Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs

Special Words App Adds Switch Access

2013-03-26T07:11:00.001-04:00

A long time favorite app, Special Words, has added support for one or two Bluetooth switches today! Hopefully this means that stories created in their Special Stories app and played in Special Words will also have switch access. With any luck they will add switch access to the Special Numbers app next! It is a good day for literacy learning on the iPad for switch users.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Life Skills Apps for iOS

2013-03-25T06:33:00.000-04:00

Activities of Daily Living

iTouch iLearn Life Skills Morning Routines for Preschool Kids
Everyday Cooking: Fried Egg Breakfast $4.99
iDress for Weather $1.99
Read to Learn $39.99
Photo Cook Book $3.99
Visual Shopping Lists

Graphic Calendars/Planners

Health and Safety

My Health, My Choice, My Responsibility $9.99
Living Safely $29.99
Learn My Info $3.99
Fire Rescue $1.99
Conover Functional Skills Series
Dial Phone $1.99
DialSafe Pro FREE
Bee Safe $.99
Be Seen FREE

Money Skills/Budgeting

Reward/Chore Charts

Social Skills

Hidden Curriculum for Adolescents $1.99
Hidden Curriculum for Kids $1.99
Social Skill Builder $12.99
The Social Express $89.99
Quick Cues $4.99 (plus in-app purchases)
Social Quest $19.99
Social Adventures $19.99
SOSH $39.99

Social Stories

Pre-Made

Make Your Own

Timers

Video Modeling

Make Your Own

Pre-Made

Everyday Skills $39.99
Visual Impact/Visual Impact Pro Free/$49.99

Visual Schedules

Make Your Own

First Then Visual Schedule $5.99
iCommunicate $49.99
Picture Me Calm $0.99
My Life Skills Box Free, in app purchases
Visual Cue $9.99
Visual Working For $4.99
iPrompts XL $39.99
Picture Scheduler $2.99
Visual Schedule Planner $14.99

Pre-Made

iSequences $2.99

Boardmaker Freebies

2013-03-22T20:36:00.003-04:00

It had been a while, so the Free Boardmaker Resources Perma-Post is updated. Enjoy!

Some Books about Kids Who Use AAC

2013-03-06T16:42:00.000-05:00

Out of My Mind is about 11 year old Melody who, in spite of her high intelligence and perfect memory spends her days listening to baby songs. Until she is provided with a chance at inclusion and an AAC device. (Middle school and up.)

How Katie Got a Voice (and a cool new nickname!) is about Katie who is a wheelchair user and in the end gets a new speech device. (Elementary and up.)

Sarah's Surprise stars six year old Sarah who wants to sing happy birthday to her dad. Her speech therapist helps her move from a communication board to a speech output device - just in time. (Early elementary and up.)

Rules is about Catherine, whose brother has autism. She likes to go with her mom to take her brother to occupational therapy. There she meets who is a wheelchair user and communicates using a low technology communication book. Romance ensues. (Middle school and up.)

So Don't and See What Happens and Sour Puss are both picture books about Madi and her brother Colin. Madi happens to use a wheelchair and a pink Dynavox to communicate. (Elementary school and up.)

The Romeo Riley, Private Eye Series is a set of detective novels about Romeo, another character who happens to use a wheelchair and a speech generating device. (Late elementary school and up.)

On Being Sarah tells the story of a young lady who has CP and uses a wheelchair and a Bliss Symbol communication board to communicate.

News-2-You Videos

2013-03-03T19:34:00.003-05:00

Last week News-2-You introduced an exciting new product, News-2-You Animated Videos.

These videos, done in collaboration with Wonder Grove, embed SymbolStix picture symbols as animated characters teach about safety, nutrition and other life skills. The concepts taught in the videos produced to date nearly all require communication or independent mobility to be relevant to learners. Hopefully topics more relevant to our learners with more significant challenges will be added, such as self-advocacy, abuse prevention and choice making beyond nutrition and fitness. As they stand the collection of videos would be superb for many students with Down Syndrome or related disorders or on the Autism spectrum. I can see them being added to lessons on a SmartBoard or put on mobile devices for students to watch.

Currently there are 12 videos which star four animated characters: Chris, Dee, Maria and Peter are a diverse bunch of characters. However it is my hope that a character with a physical and/or communication disability is added.

As an alternative to SymbolStix a number of the videos can be purchased with "Signing Savvy" sign language embedded into the video. The videos can also be purchased without any embedded signs or symbols. You can find free samples on their website.

You can check out two samples or purchase the videos online at News-2-You or Wonder Grove Kids.

Like This Video!

