Breaking All Barriers

Our iCommunicate! experience

Breaking All Barriers

One more step along the road

April 30, 2010 · No Comments · Assisted communication, augmentative communication, autism, Educational Research, ProLoQuo2Go Application on iTouch, Using the iTouch with students with moderate to severe disabilities

Minutes from our iCommunicate meeting – 4/29/2010

Teacher Comments

Falynn

Because she was down one  staff member all week, she was not able to use the device with Phil since he needs so much direct supervision.

Melissa

Tom asked why she working without speaker sometimes; the response is  because she was trying to  change the buttons (choices) and when you do this you are obliged to take it out of the case – this is not something you can really do “on the fly”.  She has changed the display it so that it has only four choices.  Nathan is really focusing on his choices but lacks the fine motor skill to make the choice without assistance; but his use of the device seems to have improved when faced with only four buttons.  Melissa has also tried mounting the device on an adjustable arm that sticks to a flat surface.  The Velcro is quite strong, but Nathan is able to slide the entire set up off the table; in fact, this week it went flying across the room, and amazingly, Ms. Kim, one of the classroom staff, caught it.

Walter

In an attempt to encourage John to use the device, Walter took his picture book away.  Now John will not let go of his picture book.  Walter thinks perhaps John would like the iPad better  - larger and easier to use– or it  could be that he is just a low tech guy.  The group discussed whether or not  John is being given any real incentive to figure out the device, given his strong preference for his word book.  Another student, Elliott seems to like it.  Falynn thinks that Walter’s student, Erica would do really well with it.  She understands the difference between using a device for communicating and reward perseverating; it might be good for social interaction – so that others can understand her.  All agreed that there is a fine line between obsessive/control behaviors – but if you can use something for communication, it may be worth a try.

Stephanie

Mathani can use the device to communicate with a purpose.  Yesterday he said – “I Need help please;= I need to go the bathroom”.  He tends to  work better with it when it is on the table.  When it is on his lap, touch it has become part of his self stimulating behavior.   His broken leg has healed enough for him to start coming out of his chair on Monday and we discussed using some type lanyard to help him carry the device around.  Although he is capable of holding it but may not be heavy enough for him to recognize when he drops it.

General discussion

In general,  everyone is doing a great job individualizing the application to meet their student’s needs.  This does take time and advance planning, but seems worth the effort when the student is successful.

We are attaching the case to the adjustable arm using really strong Velcro and amazingly, the speaker still works with that in place.   Since the students are still able to slide the adjustable arm (which adheres to the table via suction), we discussed potentially using an arm on a clamp.

We spent some time discussing the relative merits of potentially using the iPad™.  Some of the questions raised were:

  • Would student focus better because it is easier to focus on something larger?
  • Are the same type of protective devices available for the iPad™ (or will they become available)?
  • Does going to something  bigger defeat the whole purpose of have this type of communication system – i.e. makes it less portable and more bulky
  • This represents a tradeoff between portability and fine motor accessibility
  • What type of warranty protection might be available for the iPad™

 

All the students and teachers are still dealing with the touch release issue – on the touch screen monitor it responds  when you touch it  - the iTouch requires the removal of touch.  We discussed creating some Boardmaker™ activities to mimic that action to help train the students in a new touch protocol.

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Working the bugs out

April 19, 2010 · No Comments · Using the iTouch with students with moderate to severe disabilities

Weekly Meeting Notes

Mathani continues to find a way to get to the edit screen.  We need to figure out some way to keep him in the portion of the ap where he is supposed to be.  Currently, he really only wants to use the iTouch to talk about himself and anything to do with him; this experience is not unique to the iTouch, however; many students do this with other communication devices.  Because his page preference is the “About Me” page, Stephanie plans to add any additional functional vocabulary to that folder.  Also, Mathani can figure out how to go forward, but not back.  This is probably because the back button is so small.  We will also be removing the message window from the iTouch he uses because he pushes it all the time inadvertently.

Phil was introduced to the device this week.  He really seems to respond to seeing photos as opposed to picture symbols.  Falynn feels she needs to maintain control over the device but one of the more exciting  developments was hearing Phil say “Good morning” after the device said it!

