puzzing intrigue

This kid does impress me at times.

OK, I know i’m somewhat biased and, as his mum, it’s my job to be impressed by him… soooo, at the risk of seeming a little ‘braggy’ i’m going to share a snippet from Mac’s recent school work.

Math(s) is still Mac’s favourite subject, it comes easily to him, he enjoys success with it and it’s easier for output than most literacy/writing based activities… so, what’s not to love?

In class Mac and his and his peers (now in 6th grade) were working on number patterns. Mac was working well and was given the first addition number pattern to complete as a warm up.

8, 16, 32, 64, 128

Mac typed “doubling” as his response to the teacher’s aide, ‘M’, to explain the pattern.

He was then required to provide ‘M’ with a subtracting pattern for her to try and work out, and so he typed:

100, 75, 50, 25

She easily identified it was subtracting by 25 each time.

But it none of this was really challenging Mac so ‘M’ upped the anti and asked him to create a really hard number pattern for her to do.

This is what he typed:

44, 88, 264, 1056, 5280

To quote Ron Burgundy, “well that escalated quickly”.

Seems he followed his brief… it is a tricky pattern.  Mac’s aide, ‘M’, worked on it for quite a while but he had her pretty stumped. None of the other kids in class could get it out – Mac assured them it was a proper pattern, that the numbers were correct.

Mac’s teacher, Mrs M worked it out… eventually… and in the end Mac gave the rest of the class the solution.

But it’s these little snippets and insights that intrigue us about this child.  Mac doesn’t use a calculator, it would be too tedious on this communication device.  When asked about his ‘methods’ for many things he says he “just knows it” and can’t explain his working.  Also, on his device he can only type left to right, unlike many instances in calculations where the rest of use might work right to left. So there’s plenty of times we adults are not quite sure what to do next, while Mac just keeps on doing his things his way, and yes, impressing and intriguing us as he goes.

Oh, and the answer?

Well, really I need to give those who love a good maths puzzle the chance to do it themselves.

But be sure to put your solution in the comments, I’ll pop Mac’s explanation he used for the class in the comments too, but don’t peek. 😉

Oh, and just so we don’t get too carried away as ‘braggy parents’, I do love the comment in his school workbook immediately following this entry which said… “Mac then dozed off in his wheelchair for a brief nap after all his work on number patterns”, seems it’s exhausting this math(s).

Way to go on the snoozing at school Macco!

water warfare for everyone…

As luck would have it Mac attended a classmates birthday party where the ‘order of the day’ was a water pistol fight.

I knew someday Mac would absolutely NEED a water pistol, truth be told he should have had one years ago… he’s 11 for crying out loud.

It’s not that I haven’t been looking… it’s just finding the perfect combination of battery powered pistol, ease of switch adapting, wheelchair “mountability” and being able to actually buy it when I found it didn’t come together until late last year.

We were traveling overseas and so I did some “retail research” for those few elusive, but sought after, items.

And. There. It. Was.

Courtesy of quick trip into Cerritos Walmart, CA – it looked to be perfect option.

And. It. Is.

Mac gave as good as he got today at the party, he was drenched but delighted.  The kids were stoked with his ‘water pistol weapon of choice’, quite a few of these guys were in his class for the “macifications” two years ago so were also interested in how the gun actually worked and was tweaked.

SO WHAT IS IT… AND WHAT DID WE DO WITH IT?

The Fuze Cyclone Water Blaster from FUZE UK.
Designed for mounting on your bike handlebars it was a great choice for a wheelchair because:

• it already had mounting options,
• it already had the three key operational functions assigned to buttons,
• it was battery operated.

Mac’s Pa undertook ‘hacking duties’ once again and got it switch adapted it for him.  He used three plugs coming out from the handlebar attachment.  Mac used a head activated switch for the fire option, his left and right options were attached to a joystick but most often maneuvered by his “wheelchair pusher”.

It was a little bit tricky to get the button component apart as it had been glued closed, but, once open and adapted it had the option to screw it back together… a nice surprise.

It would be great if the Fuze team considered the option to build in some disability access as standard – they really be world leaders if they went down that path. I generally joke that switch access for toys costs three cents at build stage, three dollars if you do it yourself or three hundred dollars if you get a disability organisation involved, sadly, it’s not really a joke.

Interestingly, Fuze have quite a few products that could intersect with the youth wheelchair market.  The fact they don’t cost a fortune is a welcome relief from the usual slamming people with disabilities get around prices of products they need.

One thing to note with this particular product is many kids will find the standard buttons suitable for use without any hacking required.

