Holding a pencil

Producing print in space provided

Far-point copying tasks (from board/overhead projector, etc.)

Near-point copying tasks (from text/ handout, etc.)

Producing legible print at grade level pace

Following lines on paper

Completing forms

Completing bubble answer sheets

Producing correct size print (too big/too small)

Note-taking:

• Accurate notes from dictation (independent notes are incomplete or erroneous)
• Complete notes from dictation (independent notes are taken too slowly)
• Meaningful notes (independent notes include extraneous information)
  

Keeping paper in place

Highlighting important information

Variety of pens/pencils (based on color, size, tactile feedback, etc.)

Adaptive pen/pencil grips

Adaptive paper (raised line, highlighted lines, etc.)

Slant board

Personal dry erase board

Adapted worksheets

Pre-written words/phrases/ sentences, etc.

Writing templates & skeletal notes or outlines

Computer with word processor

Graphic-based word processor

Software for:

• Speech recognition
  
• Spelling and grammar check
  
• Webbing/Outlining to Paragraph
  
• Word prediction

Planning and Organization

Research emphasizes that struggling students of all ages do not plan and organize their writing successfully. Planning and organization involves consideration of appropriate vocabulary, related ideas and topics, outlines, and arguments.

Transcribing

The many sub-skills within transcription have been described as a “juggling act” in which the writer must juggle (a) planning what to say and how to say it, (b) selecting words and sentence and discourse structures, (c) producing text, and (d) monitoring what has been written with what is about to be written while revising.
Handwriting and spelling skill limitations interfere with the ability of beginning, developing, and struggling writers to translate oral language in memory (text generation) into written language on paper (text production). Learners with disabilities or those who struggle with any one of these sub-skills often experience frustration and demotivation toward the writing process.

Editing and revising

The final major phase of the writing process involves several more skills. Editing, or proofreading, involves detecting and correcting errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar to improve written accuracy. Revising is improving the organization of ideas, the clarity of the composition, and the supporting details, and considering the audience.

PIcture supports

Word cards / banks / walls

Model of completed assignment

Sentence Frames & Story Starters

Graphic organizers

Digital mapping, outlining, and draft templates

Computer with word processor

Word processor with pictcure support

Structured writing with templates and word banks

Talking word processor

Word prediction and cueing

Abbreviation expansion

Multimedia software with alternative expression of ideas

Article: Using the iPad to Support Struggling Writers

There's an app for that....There are probably hundreds of apps that could be used effectively to support writing composition. Three that we have used and found fun are:

Inspiration Maps - Engage students in active learning with Inspiration Maps. Students build their knowledge by creating diagrams, maps and organizers that help them brainstorm, plan, organize and build thinking skills. Tap to transform visual work into outlines that can be sorted and reordered. Outlines can be exported for to Pages or other apps to complete the writing process.

Strip Designer - A comic strip is an engaging format to lure reluctant writers into creating digital masterpieces. Strip Designer is an easy to use app to create a graphic novel to support the four main types of writing our kids do. Select one of the many included page templates. Insert photos into the cells. Add a couple of balloons with fun words. Add additional effect symbols (stickers) like "Boom", "Splash", or "Bang" to spice up the story. Photos can be added from the camera, or from a photo album. You can apply filters to photos, and change the layout of the page to fit your needs. Text balloons can be positioned, sized, and rotated freely on the page.

PIctello - Pictello is a simple way to create talking books. Each page in a Pictello Story can contain a picture, up to five lines of text, and a recorded sound or text-to-speech using high-quality voices. Pictures can be imported from a photo album or taken using the iPad camera and used to support descriptive or expository writing or illustrate narrative writing.

Reading is one of the most important skills students have to learn. Reading is necessary for access to all other content areas, including math. Even in our growing digital world, reading is key to accessing increasingly large volumes of data and information. As students are learning to read, targeted skill areas are generally identified as:



• Phonemic Awareness
  
• Phonics
  
• Vocabulary
  
• Comprehension
  
• Fluency
  

As many students progress from "learning to read" to "reading to learn," struggles increase, along with frustration and a risk of failure.

Barriers may involve:

Page turners

Tracking aids

Positioning aids

Contrast aids

Magnification aids

Large type books / text

Picture supported text

Determining appropriate reading accommodations

PAR: Protocol for Accommodations in Reading

PAR (for Accommodations in Reading) is a comprehensive resource that provides a user-friendly, logical structure guiding the process of making data-based recommendations and decisions about appropriate instructional reading accommodations based on individual student needs.

PAR is a free, downloadable manual that includes a protocol for collecting data to examine student performance reading passages under 3 different conditions: independent reading, being read to by another person/adult (traditional read-aloud accommodation, and reading with a text-to-speech reader.  The results from each condition are then compared, using the supplied data forms, to help determine which condition best matches the needs of the student.

PAR includes reading samples for grades 3-10, complete with comprehension questions and vocabulary samples. All reading passages and supplementary reading materials are available as both Word and ePUB formats so they can be easily used with the Don Johnston reader (Bookstream) or another text-to-speech reader (ex. Read & Write; Kurzweil). If you have questions about available text-to-speech readers, please email by selecting this link.

Users also have a recorded webinar available (linked here), which explains the PAR and demonstrates use of the materials even further. This is a great tool for any member of a student  IEP  team who is looking for real data to drive decisions and/or need data to present for justification of reading accommodations for a student who is presented with barriers to traditional reading materials.

Download PAR materials as a .zip file here. Review the Don Johnston website information about PAR here. 

