Reading on the Move! Storywalks for Everyone!

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A story walk is an interactive experience where learners travel along a path discovering different parts of a narrative which has been broken up and placed around an environment using signs, posters, or some other display. The following are some tips for creating a storywalk so that everyone can enjoy the experience!

  • Font
    • Use a font size of 20pts or higher. 
    • Use a font that is thicker at the bottom, such as the Open Dyslexic Font.
    • Use black on white or white on black to provide a high contrast between the text and the background colors.
  • 3D Object Integration
    • Include tactile objects of items represented in the story at some or all of the stops that can be held, felt, and explored through touch.
    • Invite learners to make objects to be added to various stops throughout the story.
  • Multiple Means of Representation of Text
    • Use Braille on the bottom of the page.
    • Use QR Codes linked to an audio version of the text displayed at the stop.
    • Use symbols used on communication boards to compliment the story.
  • Environment
    • Create the walk in an environment that can be traversed by wheels such as those on walkers and wheelchairs.
    • Post the story pages at adjustable or multiple heights for people of varying sizes to access. 
  • Pages
    • Laminate pages for durability and protection from weather in a glare-free location.
    • Post pages with Velcro so that they can be held for readability and the replaced when finished.
    • Always have a second copy!
  • Additional Ideas
    • Invite students to create a walk of their own for family, peers, or the community. Students can work together breaking up the tasks including writing, illustrating, determining the route, mapping the course, making objects, and issuing invitations. Get everyone involved!

Keeping Things Organized Using Symbaloo

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Keeping track of resources, supports, and information is a learned skill. One strategy to help educators and students stay organized is to display everything in a visually appealing, easy to access, grid view where each item is represented by a symbol much like how applications are displayed on the home screen of contemporary smartphones. The layout of LCPS Go is another example. Symbaloo is an online organizational tool that provides another opportunity to organize and display information in a similar and familiar grid view with associated symbols. Parental consent is currently required for student use. The following are a few resources to help you learn how to get started:

Learning About A Chromebook When You Don’t Have Access To A Chromebook

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There might be times when a parent, educator, or anyone providing support to a student might need to try a feature, setting, or other operation available on a Chromebook but not actually have access to a Chromebook to explore. Google has introduced a free web tool called Chromebook Simulator! It is a visual representation of how to activate Accessibility settings thus empowering students to be autonomous learners and masters of their technology! Check out these two short video tutorials to see Chromebook Simulator in action!

Screenshot of Chromebook Simulator with Accessibility Feature link circled in red.

Screenshot of Chromebook Simulator

A Website to Learn About the Built-In Accessibility Features of a Chromebook

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Google provides a website with interactive tutorials to learn how to access the accessibility features built into the Chromebook. Reviewing the options available might reveal features that might make the Chromebook even more easy to see, navigate, and control. Which features might you use to increase your productivity?

Chromebook Accessibility


Turn on Chromebook accessibility features

 

A Story of Increasing Language Through Augmented Communication

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A guest post from Speech Language Pathologist, Linda Hollingsworth dip. RCSLT., M.Ed., CCC-SLP

“This student talks so they don’t need access to AAC” is a common myth. AAC is an acronym that stands for Augmentative/Alternative Communication. The term Alternative Communication means to express yourself in a way other than verbal speech. Augmentative Communication means to express yourself in any way in addition to verbal speech. This means that students who speak can use AAC to support their overall system of expression. 

One particular example of a student using AAC to augment speech lives here in Loudoun County. Her inability to accurately produce speech sounds, despite years of intensive therapy, can make her verbal speech difficult to understand, especially to those who are unfamiliar with her speech patterns. Beyond speech production, this student also demonstrated difficulty accurately using grammatical rules and all the subtle intricacies of language (even though she understands them!) to consistently create a message that would be universally understood by her communication partners. 

Things changed for the student when her team of teachers, administrators, related service providers, including her speech-language pathologist, and parents with support from the Specialized Instructional Facilitator – Assistive Technology, collaboratively and consistently implemented an augmentative tool.

