Back to School: AT Integration Projects using Wii, Language Arts, Open Source Tools and AAC Curricular Designs

Summer is drawing to a close. Classrooms are being set up for students to return and so it is time for me to return as well. I have purposely turned my attention to family and summer chores on our mountain in Oregon over the past 2 months. Although AT is a passion and something I live, eat, breathe and sleep during the school year, I have let it sit on the back burner over the summer. I don't know about you, but I have needed the break to let my batteries restore and recharge for new inspiration and a new year.

This week I have started getting calls and emails, "We need a training before teachers return. Contact me." So I guess the time is approaching to kick into gear and drive off the mountain and get working on new projects, pick up old ones and get back to the students who have been home doing things with family over the summer like showing bunnies at the fair, swimming, speech camp, etc, I guess it will be a transition for them too!

My Back to School Integration List for Assistive Technology and Learning:

Wii therapy/XBox Kinect - continuing our pilot and working with some new schools to trial as well support schools that purchased systems for start up this year. We use these to enhance OT goals and also to enhance peer play and social/communication goals. We have an autism specialist that we turned loose with a Kinect and XBox this summer to develop some strategies for autism social and communication goals - can't wait to see what she has come up with.

Common Core Language Arts Standards alignment with strategies using AT, E-Readers and iPad apps, etc. I taught a summer class (OK I wasn't off all summer) on cross-referencing Core Standards in ELA with open source computer apps that will assist in student succcess for that standard. I want to develop it more this year.

TBI and AT: Technology that supports learning for students after Traumatic Brain Injury.

Free Open Source Tools on all our school computers for student accommodation - now a reality but in need of a lot of training and reinforcement. Tools include DSpeech, XMind, Hott Notes, and tools like Vubar, Sonar Cursor Ring and Orato. You can see a list of links and descriptions at the Access Apps Site.

AAC devices with boards/pages designed for curriculum and in-class learning not just communication. I have helped our SLP's develop some exciting boards for science as well as life skills and community topics. These have been on Dynavox and PRC devices.

iPad/iPod Touch apps searches for AAC, AT and student accommodation and learning - there is always something new.

I am excited to see what we come up with this year. I am always striving to learn new things and develop cutting edge strategies in my service to students and staff . If you are returning to a school district or regional service organization after a summer break, I wish you a great fall full of great opportunities to make a difference in a child's life.

All the best!

Lon

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Missing: 90,000 Children with Traumatic Brain Injuries Each Year

Nationwide Statistics show that there are far more cases of Emergency Room- verified Traumatic Brain Injury in children than there are identifications of TBI disabilities in schools, according to Karen McAvoy, Ph.D. and Judy Dettmer, Ph.D.
In a 2-day workshop on "RTI, Assessment, & Special Education Process for Students with Traumatic Brain Injury", I found some very interesting information that I am passing on to you with our colleagues' permission.
Our trainers shared that TBI, has been classified as a low incident disability. But when you look at the ramifications of nation-wide statistics from the U.S. Dept. of Education, The National Center for Disease Control and the National Pediatric Registry, the data tells an interesting story...

National Data:
The National Center for Disease Control states that there is an annual average of 435,000 Emergency Room visits, 37,000 hospitalizations and 2,685 deaths among children due to TBI. This number only identifies those who had the injury reported and were admitted to a hospital. It does not include injuries where the child remained under care at home and did not receive formal medical treatment or where the patient was released without a TBI diagnosis. Because the actual number is low due to the non-reported incidents, experts think that the actual number could be closer to 1.4 million children with TBI injuries a year.
The U.S. Department of Education has said that there is an average of 475,000 TBI injuries among children a year. Their data shows that during the 1991-1992 school year, there were a total of 4, 499,824 students receiving special education. Out of that total, only 245 were served under a TBI disability category.
During the 1999 -2000 school year, 5,683,707 students were receiving special education services and of that total, 13,874 children were served under the TBI disability category. 2005 data shows that out of 6,021,462 students receiving special education services, there were 23,449 TBI students.
The above statistics show an increase in children served under the TBI category from 1991 to 2005, and according to the speakers at our conference, there was a lot of hard work done in building awareness about TBI in the school sector during those years.
It is interesting to note though that in 1991, Autism received its' own disability category and in 1992 there were 15,302 students identified. By 2005, there were 192,643 students identified as having autism. There were around 170,000 more identified students for autism than TBI.
In Oregon, 2006 statistics show 1008 students hospitalized for TBI. Oregon had 269 identified students that year.
The National Pediatric Registry reports that 19% of youths who sustain a brain injury will have long term disabilities. Reviewing the data from USDOE and using the 19% guideline, we could conservatively estimate that 19% of 475,000 average reported injuries a year leave us with 90,250 a year nationally. If in 1991 there were 245 children identified, what happened to the other 90,005 children? The presenters asked us, "Are we missing 90,000 students with brain injuries?" and more importantly, "Why are we not identifying these children?"

