Designed Augmentative Communication Systems

To meet the communication demands of the home and community, the student’s augmentative communication system can be designed for these environments.  For the home, as mentioned before, training for family members can help.  In the community, field trips can be set up by the teacher to improve the awareness of the augmentative communication system as well as letting the student work with someone who does not know very much about the augmentative communication system.

Students who use an augmentative communication system can also have designed boards to match the communication needs for each activity.  There are so many resources out there to help with the design of augmentative communication systems for activities in school, home, and the community.  Below is an example of a communication board needed for a cooking activity.

Augmentative Communication Systems at Home and in the Community

From my previous post, we know what augmentative communication is and how it can be incorporated in the IEP.  It is also important to support the use of augmentative communication systems while at home and in the community because different settings provide different communication demands.  Training for the family to use the augmentative communication system should be provided.  Training included strategies that expand the use of the system and provide new vocabulary for the student.

In the community, people are less familiar and may be less accepting of the student with the augmentative communication system.  If the student communicates with someone who is unfamiliar with the system, communication can be a challenge but the teacher can create a positive experience between the student and the unfamiliar partner through activities and field trips.

Augmentative Communication

The IEP is an important aspect for a student with disabilities.  Augmentative communication evaluations should be part of the development process for nonspeaking students.  If augmentative communication is determined necessary for the student, the components need to be outlined in the IEP along with the use of the augmentative communication system.  The academic goals and objectives set for the student should also show their participation and achievements using the augmentative communication system.  “There are three goal areas to consider for augmentative communication users: communication, instruction/academic, and social interactions” (Dell, Newton, & Petroff, 2012).

There are also two additional components that must be included in the IEP for a student using augmentative communication.  The first is a list of all the augmentative communication services that are to be provided and the second is the identification of the party responsible for the maintenance and operations of the device.

With inclusive classrooms becoming popular, knowing AT devices and communication techniques for all students will only help me when I have my own classroom.

Learned Helplessness

Learned helplessness is defined as a condition that a person suffers from a sense of powerlessness.  This feeling can prevent students to be successful in the classroom. 

There are five tips to overcome learned helplessness.  The first is the build a daily expectation of communication.  This can be done through activities like letting the student choose the activity they want to do.  The second tip is to construct a daily report that is communicated by the student.  The third is to allow natural consequences; this includes a less restrictive environment.  The fourth tip is to provide students to make a choice whenever possible so the student uses their augmentative communication system.  The final tip is to provide powerful phrases so students can reject or protest.

These tips can be very helpful personally when I am in the classroom.  I do not want my students to become dependent on me doing things for them while they need to experience it and become independent.

Low-Tech and Mid-Tech Adaptions

There are so many low-tech and mid-tech adaptions that can assist students with disabilities in completing math assignments.  These AT devices range from stamps to calculators.

A useful low-tech tool can be as simple as addition and multiplication charts.  Onion Mountain Technology makes more intricate tools for students with disabilities.  They have “fraction rubber stamps, a manipulative number line, laminated addition and multiplication tables, and a special ruler that has multiple transparent overlays to help students understand the relationship between the different units of measure” (Dell, Newton, & Petroff, 2012).  Calculators with large oversized buttons help students with poor fine motor control.  Students with learning disabilities and visual impairments can use talking calculators to help them check their work by reading aloud every keystroke the student enters.  There are also calculators that show the entire math problem on the screen.  This is beneficial for students because they can see their own work.

Below is the See N' Solve made by Onion Mountain Technology.

Being a math teacher, knowing the tools that can help your students is key.  I hope to utilize all the low-tech and mid-tech adaptions I can; whatever to help my students be successful.

Concepts, Skills, and Problem Solving Applications

Along with automaticity, students also have to be efficient in math concepts, math skills, and problem solving.  Educational applications to help with these concepts, skills, and problem solving can be found on numerous of websites for Grades K to 12.  One website that is an excellent resource is the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives.  This website can be categorized by subjects like Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, and many more.

Another application is called Math Playground.  This program provides free, online math games in the form of word problems and logic puzzles.  A game that can be found under word problems section is called Thinking Blocks that provides practice with solving addition, subtractions, multiplication, division, and ratio word problems.

Destination Math helps develop students’ skills in math reasoning, conceptual understanding, and problem solving.  This application provides step-by-step instructions to practice problem-solving skills.

When I am in the classroom, I cannot wait to utilize these applications to help my students.  I love that these are games that can help my students improve their math concepts, skills, and problem solving.  These are not just topics they can use in the math classroom but in the real world as well.

MathPad and MathPad Plus

Students with disabilities can have trouble with writing numbers, aligning digits, and creating shapes or angles.  Some students that have visual-spatial or motor control issues can have trouble copying math problems from the chalkboard or book making the results of these problems hard or impossible to read.

There are tools out there for students that have trouble with visual-spatial or motor control difficulties.  MathPad, it is a talking worksheet that lets students complete arithmetic computations with whole numbers just like using pencil and paper, an example can be found below.

MathPad Plus has all the features of MathPad but allows a student to compute with decimals and fractions.  A option is given for students to see a problem represented as pie charts, fraction bars, or decimal grids, which can be beneficial to visual learners.  A picture of MathPad Plus can be seen below.

There are so many different tools out there for students with visual-spatial or motor control disabilities.  MathPad and MathPad Plus can help students of all ages depending what they are learning.  At a younger age, MathPad is perfect to help these students.  As they get older, MathPad Plus can help when learning decimals and fractions since they already know how the program works.