2013-02-21T16:01:00.002-05:00

My brother is a special education teacher. He and the students of the Tech Club created this video for a video public service announcement contest. You can vote for these amazing kids by liking it on YouTube or by clicking the thumbs up in the upper right hand corner while it is playing. (P.S. My brother is the Diabetes in the video.) Thanks!

Sensory Stories Recompiled

2013-02-17T16:50:00.001-05:00

I've long been a fan of Pete Well's Sensory Stories. In particular I've used the Christmas Carol and Wizard of Oz Sensory Stories with much success as curriculum units. Now some of these great resources are available in a new place at Portland College's website.

These resources are fabulous but as a teaching tool be sure you go all out! Use the scripts and the ideas for sensory stimulation that come with the stories. It takes a few times to get used to juggling all the props and sensory experiences, but it is worth it! Enjoy!

Calendar and Advanced Visual Schedule Apps for Kids with Special Needs

2013-02-13T08:58:00.003-05:00

Interactive Calendar Apps

Kid's Calendar $2.99

Suggested for ages 5-12. Customizable schedule with sticker, backgrounds and a contact list ("friends book").

4KidsCal $1.99

Includes stickers and customization as well as the ability to record audio with any calendar entry.

Week Planner for Kids $1.99

Color coded, can use photos, can use as reward system. In app purchases for holidays, etc.

Advanced Visual Schedule Apps

Niki Agenda $3.99

Daily and weekly visual schedules plus a reward chart.

Visual Schedule Planner $14.99

Daily, weekly and monthly planner, fully customizable, video modeling, checklists and more.

Wonkido Organizer $9.99

Daily schedule, mood journal, daily assignments, to-do lists and behavior chart.

Apps to Teach Calendar Skills

Circa Calendar $0.99

Learn about months, days, seasons and more. Plus set a countdown to a date.

My First Calendar $0.99

Learn all the calendar basics, additional drawing program.

Days of the Week $0.99

Training and practice for days of the week.

My First Calendar free

Set the day, month, date, season and weather.

Please note apps and prices chance constantly. This post was accurate as of 8:00 PM 2/12/13.

Urgent! Call to Action - Comments on Accomodations on Common Core Standards Testing

2013-02-03T20:52:00.002-05:00

Most states in the US have joined into the Common Core Curriculum. At this time two separate groups are working on test materials which will be used to assess student learning and for many teachers determine play a role in how they are evaluated.

Currently one of those consortiums, PARCC, is holding public comment on their proposed positions on testing accomodations. The survey is designed in a force choice format allowing the surgery taker only to choose yes, yes with edits, or no as to if they agree to the proposed rules around accomodations for special needs students. In theory these recommendations make sense. If a test is not specifically measuring reading then text-to-speech or a reader is allowed. Also if the test is not testing basic calculations a calculator will be allowed. The problem is that the way the rules are written is very confusing, the power to choose accomodations is taken from the TEAMs who know the child best and their is no room for very unique learners who use very unique accomodations or assistive technology.

Sadly one of the people who wrote the white paper for the reading rules recommendations is well known to me. He has said, in a public forum, to hundreds of teachers who work with children who have very severe disabilities that even if they are dying they must be tested, but if they die their portfolios do not need to be submitted. Once he required that I submit an alternative assessment portfolio on a child who had spent seven months in the hospital and had only attended 35 days of school. So this child's test score reflected an essentially empty binder submitted to the state. I dare say that fidelity of testing wasn't foremost in this state administrator's mind.

Please go fill out the survey and use the "yes, with edits" response box to share your opinions about who should be deciding what accomodations are needed as well as to share your experiences with learners who need unique technology for access to testing (eye gaze computers with text-to-speech, low tech reading supports, talking calculators, abacus, etc). Additionally I urge you all to think of what these rules would mean to individuals who are highly capable with accommodations who may not be allowed to use them on the test that determines if they will graduate.

http://www.parcconline.org/open-policies-public-comment

Thank you.

ATIA Pick of the Day

2013-02-02T08:50:00.001-05:00

Teachers of learners with significant special needs often times need to adapt text to be more cognitively and linguistically accessible. Here are some tools that can help.

Up Goer Five
Up Goer Five is a text editor that helps you simplify the vocabulary in text by limiting you to the top 1,000 words. You can cut and paste text from the Internet, such as from a magazine articles, you can enter samples of your speech to see if you are using core vocabulary in your teaching.

Check out Up Goer Six and Text Compactor as well.

