Below are the the parts I took away from fellow classmates' case studies.
*when I mention she/he it refers to the student the presenter is talking about.
*when I mention she/he it refers to the student the presenter is talking about.
Amanda's Case Study
High school student. First language is French and is currently in an English school. This is a total change in her education.Very polite student. Takes feedback very well and wants help/assistants. LD
with adaptations. Chrome Book designated to her. English and writing are her challenges and
multi-step tasks.
Tool used: Google Chrome-Google Read & Write -Voice to text feature
Why did Amanda pick this student? Student struggles with writing with pencil and typing on a computer. She has clear speech and has access to a Chrome Book.
Assignment:
Amanda had her due...
1- write the assignment by hand, with pencil first
2- tried typing it out
3- Voice typing on Google Read&Write
Amanda had her due...
1- write the assignment by hand, with pencil first
2- tried typing it out
3- Voice typing on Google Read&Write
Some struggles with the program: Amanda noticed that when her student said one into the computer, the computer wrote the number 1. When the student said comma it wrote the word and not the punctuation mark. Last, Amanda said her student struggles with multi-step instructions. So, this student will struggle with independently working with this program.
What the student liked about the program: she was able to get her ideas down a lot more quickly, she said it was easier to expresses her ideas and better because she didn't have to know the spelling.
Environment: she said she wouldn't feel comfortable using it in the classroom where there isn't anyone else who uses it. She is self conscious about using it.
Kareen's Case Study
First Student
High school aged student. This student wants to do well and please. Rule follower. Great home support. Doesn't take part in regular classroom setting. Desire for perfection. Questions everything for purpose.
Why did Kareen pick this student? She struggles with pencil grip, spelling, punctuation, writing hard to read, and letter reversals.
Goal: To help he to feel motivated to complete an assignment.
Tool(s) used: Adobe Spark
Assignment: Camping trip project for Math 11 Essentials class. Make a list of supplies, cost of food, total cost for trip etc.
No struggles or challenges with Adobe Spark.
What the student liked about the program: she liked it better than PowerPoint, that it was new to her, she caught on very quickly, program is easy to learn and use, and she was able to show her humor within this program.
Recommendations: Introduce her to an organization app (Egenda), use Google voice typing, inspiration and continue with Adobe Spark.
Why did she pick this AT? She has good vocab, willing to solve problems, needs help to share her ideas, and because she suffers from anxiety.
What Kareen Learned: Using AT, with a student, is a process. The right AT to use depends on the activity at hand, on willingness to use AT, and depends on students individual strengths and abilities. Also, to celebrate all success.
Theresa's Case Study
Elementary age school student. Very active and social. Willing to participate. Usually and A and B student. No past interventions. Very supportive family.
Why did Theresa pick this student? Letters are big, he uses simple sentences, and fine motor skills are an issue (takes a long time to write words down on paper).
Tool(s) used: Chrome Book- Google Read & Write and low tech pencil grip task.
Assignment: student topic choice.
Some struggles with the program: Speech to text was not as successful due to his pronunciation of words. With word prediction, he would pick words with lower case beginnings when he should have picked the capitalized ( picked i instead of I). Where this was being done outside of school and not as much support from the school due to the fact he will be changing of schools, next year.
What the student liked about the program: He like the word prediction and typing directly. Google R&W helps him to show what he cognitively is able to do and he was more comfortable with showing what he knows.
Recommendations: Referral for an OT, tutor for one-on-one support and to continue to use word predictor.
Abby's Case Study
Picked her daughter, where she is on Educational Leave. Elementary aged student. Currently in a French Immersion program. Shy in nature. Keen to learn English.
Goal: To help her transfer her French Literacy skills into English Literacy. Abby would like to see her to have less frustration overall.
Tool(s) used: Raz-Kids Program
Why did Abby pick this program? It is portable, interactive, hands-on, rewards are giving to help motivation, not a big learning curve, and easy to monitor her progression.
Assignment: To see where she is with her reading in English.
Some struggles with the program: She quickly became reliant on the program being able to read aloud the words. She skipped 's' as an ending to words, where in French this isn't done.
What Abby liked about the program: Abby liked that she could monitor her and how the program calculates things like accuracy percentage. On Raz-Kids she did well when the book was read to her first. Liked that you can click on individual words to say aloud.
Recommendations: To continue to use Raz-Kids until she reaches K-M, monitor use of pronunciation function, encouraging reading English books and continue French reading as well.
Cathy's Case Study
First Student
High school student going to college next year. Very social and good at picking up social cues. He has learned, Learned Helplessness. He is a visual learner. Has an LD, on IPP and attendance issues up until grade 9. Likes people doing things for him. Very short attention span.
Why did Cathy pick this student? He has trouble with printing and reading texts.
Goal: To help him become more independent for the college setting. To get more information down, when pencil and paper is taken away.
Tool(s) used: Chrome Book- Google Read & Write. Voice to text feature.
Assignment: Student topic choice.
Some struggles with the program: No struggles.
What the student liked about the program: This student loved this program. He also used words he wouldn't not normally use, due to the struggle with spelling. Gained independence with the vocabulary dictionary. Student and teacher don't need to be in the same room to communicate.