I will share tomorrow on some possible reasons for identification issues as well as some of the charateristics of TBI for those of you who might like to learn more about TBI. I will also share some AT ideas during the week as well.

All the best to you!
Lon



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Remember the Milk: Will it Help With the Ever-Growing To-Do List?

Yesterday I was frustrated. I had just opened a letter telling me to check my cell phone plan and look at new rates and make adjustments if necessary. I thought, "Great. One more thing to remember to do." I had to postpone jury duty because it was to start this next Monday and we are gone to a conference. I have to renew my driver's license with the new homeland security requirements, so I have to bring in documents and proof of a street address. (I went in once and didn't have all the documents they needed - so I have to go back.) I have work-related reminders, our son's prescription to pick up...it goes on and on.

It seems like our culture, the services we use and the systems we live within require so much more accountability and monitoring on our part than they used to. Our banks, pay online accounts, satellite, cell services, insurance, auto mechanics, etc. all send us reminders of rates, payments due, upcoming specials, and more. It is almost overload sometimes for me. I feel like they are running me instead of serving me. On top of that, my brain injury issues from a stroke a couple of years ago, have left me a little less capable in the memory department and also in the detail department as well. I have to work smarter and harder to stay in the stride of my day. Any tool that can help is a good thing.

As I drove down our mountain yesterday, I thought of what my son had told me recently. "We live like pioneers in the old days when we are up on the mountain." he had said. We do live a slower lifestyle up there in the summer, but it doesn't keep the lists from growing anyway. Summer is coming to a close and it is back to school soon and reality and all the things that clutter life. I remember when I was kid up on this mountain, we didn't listen to the radio or have TV or get a newspaper for the entire summer. My parents loved it and life really was simpler. In the 1960's we didn't even have a phone yet in our summer mountain spot. No text messaging back then! People had to send us a letter with a date and time they would call and we would wait on that date on a party line phone in town to talk. I don't want to go backwards to that again, but sometimes I wish I had a slower, less-complicated life in general. Since that probably isn't going to happen in the near future, I continue to depend on lists and reminders to help with the crush of to-do's that fill up my day.

I heard about a beta version web application called Remember the Milk, and I thought about my situation. Maybe this can help me keep better track of things. Remember the Milk is an online tool to help you remember things. I have an ever-growing list of to-do's and I usually keep pen and paper handy, but if you need to tie it into Google Desktop or Twitter or an iphone or blackberry, it can keep you posted through your day as to what you need to shop for, take care of, etc. I think it could be a very good support tool to use with middle to high school students and older, especially with traumatic brain injury, certain situations within autism or ADD/ADHD.

Go to their website and see what you think. I might go ahead and download it and give it a try. Maybe I should put that on my list of things to do...

All the best to you!

Lon

TBI Interview Gives Tools for Parents and Teachers

If you didn't listen to the interview with Patricia Sublette yesterday on No Limits to Learning Live, you missed some great discussion on working through TBI with families, strategies to help these students and some AT discussions:
We discussed the transition back into school after a brain injury, the physical healing process and then the hard work of getting used to developing new skills for learning. Students come back without a strategy for accomplishing tasks, knowing how to work through and finish tasks, etc.
Strategies for reminding students, presenting tasks lists and AT such as using cell phone features, peer note-taking with One Note software for the tablet PC and even the use of the Nintendo DS were discussed.
We also touched on issues of sports injuries and being informed on protocols for concussion and brain injury. With the spring and summer youth sports such as little league, soccer and swimming seasons as well as camping and outdoor recreation season coming, we need to be aware of the higher incidence for injuries.
Patricia had stated that there are about 1.4 million brain injuries in the U.S. annuallly and that half of them are children between 16 and 21 years of age. Because of the high risk-taking nature of teens and the fact that they can survive head injuries better than older adults, they make up a high percentage.
The National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, TBI Publications link has free brochures, wallet cards, posters, DVD education sets, clipboards, etc that you can order to give away. These are great tools to educate coaches, families, young athletes and camp leaders/counselors.
Access the Brain Injury Association of America website and Patricia's TBI Educator site for more information.
The actual site for the No Limits to Learning Live where there are more blog posts, past archives and more links for Patricia are at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nolimits2learninglive
You can hear the archive of this show by clicking on the Blog Talk Radio Player on my sidebar and go to the web area by clicking on the profile icon within the player.

All the best to you!

Lon