ATIA Exhibit Hall

2013-01-31T12:56:00.001-05:00

Abey

CompAide

Ablenet

AugResources

Adaptivation

Attainment Company

Stay tuned for new photos over the next couple of days.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

DIY Velcro Board

2013-01-31T10:29:00.001-05:00

Making your own Velcro board is easy and relatively cheap. You can use a Velcro board as a communication display board, as a $5 accent rug from Walmart or another discount store, an adhesive (I used heavy duty Krazy Glue), hook Velcro (the heavy duty works best), decorative duct tape and something to use as the hard surface for attaching the rug (I used a white board - the picture is deceptive the board is much larger than it appears).

Basically you want to cut the rug to fit on your board. Glue, staple, cement or whatever and adhere the rug to the board. Now you want to use your duct tape for three purposes all at the same time - to further adhere the rug, to keep bits of carpet falling off and to make it visually appealing.

Then you are good to go! (Although letting the glue dry is a a good idea!). Enjoy your new Velcro board!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Pick of the Day from ATIA 2013

2013-01-30T22:09:00.003-05:00

Widgit Go is a new app from Widgit. Currently it is available in a full version and a lite version on Google Play for Android devices. It should be available for iPads soon.

Widgit Go has an array of impressive capacities. It can be used for creating various activities for learning and to act as visual supports. It runs without an internet connection, which is important for schools where that is an issue. The full version comes with all 12,000 Widgit Symbols.

It can be used for augmentative communication, of course, but it also can be used for learning activities. It comes with 12 sample activities which include three communication boards, five symbol based writing activities (perfect for alternative assessment), three instructional activities and an excellent email activity.

The activities that teachers, parents and educators could create are limited only be creativity. Visual schedules, social stories, matching activities, grid based writing activities, picture supported lists with speech feedback, picture recipes with voice feedback and so much more.

The activities you make can easily be backed up and shared on Dropbox. Editing is simple and can all be done on one page. Activities can have as few as one and as many as seventy cells per page. Pages can link dynamically. You can use the included symbols or photos. There are plenty of customization options such as changing colors and using music or sound effects on a button.

The email activity is incredible as it allows a student to compose an email using symbols, hear it read back with highlighting and then send it. When the recipient of the e-mail open it he or she will also see the symbolated email text and have the ability to have it read with highlighting. Even if they don't have the app.

A Missing Piece - AAC Implementation at Home

2013-01-18T22:03:00.001-05:00

So often in the classroom we see AAC users who do not even bring their
speech devices home, never mind use them consistently there. Many of us know the thrill of opening up a child's speech device in the morning at school and realizing it has been used! I know in my classroom we get excited when a battery come in dead because it means the child used the device!

The parents who read this blog may be surprised at that, mostly because the parents who read this blog are usually the ones who are pushing for AAC to be implemented for their child. However, there are many parents who aren't interested in AAC for their child, who think it is just for school or who even refuse to let their child use AAC for one reason or another. Teachers and speech therapists sometimes run into former students years later only to learn that the years they spent teaching AAC meant little because as an adult the student no longer has a device or doesn't use it.

Why does this happen? Why do so few students use their devices at home and why do so many adults who used AAC in school fail to continue?

A big part of this is a failure of the school-home connection. We as teachers and therapists need to find ways to understand and appreciate what goes into implementing AAC at home, especially when there are so many other things that go into raising a child who has significant special needs. As we build our understanding we need to build systems and approaches to AAC implementation that bridge the gap between home and school. We need to help parents understand the power of AAC and help them feel more comfortable with leading their child through the process of learning to be a better communicator.

Let's face it, parents all over the world teach their children language. They aren't teachers or speech therapists. They haven't trained for years in language acquisition. They teach their children speech using modeling, shaping, repeating and recasting, and all sorts of other techniques they have probably never heard of. Yet we fail to empower parents of AAC users to do the same thing. We don't sit them down and say, "You can do this! Mom and dad just by you using this device in front of your child, by your responding to your child using this device and by acting as if device-use were verbal speech you can teach your child language!"

We also don't break it down. We don't say, "Week one just set it up every day. Week two model a sentence a day. Week three model two sentences a day..." We might never offer any training or encouragement and almost never do we go into our students' homes and demonstrate what we mean. But we need to. We must find ways to take this vital step.

In an ideal world children with significant special needs would have ongoing in-home consultation and training from their school staff. Teachers and therapists would be able to teach parents not just how to set up the device or program it but how to use techniques like Aided Language Stimulation (modeling) to increase their child's communication skills. Also in an ideal world parent would be able to attend training to become communication coaches.

Communication coaching would start simple. Essentially it would move slowly from helping parents see the value in bring the speech device home daily and having it present and powered up so it might be used to asking every family member to just model one sentence a day on the device without any demands but only an sense of expectation that their child respond in kind right through helping families find practical ways to use the speech device at places like the doctors, religious services and shopping.