Check out the FUZE UK range on the above link, there are some cool wheel lights and even a speaker and mount for your phone or media device which just might suit some wheelchairs out there.

the powtoon portfolio…

A homework assignment saw the need for Mac to develop an ‘about me’ portfolio.  We talked about what he might want to include, what it is that is important to him about himself.

We nixed the idea of a poster and decided to use PowToon and their built in templates.  We picked the template, decided on an image to use and then put Mac’s words into the online program.  Some of the items Mac just gave me single words and we discussed how we could expand those ideas into sentences. We also talked about how to split that information across different slides for visual effect.

So if you were wondering just who Mac is… here’s what he thinks you need to know (audio description available below video).

)

AUDIO DESCRIPTION:

Coloured slides with image of blond cartoon boy.  Text reads:

Hello, my name is Mac Burns, I am 10 years old.
I am a son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin, friend.
I’m a bit of a thinker; I like to listen and learn;
but I don’t say much… yet!
I use switches to speak and wheels to move.
I particularly love playing football and handball with my mates.
My favourite subject is maths
and I like learning about politics (with my Dad).
In my spare time I like to listen to music and books;
watch movies and TV;
learn new things on my computer;
and swim… I love to swim.
I really like funny things, stuff that makes me LAUGH.
I love my life.

Final text is accompanied by an image of a stick drawing of Mac in a wheelchair and a huge vertical ramp… click the following link to the blog post to find out more about this image.

https://inkyed.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/no-limits/

choose your own adventure…

Today we were given a sneak peek of an assessment task Mac undertook.  A photo and comments from his teacher (Mr B) arrived showing his work in the text window of his communication device.

Mr B was really pleased with his work, but perhaps more excited by the fact Mac was clearly proud of his work.  It’s an interesting development.  For quite some time now, Mac has (regularly) been going ‘on strike’ in class by either refusing to use his switches or going to sleep in an attempt to get out of doing work.  It’s certainly not his finest trait … and is certainly more prevalent when it is work he thinks he might not get correct (or literacy).

However, on two occasions this week he’s completed a task and then been obviously proud of himself.

I wonder if it’s a new level of maturity, maybe that somewhat fixed mindset of his might just be opening up to new possibilities.  Oh how I’d love for him to enjoy working on things, particularly literacy, just for his own pleasure.

So what work did he do today?

Here’s the raw text in the Dynavox window.

And here’s the raw text turned into a ‘piece of writing’ (with Mac assisting with the punctuation) to ensure he can see how all his hard work is worth it.

They are delightful words… I can’t wait to find out what happens next.

I love the unusual name he’s chosen for the girl and the “stylin” shoes he’s described.

Perhaps our blog readers can add the next line or paragraph in the comments for me to share with Mac.  He can then decide if he wants to collaborate on a “choose your own adventure” style of writing or perhaps be motivated to ‘go it alone’.

the problem with scare campaigns…

As the month of AAC Awareness (augmentative and alternative communication) draws to a close I was struck by the amount of times the QUIT Victoria ad from 2007 “Voice Within” has been running on TV.

Here’s the link:  http://www.quit.org.au/media/?id=28073

It frustrates me that we are constantly bombarded by the insidious messaging prominent in this ad, that, if you can’t speak you can’t communicate – something AAC acceptance is constantly up against.

And… not withstanding, that once again “walking” is put out as the great ‘hope’ not “communication” (ugh).

I accept this ad is important in the context of “quitting smoking” but concede it is quite damaging to the ongoing awareness and acceptance of AAC – it’s pretty offensive.

This maybe have been something addressed (by AAC users and professionals) when it first aired back in 2007 but the reappearance of it during my TV watching was just a little jarring – particularly so when Mac is often watching when these ads come on.

I discuss with him why people choose to use that type of fear based portrayal and why it is so wrong.  We lump those people, the “fear mongers” into the same basket as the “pity peddlers” and the “disability charity merchants”… there is no place for them in our world.

i swear…

 

I checked the battery of the Step by Step Communicator today.

As I pressed it to see if it was working I was thrilled to hear the last recorded message was “put some swear words on it” clearly annunciated by the voice of a nine or 10 year old boy.

So, it appears, the boys have had it out in the playground with them – I am pleased Mac is learning how to be a nine year old boy the right way.

It warms my heart to know he is being taught some inappropriate words by his peers.  And, while not ‘explicit’ in the curriculum documents I have read… I am sure it is implied. 😉

Inclusive Education… what more could you ask for!

 

liver la vida

It’s hard to know how much involvement to have in assignments when your child has no chance of doing it on their own.

