[aoife keogh]

Student A has Downs Syndrome and struggles to communicate his wants and needs. He currently uses his Proloquo to communicate needs but we are also teaching him to type and do some simple dictations on the PC. There are a number of excellent digital tools available to assist him but this course has taught me that there are some simple accessibility tools which could really help hiim complete work independently, adjustments like Toggle keys, sticky keys, Mouse keys and filter keys, as well as providing him with other simple adaptions, like replacing the mouse with a joystick. I will certainly be making these adjustments in September. Immersive reader is another function he could use to help him access the curriculum as his receptive language is very good. This could also help in his dictations as I normally read the target sentence multiple times. Similarly, Office Lens is going to be a game changer to aid comprehension.

Student A loses focus easily and it can be hard to get his attention back to the task at hand. We bought a tangible ‘Time Timer’ which worked great but he really responds well to technology so online timers are a gret tool to keep his focus

Although he enjoys maths, he does lose focus. Top marks and Primary games are excellent ways to help him engage with Maths for a longer period of time. I like the suggestion above of the Toy Theatre website and will be checking it out.

[aoife keogh]

Plan a lesson for a student in your class who has Dyscalculia..

Teaching ‘Addition without renaming’ to a first class boy. I have chosen to cover this topic before teaching the class as a whole to build confidence in this student. They will be confident and can explain the steps to other boys in a supervised setting to further cement the learning.

– Explicitly teach the language prior to the lesson. Have the boy demonstrate understanding.

– Provide a range of concrete materials (unifix cubes, blocks etc), Place Value mat, ICT Resources, visual animations, Videos on YouTube, manipulatives, games etc.

– Teach Step by step. Can be useful to cover the tens while adding the units and then covering units with adding tens.

– Scaffold the child in their learning and give lots of opportunity to use concrete materials to physically experience the concept. Give one to one time and allow lots of time to practice and engage.

-Evaluate understanding through assessment for learning/ assessment of learning. Require boy to demonstrate understanding by teaching another boy in the class how to do this.

[aoife keogh]

SETT

Every student and each environment is unique so the SETT Framework for each child must be too. It focuses on four key areas; Student, Environment, Task and Tools. It’s developed in conjunction with the Individual Education Plan with input from the student, his/her parents, Class Teacher, SET and any external professionals, OT’s, SLTs etc. A collaborative approach with all of these professionals is essential for access and assessment .

 

Module 4 SETT Framework

My Plan below is for an 8 year old boy who has Downs Syndrome and needs support in communicating his wants and needs.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13xs98B1uNA-uOM7KBnEe6vZoW9o-CggENSJR7DSzkIA/edit?usp=sharing

 

[aoife keogh]

Part 1

As I work as with EAL students I decided to choose this area of my work for this task. When I started working with EAL students years ago the use of ICT was limited. The work we did was resource-heavy with lots of printing involved. Coming from a ‘Greens Schools’ point of view this was not ideal but we did our best. Nowadays, with the advancements in digital resources available to us the benefits are very clear. So if the student had very limited English knowledge the Microsoft 365 would be a very valuable resource to enable the student to access the curriculum being taught. For immediate translation the teacher could install Microsoft Lens tool to scan print and translate into the student’s home language. Immersive reader is an excellent tool to enable the student to have the document read aloud to them, elements of grammar explained, size adjusted amd the option of the picture dictionary to illustate meaning. Students would be given a fact sheet on Rivers, Lakes and rivers of Ireland. The task would be to use the pre-taught elements listed above and illustrate the meaning of the highlighted key words within the text using the picture dictionary. They would also be asked to answer some simple questions using the speech to text or dictate function.

Part 2

Cosán meaning ‘pathway’ recognises that teaching is a continuous learning journey and that the journey itself is more important than the destination. We now live in an ever-changing environment. It stands to reasons that teachers have to adapt and learn new material to keep up and that it should be a ‘steady and ongoing’ process. The beauty of Cosán is that it helps individual teachers identify their key areas for further learning.  For example, some teachers may recognise that Covid has created a need for teachers to upskill in social and emotional related areas as some children found it so difficult. It was emphasised in the reading material that SEL is as important as literacy and numeracy and I think teachers are wonderful at instilling social skills but some professional development in this area may be invaluable.