Nathan was very receptive to using the iTouch today.  He allowed her to help him use it via hand over hand.  Melissa feels she needs to play around with the voice to make it more appropriate for him.  All the teachers agree that the speakers deepen the voice.  She identified a need for additional training.

John will work with the device when prompted and if the symbols are the same as what he is accustomed to  – no surprise there.  Overall, however, John seems to prefer using a picture book.  Walter feels the other case works better for John.  (See the hardware section of this blog for information on our hardware configurations). 

Some overall comments from our weekly meeting:

Touch interaction

Nearly all AAC devices activate when the button is pushed – in contrast, the iTouch activates on release – i.e., most devices respond when the student’s finger makes contact with the screen, while the iTouch requires the finger to be lifted off.  This is obviously opposite what the students have been trained to do; so, the questions are:

 a) Can the iTouch be programmed to be activated as the student touches the screen? Or

 b) Can the ProLoQuo2Go be modified be activated as the student touches the screen? Or

 c) How difficult will it be to retrain intellectually disabled students to understand a different touch interface?

Further related to this is the issue of fine motor control.  On the iTouch, if the user continues to press a button/icon, ultimately the icon “vibrates” and can be moved.  Because our AAC users are expecting the device to respond when they touch it, they keep their fingers in place OR they keep their finger in place because their fine motor skills are not at the level where they can quickly touch and release.

Message Window

Subsequent to the meeting, we discovered that it was the message window was allowing Mathani to get into the edit function.  The message window was removed by accessing the Appearance setting.

Additional Modifications to the Speaker case/Speaker case issues

Last week we added the tongue depressor to the inside of the speaker case to prevent users from being able to turn the device on and off.  The teachers noted during the week some additional challenges:

  • The device tends to turn off when placed in the case because the sleep/wake button hits the inside of the case.  Because of the modification made to prevent the students from turning the device on/off or accessing the edit function, this also means it is impossible for the teacher to turn it back on.  This issue was resolved by placing a double layer of small Velcro dots to the side of the button so that it does not now hit the end of the case.
  • It is difficult to make any adjustments to the volume once it is in the case – this is an issue that has been noted by other users of this case.  Several users have noted that it would be helpful to have some type of volume adjustment on the case. 
  • Walter opted to go back to the modified HMDX case  (see hardware page), because John found that easier and more comfortable to use.

Planning Communication

Pre-planning the flow of communication is critical.  This is true with any device, but equally or more so using the iTouch and ProLoQuo2Go.  It is not easy to program many things on the fly, and using the modified speaker case makes it nearly impossible without having to take the device out of the case.  Hence,  it is very important to think through your communication strategies for your student and maximize the number of potential communication avenues.

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Getting things off the ground

April 13, 2010 · No Comments · Using the iTouch with students with moderate to severe disabilities

We had our first PLC meeting last Thursday, April 8.  Since we had just come back from Spring Break, we did not have alot to report.   We had decided that we needed a better speaker system and we ordered the iMainGO2.  This not only provides a sturdy case for the iTouch, it also provides high quality sound for the voices.  Before reading this entire post, it might be helpful to read about Who’s Who, so you will be familiar with the names I use.

Teacher experiences this week:  Stephanie had introduced the iTouch to Mathani over spring break and reported that he was completely captivated by it.  Since his return, she has noticed that one of the issues encountered is related to fine motor skills.  When he touches an icon, he tend to either leave his finger there or press multiple times; this of course, causes the icons to vibrate because the iTouch thinks he wants to rearrange them.  Also,  he easily manages to get into the settings screens and we will have to troubleshoot a way around that.  In the video posted, you will notice what looks like a large popsicle stick (or actually a tongue depressor) in place over the end – this was an attempt to keep him from getting to the settings.  We subsequently worked out a way to place the barrier inside the case.  The video shows Mathani talking about how he broke his leg.   Mathani’s Leg

Walter shared that John is interested in using the device, but mainly does so with prompting.  We expected this and what we hope will happen is as he becomes more accustomed to it, he will use it more independently.  Phillip in Falynn’s class is out until next week, however Falynn anticipates that we will also need to physically block his access to the home button and settings page.  We opted for the tongue depressor inside the case for her as well.  Melissa is using the device with Nathan using the hand over hand technique.

