In this day and age, we are starting to see text on paper start to disappear. With the inventions of Kindles and Nooks, as well as ebooks online, text is starting to show up on computerized screens, instead of on printed paper.
This topic has become very controversial throughout the decade. Some would argue that it is wonderful that books are now on digital devices. On the other hand, some feel that digital devices are taking away the authenticity of text. I am personally very conflicted about which form I prefer. I really enjoy having a book in my lap and being able to turn the pages. Though I have not owned a Kindle or Nook, my ipod has a very similar program that lets me read books on it. I feel that it is very nice to just have the app on my ipod and not need to worry about carrying a book around, but it takes away that "homey" feeling of having a book in your hands.
Countering my love for having a book in my lap and turning the pages, I feel that electronic books are great for students with special needs. Having books on a digital device has really changed the assisstive technology field. Having a Kindle, or Nook is great for students with visual impairments. These screens have a lit screen to help make reading easier. They also can be zoomed in and magnified to a vision. They are also very portable and are great for
So as far as paper vs. pixels is concerned, I really don't know what to think. I feel that it is good that books are becoming more digital, but we should not get rid of authentic books.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Come On, Let's T21Con!
Today I had the privilege of attending the T21Con Conference at Illinois State University. It was an all day conference full of different sessions relating to Assistive Technology. In the main ballroom, vendors from different companies had stations where they could showcase their products. At the conference, I tweeted my thoughts and experiences during the sessions that I attended.
The first session I attended was called, "Reaching All Learners: Apple Tools for Special Needs". This session looked mainly at a Mac computer and showed all the wonderful features that Apple provides for individuals with disabilities. If a student has visual impairments, you could customize your computer to have a voice over, zoom, or adjust the contrast of the display. When you turn on voice over, whatever you run your cursor over, the computer will speak. Zoom is a feature that allows you to magnify the page you're looking at, and by adjusting the contrast of the display, you can change the colors to something best suited for your student vision.
Did you know that you can save text from your computer onto your itunes and it will play it back to you in an audio file? Cool, huh? This is a wonderful feature for students that may have visual impairments and need to have things read to them. It takes no time at all and you can even upload it onto an mp3 device or a CD.
Apple has many different apps that students with special needs can access. To access them, all you have to do is pull up the itunes store and type in "Special Education". Tons of different apps will appear and what's even cooler about this is that you can search apps by topic or domain. This makes it easier to find exactly what apps you want. After the conference, I downloaded Dragon Dictation and a Sign Language app onto my ipod. Dragon Dictation converts what it hears into text and the Sign Language app teaches different signs that are very common. I had so much fun messing around with these 2 apps!
The second session that I attended was entitled, "Power of Podcasting". I have never seen or made a podcast before, so this session was extremely interesting to me. In fact, the whole session was done via webcam. During this session we learned many amazing things that people can do with podcasts.
One way to find podcasts is by going to the itunes store. At the top there is a podcast tab that lets people access podcasts on an array of subjects. Not only that but by using itunes U, students can access podcasts, lectures, demo videos, and more that their teacher may put out! Young children can even listen to podcasts too! The itunes store has many different podcasts tailored to children of every age.
Many times, people will say that they cannot access a podcast because they do not have an ipod. This is so false! Even though podcasts came out around the same time that ipods did, podcasts have no real relation to ipods. You do not need to own an ipod to listen or view a podcast. Many times, individuals without an mp3 will burn podcasts onto CDs to listen to in the car! Easy enough, right?
A big tip that was given during this presentation was that if you are going to make a podcast, it will be most successful if you drop episodes on a frequent and regular basis. Some individuals will do weekly podcasts, while others will do monthly ones. The more frequent and regular the podcast, the more successful it will be!
Going to T21Con was fascinating to me! The two sessions that I attended were very interesting and informative. I suggest that anyone who wants to learn more about AT should attend a conference like this. If you are interested in seeing what I tweeted live at T21Con, please check out my Twitter @jreriks, or search #T21Con to see what myself and others thought of the conference!
The first session I attended was called, "Reaching All Learners: Apple Tools for Special Needs". This session looked mainly at a Mac computer and showed all the wonderful features that Apple provides for individuals with disabilities. If a student has visual impairments, you could customize your computer to have a voice over, zoom, or adjust the contrast of the display. When you turn on voice over, whatever you run your cursor over, the computer will speak. Zoom is a feature that allows you to magnify the page you're looking at, and by adjusting the contrast of the display, you can change the colors to something best suited for your student vision.
Did you know that you can save text from your computer onto your itunes and it will play it back to you in an audio file? Cool, huh? This is a wonderful feature for students that may have visual impairments and need to have things read to them. It takes no time at all and you can even upload it onto an mp3 device or a CD.
Apple has many different apps that students with special needs can access. To access them, all you have to do is pull up the itunes store and type in "Special Education". Tons of different apps will appear and what's even cooler about this is that you can search apps by topic or domain. This makes it easier to find exactly what apps you want. After the conference, I downloaded Dragon Dictation and a Sign Language app onto my ipod. Dragon Dictation converts what it hears into text and the Sign Language app teaches different signs that are very common. I had so much fun messing around with these 2 apps!
The second session that I attended was entitled, "Power of Podcasting". I have never seen or made a podcast before, so this session was extremely interesting to me. In fact, the whole session was done via webcam. During this session we learned many amazing things that people can do with podcasts.
One way to find podcasts is by going to the itunes store. At the top there is a podcast tab that lets people access podcasts on an array of subjects. Not only that but by using itunes U, students can access podcasts, lectures, demo videos, and more that their teacher may put out! Young children can even listen to podcasts too! The itunes store has many different podcasts tailored to children of every age.