A lot of the assignments to date have been more about me teaching Mac the concept of choosing topics, researching and then deciding what to include – I guess this is probably much the same for everyone.

That being said… I wasn’t overly thrilled when he brought home the requirements for his assignment on “organs”.  He had been assigned “the liver” and was to present to the class as if he was ‘the teacher’.

Ugh, the liver, I thought.  How are we going to find age appropriate stuff and avoid the obvious drug, sexually transmitted disease and alcohol damage issues that seem to feature ‘way more prominently’ on the internet than any other.

With some focussed searching we did OK.   We watched some cool videos, found some good websites.  Mac had to decide what he wanted to include in his assignment.  I showed him how to change up the information so it sounded like something he might say.

We decided to go with a Powerpoint presentation so he could progress it with his switches while ‘taking the class’.

We created his own avatar using the WeeMee Avatar Creator app (we like it because it has a wheelchair accessory).

We popped his Avatar into his CrazyTalk 2D animation software so it could speak with his dialogue.

We decided to use the Acapela-Box to download the voice.  We had to pay for some credits to use this despite having his Dynavox.  Thing is the Dynavox doesn’t really ‘hold its own’ for long tracts of speech.  It gets crackly and breaks up a bit too much for our liking.  With Acapela Box we can use the same voice he uses on his Dynavox but with greater clarity and no chance of it failing mid-sentence.

I poked around on the internet and found some pictures, bought some stock images to include and created some of my own elements.  I discussed with Mac what his images might look like, what we could include and importantly made him choose the ‘liver’ image he liked the best.  From memory… I think he over-ruled my first choice for making “liver dude”

Here’s the video version of his Powerpoint presentation
(you’ll need your sound turned on & be sure to read on after you’ve watched it).

THE LIVER by Mac Burns

Did you learn anything new?

Oh, and for those super-observant folk…
Disclaimer: no M&Ms were harmed in the making of this assignment… but, that’s not to say a few weren’t hacked 😉  

kenken: no-brainer for differentiated instruction?

You’ve probably seen these puzzles appearing in your newspapers over the last few years.  Looking a bit like a weird Sudoku puzzle they are worth a second glance.

click the image to learn about the inventor

KenKen puzzles have built in differentiation, potential for collaborative learning and are readily available as free resource.   Is that not the ultimate in universal design in learning?

For an auditory or visual scanner they are great because you have a small number of answer options compared to other puzzles.  For a 4×4 puzzle you only have to enter 1, 2, 3 or 4 in each square – much less tedious for a scanner.

Kenken puzzles can contain all maths operations but, just as easily, can be simplified to only include ‘addition’ operations for someone not yet able to cope with division or multiplication (and don’t look any different – which can be important to some learners).

Here’s two examples of different puzzles, one simple – the other more complex.  Using colour is another way you could differentiate for learners – for example someone still learning their colours and number identification may work alongside others to complete all the “purple squares”, or groups can work together each on their own colour based on individual competencies.

The basic instructions are:

The numbers in each heavily outlined set of squares, called cages, must combine (in any order) to produce the target number in the top corner of the cage using the mathematical operation indicated.

Cages with just one box should be filled in with the target number in the top corner.

A number can be repeated within a cage as long as it is not in the same row or column.

A solved 3 x 3 (addition only) puzzle looks like this:

The KenKen website is a great resource.  Educators can sign up for the KenKen® Classroom program, where they will supply KenKen puzzles to you every week.   Parents are most likely able to apply too – they gave me a subscription and my next step is to start setting the puzzles up on Mac’s computer for him.

interested educators simply click the image

timing is everything…

Are we there yet?  How much longer?
When can we go?  How much more?  

Sound familiar…  ?

Time Timer (visual timer for visual people!) from Time Timer on Vimeo.

Another parent shared the Time Timer® with me the other day.  Her daughter is using them at home and school to help her with time management, understanding time concepts and planning.

They are fantastic items and thankfully, just as good ‘in the flesh’ as they appear on the site.

There are watches, 3x timers with prices starting from about $35, software for $24 and  via iTunes you can buy iPhone and iPad apps (AUD$1.99 and AUD$7.49).

CLICK IMAGES FOR LINKS

For Australian families the best deal you can get is from Bilby Publishing and Consulting.  A business I have just found out about even though it’s ‘just down the road’ (hmm, well four hours drive) – they have some other interesting items so will probably be ‘poking around on their site a bit more’.  Bilby are the official Australian distributors for Time Timer® (which is why they can offer such low prices) and schools can order on account.

