Catherine Silcock
Speech and Language Pathologist

One of the key take aways from my recent summer school was the explicit referencing of pedagogy and frameworks that would underpin our learning. 

I know I have written about Universal Design for Learning (UDL) before, but it is so critical to me in my everyday teaching practice ... as it recognises and embraces diversity ... that I needed to draw your attention to it again.

The website for UDL is ​http://www.cast.org/our-work/about-udl.html#.VkwA5FOqqkp 

Please ... if you do nothing else, watch the Ted Rose TEDx Talk
(I think it should be mandatory viewing for all in education 😀)

The other framework which was heavily utilised in my learning was the SAMR model which is technology specific.  Rather than repeating myself, I will just direct you to a previous blog post.  I hope you can see the importance of this model and why I see this as a critical understanding for all in education.
SAMR - Get into the Deep End - Quickly.

Author
Robert Carter
Rob is a local Hobart educator.  
He is a guest lecturer and tutor in the Inclusive Practices in Educational Settings unit at UTAS and he is a co-founder of teachinclusive

Author
Robert Carter
Rob is a local Hobart educator.  
He is a guest lecturer and tutor in the Inclusive Practices in Educational Settings unit at UTAS and he is a co-founder of teachinclusive 

It is difficult to assist and to provide you with more detailed information regarding points 2 and 3 in this forum as responses will vary between school sites and with individual's knowledge  ... e.g. how you do point 2 impacts on how effectively information / data is shared (point 3) with your teaching / planning team (inc family).  

If the use of technology is an issue for you, don't be put off.  Once systems (work flows) are established the collection of data becomes easier and requires far less time.  I would suggest you talk to colleagues, your local techie and explain what you want to achieve.  If you are still unsure how best to proceed, talk to more people or request professional learning.

Speaking of which (very subtle plug), I will be presenting 'Capturing Creativity' at the upcoming Twilight Series of Professional Learning.  The session will focus on setting up and using cloud storage systems to enable collaborative assessment and planning.  It will demonstrate these systems through the use of practical, real examples.  This session will be one of two sessions on the afternoon of Wednesday November 11, 2015. Additional information will be provided shortly.

... back on the soap box, really quickly ... we are in an era of education where we can capture a 'student's story' with relative ease and with equal ease transition that information and data to future teaching teams.  It makes a lot of sense and can communicate far more broadly than a test score.

I found the Relationship Development Intervention Program® in February 2005. It immediately resonated with me, Dr Steven Gutstein clearly showed how the pieces of the Autism Spectrum puzzle fit together and added the missing pieces. Rather than being given another lecture show describing behaviours and symptoms; actually finally being guided to a thorough understanding of the core deficits was so enlightening.  And it makes so much sense. Here are latest research based explanations and a clinical treatment program addressing all the underlying issues for which we had had no answers: the rigid thinking, aversion to change, inability to understand other’s perspectives, failure to empathise, and absolute “black and white” thinking.

It is an amazing journey to watch as a child learns to think for themselves, as they become self aware and understand others, as development generalises and they do things we have never scripted for... it is even more amazing to watch this in a child with ASD. In slow motion we guide and watch the daily little miracles of development, celebrating their second chance for quality of life.

No single problem causes ASD. Rather for each individual there is a unique “cocktail” of congenital factors that, when combined, serves as a “tipping point,” disrupting their ability to participate in early parent-child communication, and preventing even the most masterful parent from conducting the thousands of hours of safe, productive guidance scientists refer to as the “Guided Participation Relationship.” As a result of the loss of this essential early partnership, infants and toddlers with ASD retreat into safe but “static” worlds and avoid the everyday challenges, novel problems and uncertain situations that enable typically developing children to become competent in the dynamics of the real world as expert problem solvers, communicators and  collaborators.

Relationship Development Intervention Certified Consultants empower parents, teachers and significant adults to understand how to guide to provide opportunities for a child / student / adult with ASD to develop the ability to think, communicate and relate dynamically.  

At the upcoming April 2 professional learning ...

Catherine Silcock,
Speech and Language Pathologist.

Blog Author: Robert Carter

Rob is a local Hobart educator.  
He is a guest lecturer and tutor in the Inclusive Practices in Educational Settings unit at UTAS and he is a co-founder of teachinclusive.

Hi, I am Alicia. I am a mother to a very special 10 year old boy, Hayden.  First and foremost Hayden is a typical boy who loves everything a 10 year old boy these days love: Mine craft, Angry birds, Annoying orange, playing the drums and guitar (really loud), going to rock concerts and listening to music, however, he also has severe autism.

