The Complexities of Reading and Writing

The fact that people learn to read is amazing. In the video The Secret Life of the Brain - The Child's Brain, Syllable from Sound reading was described as "a high wire balancing act..reading never just happens...one of the most complex everyday performances that happens..." It is a complex process where "the child has to learn to put these hundreds of concepts together to learn to read". With so many components to reading it is not surprising that challenges can develop. As educators we need to be aware of the many components of the process, teach them, assess them and address them. A big job! Assistive Technology can be a useful tool in developing the reading process and assisting students when faced with a challenge. It can be as simple as Bailey's Book House or more complex like Kurzweil. However, before chosing to use AT with our students we need to remember, as Barb explained it, " AT gives us another tool to expose students to different experiences..We need to understand the processes involved in the reading process so that we can identify where the student is having difficulty in that process so that we can match the AT to the person..." Which again brings us back to Shearer's MPT model. It is easy to get caught up in the wonders of all the programs out there and forget the essential components of Milieu, Personality and Technology. We need to match the AT to the person while addressing the MPT.

The Secret Life of the Brain - Keeping Connections

I always knew the brain was a powerful thing but wow! The complex processes that take place are truly amazing. As a mom of two small children I found myself enthralled in the video, to think that all of this is taking place in the brains of my children and others. What I found most interesting and yet disturbing is that experience determines which connections to leave and which to take away. Take a look around any classroom, we all know the experiences are not the same and we all know that economics plays a role in that. I always knew that poverty affected what children are exposed to but I am now left with the realization that the limited experiences that can come with poverty can determine what connections are left in the brain and what are not. As educators, we must remember this. Our students need to be exposed to as many experiences as possible (AT being one of them) and we have a responsibility to provide these experiences. What we do not only provides our students with knowledge but shapes how their brains will develop. A powerful thing! PBS has created an excellent resource that I believe all teachers should watch as it is easy to get caught up in the everyday and forget the importance of every task we provide our students no matter how small. I think of those comments you hear in every staff meeting or school when discussions come up around school events and you hear teachers saying "but I don't want to..." It is not about us! It is about developing every child in our school as a whole, about keeping those connections.

Assistive Technology Day 1 Reflection 2

Matching the a person with the most appropriate technology reminds me of my fathers grumblings as he roots through my garage examining my husbands scattering of tools "There is a right tool for every job and when you don't have the right tool it makes the job difficult or impossible". Dr. Marcia Sherer's MPT (Matching Person and Technology) model is a thought provoking tool for the assessment, matching and implementation of successful assistive technology use. It is easy to become struck by the wonders of technology and start throwing it out to our students to use. "Finally, the answer to my students needs"; however, as Sherer explains in Chapter 8 (Dilemmas, Challenges, and Opportunities) from Living in the State of Stuck Version 4 it is not that simple. The influences within the Milieu(environment), personality and technology contribute to the outcome of the assistive technology and in turn are all interdependent and constantly changing. Thus, we must always be reassessing these influences and know exactly what our students needs are. These influences can contribute to a state of optimal use as well as a state of partial/reluctant use, avoidance or abandonment. As I read Sherer's description of the milieu and the facets within in this I became more aware of the social and emotional challenges that my adolescent students face when using assistive technology. It is not surprising that something as basic as an alphasmart is often avoided or abandoned. I am left with the thought that as an educator it is my responsibility to attempt to control aspects of the milieu by normalizing assistive technology within the classroom by perhaps placing several alphasmarts in each classroom and letting everyone have a turn.