Some students find communication difficult because they have little or no clear speech. There are many reasons why this might be the case: for example, as a result of cerebral palsy, stroke, head injury, motor neuron disease or learning disability.

The idea behind AAC is to use the person's abilities, whatever they are, to compensate for their difficulties and to make communication as quick, simple and effective as possible when speech alone does not work.

Although we all use aspects of AAC from time to time (e.g. waving goodbye instead of saying it, pointing to a picture or gesturing to make yourself understood in a foreign country) some people rely on AAC all of the time.

AAC is a whole range of different activities – there is not just one type of AAC.

AAC includes facial expression, eye pointing (looking hard at the object or person you want), gesture, signing, special symbols, spelling out a message on a letter board or computer, electronic speech output aids, etc.

There are two main types of AAC system: Unaided Communication and Aided Communication. Most people who use AAC use a combination of unaided and aided methods.

Unaided Communication refers to methods of communication that do not involve a piece of additional equipment. This would include universal behaviors such as body language, gesture, pointing, facial expression, vocalization, and American Sign Language (ASL). Unaided communication systems have the advantagethat users always have their communication tools – face, hands and body – with them. The main disadvantageis that not everyone understands them.

Aided Communication refers to methods of communication which involve additional equipment, such as a picture/symbol chart or book, a computer or a Voice Output Communication Aid (VOCA). Aided methods of augmentative communication may be ‘low-tech’ or ‘high-tech’. Both low and high-tech systems may be set up to suit people with or without literacy skills. Both types of systems have their strengths and weaknesses.

Communication books

Communication chart

Eye gaze or ETRAN

Contrast aids

Magnification aids

Large type books / text

Picture supported text

Resources, Articles & Things to Think About

Assessment
Use the SETT process to build a comprehensive picture of the student’s communicative profile and possible AAC strategies. Look at:

• How does the student currently communicate? Does the student have symbolic awareness/abilities?
• How does the student communicate in different settings or situations?
• What communicative needs are not being met by the student’s current system?
• What tools or strategies might help the student augment his/her communicative competence?

Use a process called feature matching to select an appropriate AAC system (including hardware, software, and intervention strategies) based on the student’s strengths, abilities, and needs (current and future). A system may include multiple modalities including combinations of no-tech, low-tech, and high-tech strategies.

Implementation
Based on the SETT framework, develop an action plan to delineating what is to be done by whom.

• Look at communication – not technology
• No one device, app or piece of software is necessary to build a communication rich environment
• Facilitate interactions between the student and adult(s) and other students
• People willing and able to engineer a communication rich environment are more important than technology
• A communication rich environment uses multiple systems and modalities for communication
• We use multiple modalities everyday – voice (words, tone and volume), facial expressions, and gestures – multiple modalities in AAC needs to be available as well
• A communication rich environment utilizes a variety of no-tech, low-tech, and high-tech modalities and tools
• Begin with the end in mind – multiple modalities doesn’t mean lack of organization or structure. Designing patterns in the presentation and use of AAC tools creates kinesthetic, visual, or other sensory memory that builds prior knowledge and skills to expand upon.
• See it – hear it – say it
• Language is most naturally learned by imitation and immersion – drill and practice does not build communication competence
• The environment a student is in needs to be intentionally engineered to build communication opportunities and need – never happens by accident
• Look at natural aided language stimulation by Carol Goosens, Sharon Crain and Pam Elder
• Adults should model use of AAC at a level just beyond the students ability and keep raising the bar as students acquire more communication competence
• Your French teacher is more fluent in French that her/his students – adults in communication rich environments need to be more fluent in AAC than their students
• A communication rich environment in which the student sees and hears AAC modeled helps build a cognitive schema impacting the students role as a communicator and the neural framework to promote success. A huge internal motivator is doing something we know we will be successful doing.
• Use active sabotage with strategic feedback (“Hmmm….it looks like you need something to finish.” Wait…wait….wait until the student selects glue – “Oh..you need the glue, let me get it”) instead prompting (“Use your device”, or “What do you want”) of to promote active learning. Too many “What do you want…” type of interactions create passive communicators who learn then need to wait until someone asks them

Monitoring
Develop an ongoing plan to make sure the action plan is being implemented and the results are what you expected. If not, implementation of any assistive technology system, AAC included, is a continual process of refinement.

Tools:

Checklist for Augmentative Communication - Checklist format questionaire to gauge a students current communication skills when developing a communication plan. Can be used to inform the S in SETT.

AAC Screening - tool developed by speech pathologists in Oregon with teaching strategies to build skills.

Communication Supports Inventory - another Oregon tool to inform goal writing for students who use AAC.

AAC Evaluation Checklist - Oklaholma developed tool to develop information for creating a communication plan.

The Communication Matrix - The Communication Matrix is an online assessment tool designed to pinpoint exactly how an individual is communicating and to provide a framework for determining logical communication goals.

Articles:

AAC and Autism Report: Implementing evidence-based strategies in the classroom

Weaving the Threads of Communication

200 A Day the Easy Way

Low-Tech AAC: Rediscovering Classroom Options

Creating a Communicative Environment - slides

Pivotal Skills for AAC Intervention: Aided Language Input - blog

All Things AAC - wiki

Differentiated Learning Styles and AAC

Websites:

HOME TOOLBOX

AAC: A Way of Thinking (2003) is a series of webcasts published by Special Education Technology British Columbia, a provincial resource program of the BC Ministry of Education, Canada.