(And realistically how many of us in schools consider what it must be like to take a child with multiple physical handicaps and all their equipment out and then worry about setting up the speech device? Have we even thought about how parents can carry all that stuff? My students always bring their speech devices out and use them during community based instruction but I know many who teachers either don't have community based instruction or leave the devices at school!)

It is time for teachers, therapists and administrators to find new ways to ensure communication success over a lifetime for AAC users. We have a world of technology at our finger tips, Skype, Google Plus Video Chats, video cameras on our phones with the ability to share at the touch of a button. Surely we can find ways to make a better connection for the sake of communication? We must find a way to work with families, taking into consideration their needs, so we can promote all of our students having a voice - wherever they are, forever.

(Many thanks to Samantha and her family for the use of the pictures!)

Sensory Spaces on the Cheap

2012-12-21T21:00:00.002-05:00

A commenter let me know that my 2007 and 2008 Sensory Room on the Cheap posts were out of date, so I thought I would give it another go.

Before you go crazy buying or making things for a sensory space please consider carefully things like how much space you have, how sturdy/unbreakable things need to be for your students and what will the purpose of your sensory space be? If your students need help being alert and interactive a soothing white room with soft glowing lights may not be the best idea and a room with expensive lights and decor may not be a great idea for a student who needs to "get his wiggles out". Think about your purpose before you purchase! Consider a theme to unify the room or space so it doesn't look thrown together - "The Ocean", "Beach" and "Space" might all work well!

I should also mention that the American Academy of Pediatrics and others have warned that Sensory Integration Therapy does not (yet) have a research base behind it. Multisensory Enviroments (aka Snozelen Spaces) also do not have a preponderance of evidence behind them (this is because most of the research is done by those who create and sell the systems). That being said creating an engaging, soothing or otherwise specialized space for your students at school or your child at home can be rewarding. It is up to the teacher (or parent or therapist) to collect baseline and intervention related data to determine if the space is helpful.

Ideas for a Your Purpose

Soothing Space

soft, body conforming seating
white or pastel walls, seating and decor
soft music
gentle, glowing lights
swings
rocking chairs
calming scents

tulle with white string lights down the middle

Heavy Work and Vestibular Stimulation

ball/crash pits
lycra heavy work tubes
mini-trampolines and other bouncing toys
spinning toys
adjustable lighting
diffented music

For Increasing Use of Functional Vision

dark walls
black lights
bright glowing lights
things which move for using visual tracking
projectors

For Increasing Alertness/Movement

bright colors
things which move and draw attention
moving seating
switch activated/interactive toys
alerting music
stimulating scents

Products Under $150

Lights

rotating fiber optic lamp
star light fiber optic lamp
electric color wheel
white umbrellas (project onto them - beautiful!)
oil light projector (Mathmos)
serene jellyfish aquarium
rope lights
raindrop glow lights
Colorlight DVD (turns your flatscreen into a glowing light)
glow blocks
IKEA dioder glow lights
star projector
mini wave projector
bubble wall (ok, it is a little over $200, but these usually run into the thousands)

Decorations

Equipment and Seating

DIY - Do It Yourself Ideas

How Others Have Made Sensory Spaces

Inexpensive Companies Worth a Try

Picture Symbol Support on the iPad

2012-12-12T20:20:00.000-05:00

Use an App

Widgit Discover

stories on three levels - text, symbol supported and simple symbol supported
text-to-speech to read back stories and questions
vocabulary support
vocabulary flashcards
currently available for three topics Tudors, Egyptians, Victorians
$9.99 Each

Attainment Symbol Support App

this app is add picture symbols to text as you type (think Writing with Symbols, Symbolate on Boardmaker or SymWriter)
the teacher could create text and save for the student to read, if needed
e-mail or save as PDF
$59.99 (coming soon)

Use a PDF

use e-mail, iTunes, Dropbox, Drive or a similar method to send PDFs of symbol supported text to your iPad

sources of Symbol Supported reading materials in PDF include:

Symbol World
Slater Software
News-2-You (subscription)
Unique Learning Program (subscription)
Widget (free and paid materials)

if your Symbol Supported material isn't a PDF (for example you made it yourself in Boardmaker) use the free program Cute PDF Writer to save as a PDF and then send it

open your PDF in a text-to-speech app to hear it read aloud, such as:

if your Symbol Supported materials happen to be a worksheet or something you want your students to be able to write on or mark up try an annotation program for PDFs on the iPad and they can do the work on the tablet

My Christmas Wish

Vendors producing symbol supported materials start distributing them as app or as books through iBooks to make them more accessible. Some vendors I would like to see do this are:

Widget
Help Me Read/Oxford Books
Clicker 6 - I would gladly pay the full price of the software AGAIN to have it in app form
who else?

