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Project Goal

With the money provided, I would purchase accessibility devices to improve the engagement and academic outcomes of all of my individually unique students. Most of my students have a communication goal that they are working towards mastering and these devices would help support them achieving their goals. 

 

How Project Benefits Students

The students in my class do not communicate in a typical verbal fashion but can benefit from being provided opportunities to interact with each other and staff by utilizing voice output devices. This will further benefit students because these devices are able to be used with future classes as well as to be shared with other classes around the school campus. Having these kinds of accessibility devices allow my students to have additional means to communicate by increasing the modes of communication that they have to use and therefore the amount of interactions that they are having with staff and other students. Thus, both socially and academically, access to these kinds of devices will support working on multiple objectives of Individual Eduacation Plan (IEP) goals at the same time for each student.

The BIGmack can hold a single recording and are useful for greetings and requests for important needs such as toileting or a drink. The Step-by-Step allows multiple recordings that are kept in order and are useful for lists, such as reviewing our school rules, operations, such as first we identify the question, next we solve, then we check that our answer fits. The mouse allows for my students to use an extra large trackball to move the cursor around the screen as they do not have the dexterity to use the touchpad on laptops or a typical mouse. The jelly bean swtiches can be used with many different applications on the computer, where the student can turn pages in a book, left click if it is plugged into the mouse, or allow them to engage in learning games. The Hitch2 allows for multiple of these switches to be plugged into a device at one time, thus allowing the student more ways to interact with the computer independently. I have observed the All-Turn-It Spinner be used as a way to participate in accountable talk between students, where classmates names and prompting questions to ask the chosen one are around the edges of the device. A KinderBoard could allow students a much more distinguishable keyboard to use on a computer when doing their work.

Please visit my Amazon Wishlist to view in more detail, some of the items below that I have found available through their website at:
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2JDPK1FMAHZFQ?ref=cm_sw_sm_r_un_un_xcuyWmqkSpU5K . 

 

Expected Outcome(s)

I expect to be able to use the items listed below, which are specific switches and other adaptive tools that can be used to increase interactions between students and between students and staff as well as give them the opportunity of operating some functions on a computer, such as turning the pages of a book, using an extra large trackball mouse and switches to left-click on a page, and use an adapted keyboard for typing. With the iTalk4, Step-by-Step, or BIGmack, I can have students respond "verbally" so that their classmates are able to hear their answer and interact with each other in a modified version of accountable talk. All of these activities will help my students reach various social, independent functioning, and communication goals that are already included in their Individual Education Plan (IEP). 

 

Detailed Cost Summary

The prices listed are either the AbleNet site itself or Amazon, which both had listing at the same price if the item was currently available through their website. Please visit my Amazon Wishlist to view items available through their website at: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2JDPK1FMAHZFQ?ref=cm_sw_sm_r_un_un_xcuyWmqkSpU5K . 

 

Items