In little over a year after implementation, she progressed from producing mostly single, disconnected words that were difficult to understand, to short, well-formed multi-word utterances. Whilst her transformative language has largely been in English, she has also improved her ability to formulate Spanish phrases at home with the help of her bilingual augmentative communication device. 

Although the tool was originally implemented to supplement situations where verbal speech was not working to successfully convey her message, use of AAC has also helped her expand her understanding and use of more complex language. She has progressed from expressing her basic wants and needs using simple sentences such as, “I want…” or “All done” to working towards goals to formulate grammatically complex question forms, such as, “May I…..?” In addition, she has added the use of descriptors such as adverbs (probably, likely, maybe, except etc) to her vocabulary. Thanks to her robust augmentative communication device and team collaboration, these goals are supported through the use of a tool that provides a consistent way to organize, locate, and visualize language. Having access to AAC,  allows her to express her knowledge and understanding of both academic and social language in a way that verbal speech alone would never allow her to do before.

The student now actively participates in class discussions, initiates conversations with peers and adults, and independently seeks out her AAC to support her expression in all environments. Beyond the language improvements, the student has begun to mentor other users of augmentative/alternative communication. She models the use of AAC to her peers and helps them learn how to use their own AAC to formulate their own messages.  In this way, her educational team, which includes her parents, has provided her with the means and support to make meaningful contributions to the world!

Augmentative/Alternative Communication Enhances Speech Acquistion

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A common myth when it comes to the implementation of augmentative/alternative communication (AAC) is that a voice output device will somehow hinder or delay the development of verbal speech. Evidence has proven this claim to be unsubstantiated. In fact, AAC serves to help people develop verbal speech.

 

Sketchnoting

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Sketchnoting is a form of notetaking where the person taking notes draws an image. The visualization is meant to tie concepts together and can be made using a combination of text and pictures. The active process of creating the sketch note along with the visual representation of the concepts helps the learner make connections and remember the content. Beyond paper and pencil, any tool that provides a drawing feature could be used to create a sketchnote including but not limited to the following:

Check out this video from educator and author Carrie Baughcum describing sketchnoting.


 

 

Compose Writing With One’s Voice

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Speech-to-text can help people produce text without the use of a keyboard. Learners can compose text without the need of fully-developed spelling or typing abilities. Voice Typing is a feature built into Google Docs which allows a user to create text with one’s voice. Read&Write for Google Chrome also has a speech input function which allows users to add text to notes of Google Slides and directly into the chat of a Google Meet.

 

Modeling Language Using Augmentative/Alternative Communication While Playing With Toys (like Race Cars!)

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Playing with toys, like race cars, can be a great opportunity to model language using augmentative/alternative communication (AAC). When playing together, communication partners (you!) can help a student learn vocabulary by using the AAC yourself to comment on the action, ask open-ended questions about what’s happening with the toy, and respond to whatever the student expresses using the AAC.

Playing with toys can be a fun way to model language using AAC.

The following is an example created by Speech-Language Pathologist, Jessica Cerovich, who models language using an AAC application while playing with race cars.

  • Comment on actions using words and phrases such as “Go” and “It is fun.”
  • Ask an open ended question like “Where does it go?”
  • Respond when the child communicates anything.

 

Setting Up An Online Calendar Over The Summer

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Learners can use their LCPS Google accounts to create and manage multiple calendars using Google Calendar. Screenshot of Getting Started with Google CalendarGoogle Calendar has color coding, collaboration, and reminder features to help individuals never miss another event. Different views allow the learner to see a schedule for the day, week, month, or even more customized options. At first, learners might need guidance about what types of events should go on the calendar. Over time, using the calendar becomes habitual and part of one’s daily routine. The Google Workplace Center has a step-by-step guide to learn how to use and manage Google Calendar.

Summer is the perfect time to practice adding items to the calendar such as sporting events, family outings, scheduled chores, and more. This way when the school year kicks into gear learners can begin to add events related to academic learning.