The Yes/No Series - Part Six

2012-12-11T21:08:00.000-05:00

"Best Yes" and Rewarding Successive Approximation

Shaping, simply put, is rewarding the small steps that lead to a large success. Also known as "rewarding successive approximations" I call it, "Close enough is good enough, for now." By which I mean that if we reward a first time step towards meeting a goal and then each tiny step closer we will eventually get there. Shaping is baby steps. In the case of yes/no this starts with something known as "best yes".

A "best yes" is any response our student with complex communication needs gives us that indicates affirmation. A slight head movement, a smile, clapping hands, stopping a rocking motion or a change in affect any of these is a best yes - and it is ok, at first, to accept any one of these from the same child.

With careful observation (including video, if needed) and data collection we can determine which "best yes" we can shape into a consistent "yes" response. We want our vision of the consistent "yes" to be something noticeable and clearly understandable by all who interact with the individual regularly.

For some children we may need to accept that the "best yes" and "close enough is good enough" is how things will be for a while and reaching a consistent yes might take years and years. We may wonder or have to respond to others wondering if the "best yes" we are accepting is "intentional" on the part of the child. The thing about a "best yes" is that intention is irrelevant. We teach intentionality by assuming intentionality. Repeat it with me, "We teach intentionality by assuming intentionality." We are not delusional or Pollyannas when we act like that slight and inconsistent response is a "yes" - we are teaching! Make a banner and hang it across your classroom if you must, "We teach intentionality by assuming intentionality!" When we reward that "best yes" we teach the child that repeating that "best yes" will lead to a reward. We teach intentionality by assuming intentionality.

Watch this clip from the 1970 French film, An Infinite Tenderness, look for all the "best yes" responses and how the same child uses different "best yes" answers. (The story is a puppy love story between these two children, the boy on the left and the girl on the right, it is told completely without words. You can watch it on Netflix. It is amazing.)

By combining our observed "best yes" and our vision for a consistent "yes" we can create a plan in which we reward the "best yes" we want to shape until it is consistent. This means offering highly motivating rewards and waiting for the "best yes" before giving the reward.

Once the "best yes" is consistent we up the ante. We model the next successive approximation, offer a highly motivating reward and give the reward when the child gives us the new and improved, consistent "yes". This might mean we initially give the reward for a slight drop of the chin (working towards a nod) and once that is consistent we give the reward for a deeper drop of the chin. Then we repeat with the next approximation until we have achieved our vision of a consistent, noticeable and understandable "yes". (Which might mean the next approximation is a deeper chin drop and then a slight lift of the head and then a deep chin drop and a full lift of the head.) We may have to have different expectations at different times - a slight smile is ok after a severe seizure or surgery but on a good day we expect a smile and a nod.

Shaping must be used with all of the other teaching tools in our tool boxes. With students who have severe, complex or multiple needs one method is usually not enough for success!

{As an aside it is obviously best for the end result to be universally understood like a spoken response (yes/no yup/nah, ok/nope), a head gesture (nod/shake) or hand motion (thumbs up/thumbs down). If this is not possible something slightly less universal but common with individuals with disabilities is a good choice such as signing yes/no, looking up for yes/down for no or blink once for yes/twice for no. However a creative yes/no is better than a lifetime of trying to force someone to speak or nod/shake when it is too difficult.}

The Yes/No Series - Part Five

2012-12-10T03:30:00.000-05:00

Using Books to Teach and Reinforce Yes/No

Ollie's School Day: A Yes and No Book

Go with Ollie through his day making yes and no choices

No No Yes Yes

this board book presents behaviors and labels them yes and no

I'm Going to Read: No Yes

this is a simple story told by a series of yes and no statements

Yes, No, Maybe So

another simple story about reinforcing positive behavior

No, David!

this Kindergarten favorite has the adults in David's life telling him, "No!" to all of the impulsive things he does and is a great way to get all the kids calling out "NO!" whatever way they happen to do that!

Yes No Little Hippo

a book about safety through yes and no

Yes Day

the best day of the year, when every question is answered with "Yes!"

Eli, No!

a simple story about unconditional love told through a dog who gets into trouble

Yes Yes Yaul!

Yaul only like to say, "No!" until his friends help him learn to try "Yes!"

