True Participation

You may be interested in reading John W. Lloyd's Beyond Access: Improving Success where he says:

On the educational front, one of the factors to which many disability rights organizations regularly point is the poor outcomes for students with disabilities after graduation from high school. The litany of unfavorable comparisons between students with disabilities and their not-disabled peers is familiar to many: higher unemployment, less frequent enrollment in post-secondary schools, more frequent contact with and incarceration by law-enforcement officials, etc. These are clearly outcomes that we would not only like to see improved, but also they are improvements that would auger well for our society (e.g., emphasizing the abilities of individuals) and economy (e.g., lower unemployment).

He goes on to advocate for special education to address success, not mere access to participation in the adult world. I agree that this is the critical issue: Just building the bridges doesn't mean that people will know how to use them. In my own reflections on my past encounters with Michigan Rehabilitation Services, this has been a difficult concept to communicate. I find it puzzling that we (K-12 special educators) often offer accommodations to students with Learning Disabilities without planning instruction on how to use these accommodations to successfully level the playing field.

Picture of Alpha Smart Dana on Renaissance Learning Website

I remember when students with writing problems were offered AlphaSmarts to compensate for poor handwriting, poor spelling, note-taking, a lack of word-processing equipment at home, slow writing production, a lack of written composition skills and so on. Our local county chapter of the LDA held a meeting about tools and accommodations, and one family member told me that her grandchild had been given one of those, but no one at the school had any idea how to download and print what she had written on it. What a total waste of resources!! The student got very little benefit out of the AlphaSmart, even though she'd put the time in on her assignments. But, the staff at her school didn't have the training or information to make this a useful and powerful tool for her.

Around the same time, I had borrowed an AlphaSmart from the county Assistive Technology Consultant and, after playing with it for an hour or so, figured out how to upload files onto my computer, and how to print directly from my dot-matrix printer. I also learned how to spell-check, change fonts and line spacing, and cut and paste text. Here I was, thinking how useful this tool was, while at the same time, a whole school had convinced parents that the AlphaSmart was an anachronism, and chose not to use it (or anything else) that might address the problems of access and successful accommodation.

In the interim, the AT Consultant continued to recommend the AlphaSmart to other students at the same school, resulting in a great deal of acrimony between her and the staff at the school, without any resolution. What started as a small problem of poor communication blossomed into a full-blown bickering match between the school staff, parents, and the county consultant. No gains were made for the kids for whom this could have been most helpful. Most of the students waited until they were in high school to access computers in their computer lab, purchase a low-end computer for home use. The most fortunate of these students were given used laptops that their parents bought for them. This, of course, violates one of the primary tenets of FAPE--that the supports and services provided in a public school would be FREE and appropriate. If, in order to have full-time access to the necessary supports and services, a student has to purchase a laptop, or a calculator, or any other tool: how is that "free"? If special education under IDEA ends upon graduation from high school, how have we fulfilled our obligation to the student to maximize access and participation, if we never show students how to independently use the tools and accommodations we recommend? It's a little like someone throwing a kid into a swimming pool and telling them, "Okay, I provided the water, it's your job to learn how to swim in it!"

Technology seems to progress at the speed of light. Now, an AlphaSmart is truly an anachronism. Tablets such as the iPad2 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, with touchscreens, and lightweight, with more bells and whistles than anyone could imagine, make it so much easier for us to get intuitive technology into the hands of young people so that their playing fields are more level now, than ever before.  But, if we only hand them the tools, without showing them what they can do, we might as well just hand them a rock and a stick.

MITS Freedom Stick--Making Computer Use More Accessible

Ira Socol, a colleague of mine who has been working on his Ph.D. at Michigan State University, has a theory--Toolbelt Theory--which he has been blogging on for several years at SPeEDchange, his blog.  He's currently working with Michigan's Integrated Technology Supports (MITS) on this possibility. The idea, which I am probably oversimplifying, is that people who need to have certain adaptations made in order to access content on a computer, should be able to carry their tools with them. In essence, the tools, stored on a USB flash drive, would allow them to customize any computer to their needs. He's currently working with Michigan's Integrated Technology Supports (MITS).

