Blog Love: December

How's this for a buzzer beater?! In an effort to clear up all the items I've starred on my Google Reader - here is the last roundup of web ideas for this year. Hope you find some that you are excited to try once you're back in the classroom.


The Assistive Technology Blog

• Cheap raised line paper: Easy solution to do-it-yourself!

• How to print on sticky notes: I didn't know I wanted this, but you know what? Don't mind if I do. I've had my share of written post-its erased and rewritten by crafty students. Check out this easy tutorial.
  

Differentiation Daily

• Proofs without words: Algebraic proofs can be hard work for a lot of students, not just those on the spectrum. Check out the proof without words at Wild About Math. Very cool, indeed.

• Twitter Board: Cool and motivating community builder and opportunity for everyone to participate.
  

• Activity sticks: If you only have time to try one of these suggestions, PLEASE TRY THIS ONE. Classroom-wide breaks all outlined for you to use when your kiddos have the "blahs". This idea is from the blog Keep Calm and Teach On.
  

Free Technology for Teachers

• Fake Facebook profiles: You know everyone's doing it. This post comes from Richard's top posts of 2011 run-down, and I think it's worth a look for anyone working with older students or students that may be motivated to use Facebook. A safe and motivating way to get going in the land of social networking.

• Animoto's new app: I downloaded it on my iPhone and you should too (if you can). Great way to make nice looking videos - for kids and adults alike.

• Virtual Smithsonian tour and virtual dinosaur dig: Don't kid yourself, you know you have students who would drool over this. Great teaching tool or incentive!

• Wordia - vocabulary games and videos: Fantastic resource! If you're not sure, check out the video that he has embedded in his post to see all of the great features.
  

• Inspire My Kids - inspiring photos and videos: This site is sold as good "character education", but I think it would be a good link into social narratives (e.g., Power Cards).

• The Year in Google Searches: Google's 2011 zeitgeist site is featured and includes a nice visual representation of what were the most searched terms in 2011. Definitely check out the 2011 year in review video.
  
• 5 virtual museum tours & activities: Great visual and interactive tool to enhance a lesson or unit!

• Nobel Prize website: Gives a run down of the neat interactive games and puzzles featuring the concepts of past prize winners.

• Interactive Pearl Harbor map: National Geographic does it again! Provides great visual context of this historical event. Would be great to add more depth to a lesson or to give an alternative altogether.

• Science websites for high schoolers and beyond: This has an older target audience, but you never know when this might come in handy for a student with a special interest.

• 47 alternatives to You Tube: Best post I've seen of his yet! Gives a complete listing of all the sites he has found and what they might be helpful for in the classroom. Print this off and post it somewhere where it'll catch your eye!

• 15 things to do with Edmodo: What's Edmodo? Good question. Answer: microblogging network. Still don't know how that helps you do your job? Check out this list - it's way more helpful than you could ever imagine!

• Class Pager: Send out reminders to class ... or you could just do it for certain students.
  

• Documentary Tube: Catalog of full-length documentaries on the web. I also like the suggestions given for education application.
  

• Google Search Tips: Great visual to display in class or computer lab for exactly what the title suggests.
  

• Choose Your Own Adventure videos: Awesome! This would be a great activity and motivator for so many students!

• Research Cube - research organization: you can register with a K-12 account, never fear! Great way to keep materials and articles all in one place for easy access for students (e.g., long term research assignments).
  

Jill Kuzma's Social & Emotional Skill Sharing Site

• Teachers Pay Teachers: Jill shares some great holiday themed materials she used prior to winter break, but the part I want you to pay attention to is the site where she found them. Teachers Pay Teachers is an open marketplace full of great materials and ideas - some of which are bargains or even FREE! Why recreate the wheel?

Kid Crave

• Dry erase decision maker: I may have been thinking about this for my personal life, but I think we could easily make use of this with our students. Maybe even make it on the cheap ($79 is pretty steep) - you know I love craft projects!
  

Ohdeedoh

• Modern toddler chore chart: Again, I confess I may have tagged this initially for future use with my 2-year old daughter. But isn't this a great (aesthetically pleasing) visual for the littlest ones in our bunch?

Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs

• Fine motor work boxes: Let the pictures speak for themselves.

In the New Year ...

... I am planning on attending two local conferences that I am sure will be chock-full of great information that I will be dying to share with my fellow staff members! We can call this a New Year's Resolution of sorts. What's your resolution this year?

If you'd care to join me, the two conferences that I'm planning on attending in 2012 are ...

• Ninth Annual Wisconsin Transition Conference
  February 9-10, 2012 at the Kalahari Resort - Wisconsin Dells

John Elder Robison, author of Look Me in the Eye and Be Different, will be the keynote
speaker on Thursday. Through his writing and presentations, he gives great insight into
life on the autism spectrum.

• “From Stepping Stones to Milestones” Autism Society of Wisconsin 2012 Annual Conference
  May 3rd – 5th, 2012 at the Hotel Sierra - Green Bay

Kari Dunn Buron will be presenting the pre-conference workshop and keynote speakers
will be Larry, Tracy, Pascal, and Harvey from "Wretches and Jabberers" (Friday) and
Nicole Beurkens (Saturday). This conference is always a fantastic opportunity to gain
knowledge in the area of autism spectrum disorders from local and national experts and to
have time to connect with others in the autism community.

Day with the Experts 2012

Mark your calendars!

The 8th annual "A Day with the Experts" has been scheduled for January 28, 2012 from 9:00 a.m.-1:45 p.m. at the Waisman Center. This is an event where anyone and everyone is welcome, so please consider adding it to your to-do list for the new year. Plus, how can you go wrong at the very low price of FREE?