Stop and Go, Yes and No

this is a book about opposites and is best suited for teaching core words/antonyms, but it does contain yes and no

Yes, Please! No, Thank you!

a book of silly questions

No & Yes

a rhyming toddler book about behavior

Oh No, Ah Yes

a book about trying new things

Ways to use these and other books to teach and reinforce yes/no:

as you read the book have paraprofessionals and peers model yes and no for each student in the manner he or she communicates it
pick a student to be your co-reader and communicate yes and no as they occur in the book
velcro yes/no symbols to the pages and having students placing them correctly
have the students shout out (using whatever the method they use) yes and no
for behavior orientated books print pictures of each behavior and having students sort into yes and no

The Yes/No Series - Part Four

2012-12-09T15:44:00.001-05:00

Using Games to Teach/Reinforce Yes/No

"In ev'ry job that must be done
There is an element of fun
You find the fun and snap!
The job's a game" - Mary Poppins

"Is that right?" Game
Level: yes/no for accept/reject and higher

This game is all about being silly! You can play it to work on accept/reject yes/no responses or higher level. Essentially you go something super silly, like try to put on the child's coat yourself, put the child's sock on their hand or whatever the child will know is absurd. Then you ask, "Do you want me it this way?" or "Do you like it this way?". Keep in mind that the child may, indeed, want it that way, because being silly is fun. So if he says "yes" to the sock on his hand keep it up and put the other sock on his other hand. Create a build up and keep asking yes or no questions. When it is time to stop, if the answer is still, "yes", then you say, "Oh, I am so silly! No (model how the child says no)! It doesn't go like this!" If the child is working on higher level yes/no you can ask, "Do socks go on hands?" and other higher order questions.

The Yes/No Race
Level: higher yes/no skills (label, function of object, comparison, etc.)

Prepare a list of yes/no questions at the level your students are working on or use yes/no question cards (see list below). Decide if the student will compete individually or in teams. Create a scoreboard with student names or team names. Be sure each child has access to their best way of expression yes/no. Using your list or cards ask each question one by one. After each question be sure to wait up to a minute. You can either play that the first correct answer wins a point or every correct answer wins a point. I find this game works better if you have everyone answer at once (thus none of the students refuses to answer just for the attention given when they don't). Whoever has most points at the end wins a prize!

Guess Who?
Level: higher yes/no

You can play this with the commercial game, with the commercial game replacing the cards with your own or you can create your own game. To create your own you need to print out two sets of photographs of people (can be real people in your setting, celebrities or characters of books, etc). We like to make these large for our students with Low Vision. Using a velcro board or similar hang up one set of pictures. Choose a student to be "it", preferably one who is working on yes/no. Allow that child to pick a person from the second set of photo cards. Once chosen the other players ask yes/no questions and the child who is "it" answers. Be sure to have that child's best way of saying yes/no available. If the children asking the questions are non-speaking they can use communication books or devices or you can even program a series of questions onto a sequential switch such as a Step-by-Step or Smooth Talker. The "asking" children should use the means of asking that allows them the most possible independent generation of their questions. Once a yes/no question is asked and answered cards are removed from the velcro display board of photos in the process of elimination. Stop when someone guesses the person or only one person is left. Whoever guess is it, if no one guessed then the teacher picks. (Thanks to Susan Malloy, SLP for this idea.)

What is it? Game
Level: higher yes/no

Gather a set of object or pictures. These can be related to the theme unit you are teaching (insects, planets or be common objects from around the room). Choose a child to be "it' and take him or her into the hall (or aside) and all the child to choose one thing. Go back to the group and display all the items or pictures, including the chosen one. The child who is "it" will need his or her best way to answer yes/no. The other children will need a means to ask questions that eliminate items from the array in front of them. As always speech or AAC can be used for the answering and the asking. You may need to have questions for your particular set of objects ready on communication devices/boards/switches ahead of time. As questions are asked and answered eliminate choices until someone guess correctly or one one choice is left. You can also play this with the commercial game Hed Banz, adapt the game by only having one person at a time where a Hed Banz and the others take turns answering yes/no questions of the wearer.

20Q Game
Level: Higher yes/no

20Q is a commercial game it is available as a handheld electronic game, an app or online (for free). For our purposes an older version of the handheld game (yard sales, flea markets, your basement) is better, but you can adapt if needed to the newer version. 20Q operates just like the 20 Questions game most of us have played only the game does all the figuring out. The old version asks questions and gives you three possible responses "yes", "no, "it depends". The newer version has up to ten possible answers, "yes", "no", "it depends", "unknown", "irrelevant", "sometimes", "maybe", "probably", "rarely", "partly". Personally, I think that the new 20Q cheats! However you can still use it by only answering "yes", "no" and "it depends". If your students aren't ready for "it depends" you can ask them yes or no and change it to "it depends" when you enter the answer into the game. You can also rephrase questions like "Is it an abstract concept?" or just answer those yourself without reading them aloud. So long as all the students have a means of communication "yes" and "no" this game is a fun way to practice.

