As 2017 draws to a close, it is hard to imagine that Joey has only had access to his eye gaze AAC device for a year. A year ago, we were so excited to get started with Joey’s eye gaze system, but also unsure of what it would mean, or even how to use it. Since the eye gaze technology itself is fairly new, we were all learning how to use it right along with Joey. [Read more…]
Words, Words, Words
As we roll Joey’s chair closer to his eye gaze AAC device, his Joey’s eyes light up as though he is reuniting with an old friend. Once we position him in front of his screen, and make sure he is close enough so that the sensor can pick up his eye gaze, he off to the races. Some days he dives into his words right away. Helicopter. Purple. Car. Fast. Tyrannosaurus Rex. Tiger. Parrot. Penguin. Where. Alligator. Purple. White. Over. The words come out fast and furiously – there are so many words and so much time to make up for. [Read more…]
Seals on the Bus!
My new favorite book (and I’m pretty sure it is also Joey’s) is Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort. Seals has everything I look for in a good picture book – a repetitive, rhythmic phrase or lines that a child can learn and sing/move along with, an interesting story line (or any sort of story line), animals (not just the cute ones), and good core vocabulary words. A preschool teacher recommended the book to me, and it is quickly becoming one of my favorites. [Read more…]
Reading ‘Going On a Leaf Hunt’ with Joey
On Thursday, I handed Joey a few bright red maple leaves. He took one, held it up, looked at it, and then went to his eye gaze device. “Fire Engine” he said. “Fire engine.”
Fire engine. Fire engine… Oh! Red! Fire engines are red! YES! This leaf was just as bright red as a fire engine. Joey grinned at my connection, and then dropped every leaf I had put in front of him on the floor, one by one. Apparently, bright red maple leaves were not nearly as engaging as I’d thought they would be. [Read more…]
Why Wait? How wait time presumes competence
In college, I took a computer programming class. It did not go well. Luckily, the professor was from another era and did not believe girls should be in the computer science field. (The college was only fifteen years into admitting women, and there were still some professors who did not agree with the change in enrollment policy. It’s hard to believe in 2017, but it is true.) The professor had no problem “helping” us during office hours, but because he did not believe us girls could actually complete computer programming, he’d ask a question and then immediately complete the work himself, not giving us enough wait time to stutter through an answer. No surprise, I did not learn any computer programming in that class. The professor assumed I couldn’t do it, and instead of even trying to teach me, he let me slide. Now, I was a college junior and was using Computer Science to replace the Calculus 2 requirement, so I was not going to make too much of a fuss about not learning to program. I regret my effort now. [Read more…]
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