I have always been fascinated by autism. I was 15 when I first meet someone with autism and I have never forgotten how unique she was/is. She was a savant (a person with autism who is exceptionally gifted in a particular area). I use to visit her after school and she would show me her room full of hundreds of shoe boxes. In these shoe boxes were millions of 1cm squares of cut up magazines. By picking out one square she was able to tell me what magazine, what date and what page number it was. And some squares were more than 10 years old. I was hooked! How could someone be like this?!

After I completed high school, I got my first real job in a primary school working with a young boy with Asperger’s and ADHD. He was very talented at visual arts. I worked alongside him using art as a form of therapy. Even though he had language, he was unable to express his feelings easily. Art was that gateway to explaining that. Although I loved working with him, I was exhausted every day after work and thought I couldn’t do this full time. Five years later Hayden came along.

I knew day three of Hayden being brought in this world that something was very wrong. Whenever I had to change him, breastfeed him or touch him he would scream. Any physical contact with him would make him so uncomfortable, even painful that I would just have to leave him on the chair all day by himself. Feeding times became a bizarre ritual of wearing oven mittens and holding him away from my body so that he couldn’t feel my touch. Now, I was a young mum, this was my first (and what would be only) child and I felt like I was in a loony bin. I kept listening to good minded people telling me what I could be doing wrong but I knew deep down that there was more to it than me simply having no idea what I was doing.

Hayden’s symptoms appeared at a very young age. I went to countless doctors around 11 months of age to see if my suspicions were correct. I was told that the eyeball rolling in the back of his head, his obsessions with lights and spinning things and the rocking were “babies being babies”  and I was just another neurotic mother who wanted my baby to be perfect and I should be enjoying him and not finding faults. This was actually said to me! Luckily I did not listen to such nonsense and kept searching for someone that would listen to me. It was no surprise that he was diagnosed at 15 months of age. This gave me a chance to get him involved in early intervention as soon as possible. During this stage I became deeply depressed. I had to grieve for a child that had essentially died but I was staring at him every day. It was a strange feeling.

What helped me through this time was having the support of like-minded families that were going through the same thing as myself. It was a chance to vent our frustrations and anger at the world, discuss the latest interventions and talk about the very small milestones that occurred in our children. A mother came into early invention one day who had a son that was much older than our children. Her words have always stayed with me. She said “please trust me that it will get easier”.  Of course, I rolled my eyes at the time. I couldn’t even leave the house because of his autism so I couldn’t even envisage what 10 years down the track would look like but those words from this mother kept me strong and gave me hope.

I believe I have left no stone unturned with Hayden. Biomedics, Applied Behavioural Analysis therapy, diet, Relationship Development Intervention, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy... the list goes on. However, once he started school, I was in for a shock. Hayden was certainly the square peg in the round hole. Most of Hayden’s teachers have been brilliant but he just doesn’t fit in the system. I realised that I had to do something in order to be a part of his education. So, I began a degree in Education. Now I am in my last year (yay!) and start my Honours this summer. Basically, my Honours will be research in the area of children with autism and using art therapy to express feelings and emotions. Having this degree behind me (almost) has helped me support Hayden’s team at school. I am the bridge between Hayden and the world to help people better understand him.

Going back to that mother with the wise words... yes to an extent, it has become easier as he gets older. Partly because of me understanding Hayden better; partly because Hayden is becoming older and has more experiences in life and also because of the support from his fantastic teacher’s aides and teachers.

Blog Author: Robert Carter

Rob is a local Hobart educator.  
He is a guest lecturer and tutor in the Inclusive Practices in Educational Settings unit at UTAS and he is a co-founder of teachinclusive.

mmm. Both are not mutually exclusive and can co-exist, however when you are working with a student approaching adulthood, who has spent much of his high school years walking the halls, out of class who is so turned off by traditional paper based learning materials ... something has to change

... I'm for keeping him engaged in learning, my initial objective is to provide him with access methods and strategies.

In past weeks this particular student has exited himself from theory based classes.  Today I arranged to work alongside him to support the theoretical component of his course.  When he showed me the hard copy notes ... I understood his pain!  Too much text, where to begin?

This student has always been challenged by print, his reading levels would be equivalent to an early childhood student ... somewhere along the line he has missed the remediation boat and chose to avoid and disengage.

The material was not available in a digital format ... to be more exact, was not readily available ... and this student needs readily available!!

So today I spent $12.99 on an App which will, given our initial success provide this young man with an effective and efficient means of print access now and into the future.

$12.99 for an App I hear you say ... expensive?  Well consider that he can now independently access a printed page and have it read to him (as many times as he wants / needs) as opposed to him requiring an adult to read it for him.  Still expensive? No, it's the best $12.99 I have spent in a long time.

Which App?
Prizmo - Scanning, OCR, and Speech