 

[aoife keogh]

<p style=”box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #163c42; font-family: ‘Hind Madurai’, sans-serif;”>Participants are asked to explore Immersive Reader in MS Teams, the Edge browser and other 365 Tools and consider how they could use it to support literacy in the SET classroom.<br style=”box-sizing: inherit;” />Participants are also asked to consider how they can adapt their existing equipment to better suit the needs of a particular pupil and what other input devices might improve accessibility to technology for pupils.</p>
<p style=”box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #163c42; font-family: ‘Hind Madurai’, sans-serif;”>Post a reflective piece (150 words minimum) as a reply to this post</p>
<p style=”box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #163c42; font-family: ‘Hind Madurai’, sans-serif;”>I have been an SET for a number of years now and can’t believe that I have never heard of this tool before now. It would have come in so useful over the years when working with children with a whole range of special educational needs. It seems like such a fantastic tool and I will definitely be incorporating into my teaching going forward. In fact, I will be telling family members about it as I there are some people who could certainly benefit from the larger text, voice to text capability, background colour change etc. It’s a wonderful tool for all. There were a number of other items highlighted in this module which could further assist people with special needs like, making simple adaptations in the Ease of Access centre in the Control panel on the device they are using. For example, changing how the mouse/ keyboard works, replacing sounds with visual cues, optimising the visual display of the computer etc. There were man more and I have taken notes for future use.</p>
<p style=”box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #163c42; font-family: ‘Hind Madurai’, sans-serif;”>The lens /focus is an excellent tool. I love the free OneNote app. I played around with it and have it installed on my phone now and I will personally be using the Immersive Reading function. I also love the dictate option in Word and I am already starting to think of ways to include it in lessons with one particular boy I teach.</p>
<p style=”box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #163c42; font-family: ‘Hind Madurai’, sans-serif;”></p>
 

[aoife keogh]

Part 1: I am an SET teacher working in a junior school and technology has been invaluable to myself and my students, both at school and also at home. I find that the targeted use of technology allows for a more level playing field for all students. Teachers can easily differentiate work for students through the use of the many broad, multi-level programmes. It is extremely positive to see schools slowly embracing technology and enjoying all the benefits which can be achieved through its targeted use. Some good examples that comes to mind are:

1. The Spelling For Me programme which enables teachers to cater to the individual students’ needs as opposed to giving the same list of spellings to every single student irrespective of their spelling capabilities.

2. We have achieved excellent results using the A.R.R.O.W reading programme and found that students with dyslexia who typically would not usually engage in reading related tasks, engaged very well using the A.R.R.O.W Programme.

4. Assistive technologies like translating programmes, text-to-speech/ speech-to-text are excellent ways to enable EAL students to take part in the school life and gradually acquire the language over time. We have found these very beneficial in our school, in terms of increased confidence and independence for students as well as allowing for more inclusion opportunities with their peers. We also experienced great success in terms of increased/ spontanious communicaton through the use of digital PECS technology for a student with Downs Syndrome.
As outlined in the Digital Learning Framework, digital technologies should not be the focus of the lesson rather, enhance the lesson. When used correctly, it provides excellent opportunity for Assessment for learning and assessment of learning within their digital work/ projects. The Framworks states ‘Pupils reflect on their progress as learners and develop a sense of ownership of and responsibility for their learning.’ This, in turn, can assist and guide schools in their self-evaluation process.

Part 2: I found the SETT very interesting as it is broken down into very distinct sections and can act as a great framework when discussing the individual child with other professionals. Of the three levels of Assistive Technology available to us I realised that I am already using low/no technology by adapting the classroom for the individual needs of a students. We, as teachers, do this without realising. I would gather all the information from the student support files, previous teachers, SET teachers, parents, external professionals (OTs, SLTs etc) to obtain the pupils’ strengths and weaknesses and would identify their priority needs and then discuss with the relevant individuals if assistive technology could enhance their learning opportunities and allow them to reach their potential or maybe another course of action would be more beneficial to the individual child. The SETT model provides a framework on which to base those conversations.

[Author]

Posts