleasure and text books

20. Students on
Bookshare

21. Smartboard
• Provides students with interactive learning
experiences
• Multi-sensory approach, provides
opportunities for all learning styles

23. Class Profile
• High School Lifeskills class
• 8-12 students at various skill levels
• Small group instruction has greatest impact

24. Ipod Apps:
Time and Money
• Learning how to Tell Time
• Learning how to count,
add, and subtract money

25. Apps for Time and
Money skills
• Teacher provides group lesson time
• Following lessons, students break into
groups of 1 or 2 using iPods
• Teacher/aides assist students with iPods
and apps
• Students are engaged and feedback is
immediate for the students

28. Collected Data on
iPod Use
• Money/ time skills
• Student 1
9/30/10 score 5-45
12/22/10 score 15-135
• Student 2
9/30/10 score 55-100
1/14/11 score 145-150

29. Assistive Tech Doesn’t Have
to be HiTech:
Low Tech Solutions
• Lined paper
• Grips
• Special pencils
• Portable keyboards
• Spacers
• Highlighting tape

30. Low Tech Levels the
Playing Field

31. Tying Shoes
• 18 year old Lifeskills student
• Requires assistance with many ADL skills,
including tying shoes
• Many years of instruction
• Student struggled for independence

32. Low Tech Solution:
Colored Tape

33. Success!
• Student is able to be independent
• Transfer of skills to other fine motor areas
during pre-voc class noted

34. Students Using AT to
Teach Each Other

35. • Students are able to use iPods, iPads,
computers, and Smartboards to reinforce
lessons from the classroom
• Students gain confidence through
immediate feedback

36. Podcasting
• Students write and create podcasts as part of their class
• The podcast reinforces the lessons taught during group
instruction
• Each student is able to expand on the teachers topic
• Students are able to explore the internet for information
and show creativity through podcasts
• Podcasts serve as visual and audio study guide
• Students are able to proudly display their work on the web
• Parents are able to reinforce lessons at home

37. Podcasting Examples

38. Podcasting for
Instruction
• Physical Therapist created home exercise
programs and posted them on a podcast
• Posted programs can be reinforced with
parents at home
• Programs can also be instructional
(ex: “how to”)

39. Basic PE Exercises
Podcast

40. Student Profile
• Student is a 4th grade who is legally blind
• His sight is limited to peripheral vision
• He has difficulty reading for a sustained amount of time
• Exams and classwork were enlarged on a daily basis
• Student does not like using enlarged material due to the
perceived negative attention it brought to him
• Student wants to do what everyone else in the class is
doing, and in the same way

41. AT Classroom
Solutions
• Student was provided with a laptop for classwork and
homework
• Accessibility features of contrast and zoom were set
• A scanner is used to scan homework and classwork into
his laptop
• The student uses the Smartboard notebook software
where he is able to then manipulate the size and contrast
• Teacher is able to send notes to the student via this
method

42. • Student was also started on Bookshare.org
where he is able to read books that he was
previously unable to due to print size
limitations
• Student was reluctant to use the laptop in
the classroom to read during independent
reading since no one else in the class was
doing so

43. Solution
• Convert books from Bookshare.org into an
audio file and download books onto iPod Touch
• Because of the student’s reluctance in being the
only one using new technology in the
classroom, 2 iPod Touches were given to the
teacher for the entire class to use
• Student is now anxiously awaiting his turn to use
the iPod Touch for reading

44. Using Apps for
Speech and Language
Therapy
* Articulation practice and data collection
* Sentence Formulation
* Answering WH questions

48. Use Apps for Tier 1
Interventions in the
Areas That Can be Targeted:
Reading Fluency
Sight Words
Spelling
Vocabulary
Math Facts: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication
Money Skills
Time Skills
Letter Formation
And More....

56. Jennifer Kalbfell,
jkalbfell@lakelandschools.org
Joanna Staino
fstaino@lakelandschools.org