Question of the Day
Level: any

This is a fun game to include in your morning meeting group. You can use a portable white board and simply write the question with a drawing and two columns or you can make your Question of the Day board all fancy. If your students are at the accept/reject level of yes/no you can make a list of 10-15 accept reject questions and cycle through them over and over. These could be things like, "Do you want the teacher to sing really loud?", "Do you want a high five?", "Do you want the paraprofessional to spin in circle ten times?", "Do you want my to give you a 3 second shoulder rub?" Then go around the room and ask each child and perform the action if he or she says yes. Tally each child (or put a picture of each child) under yes or no on your display. Overtime you can draw comparisons, "Last time 2 students wanted me to sing, how many this time?" then you can bring in counting if you would like. If your students are a higher level you can ask more abstract questions, "Are you wearing boots?" or "Is a fish an insect?" and then tally and graph responses.

Yes/No Practice Apps and Software

Yes/No Question Lists and Cards

Free

Commercial

The Yes/No Series - Part 3

2012-12-08T16:34:00.000-05:00

Sing It!

One of the coolest things I saw at Linda Burkhart's and Gayle Porter's workshop at the ISAAC conference was the Yes Song and No Song Gayle's school uses to teach yes and no. As far as I can find the song isn't available anywhere on the internet. However some other songs are. Another option is to work with your music teacher or music therapist to create a song. This might be especially vital if you work with students over preschool as the selection of songs below is not age appropriate. (With the exception of the Beatles!)

It is vital to model the way you want your students to communicate yes and no throughout the songs. Perhaps a turn for each child with specific modeling of their way of communicating yes and no.

Remember you can download the music from videos using this site.

The Yes No Please Thank You Song

Uh huh, Uh huh, Ut uh

Hello, Goodbye

Wild Bear Yes or No Song on LastFM

The Yes/No Series - Part Two

2012-12-08T15:50:00.001-05:00

Teaching Yes/No

There is so much more in the world to say than yes/no, yet it is still a vital skill, especially in fast moving situations and medical situations. We often times see goals on IEPs for learners with severe special needs about yes/no and I will be the first to admit I have done this poorly in the past. Like many people I had a tendency to believe that if we just practiced enough we would eventually successfully teach yes/no. Thus many of my students sat through daily "drill" in which they were asked ten yes or no questions and were given positive reinforcement or rewards when they were correct. Not surprisingly this wasn't effective for many of them.

First we must understand not all yes/no questions are created equally. "Do you want a cookie?" is far from "Was Washington the third president?". Think about "Do you want to go home?" versus "You do want to go home, don't you?" All of these questions are yes/no questions. Anyone of these could be tossed out in a yes/no drill. Yet they presume different cognitive and language skills and different types of motivation.

Some of the different types of yes/no are:

Accept/reject "Do you want your blanket?"

Choice "How about the blue one?"

Affirm/deny

Possession "Is this your coat?"
Preference "Do you like the red one?"
Label "Is this a table?"
Function of objects "Does a vacuum walk?"
Test knowledge "Is it facing north?"
Comparison "Is a dog older than a puppy?"
Relative time "Did that happen first?"
Preference "Do you like apples?"

Rhetorical question "How 'bout them apples?"

For our learners we start by focusing on accept/reject. We need to avoid the other kinds of yes/no until we are sure that the student understands that yes is accept and no is reject. Then we will work on different types of yes/no questions.

One way to work yes/no is accept/reject this is by offering choices in the following manner:

teacher: "Do you want milk or no?"
student: eyegazes to milk
teacher: "yes, you want milk." while modeling the students yes response, whatever that is

Another example:

teacher: "Would you like the purple one or no?"
student: pushes away the purple one
teacher "No, you do no want the purple one!" again, while modeling the way the student would show this

We must be careful in doing this type of accept/reject question that we do not assume that we know what the child wants. A child might love soda, so you ask, "Do you want soda?" and the child communicates "no". A "no" is a "no". Perhaps the child already had plenty of soda, or perhaps he or she has a sore throat, or perhaps his parent told him "don't you have soda today!". Or maybe the child doesn't yet understand yes/no.

If that is the case modeling that no means you rejected the thing that was offered by taking away/no giving soda is essential. If the student becomes upset because they wanted soda you can wait a minute and offer again, "Do you want soda? Yes." This time you answer your own question both verbally and by modeling the yes response. This give a cue to the child that the answer is yes. You already established that they want the soda (the complaining when you took it away after they said no) so you can teach the yes response by modeling it.

