Technology is Cool....

Yesterday I did something new to me that was very cool and opened my mind to some new ideas and possibilities. We have a family interested in Alexsander Acadmey that lives in Hawaii and is moving to Georgia over the summer. the mother had the opportunity to visit our school, but her son, was not with her on her visit. Since she is excited about the possibility of her son coming to our school the next step in the application process is to be tested....by me. Well, that can be somewhat difficult when the students lives in Hawaii. Luckily, the mom was an out-of-the-box thinker and we ended up faxing her testing paperwork and I tested her amazing son over Skype. How cool is that?! It was my first time using Skype and my first time testing a student over Skype. It worked quite well and it gave the child a chance to see me and connect to me while we tested. It really made me realize how much technology has impacted our society in a positive way and reflect on how much more I could be using technology with my students to enhance their education, their communication skills, and even work on other areas! This is something that I will be reflecting on over the next few months....

iPad Helping Children with Autism

Recently, I read an article about how the iPad is helping kids with autism. If you have the time, it is a great article to read. I'm sure Apple was surprised at the success and usefulness for kids with autism to use the iPad and didn't realize that market as a source for their iPad. One reason it seems to be successful with children with autism, is that it has a touch screen, which is easier for many kids to type on, search on, and communicate on. It is like having a touch screen on a computer (which many families with children with autism buy because it is too difficult for their child to move a mouse while looking at a computer screen) except it is smaller, portable, and looks way cooler. Having iPad's for my students would be amazing and it could really open up a lot of doors for children with autism and other disabilities. There were, however, a few things in the article that I did not agree with. One thing being that it made several references to children with autism not liking to socialize and preferring to socialize with computers and not humans. In my years of experience I don't believe this to be a true statement. Yes, kids with (and without) autism enjoy technology, however, they also want to interact with other, make friends, and feel connected to peers. All humans need to be connected to others, and this does include children on the autism spectrum. Take the time, read the article, and as you read the article, be a little cautious of believing everything you read. http://www.sfweekly.com/2010-08-11/news/ihelp-for-autism/