Recommendations: To use all aspects of Google Read & Writing after he graduates.
Damion's Case Study
Junior high student. Very academically capable. Very involved family. Works well with other students, but prefers alone. He doesn't like speech to text because it doesn't always pick the correct homophone words, which frustrates him. Very aware of the educational system. He has Dyslexia.
Why did Damion pick this student? He feels his writing is messy and he articulates that his brain writes faster than my pencil does. He has trouble staying organized.
Goal: Use At to help with writing notes and organizing thoughts that don't require speech. He didn't wan to leave the room to use speech to text.
Tool(s) used: iPad- adapted the colour due to vision impairments. Used the Notes app. and iPad keyboard.
Assignment: Political piece based around the election.
Some struggles with the case study: Struggles with resistance with technology. This causing him to have to do each assignment twice; once with paper and the second on the iPad.
What the student liked about the program: He thought the iPad helped his writing. Liked using the iPad to do this.
Recommendations: Bringing him back to the planning team.
Sue's Case Study
Elementary aged student. Supportive mother. Very compassionate student and willing to take risks. Very social.
Why did Sue pick this student? She consistently asks people to spell words out for her and if she can't spell words she will use a word that is easier to use.
Goal: To give her confidence to to express and extend her ideas with writing.
Tool(s) used: Speech to text using Siri in the Pages app
Assignment: to write a story about her trip to PEI last summer.
Some struggles with the program: frustration level can be a struggle and she can give up when frustrated. She didn't like that it was hard to place her finger on the screen for the courser. She didn't like that she had to go back to fix something when you got something wrong, she didn't like the little rectangle comes up when you spell a words wrong (distracted her). Hard to edit the work where she forgot what she was trying to say. Sue liked that speech to text improved her content and organization.
What the student liked about the program: She thought it was fun, saved her a lot of time, able to write more than with paper, was able to get more ideas down.
Recommendations: Needs more time to practice speaking into the speech to text program. It will be good for her to have access to speech to text in the future. Right now, not all the time, but to have the option once and awhile as an option.
Katie's Case Study
High school age student. Hard working, polite, pleasant and loyal student. More on the shier side. Need to be independent and self safi at home. Great memory and self advocates. Resident to trying new things.
Why did Katie pick this student? To help increase his independence.
Goal: To find At to help with spelling and writing
Tool(s) used: Chrome Book- Google Read & Write and word predictor (Co-Writer). Speech to text on the Pages app.
Assignment: Writing about Ark video game
Some struggles with the program:
Co-Writer- there wasn't a topic dictionary for his topic.
Google Read and Write- didn't use it to the full potential. Not fully using the program, but this was the best fit for him.
Co-Writer- there wasn't a topic dictionary for his topic.
Google Read and Write- didn't use it to the full potential. Not fully using the program, but this was the best fit for him.
What the student liked about the program: It was easy to use and he liked being able to speak into the microphone to get his writing done.
Recommendations: To continue to work with him and encourage Google R&W to increase his independence.
Sarah's Case Study
Junior high school student. Only child and is adopted. Language based LD. Friendly, outgoing and kind student. Can be easily frustrated and lacks confidence. Has trouble with organization.
Why did Sarah pick this student? To help him complete more work interdependently and to gain more confidence.
Tool(s) used: Chrome Book- Google Read & Write - Speech to text and word prediction.
Assignment: Create their own fairy tale with a moral at the end of the story.
Some struggles with the program:
Speech to text- gets hung up on the words as they come up and how slowly they appear. Would rather to type. Made him frustrated.
Word prediction- struggled to look at the copy he pre-wrote and translating it into Google R&W.
Speech to text- gets hung up on the words as they come up and how slowly they appear. Would rather to type. Made him frustrated.
Word prediction- struggled to look at the copy he pre-wrote and translating it into Google R&W.
What the student liked about the program:
Speech to text wasn't a good fit.
Word prediction- The more he used it the more advanced his words became. Example: store to business.
Speech to text wasn't a good fit.
Word prediction- The more he used it the more advanced his words became. Example: store to business.
Next Steps: Try to figure out how to get him AT where the school board has denied it. Work on getting him organized. Help him elaborate on ideas and use more details.
Jolene's Case Study
High school school student. Very supportive family. Enjoys leadership roles. Suffers from anxiety.
Why this student? When Jolene worked with her in grade 4, she was a very successful then gradually over time she decreased in her academic ability. She is now in grade 10 and working on early elementary work.
Tool(s) used: Chrome Book- Google Read & Write (all features of it), Tumblebooks junior (for entertainment), book creator ( LD project, inspiration for brain storming.
Assignment: LD project on Book Creator (teacher initiated project). Changed to student choice topic project on Lip Sense.
What the student liked and didn't about the programs:
Tumblebooks- she didn't like having to wear headphone and didn't like the choices.
Book creator- she liked and found it fun.
Google R&W- simplifying, vocabulary, didn't like read aloud, and not comfortable with speech to text options. She couldn't use independently.