Another thing to be careful is the tendency to for adults to use their words just to fill space. How often do you hear, "Yes or no? Do you want the ball? Yes or no? The ball? Tell me yes or no?" Imagine how confusing that is if the child doesn't understand the concept yes and no. Imagine how confusing it is if the child has language processing issues and that is just too many words. So many of our students just choose what ever comes last and this is one of the ways we unintentionally teach them to do that. We teach them that if they wait for us to pause and repeat whatever the last thing we said/did was they will be rewarded. Sometimes our students will even answer with "yes or no" or even by parroting "tell me yes or no". A key to teaching anything is wait time. And a key to teaching yes/no is refraining from using the phrase, "Tell me yes or no."

Another important part of teaching this type of yes/no is by having all those in the environment model it; aides, parents, peers. We should model it verbally and in the same means that our student should express it. The more we explicitly show how yes/no work the faster our student will learn.

The Yes/No Series - Part One

2012-11-26T09:28:00.002-05:00

Ways to Indicate Yes and No

There are so many ways we all say yes and no every day. None of us is limited to just one means and our students should be either. In teaching our students a yes/no response we aim for the most universal - verbal and/or head nod/shake (at least in the USA, in English) but if those are not possible any other system is better than none at all. Here is a list of some I have seen used by people with significant special needs over the years:

Verbal response (yes/no, ok/no, yeah/nah, si/no, uh ha/ut ah)
Head Nod/Shake
Body Language (smile/frown, look/look away, reach/push away)
Pointing to symbols with

Finger
Hand
Foot
Head
Eyes
Other

Activating a voice output switch

Finger
Hand
Foot
Head
Eyes
Other

Activating a speech device
Yes/no wrist bands – raise hand or look at hand
Yes/no symbols on arm rest with hand movement or eye gaze to symbols
Sign yes/no (or sign approximations)
Eyes up for yes, eyes down for no (and vice versa)
Eyes left for yes, eyes right for no (and vice versa)
Facial expressions – smile for yes, frown for no
Thumbs up/thumbs down
Look at partner for yes/look away for no
Yes/no cards
Yes/no wearable tag/necklace
Hold up fist for yes/open hand for no
Tongue click for yes, none for no
Eye brows up for yes/down for no (vice versa)
Lip raise for yes (smile) and nose wrinkle for no (sour face)
Point to chin for yes and nose for no
Clap for yes, tap tray for no
There's an app for that

Or any combination of a yes and a no from above!

Virtual Manipulatives for Math

2012-11-13T20:23:00.005-05:00

Virtual Manipulatives for Computers

Virtual Manipulative Apps for iPad/iPod

Instead of Counters

Instead of Unifix Blocks

vBlocks $2.99

Instead of Geoboards

Geoboards Free
Hands on Math Geoboard 41.99

Instead of Base Ten Blocks

Hands On Math Base Ten Blocks $1.99
Base Ten Blocks $0.99
Common Core Numbers and Operations in Base Ten $2.99
Base Ten Fun $1.99

Instead of Magnetic Numbers

ABC Magnetic Alphabet HD $1.99

Instead of Pattern Blocks

Pattern Blocks

Instead of Fraction Rods

Virtual Manipulatives! Free

Instead of Beads or an Abacus

Abacus $0.99

Instead of Pencil and Paper

Math Paper by Panther $19.99

Windows and Mirrors in Action

2012-11-01T18:54:00.000-04:00

Cross Post from Welcoming Schools

I was observing a kindergarten class and the teacher was reading to the children from a book about healthy habits. About half way through the book I heard a little boy call out, “Hey, that’s a wheelchair!”. The teacher looked at the picture and saw the photograph was of a girl using a wheelchair while brushing her teeth. The teacher said, “You’re right, she is using a wheelchair just like you.” The other children smiled at their friend and one girl flashed him a thumbs up. The little boy grinned from his seat in his wheelchair for the rest of the activity. – Kate Ahern, a Special Ed Teacher in Massachusetts

In our Welcoming Schools workshops we often talk about providing students with windows and mirrors: mirrors to help students see themselves reflected in a positive way and windows to help them understand experiences beyond their own.*

This might be an abstract intellectual idea until you observe a boy become delighted by a simple photograph that sends a message that who he is matters. All students, especially those who may be marginalized for any host of reasons, deserve these moments.

You can find an excellent list of children's books which depict diverse individuals at

*This concept of Windows and Mirrors comes from an article by Emily Style. You can read this article at: http://www.library.wisc.edu/edvrc/docs/public/pdfs/SEEDReadings/CurriculumWindow.pdf

The Periodic Table of AAC

2012-10-30T22:05:00.004-04:00

Get the PDF of this here.