Full Inclusion

[Tracey Dobusch]

Hi, I have a soon to be 6 year old student with cp who is in a special day class setting but is getting ready to move to general education. We are a small district and have not had much experience with this type of student. He communicates using eye gaze, head shake/nod, and can access the computer using a switch. He is awaiting a DynaVox. I am trying to present a plan to the IEP team and general education teachers for a smooth transition to general ed. I can see the teacher wondering what to do about his access needs and how she will help him access the curriculum. Does anyone have any ideas for 1st grade curriculum? Support staff needed? etc? Thank you, Tracey

[Jeannette Van Houten]

Hi! Tracey your little guy sounds like a young lady I am working with right now. We do a mix of low tech and high tech strategies to help him participate in the general education classroom. We use the same materials as her peers with some tweaking. I have a plan with the district that I got her workbooks in April so I could start scanning and modifying the materials for September. The one thing we didwas flagged each page with how the student would do it (computer - eye gaze - communication device).

Allowing me to have the materials early allowed me to jump the staff about 4 months into the year so I could support them with training during the year. For example, spelling words 3 times each, for his 4 words one was completed on the computer with the letters all mixed up, one was on his communication device (he had to find the catagory to look for word) and then the last eye gaze he had to identify the word and then spell the word. He would do do 2 in school and 1 at home for homework.

For support staff, if possible have an aide that is responsible for scanning and inputting the information. It is not realistic that the teacher will be able to do it. The teacher and therapist can be a responsible for parts of the need but really it is always helpful when you have a child who's needs are so great that there is an extra set of hands to input even if it is 2 times a week. If you create the templates and the person only imports the information it is always helpful.

I would also find out from the teacher what are some computer programs the typical children play and see if the there is a way to program the dynavox to do some of the activities. For example, I have a student playing Fox and he uses his communication device. The game isn't educational however it does help him practice his mouse skills and speed.

Hope that helps.

[Tracey Dobusch]

Hi Jeannette, Thanks for the great ideas! In your district, is it the SLP who is responsible for this along with the teacher? Or, is there someone else who would do it? In my district, I (SLP) am probably the one who would take on this responsibility. I'm trying to figure out how to find the time to scan, prep, etc on top of my large speech-language caseload. It seems overwhelming to me. Do you know if book publishers have curriculum on CD so we don't have to scan? We have IntelliTools Classroom Suite. Are you familiar with that? Do you think that might be helpful in the general ed classroom? Please let me know. Thanks, td

[Jeannette Van Houten]

Hi! I typically train educational aides to take on the responsibility of doing the scanning, prep and printing of materials. For my little kid we have one aide that has taken on the role of being the physical care of her and the other aide has taken on the role of the technology. Trust me; I know this is a DREAM because not all districts or schools do this.

Honestly, you cannot do it yourself. You will need support from the whole team including the parents if the district cannot get you help from an aide. There are so many things to do sometimes it seems they will never get done. I keep a running to do list that we the team has on a wiki space. This is where we post activities, request, meeting notes, daily logs and resource links that we found helpful. This works for this specific team but I can say that it doesn't work with everyone. I have one that we use the old fashion method of notebook notes or emails.

The problem with young children is that workbooks do not fall under the NIMAS or publishers offering CD of the activities. So you are forced to create the materials or find them from others. You might get the textbooks on CD. If your teacher uses the Weekly Reader check at Ablenet, Inc they have partnered with them to make the text electronic or in picture support.

Intellitools is a great product. If you can I would watch the feedback on Intellitools 4. From everything I have heard and see it is going to be worth the cost of the upgrade because of the speed of creating materials. The Intellishare is a great resource for pre-made materials
.

[Tracey Dobusch]

Hi again, I have a question about services on IEP. My goal for this student is to teach him how to use the speech generating device for communication. His receptive language is age-appropriate- no receptive language disorder. He is non-verbal but when given technology for communication he does not appear to have an expressive language disorder. Does that make sense? I'm wondering on the IEP, do I put DIS Speech-Language services or Assistive Technology services or a combination of both? Sorry if this isn't clear and you need more info (it is almost 1am here- ugh!). Thank you, Tracey

[Jeannette Van Houten]

Here is my rule and everyone has their own thoughts on this. I do not make AT a goal. AT is supposed to support the goals and objectives that a child has in their IEP. So if this student was on my case load I would write goals for speech therapy, get appropriate number of therapy hours for the SLP to do what she needs to do and also request AT services. The reason for both is that you need to have your therapy time but you can't use all your therapy time to train the staff, support the student by adding pages and whatever pops up all through your therapy time. the child needs to have therapy. Others may have another opinion but that is how I work in to a childs IEP.

[Tracey Dobusch]

Thank you! td

[Joan Breslin Larson]

Jeannette- that is how I would propose the IEP be written also. There probably should be a combination of direct and indirect services for a student with high technology needs.
I always tell folks where I work that AT supports a goal, that use of AT is not a goal in and of itself- so- it makes sense that the goals are included under speech.

[Tracey Dobusch]

Thanks Joan and Jeannette! I am new to this and your info definitely has helped me understand better. You are great resources! Thanks again, Tracey

[Samuel Charles Sennott]

1. Obtain memberships to www.accessiblebookcollection.com and www.bookshare.org.

2. Work hard at establishing a reliable alternative pencil: either light tech alphabet setup or a high tech solution like his new Dynavox, Intellitools Classroom Suite's Intellitalk, or Clicker 5

3. Create a PowerPoint or hard copy book that in five minutes or less tells exactly how this child communicates and negotiates his school day. Pictures are worth a thousand words and video is priceless.

4. Make sure you have a plan for adapting the Working with Words/ Phonics Block in the first grade class. Most likely the teacher has an established routine for this and you may find that people already have the adaptations for you.

Between having a ton of accessible books, a reliable alternative pencil, a clear way to participate in phonics instruction, and a new AAC device on the way, you will be prepared for much of the academic content of the year. Yet, make sure that you consider how to add vocabulary to the Dynavox. One factor is making sure you have a clearly established leader responsible for the integrity of the language system, i.e. backups, organization. Having a clear plan for how to systematically provide just in time vocabulary might be a good consult topic.

Good luck.

[Tracey Dobusch]

Thank you for the great ideas! Tracey

[K Greenhaw]

Have you tried games and programs like Wheels! and Early & Advanced Switch Games? Wheels is helpful for students with limited mobility or cognitive and visual impairments that integrates bright colors, mazes, and games into a program that give kids an opportunity to practice their skills with joysticks, mice, keyboards and head mice while following a structured learning program.

In addition, Early and Advanced Switch Games might also help get kids of varying ages used to using switches in the classroom. Also if you need some good reading to get you started on a 1st grade curriculum, you might try Writing Measurable IEPs, which covers effective writing and planning to meet your IEP goals.

[David Koppenhaver]

Karen Erickson and I have co-authored a book entitled "Children with Disabilities: Reading and Writing the Four Blocks Way." That book and "The Teacher's Guide to the Four Blocks" describe the framework, a variety of instructional strategies, and a variety of technologies that support inclusive literacy instruction. Karen and I also teach a course on literacy instruction for AAC users. Other members of this assistive tech group (e.g., Lois Turner and Sam Sennott) have taken this class and could tell you more about whether it is worthwhile for you and/or your son. Links to info from my homepage. Best wishes, Dave