Many times, people will say that they cannot access a podcast because they do not have an ipod. This is so false! Even though podcasts came out around the same time that ipods did, podcasts have no real relation to ipods. You do not need to own an ipod to listen or view a podcast. Many times, individuals without an mp3 will burn podcasts onto CDs to listen to in the car! Easy enough, right?
A big tip that was given during this presentation was that if you are going to make a podcast, it will be most successful if you drop episodes on a frequent and regular basis. Some individuals will do weekly podcasts, while others will do monthly ones. The more frequent and regular the podcast, the more successful it will be!
Going to T21Con was fascinating to me! The two sessions that I attended were very interesting and informative. I suggest that anyone who wants to learn more about AT should attend a conference like this. If you are interested in seeing what I tweeted live at T21Con, please check out my Twitter @jreriks, or search #T21Con to see what myself and others thought of the conference!
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Why Special Education?
Seeing as this is my first blog, I would like to introduce myself to my fellow readers. I am currently a junior at Illinois State University studying to be a Special Education teacher. I am not 100% sure what age level I want to teach once I graduate, but I am pretty confident that I'd love to teach in a self-contained elementary or junior high classroom, with students with moderate to severe disabilities.
I have had the privilege of working at many different special recreation summer camps the past ten or so years. I also have been a part of my high school's Peer Mentoring program where I was placed in a SED classroom during one period, the whole year. I loved working with peers my own age in the Special Education department and still keep in touch with many of them today. Working with this population of children has been my passion since I was very young.
But why Special Education? Where did this passion start?
My older brother, Daniel, was diagnosed with Cornelia De Lange Syndrome at birth. This is one of the lesser-known cognitive impairments out there. He could not walk or eat food the way most people do. He could not talk or tell us how he was feeling. He could not read or write, but what he could do was smile and love.
Daniel's passion was music. You could pop in any CD or turn on the radio and he would be humming along to any song that came on. I grew up listening to Steve Green CD's and the Les Miserables soundtrack. We owned the Broadway musical on VHS too, so that was constantly playing on our TV. Les Miserables is still one of my favorite musicals to this day because of those countless times spent listening to "Look Down" and "Do You Hear the People Sing".
Daniel was my best friend. He was a few years older than me, yet was my inspiration. He always lit up my life and brought a smile to my face. Countless times he could be found smiling at himself in the mirror and humming his favorite tunes. Though I knew he was in pain, never once did he show it. His smile was unwavering.
Sure, I knew my older brother was different, but that made no difference to me. He was special to me and that was all that mattered. I spent many years visiting the halls of his school, which only taught students with moderate to severe disabilities. His friends became my friends, his teachers became my role models.
As Daniel grew older, his health weakened. His immune system began to struggle fighting off the various sicknesses and virus's he caught. Days in the hospital and hours in the E.R.became very frequent for my family and when I was in second grade, Daniel passed away. After fighting Pneumonia for a week or so, his body was too weak and it was time for him to go. And yet even in his dying minutes, he clapped his hands and smiled.
So why Special Education? Because since I was born, a young boy with disabilities was my role model. He taught me happiness and love. He showed me all that he was capable of, no matter his weaknesses. He truly changed my whole outlook on life. After his death, I promised that I would commit the rest of my life to helping educate students just like him.
Daniel inspired, impacted, and empowered me. Why Special Education? Because that's what I want to do for the rest of my life....inspire, impact, and empower.
I have had the privilege of working at many different special recreation summer camps the past ten or so years. I also have been a part of my high school's Peer Mentoring program where I was placed in a SED classroom during one period, the whole year. I loved working with peers my own age in the Special Education department and still keep in touch with many of them today. Working with this population of children has been my passion since I was very young.
But why Special Education? Where did this passion start?
My older brother, Daniel, was diagnosed with Cornelia De Lange Syndrome at birth. This is one of the lesser-known cognitive impairments out there. He could not walk or eat food the way most people do. He could not talk or tell us how he was feeling. He could not read or write, but what he could do was smile and love.
Daniel's passion was music. You could pop in any CD or turn on the radio and he would be humming along to any song that came on. I grew up listening to Steve Green CD's and the Les Miserables soundtrack. We owned the Broadway musical on VHS too, so that was constantly playing on our TV. Les Miserables is still one of my favorite musicals to this day because of those countless times spent listening to "Look Down" and "Do You Hear the People Sing".
Daniel was my best friend. He was a few years older than me, yet was my inspiration. He always lit up my life and brought a smile to my face. Countless times he could be found smiling at himself in the mirror and humming his favorite tunes. Though I knew he was in pain, never once did he show it. His smile was unwavering.
Sure, I knew my older brother was different, but that made no difference to me. He was special to me and that was all that mattered. I spent many years visiting the halls of his school, which only taught students with moderate to severe disabilities. His friends became my friends, his teachers became my role models.
As Daniel grew older, his health weakened. His immune system began to struggle fighting off the various sicknesses and virus's he caught. Days in the hospital and hours in the E.R.became very frequent for my family and when I was in second grade, Daniel passed away. After fighting Pneumonia for a week or so, his body was too weak and it was time for him to go. And yet even in his dying minutes, he clapped his hands and smiled.
So why Special Education? Because since I was born, a young boy with disabilities was my role model. He taught me happiness and love. He showed me all that he was capable of, no matter his weaknesses. He truly changed my whole outlook on life. After his death, I promised that I would commit the rest of my life to helping educate students just like him.
Daniel inspired, impacted, and empowered me. Why Special Education? Because that's what I want to do for the rest of my life....inspire, impact, and empower.
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