Helping Children Recover from Brain Injury
One aspect we needed to solve early on in our ALPS adventure was the physical setup.
In transitioning from working one on one to working in a group with Joey, I was surprised at how Joey’s physical device itself interfered with connecting him with the whole group lessons.
As our virtual learning school year has wrapped up in Northern Virginia, we are all left wondering what will be waiting for our students at the end of this summer “break”. The public schools are trying to figure out exactly how to walk the fine line between addressing a public health crisis while also maintaining high levels of instruction for children, and attempting to achieve programs that provide equity for all students. Truthfully, I am thankful I am not making the decisions. In the end, the decision made will inevitably leave many people frustrated. The truth is, there are no “right” decisions.
For my own typically developing children I have worries, but I also know we will be OK. They may not receive the great instruction they would in school, but being “behind” in first or third grade along with the rest of their peers is not going to topple them over in the long run. But for kids like Joey?
If I’m honest, I have to admit that I have had a hard time writing this blog post. It has been a week and a half since the last time I saw Joey, and I suspect I will not see him in person again for a long time. I miss him, and wish it was easier to work on his AAC communication on-line.
In the last few weeks the world turned upside down. For us adults, who have some perspective, this is scary and an unsettling, strange time. For kids – it is hard to know exactly how they are taking it. At first, my own children were thrilled with the lack of schedule. The first week was full of art projects and creativity. Then the news came that in-person schools would close for the remainder of the year, and my youngest crumbled.
Joey continues to impress us with his strong visual memory. It seems as though I can introduce a sight word to him once, and he will soon be able to find it from a field of six. His ability to receptively identify these words in isolation continues to impress me. So we know he is able to recognize words. How do we get him from reading these words to reading and understanding what he reads? How do we measure that? How do we know when he is achieving it and it is time to increase the level of the work we give him?
One way I am working to make leveled guided reading books available to him is to use the on-line books offered from Pioneer Valley press. These books allow me to put Joey’s name into the book (giving him an anchor word on each page), and to print the books out at home. Although Joey and I can take turns reading each page of these books, using his device is laborious when matching each word, and he often makes mistakes, not because of his ability to recognize the word, but in his ability to maintain the motor control of his neck and to select the correct word. In short, it’s exhausting and no fun.
As Joey begins accessing more academic content, we are constantly attempting to assess how we can best measure his knowledge. Taking all of the potential drawbacks of the AAC device into account, how do we make sure we are measuring the pure academic skills instead of simply measuring his academic skills in relation to the AAC device?
This is a tricky line that many families and educators whose children use AAC devices walk daily. It is a decision point that we make when we ask someone who uses an AAC what they want to do next, and we watch to see if they seem confident with their answer to our question, or if they seem frustrated because they hit an incorrect icon. It takes understanding and professional judgment on the part of the communication partner. [Read more…]
