Deborah Newton's article on Technology and Writing talked about the differences between lo, mid, and high tech solutions for students. At my school I feel that we have been doing a very good job with the low and mid-tech solutions (my school sounds so behind and ancient! It kills me when I learn what other schools are doing and how far we need to go).
Low-Tech solutions are aids or items that have no mechanical, electrical or computer components. At my school I was given a good box of grips from the Occupational Therapist from the IWK. With several of the students I supported we made a lesson out of trying the grips out and seeing which ones worked the best. I was worried that the students we become distracted by them but eventually the novelty wore off and the students that really needed them used them. Like I said in my other post about the fusion writers we use these a lot at my school. There must be an abundance of them in the Assistive Technology Library at the board because if you request these you are guaranteed to get them. From this class I see that we need to go forward and invest in more iPads. One for the things that I wondering about was the need of the external keyboard? Are we moving away from this sort of accessory?
The second half of the article examines high-tech solutions mainly computer-based programs. These are very helpful when you have a school (like mine) that are still using computers for assistive technology. Hopefully the priority will change at my school and they will see the financial and academic gain that the iPad will have.
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