Assistive Technology

Assistive Technology 

• Assistive technology can help a child to participate more actively in family, school and community activities. play successfully with toys and other children. communicate his or her needs and ideas.
  
  
• Assistive devices and services can be of great value in providing infants and young children with disabilities opportunities to learn and interact with their environment in ways that might not otherwise be possible.
  
  

Assistive technology can help a child to:

• participate more actively in family, school and community activities
  
  
• play successfully with toys and other children
  
  
• communicate his or her needs and ideas
  
  
• make choices
  
  
• move independently
  
  

Sensory

• Sensory tools can help increase or decrease stimulation to help a child feel more comfortable and secure in their environment. Common examples include:
  
  

• Noise-blocking headphones to mute sounds in noisy or over-stimulating environments
  
  
• Fidgets, small items that a child can hold, provide extra stimulation needed to help children focus
  
  
• Weighted blankets or toys that provide slight pressure on the body and help some children feel more calm and focused
  
  
  

Communication

• Between birth and age 5, a child’s vocabulary (both words they understand and words they can use) grows at a rapid rate. For children who struggle to communicate verbally, there are many different types of technology that can provide them with their own voice. Common examples include:
  
  

• Apps for tablets, such as an iPad, that “speak” words a child selects on the screen
  
  

• A laminated collection of words and corresponding symbols a child can point to and indicate their feelings, wants, and needs
  
  
• A single message device, consisting of a simple button with a built-in speaker. It records a message (e.g., “I’m hungry”) and a child can press the button to activate the message for a parent or caregiver
  
  

Culturally Responsive

• The user must always be the main focus.  Aspects of his or her native culture, language, beliefs, and customs as they relate to the person directly, and to the family or larger community in general, must be taken into account. We need to examine the users own philosophy and beliefs about inclusion and participation. To force individuals to acquire and try to use technology that they do not believe in or cannot accept will not work. Matching even the best, most complex, and most expensive high-tech AT with users who are culturally unprepared or unwilling to accept and use such devices will still result in AT failure. 
  
  

Reference

PACER Center - Champions for Children with Disabilities. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.pacer.org/

Scenarios

Assessment provides educators, parents, and families with critical information about a child's development and growth. Assessmentcan: Provide a record of growth in all developmental areas: cognitive, physical/motor, language, social-emotional, and approaches to learning.

Kalani is a 4 year-old boy.  He moved from Hawaii six months ago.  He is very quiet and doesn't talk much at all and when he does it is one or two words.  He does not join in large group activities and likes to go off and sit by himself in the library area.   Kalani loves legos and building. He has a very hard time sharing and when he does not get his way he often gets very angry and yells, hits and screams.  He doesn't know how to hold a writing utensil and can’t write his name. He can identify the letters of the alphabet, colors and numbers by pointing at them.  The teacher would like to refer him for an evaluation for special education services but both the parents are very against this. They don’t want him to be labeled.  There are 20 children in his classroom. It is a half day and runs 3 ½ hours. His teacher is organized with very clear expectations for the students. She has a good relationship with the family but has to call them quite often to let them know about difficult behaviors in the classroom.  How would you get the parents on board with moving forward with the assessment? How could you get Kaliani interested in other activities in the classroom besides building and legos? 

Reference:

 Aiden is a 5 year old boy and is in kindergarten.  His home language is English. He has never been in school before and is an only child.  He lives with his single mother and his father has visitation every other weekend. Aiden gets distracted easily and has trouble focusing on a task.  He is unable to stay seated for extended periods of time and often gets up and walks around during teacher instruction. He often tells the teacher he is "bored' and moved onto another activity, he is not easily redirected and that often creates a power struggle.  His mom has told the teacher he has trouble completing homework and staying on task, so work often does not come back to the school. Aiden has difficulty organizing information or taking in new ways of doing things. When the teacher speaks to Aiden he seems not to listen and daydreams frequently.  He has trouble following two step directions.

What type of intervention assessment would you recommend for Aiden?

When early childhood educators use a comprehensive assessment system within an early childhood program it measures developmental growth with the children and screens for potential developmental or academic concerns.  Assessment also measures of the quality of the learning environment.

References

Banerjee, R., & Luckner, J.L. (2013). Assessment practices and training needs of early childhood professionals. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education 34(3), 231-248.

Early Childhood Assessment. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://resourcesforearlylearning.org/fm/early-childhood-assessment/