I will be using the Time Timer® to see if we can help Mac with motivation to get work done in a set time.  I think the visual for him will be really useful and perhaps, at other times help him feel like there is an ‘end point’ to an exercise and that he won’t be working on something for the ‘rest of his life’.

It may even help him understand that “our” 10 minutes isn’t actually the equivalent of “everyone else’s”one hour.  Unfortunately I have to take full responsibility for that one.  I hate to think how many times I have told him we would do something in 10 mins and actually get to it so much later (even hours later) – poor kid never stood a chance in understanding time management.

And, yes, I have already downloaded the iPhone app and plan to use it ‘keep me honest’ at home.

classroom friendly wireless keyboard/mouse

The Lenovo Mini Wireless Keyboard has a built in trackball mouse.   It comes with a USB dongle and works wirelessly from a distance of up to ten meters, it is compatible with Windows 7, XP and Vista (does anyone still use Vista?)

Mac’s aide this year is a Gen “Y”er and awesome when it comes to thumb typing.  This little keyboard/mouse is fantastic for maneuvering around the screen without having to be in touching distance of the computer or communication device.  We primarily use this with Mac’s Dynavox V (open device) and do have lots of macros set up in toolbars so much of the everyday stuff is just a click of an icon..

These little keyboards would also work really well for group time when you have the entire class sitting around the whiteboard.  Just because most kids can clamber up and use the interactive whiteboard doesn’t always mean the need to.

I am sure you can waste a lot of time waiting for kids to stand up, step over other kids, do their stuff and sit back down again.  Some days it might be easier and novel to hand the wireless keyboard around the group.  It’s a new level of dexterity required, it’s less disruptive on those days where you just need to keep things calm and it’s great for kids in class who may not have the physical ability to get up and access the whiteboard – or might just find standing up in front of everyone a bit too much pressure.

We got ours off eBay and so far it has got a five star rating from both Mac’s aide and myself.

(We did try a bluetooth keyboard/mouse combo but found it wasn’t reliable enough with its pairing on the Dynavox.  Not sure if that was a Dynavox issue or that Keyboard’s issue.)

fishing for info @ AGOSCI 2011

Just back from the AGOSCI conference in Adelaide where I was both an attendee and presenter.

I will post soon about what I learnt, gleaned, extracted from those in attendance.

It is a very interesting coming together of people with complex communication needs, family members, Speech Language Pathologists, a few OTs and some educators.

As always with these bigger/longer conferences I tend to get so overloaded with information it takes time to sift through it.

A positive is I don’t feel we are behind where we should be with Mac and his communication – in some ways I am feeling quite confident we are on the right track – despite being surrounded by ‘professionals’ – our home-made approach with Rosemary Crossley’s initial guidance holds its own.

a wonderful ‘Prezi’

 

I love nothing better than finding smart software that has the potential to open up Mac’s world (oh, and mine).

Here’s my latest favourite… Prezi.com

A potential alternative to Powerpoint, Keynote, SwitchIt Maker – gotta say… “it’s a good bit of gear”.

I have just re-done Mac’s news about wombats for this practice run.   And I do plan to use it for some of my own presentations next month.

Have a look and see what you think.

I haven’t quite worked out the best way to add audio to it at this stage.  I could just sit tight as I think there will probably be new audio options in Prezi in the future that might be a little more user friendly.

I think Prezi would be a nice option for online books where you can zoom in on parts of the pictures as the audio is playing, or zoom in through the pictures to the next part of the story.

It got me thinking… when I think of e-books I was tending to assume they should be ‘book-like’ in looks and presentation… Prezi is letting me see this need not be the case, they could actually be more interactive and more fluid.

To move through the presentation you just click on the [PLAY] arrow or under the [MORE] button you can put it into AutoPlay.  For Mac, the ultimate addition would be to ensure you could assign a USB switch or mouse click macro to move through the presentation without worrying if the mouse pointer had moved off the play button.

the iFuture

There have been many ideas, thoughts and plans churning around in my head for some months now as to a better option for Mac for his limited Augmented Communication options.   I make no secret of the fact I hate paying the prices on some of these devices and I am resentful of the non-profit organisations who represent us and who don’t fight for better, cheaper products.  I also dislike the Australian model of assistance where Speech Therapists believe you have to prove you can drive a formula one car before they let you sit for a learners permit when it comes to AAC devices.   Funny isn’t it.  I have yet to meet a neurotypical child who was ‘gagged’ from saying their ‘bub-bubs and gurgles’ until they could speak properly.

Having looked at quite a few devices I have found one of the better options out there for Mac would be the M3 made by Dynavox – but at around the $7K mark it is still exorbitantly priced – no matter how good it is.  Mac would still need a head switch but it would certainly help his peers communicate more easily and readily with him.

