July 19th Thursday

Wow, I can't believe that 2 weeks have almost gone by. I am a little nervous about the quiz, even though it is open notes and open computer, there just seems to be sooooo much information. Well most of this information is new to me.... like I said my first blogs, first wiki's, first time seeing switches, etc. The only thing I new about AT before this class was the low tech boardmaker program. And well I may have seen one dynovox at DAP sometime in the past but most of our kids use PECS. I forgot to mention something yesterday, the AT guy at the library said that low tech devices are usually easier and more simple to operate. I have never really thought about that advantage but that sure does make sense and in some cases, you would want a very simple device for a particular student

It was fun watching all the presentations. The Living Books, Author's b-day, seemed pretty neat and fun to play. I like how students can interact with the items and characters in the story. The Living Books Collection seem very educational as well.

I think word prediction devices, such as the Co:Writer should only be used for students who have cognitive disabilities and/or very poor spelling habits. I think that if normal functioning kids rely on word prediction then they will lack practice in spelling out the words for themselves and may never develop adequate spelling skills. In addition, I think regular ed kids should be able to use spell check only after they have attempted to successfully spell words on their own.