AHEAD CONFERENCE 2004 FRIDAY 2PM F 25 Presentation audience is a wide mix of service providers. Assistive Tech. = AT Students are reviewed in an 8 format 2 hrs per day for 4 days… We provide a multi user perspective to create our model. We use the recommendations of service providers.

Hierarchy of Experience Model…Conceptualization, Symbol, Imagery of Memory, perception, sensation. Based on the sensory deprivation being dealt with will influence how perception- sensation then imagery /memory is looked at this includes auditory, visual memory etc. Then symbolization = language how it is effected. Conceptualization = abstract ideas, generalizations, cat. Reasoning.

Example apple if you have it and can Id is memory, if you apply more senses your understanding of the apple increase.

Documentation play important role in determining the application of accommodation. AT defined on slide. When we deal with the student we are dealing with one segment of the students disability in the application of a at. It can be more than one AT piece screen reader, reading pen, overlays, dragon, etc… the use of the AT is suppose to increase the comfort level as well as the students ability to access the information. We hope to do activities with the group later. Input voice activated, physical devices track ball, mouth stick, eye control, head wands . . . Out put Devices- AAC aug alt communi, text to speech, “co writer” is a product, text to speech, screen readers Organizational software – concept maps, study aids.

Need for understanding the full scope of the disability and how it impacts the student. Not everybody learns the way “you do” activity to experience how your student learns (presenter speaks while a visual task is given) it is difficult! How does this make you feel? What is your organizational strategy? Many students have difficulty filtering out the extra noise, visual distractions, etc. so one accommodation of AT may not be appropriate in that it doesn’t filter enough for the student or it could filter too much! Each student is different. Next activity: the material looks like something but is something different. Famil. Sayings: (list) Rocker buy bay bee inner tree hops = rock a by baby in the tree tops. If you are only reading it silently you are only getting it one way when you sit and read it as it is read aloud it can be helpful to decoding. Good demo of how some students process or don’t process material. Next activity on visual processing problems. Letters can run into the next word. Reading is an auditory lang. system superimposed on it a visual lang. sys. Age two oral lang. starts and connections are being made. Receptive lang. first then receptive follows. Child learns his dog – dog’s name – what dog looks like … when he starts school he then learns what his dog translates into d-o-g! Break down in memory from a visual deficit. Ave. adult can hold 7 bits of information. 2951786 763926 digit response test. Many can’t do it at the slow speed. If you chunk the numbers 876-8457 phone # or SS# (xxx-xx-xxxx) Some adults can never remember 7 bits of information. One reason students need note- taker- better they should listen to the lecture and have a note –taker. Activity – reading sample presented the way the student sees the letters on the page which to a regular reader will find impossible to read!

Questions or suggestions? Getting students to disclose about themselves can be hard- parents will even fill out forms for the student. Meet with student talk to them; take some sample questions from an assessment to see how they might respond. E.g. how quickly do you learn? How do you read? Would you read this for me? Does reading make you tired? (Did they squint? did they sweat? were they nervous? were there lots of pauses in inappropriate places?)

Univ Cal Sacramento web site and look under LD for more questions to ask…

AT match process is created from this whole process…

Overlays for help with reading this are low tech but it works.

I always start with low tech. and build from there. AT is throughout the whole campus not just located in on “disability lab”

Kurz demo on colors, reading features, word helps, etc.

Inspiration software Templates for flowcharting helps students with memory seq. prob’s.

Remember to use both low tech & high Tech Look at the whole student.

Case studies looked at a 22 yr old male General snap shot

Dyslexic and high performer, more difficult the task better he performed. But he had comprehension difficulty that required need for extended time.

UNC Chappel Hill Attune program being adapted for post secondary use to help faculty identify how LD’s effect swd’s.