This year, the following presenters are on the agenda:

• Andrew Alexander, PhD - "Investigations of Brain Connectivity in Autism Using MRI"

• LeAnn Smith, PhD - "Transitioning Together: An Intervention for Families of Adolescents with ASD"

• Linda Tuchman-Ginsberg, PhD - "Teaching Children and Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders: What Works?"

Event and pre-registration details can be found here.

If you prefer a PDF format, try this link instead.

Hope to see you there!

Thinking about videogaming from a different perspective...

The other day, some colleagues and I were talking about some student's love of video games.

I remembered hearing about a whole genre of video gaming that was truly focussed on learning; not just basic math facts, but highly intricate concepts that include college and higher level science content with real life importance (e.g. curing cancer).

Here is a piece that was featured on NPR; To The Best of Our Knowledge, which gives a bigger picture view of this type of gaming (along with some other views into gaming culture).

http://ttbook.org/book/gaming

There is a whole world of game creators that have a very specific goal of engaged learning via a video game approach. Below are links to several of these creators.

Most of the sites give further context to the gaming as learning theory, blogs and articles related to the topic, along with an opportunity to try out some of the games (I myself found myself getting into FiLAMENTGAMES "CITIZEN SCIENCE" game..Citizen Science is an adventure game that teaches scientific literacy and limnology.),

Happy Exploring/Gaming/Learning!

http://www.filamentgames.com/node/87

http://www.gameslearningsociety.org/

http://discovery.wisc.edu/home/wisconsin/research/education-research/education-research-home.cmsx

http://epistemicgames.org/eg/

http://www.jamespaulgee.com/node

Food for Thought

Hi, just a quick note to say; I know everyone is super busy, but I just took a minute to start to listen to the iTunes U lecture series on Autism (honestly-I am multitasking and doing other things as well), that Michael talked about:

http://madisonateam.blogspot.com/search/label/iTunes

I am struck by how one small statement (e.g. 'Autism has been found in every country except for Antarctica") can get me wondering...

What have you wondered about lately? I encourage you to take a moment to read, listen, look at something you haven't before.

I'll leave you with this quote from an 40 something year old with Asperger's, who self-diagnosed himself about 5 years ago. He said "I was so relieved to know what was going on with me. I thought either there was something about me that most people didn't like, or just figured that I didn't fit into the world. I'm not saying I do...."

Tips for Navigating the Holiday Season

While many happily anticipate the coming holiday season, families of people on the autism spectrum also understand the special challenges that may occur when schedules are disrupted and routines broken. These tips were developed with input from the Autism Society, the Indiana Resource Center for Autism, Easter Seals Crossroads, the Sonya Ansari Center for Autism at Logan and the Indiana Autism Leadership Network. Hopefully these tips will help families lessen the stress of the holiday season and make it a more enjoyable experience for everyone involved.

Visual Supports and Autism Spectrum Disorder tool kit

Autism Speaks, North America’s largest autism science and advocacy organization today released the Visual Supports and Autism Spectrum Disorder tool kit providing valuable guidance to parents, families and providers about how to utilize pictures, photographs and other visual supports to improve communication for children, adolescents and adults who struggle with understanding or using language.


Visual Supports and Autism Spectrum Disorder was developed by clinicians and families at the Vanderbilt ATN site to provide step-by-step instructions for parents, caregivers, teachers and other professionals who may be unfamiliar with visual supports or who would like to use them more effectively.“The goal of the ‘Visual Supports’ tool kit is to empower families with effective strategies to create less stressful and smoother routine communication between a child with autism and their families or practitioners,” said Autism Speaks Vice President of Clinical Programs Clara Lajonchere, Ph.D.

There's an app for that!

This year, many students will be getting iPads and iPod touches for the holidays.  Humor has it that some of our schools in the district also will be purchasing iPads for use with students and staff in their buildings; now that is exciting!.   

There are 1,000s of apps and it can be challenging to sort through and know just what is out there and useful for students. There are a number of online resources available to help you sort through the maze.  Of course you can start with the Apple Store and do a search via the online store.  You can search through their categories (they even have a category for Special Education apps) or do a search for specific types of apps for which you have an interest (e.g. reading, autism, social). Various groups have assembled a list of "special education apps" that they feel are useful for students.  Check out this list or you might find something different here.

There also are a growing number of websites that regularly update their lists and recommendations of apps:

iPad Apps for Autism A Google docs site maintained by Ms. Rosa that grew out of a project she did for the Hollyrod Foundation. The apps she has reviewed and recommended are classified into categories like art, language and music. Jordan Sadler, a professional speech therapist in Chicago, and Corina Becker, an adult with autism, are among the main reviewers.

a4cwsn.com This site, which stands for Apps for Children With Special Needs, features 500 video reviews done by Gary James of Oxford, Conn., who has a son with autism and a daughter with epilepsy. He says he has reviewed some 5,000 apps, but only lists reviews of apps that he believes do what they promise. If an app passes that test and is listed, developers can pay to be on the home page of his site.

·         

iAutism.info This database contains over 400 apps for iPad/iPhone and nearly 70 for Android. The site was started by Francesc Sistach and his wife, Susana Vila, who live in Spain. Iván Soriano, another parent of a child with autism, is also a main reviewer. 

There also are a couple of free apps that you can purchase through the app store; one is called "Autism Apps" and the other is called “Moms with Apps”.  Both provide a catalog of great children’s and family-family apps.  Search by educational categories and age groups to discover new apps and developers.

I hope that you find these resources helpful in making choices and recommendations regarding apps to use with students with whom you support.