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And we’re off!

March 24, 2010 · No Comments · Educational Research, Using the iTouch with students with moderate to severe disabilities

Yesterday we held our first training.  I was really happy with how it went – it just goes to show that in technology training, if you give your students time to “play” – they will run with it.  The teachers’ enthusiasm was infectious and it was fun to hear the sharing of ideas and strategies for using this with our students.  We spent about the first 45 minutes just learning about the iTouch itself – learning how to set up the wireless, implement restrictions and configure the home page.  Since one of the main goals (needs?) is to minimize the distractions for our students,  we opted to set a Home Screen with just ProLoQuo 2Go by itself.  Homescreen

 We moved on to Learning about ProLoQuo2Go.  When I was putting together the training, I opted to forgo re-inventing the wheel and used the really excellent videos on their website.   We would watch a video and then take time to practice what we had learned.  Although it appears somewhat overwhelming at first, this program is easy to customize and amazingly capable.  We especially like the feature of being able to create new folders and place new and copied items into those folders.  The teachers were already strategizing about using existing Boardmaker images that they currently use for rules, etc and creating items out of those.  We watched a total of four videos (which are also on YouTube, of course!).  By the end of the day, the teachers had a solid working knowledge of the iTouch and the ap and were ready to go.  One had already introduced the iTouch to his student to see how he would react.

By this morning, two of the parents had already seen the system and were very intrigued by it. 

Those involved in this program will be meeting once a week to problem solve, share ideas, triumphs and failures.  We will be documenting it all here.  For more information on who is involved, check out the other pages of the blog.  Of course we hope that our students will learn to communicate more effectively and we hope you will share in our journey.

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Finally ready to go!

March 22, 2010 · No Comments · Educational Research, iMainGo Speaker case with iTouch, ProLoQuo2Go Application on iTouch, Using the iTouch with students with moderate to severe disabilities

I can’t believe how long it has taken to get this up and running.  The biggest frustration has been watching the school bureacracy trying to deal with the Apple bureacracy.  Despite the fact that Apple has a huge market in education, they are not particularly education friendly when it comes to dealing iwth the iTouch and Applications!  I originally contacted Apple to see if we could get an education discount to purchase the iTouches only to be told that they don’t consider the iTouch an educational item – only a consumer product (?!)  Tell that to all the schools out there running field tests to determine the feasibility of using the iTouch in the school environment.

Then the school system told me that even though these items were to be funded by a grant, I had to get approval to use non-standard equipment.  I duly filled out all the forms and submitted them.  The story of the approval process is a long one that I’m not sure I completely understand, but suffice it to say that it was long, involved and full of legalese – not to mention the fact that the application got “lost” at least once.  Had it not been for the intervention of some forward thinking colleagues in higher visibility jobs, I would probably still be sitting here waiting!  The point I am trying to make, I suppose, is that technology frequently takes on a life of its own – beyond its intended one, that is – and the creaking administrative infrastructure of industry and education struggles to keep up and fit those uses within structures that were never intended to accomodate something so radical.

Enough said on that front!  Tomorrow we have our training with the teachers  and we are all excited!  Tomorrow, I will introduce you to our participants and try to share what we hope to accomplish!.

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Welcome to Breaking all Barriers!

November 30, 2009 · No Comments · Educational Research

You are welcome to follow us as we begin our great adventure – learning to use an iTouch in a school with moderate to severely disabled students.  We were so excited to be awarded a grant from the North Tier Consortium – our grant is to conduct some action research using the iTouch and an assistive communication application called Proloquo2go.  All teachers were invited to apply, indicating which student they would like to try this with.  Our grant calls for us to engage in professional development and share the results with other teachers.  We are eager to share our experiences not only with teachers within our own building, but also beyond our walls.  So come along for the ride!

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