Picture of 3 flash drives. Source: secretarydpu.wordpress.com

Well, he's finally unveiled The MITS Freedom Stick, adapted and improved from a Scottish suite of applications stored on a flash drive. The MITS Freedom Stick is "designed to provide students with information and communication access on any computer using a Windows or Linux operating system."  The best part about this "toolbelt" is that nothing needs to be installed on any computer, it's all self-contained on a 4 gigabyte (4GB) USB flash drive which you provide (and can be purchased for under $20).  The applications can be downloaded for free, at the MITS website.  There are instructions for customization at the link, and there's room on the flash drive for storing the files created by the user.


This suite of tools became possible through a collaboration between MITS, the Regional Support Center – Scotland North and East, the Mozilla Corporation, and Mozilla Education.
With netbooks available for under $300, this brings basic computer accessibility down to an incredibly affordable range for students in upper elementary and middle school, and beyond.   What impresses me is that this means that there are few excuses for students with learning disabilities to be unfamiliar with the tools housed on the MITS Freedom Stick by the time they enter college. Parents and teachers will need to be prepared to become skilled users of these tools, to help reinforce their learning. The hope that I have for this suite of tools is that it will enable more students to become independent of others' help earlier, so that a less steep learning curve is required of them when they reach post-secondary education.

LDA of Michigan Conference November 16-17, 2009

Learning in the 21^st Century Featured at Learning Disabilities Conference

Lansing, MI September 19, 2009 – Lynell Burmark, Ph.D. and Christopher M. Lee, Ph.D. are the featured keynotes at this year’s Learning Disabilities Association (LDA) of Michigan Conference scheduled for November 16 and 17 at at Kellogg Center on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing. The tools of technology (universal design in learning) will take center stage. Lynell Burmark, Ph.D., author and educational consultant, will keynote on Monday with “Visual Literacy: Learn to See, See to Learn”. Also on Monday, there will be a full-day symposium “Educating ALL Students: Utilizing Instructional Technology for a Diverse Population”, in addition to regular conference sessions. Tuesday’s keynote, Christopher M. Lee, Ph.D., is an advocate, author and consultant in adaptive technology, speaking on “Life with Learning Disabilities”. Tuesday also features an orientation and mini-sessions for teens, teachers and parents before attending conference sessions. Governor Jennifer Granholm has officially proclaimed November as Learning Disabilities Awareness Month in recognition of the needs and potential of people with Learning Disabilities.

Scheduled for Monday, Lynell Burmark’s keynote emphasizes the benefits of learning in an image-rich environment. Her book, Visual Literacy: Learn to See, See to Learn, a widely adopted textbook for teacher education and instructional technology programs, won the book of the year award for publisher ASCD in 2002 and is now expanded, updated (2006) and available as an eBook. Lynell is featured in a 30-minute segment on Canter & Associates video for the Masters in Instructional Technology with Walden University. She also has produced a 10-minute video on visual literacy, which is distributed free to educators through 100% Educational Videos.

Also slated for Monday is an all day symposium on Educating ALL Students: Utilizing Instructional Technology for a Diverse Population “Learning in the 21st Century” classroom requires instruction technology supports in order to meet the learning needs of a diverse group of students. Teaching ALL students requires a plethora of research based strategies in order to meet the learning needs of all students. Learning problems are often a result of an inflexible curriculum with teaching methods and materials that are not responsive to the diversity of students represented in the classroom. This full day session will provide participants knowledge on how to design classrooms with universal access to the curriculum for ALL students to be successful. Speakers include Jeff Diedrich (Michigan Integrated Technology Supports), Kenneth Graham (Premier Literacy), the RTI Team from Cesar Chavez Academy, Detroit (The Leona Group, LLC), and Mari Cris McFarland (Livonia Public Schools).