So the idea I have been kicking around is to modify a touch screen MP3 player like the iPhone or iTouch type products.  On the iTouch I could then have all the different Audio Files with Album Art stored on there for the different uses.  It would mean we could retain greetings, numbers, letters, news, farewells and so on.  It would allow (with a voice recording application) for us not to miss many of the opportunities presenting themselves at school for Mac to relisten to such as singing, music, kids reading to him etc.   The more I have looked into it more I am finding it probably is the way of the future for us.

A new AAC application for the iPhone has just been released http://www.proloquo2go.com  This is a great application to strive towards for Mac.

In the meantime I need to put some serious thoughts into how I could modify something to help add a head switch into the iTouch or iPhone application (eek!).  

But, what is making me all the more determined is the huge number of appropriate applications already available through iTunes that would be really suitable for Mac.  For example, there is a letter tracing app, where Mac’s finger can be traced around the letter shape – no holding a pencil, no wrangling him into a ridiculous position, no “kid wearing and adult suit” just to trace a letter.  The iTouch could be placed in the right position for him… left or right handed side… and he can be shown the letters with little effort.  

Other programs I like already available as iPhone or iTouch applications include memory matching, voice recording, alphabet flash cards with animation, jokes, farts (he’s a boy and he is five…), story books.

I will let you know how it transpires… particularly around the head switching or switch adaption opportunities.

btw… the cost of a “One Step Communicator with levels” in Australia is the same price as an 8gig iTouch.  It gets harder and harder to justify supporting the “disability model of access and AAC”.

“here”

You know the feeling… the one you get when you know something impressive is going to happen. The sense of anticipation builds, you get a knowing look on your face, your eyes get wider and a glint appears … waiting… waiting… not much longer… it’s nearly upon us, wait for it…. wait for it…

Ahh, success – it happened (of course you knew it would)… a sense of pride now follows, you knew what was going to happen, you knew others didn’t… you might, just for a moment feel slightly superior… just for a moment… for any longer would be to brag.

Now imagine this exact emotion multiplied by 19. That was Mac’s class on Friday morning.

There was a change in the schedule, both the Kindy classes joined together for roll-call. This is the first time they have joined up for that part of the day – the roll was being taken by a fill-in teacher.

Well Mac now has one of his one-step communicators dedicated to answering his name at roll call.

Max, one of his Kindy colleagues, was very kind to record himself saying “HERE” on the switch so Mac can hit the button when his name is called and answer like the rest of the kids.

This has been working well. One child each day is responsible for getting the switch, and helping Mac answer his name roll.

Friday was interesting. Mac’s class knew the others hadn’t seen him in roll call – they had never seen Mac ‘answer’ his name before – they kept watching and waiting for his name – there was a sense of anticipation.

Then finally, the teacher called… “Macdonald?”… huh, that wasn’t right (of course the fill-in teacher wasn’t aware Mac doesn’t use his full name in class) – did he say “Macdonalds?”, thankfully his usual teacher wasn’t quite out the door – “That’s Mac”, she called, so the fill-in teacher called again… “Mac?” and the button was pressed… “here” came the pre-recorded voice (declared on recording to be ‘just perfect’ by Max) and 19 faces turned to look at the other class, a look of pride, a look of knowingness and just a touch of gloating…

“pen” de résistance

Unshackle the artist within…

How does a child who has no independent or purposeful movement draw or colour-in on his own?  

How does a child who is unable to grasp or hold things draw on his own?

How does a child with significant vision impairment draw on his own?

It was one of my biggest concerns.  I wanted Mac to have the luxury of being in control of some of his art – I wanted him to draw on his own…

I have been harassing Mac’s Pa for a few years to make him a ‘remote control texta’ (among other things).

I didn’t need to.  Thankfully in 2007 Gwen, from RC Art, did it for us.  

Mac received his Color Bug for Christmas this year.  I haven’t been able to find them in Australia, but a friend sent it over from the USA for us.

We have modified Mac’s remote control by putting a single bar across the two levers.  This allows him to use exactly the same drive action (differential drive) as his modified electric car.  It is much easier for him to learn to use one style of switch for the same action (makes it easier for us to drive too). 

This is Mac’s Remote Controller and Color Bug

and this is his first artwork he and his Dad did in collaboration.  Mac was in control of blue and orange, and Daddy, the green.

To find out more about the Color Bug (or for us Aussies… “Colour” Bug) visit www.rcarttoys.com and watch the video.

We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the ‘bug’