Assistive Technology to help students in the classroom that are Visual Impaired

The term Visually Impaired is used widely to explain when a person has either lost their sight entirely or a little. The functional definition is either low vision “also called moderate to severe visual impairment where a person have some vision, but they have difficulty accomplishing typical visual tasks.” The next definition is “blindness   (also called profound visual impairment) refers to having no vision or only light perception, or the ability to determine the presence or absence of light" (Huebner, 2000).  Students who are visually impaired are challenged not only with reading and writing, but with both social and emotional interactions. This occurs because typical developing students learn the traits of positive social & emotional behaviors from having the ability to look into the faces of others, and see the interactions exchanged, and or from trial and error. However, with visually impaired students, social interactions will have to be taught.

This is a personal FM assistive system where it’s a wireless transmitter that will enable the user to receive sound clear and precise.

https://youtu.be/dxDDAr2MpjU

This is an electronic magnifier, which is used for students who have moderate to severe visual impairment. Books, or pictures can be placed face down on the  black surface  , and students will be able to see an enlarged picture of whatever it is on the computer screen .

The  picture  below is a Braille Kindle which allows people to use and feel images and text on the screen .This is the future of assistive technology for the visually impaired. It is a new refresher Braille which will keep students up to date with events during real-time events.

http://blitab.com/videos/

  

References

@. (n.d.). Personal FM listening systems | Parenting. Retrieved September 27, 2016, from http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/personal-fm-listening-systems/

Humanware. (n.d.). Retrieved September 27, 2016, from http://www.humanware.com/en-new_zealand/home

By using AT, kids can experience success with working independently. (n.d.). Assistive Technology for Kids with Learning Disabilities: An Overview. Retrieved September 27, 2016, from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/assistive-technology-kids-learning-disabilities-overview

http://blitab.com/videos/

Friend, M. P. (2014). Special education: Contemporary perspectives for school professionals. Boston: Pearson/A and B.

"Ohio DL Schools"

Ohio Connections Academy ( OCA)

 I visited this site to look at information about enrollment and immediately the screen gave me the option of chatting with someone if  I  had a question. I personally liked this. The visuals on this website were very appealing and encouraging, as well as simple but in depth.  The site addressed all ages from K-12 and is accredited by AdvanceED .The look and feel of the environment on the website was inspiring because the different grades were broken down and clustered into 3 groups, with supporting lesson plans for each group. There was a FAQ page which answered question I had personally if I had to know before enrolling my child.

Virtual Community School of Ohio (VCS OHIO)

When I visited this site, the colors were simple and inviting. Upon clicking on their “How it works” button I came across the age groups  served and was amazed that each category of three groups answered FAQ  instead of displaying what subjects are taught and how are they connected to a lesson plan. While this was surprisingly different, I wanted more of an in depth explanation about the curriculum and couldn’t get a clear understanding when I looked it over under the “About Us  “ button. Personally there wasn’t a sense of cohesiveness in the website and that made me have a negative opinion of using this website to school my child.

Ohio Virtual Academy

I was very impressed by this website. The clarity and understandability of information was available, as well as in various other languages. The look and feel of the environment centered on giving any child an opportunity to receive an enriched education. Personally, I would pick this website over all the others because of the positive impact I see it could have not just on children and their plans, but as well as in  their futures.

ECOT

This website was simple and straight to the point of what’s available for students and their parents. However, the clarity of the information is tricky   because a potential parent needs to search to find out information about the curriculum and other important information.  Under each category of buttons ,various topics are listed and some information are straight forward, as well as some of them makes your take a double look because of uncertainty .  I was very indecisive of endorsing this website, I think that I will have to do some more research before I give a clear opinion of it.

My Prezi

                        

My Prezi is about a collection of aspects that makse me the person I am today.
I start with my background;including my origin and my education .Then I went on to explain why I have the love for reading as much as I do . I used the software Prezi to illustrate some aspects of my journey towards my goals. Initially , it was a bit tricky getting the frames to  link to each other , however ,after some exploration I was very intrigued by the software. I would be using this for my presentations instead of power points because it gives a wider option to add various sorts of media.

Three Great Teacher Blogs

http://www.coolcatteacher.com/free-class-8-steps-global-collaboration-every-classroom/#more-12891
http://www.coolcatteacher.com/free-class-8-steps-global-collaboration-every-classroom/#more-12891

This website is from a veteran teacher who uses technology to help both beginning  and seasoned  teachers ways to collaborate across subjects. Her use of the webinars are also intriguing and very in depth .


http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2016/09/talk-pirate-day-classroom-takeover
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2016/09/talk-pirate-day-classroom-takeover



As an Intervention Specialist with an Endorsement in Reading, I love this blog because it gives you various ideas and different perspectives  of how to further engage students from grades 1-3 in reading.



http://teachingtoinspire.com/
http://teachingtoinspire.com/



Teaching To Inspire caught my attention because I always felt that's what I have been doing with the children I have had the privilege  to teach . I like the incorporation of both Math & Reading and using various strategies to do it. I also  like that the blog addresses both elementary and upper elementary .

Welcome to my Blog

Hello Fellow Bloggers, my name is Sherryl Ann James and I am an administrator at a PreK Head Start program in Columbus Ohio . I have been teaching for the past 20 years and I have been an administrator for 5 years, two of those years  with Head Start . During the transition from teacher to administrator I  observed the frequency of children being mislabeled when they exhibited behaviors that teachers didn't understand and would call "bad". I wanted to understand why these behaviors were happening and what I can do to facilitate the needs of students with any type of behavior. This lead to my quest of studying to be an Intervention Specialist ,with endorsements of TESOL & Reading.  

When I am not busy working or studying , I am constantly reading various genres of books which I love because of it's ability to transport and  transform you to that particular place and time . I also enjoy cooking various types of cuisine, as well as traveling and working out. I love the outdoors, so most of my hobbies are done outside as much as possible.

My goal as an Intervention Specialist is to use my experiences with diversity as an advantage to bridge the gap that's  clearly visible when looking at the needs of the diverse population of children within our educational system. I would like to collaborate with families to meet their needs ,as well as the needs of  their children for a successful educational journey . One of the essential ways to do so in my field is to have a consistent knowledge of Technology , and the ways to engage my students in various ways. In my blog, I will be using different methods to accomplish this, and post various bloggers to showcase what I learned.