Tumblebooks- she didn't like having to wear headphone and didn't like the choices.
Book creator- she liked and found it fun.
Google R&W- simplifying, vocabulary, didn't like read aloud, and not comfortable with speech to text options. She couldn't use independently.
Recommendations: purchasing more apps for classroom iPad. Implementing use of Google R&W with HRSB for transition students.
Alison's Case Study:
Elementary age school student. Very supportive and involved family. Cares about the environment. Non-verbal LD and ADHD. Has a social and math IPP. Next year IPP for math and literacy.
Why did Alison pick this student? He's eager to please and excited to try something new.
Goal: To help get more down on paper with AT.
Goal: To help get more down on paper with AT.
Tool(s) used: Google doc's, Google Slides and Google R&W
Assignment: Book review and research project
Some struggles with the program: Sometimes he would get frustrated. He didn't like being different then his classmates using technology.
What the student liked about the program: He's getting more written down. He was able to express more with word choices and liked having different program to show what he knows.
Recommendations: to get him to create longer pieces, explore more Google R&W features, use other programs like inspiration and to also keep handwriting in the mix.
Nick's Case Study
Elementary aged student. One of six siblings in the school. He has learning difficulties and outside life has a factor on his academics. Likes to try his best in school. Different cognitive, academic and emotional challenges.
Why did Nick pick this student? Nick is going to be working with him again next year and wanted to do a check in on how he's doing with AT that was introduced to him, in the past.
Tool(s) used: iPad- Speech to text on Google Doc's
AT matches: iPad voice to text, Readiris and Claro
Goal: To help him transfer into junior high setting from upper elementary
AT matches: iPad voice to text, Readiris and Claro
Goal: To help him transfer into junior high setting from upper elementary
Assignment: How to make french toast
Some struggles with the program: He had some negative views initially. He didn't want to be seen as 'different' than his classmates.
What the student liked about the program: increased how much he got down.
Recommendations: Continue to provide successful opportunities to help increase a positive outlook on AT. Train and educate his teacher he will have next year.
Allison's Case Study
Elementary age school student. He really enjoys art. Globally delayed, speech impairment, and nonverbal.
Tool(s) used: Chrome Book- Google Read & Write. Picture Dictionary feature.
Goal: To strengthen his abilities and promote more independence
Goal: To strengthen his abilities and promote more independence
Assignment: Use Picture Dictionary to build his vocabulary
Some struggles with the program: He had trouble highlighting single words, accidentally exiting the program.
What the student liked about the program: He liked to see what he did play back to him.
Recommendations: continue to practice highlighting tool and learn dinosaur names (listen and say).
Allison learned from this case study that she had to adjust her vocabulary to meet the needs of the student. For example, saying purple puzzle piece to indicate Google R&W.
Case Study and Course Overview
I really enjoyed listening to every single classmates' case studies and seeing how they used AT to help their students. You could really tell the pride and the attachment each classmate had for their students that they work with. I really enjoyed seeing the before and after AT examples. It was very prominent that the AT that was used the most was the SPEECH TO TEXT. I believe it was the feature that we all were most comfortable with. Hopefully knowing this, we all will step out of our comfort zone (for our students' sakes) and explore more AT options, because if I learned one think from this course is:
Overall, I am very happy I signed up for this course. It has been a real eye opener for me. The fact that all these programs and AT's are out there, to help students, and I was oblivious to it all. Now I know it is out there. I want to explore and use it all, to help my students. The frustrating part is the lack or resources available. I have already shared programs I learned about, from this course, with fellow co-workers. I also was so proud of my student that I did my case study on, that I shared her before and after samples with anyone who would listen. To think, we aren't doing any of our students' any justice by withholding the AT from them. It's heart breaking. I will be fighting and looking for ways to get more access to computers and programs, knowing what I learned from this course, and how AT can change some students lives.
Allison learned from this case study that she had to adjust her vocabulary to meet the needs of the student. For example, saying purple puzzle piece to indicate Google R&W.
Case Study and Course Overview
I really enjoyed listening to every single classmates' case studies and seeing how they used AT to help their students. You could really tell the pride and the attachment each classmate had for their students that they work with. I really enjoyed seeing the before and after AT examples. It was very prominent that the AT that was used the most was the SPEECH TO TEXT. I believe it was the feature that we all were most comfortable with. Hopefully knowing this, we all will step out of our comfort zone (for our students' sakes) and explore more AT options, because if I learned one think from this course is:
Not all assistive technology is a one size fits all!
Overall, I am very happy I signed up for this course. It has been a real eye opener for me. The fact that all these programs and AT's are out there, to help students, and I was oblivious to it all. Now I know it is out there. I want to explore and use it all, to help my students. The frustrating part is the lack or resources available. I have already shared programs I learned about, from this course, with fellow co-workers. I also was so proud of my student that I did my case study on, that I shared her before and after samples with anyone who would listen. To think, we aren't doing any of our students' any justice by withholding the AT from them. It's heart breaking. I will be fighting and looking for ways to get more access to computers and programs, knowing what I learned from this course, and how AT can change some students lives.
Technology is our future so might as well jump on-board.
