Making New Friends- November 27th
An exciting byproduct of our relationship with Bridges, has been the opportunity to connect with other educators and therapists who have students utilizing eye gaze technology. Last week, the three of us had the pleasure of visiting Glenwood Special Day School, in Hamilton, Ontario.
Glenwood is similar to our setting in that it is a dedicated school for children with special needs. They differ from us, however, in that as a Section 68 School Authority, our school is not affiliated with a school board, whereas Glenwood is part of the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB). As well, Glenwood's student population tends to be adolescent aged students whereas we most often serve students at the elementary level. Finally, whereas our school's mandate is to determine and implement strategies that will enable student success in community school settings, Glenwood generally sees students who have not been able to thrive in their community schools and often complete their education at this setting.
In spite of a few differences in structure and service provision, we share a collective vision that includes access to communication and literacy skills development. Allison, Deb and I spent the day touring various classrooms in the building with Monica (SLP) and Lucia, CDA). Glenwood is fortunate to have a FTE 1.0 CDA and an SLP who visits the school weekly. Over the past 3 years, their team has been gradually strengthening their proficiency and comfort with eye gaze technology. As well, these educators have developed a strong knowledge of many programs and apps that can be accessed by a range of students, including those with complex physical needs.
During the course of our visit, we learned about a variety of apps and resources, including:
https://tarheelreader.org/ - is a free, online library of audio books. You can search by age level and interest. You can use the settings to increase accessibility, ie font size and colour.
Grid 3- which we purchased as part of our TLLP. Grid 3 includes the option to search for and download thousands of premade activities to be used with touchscreen, eyegaze or standard access methods. You can also create your own activities. The greatest challenge in terms of Grid 3 will be developing our proficiency and comfort in using it, as well as making the time to create a bank of activities.
Glenwood is similar to our setting in that it is a dedicated school for children with special needs. They differ from us, however, in that as a Section 68 School Authority, our school is not affiliated with a school board, whereas Glenwood is part of the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB). As well, Glenwood's student population tends to be adolescent aged students whereas we most often serve students at the elementary level. Finally, whereas our school's mandate is to determine and implement strategies that will enable student success in community school settings, Glenwood generally sees students who have not been able to thrive in their community schools and often complete their education at this setting.
In spite of a few differences in structure and service provision, we share a collective vision that includes access to communication and literacy skills development. Allison, Deb and I spent the day touring various classrooms in the building with Monica (SLP) and Lucia, CDA). Glenwood is fortunate to have a FTE 1.0 CDA and an SLP who visits the school weekly. Over the past 3 years, their team has been gradually strengthening their proficiency and comfort with eye gaze technology. As well, these educators have developed a strong knowledge of many programs and apps that can be accessed by a range of students, including those with complex physical needs.
During the course of our visit, we learned about a variety of apps and resources, including:
https://tarheelreader.org/ - is a free, online library of audio books. You can search by age level and interest. You can use the settings to increase accessibility, ie font size and colour.
Grid 3- which we purchased as part of our TLLP. Grid 3 includes the option to search for and download thousands of premade activities to be used with touchscreen, eyegaze or standard access methods. You can also create your own activities. The greatest challenge in terms of Grid 3 will be developing our proficiency and comfort in using it, as well as making the time to create a bank of activities.
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