2/20/2018
Topic:
Tools And Strategies
John Schweig
|
Technology has enabled Visually Impaired children to have greater opportunities than they did a decade ago. Bulky and expensive visual-aid machines were sent along with VI students I had in my early years teaching, but with the proliferation of school-owned laptops, VI students now have several options. All of the documents I hand out or display on the Smart Board can be loaded up to my website, where they student with an at-seat laptop can access them and enlarge them to the point of visibility. Each Powerpoint I show on the board is available on my website, as are the PDFs of the documents I'm using, so students can just click and enlarge. |
2/20/2018
Topic:
Tools And Strategies
John Schweig
|
Reply: Perhaps you could get the administration at your school to buy one to keep in the classroom. Sometimes, local private agencies provide grants for such materials purchasing.
rebecca ford wrote:
I have used technology to help a student I had that was visually impaired. This student was not blind but had low vision. We got her a tool called, Colorino color identifier wand. It was pretty amazing. It could tell her over 150 different shades when she would wave it over a color so she could use it on her own work or when viewing other pieces of art. It was especially helpful when we were were learning the different color families. The only problem was that she would forget to bring it to every class. |
3/19/2018
Topic:
Students With Disabilities
John Schweig
|
When I was a Speech and Debate coach teaching acting in Duo Interpretation, I had a student who was hard of hearing and couldn't always pick up the cues of when her partner was done speaking. Because Duo Interpretation actors and actresses stand side by side facing the judge, they can't look at each other and thus could miss these cues if hard of hearing. So, her partner and I re-blocked the script to include a foot-stomp at the end of each line where a prompt was needed. This caused a vibration in the floor which the almost-deaf child could feel and which cued her to begin her talking portion. |
3/19/2018
Topic:
Students With Disabilities
John Schweig
|
When I was teaching Speech and Debate class, including the Dramatic and Humorous Interpretation events, I had a student who had Asperger's Syndrome and was quite prone to physical movements that were "outrageous." Because of this, he had trouble fitting into the more staid events in Speech and Debate, such as Congress or Lincoln-Douglas debate. He just lacked the self-control necessary for the formal nature of those events. So, we put him in Humorous Interpretation ad gave him a piece of a script that called for occasional bursts of frantic movement and loud sound, under the idea that this would give him the release he might need to get him through the 10-minute piece, like a kettle blowing off steam. I wish I could say it worked perfectly, but sometimes he had trouble getting back on track after the parts where he was "outlandish." It took a while in rehearsals to practice that skill of going from panic to controlled. I won't say it ever worked perfectly but progress was made and he was able to compete. |