Tuesday’s keynote speaker, Christopher M. Lee, Ph.D., published Faking It: A Look into the Mind of a Creative Learner in 1992, and in 2001, What About Me? Strategies for Teaching Misunderstood Learners, both of which draw on his challenges attending the University of Georgia (UGA). Before joining Tools for Life, he served as Training Director of the Learning Disabilities Research and Training Center (LDR&T center), a collaborative effort of the University of Georgia and the Roosevelt Institute for Rehabilitation at Warm Springs, Georgia. In that role, he directed training activities and supervised national project dissemination efforts. He is experienced in coordinating distance-training activities. Currently, he serves as Director of the Alternative Media,Access Center, a joint project with the University of Georgia Department of Psychology.

Also on Tuesday LDA of Michigan invites teens, teachers and chaperones to join Dr. Pam Bellamy, of Michigan State University for orientation, session selection, and mini-sessions offered on a variety of topics of interest to teens. Join the full conference for sessions following the orientation. Teens are invited to stay for lunch and talk to LDA Conference organizers about their experiences.

Scholarships are available for family members and teens to attend the conference on a first come, first served basis.

Download the conference flyer at http://www.ldaofmichigan.org/LDAconf2009.pdf. A schedule is posted at http://www.ldaofmichigan.org/calendar.htm#sessions. To advertise in the conference program download the form at http://www.ldaofmichigan.org/advertise.pdf. SB-CEUs will be offered.

For further information about the LDA of Michigan’s Annual Conference or scholarships, contact Flo Curtis by telephone at (517) 485-8160 or (888) 597-7809, or by e-mail at ldamich@sbcglobal.net. For more information on the LDA of Michigan, go to http://www.ldaofmichigan.org.

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©2009 Learning Disabilities Association of Michigan. The Learning Disabilities Association is a 501(c)3
 non-profit volunteer organization with offices located at 200 Museum Drive, Ste. 101, Lansing, Michigan 48933. Telephone: (517) 485-8160; fax (517) 485-8462; toll-free: (888) 597-7809; email: ldamich@sbcglobal.net; website: www.ldaofmichigan.org

2009 Conference Keynote Speaker is 21st Century Learner

This year's theme for our conference is Learning in the 21st Century. In order to meet the needs of diverse learners, a broad range of strategies need to be engaged to enable access to the curriculum. Among these are the tools afforded by instructional technologies.

If you are looking for a real treat, Tuesday's keynote speaker at the Learning Disabilities Association of Michigan 2009 conference and membership meeting will be Christopher Lee. Christopher is the author of two books, Faking It: A Look into the Mind of a Creative Learner, and What About Me? Strategies for Teaching Misunderstood Learners. These books are written with Dr. Lee's experience as a person with learning disabilities, and as a provider of accessibility tools to assist in overcoming barriers.

Picture source: http://www.christophermlee.com/

Computers and Assistive Technology Remove Barriers for State of Georgia Employee with Learning Disability

source: Microsoft Accessibility, case studies

If words were big sturdy objects that Christopher Lee could touch, heft, and climb over, he might have a lot easier time reading. But as flat symbols on a page, they confound him. A severe learning disability, called a cognitive processing deficit, affects his ability to read, write, and sound out words.

Through the growth of understanding about learning disabilities, the introduction of numerous assistive technologies, and the foresight of the state of Georgia, Christopher Lee has successfully surmounted the barriers created by learning disabilities and gained responsible and fulfilling employment.

A Long Road to Understanding

As a child growing up in Florida in the 1960s and 1970s, the experts were just starting to understand dyslexia. And Lee was in college before he was tested and pronounced to have a learning disability. "That was a turning point for me," Lee recalls. "I had heard the term 'learning disability' before, but I didn't want to admit that's what I had."

After his learning disability was identified in college, Lee received help through the Learning Disabilities Center at the University of Georgia. The folks at the Center taught him how his brain worked and what learning situations and tools could help him learn.

Computer Becomes Tool for Learning and Employment Opportunity

In his junior year in college Lee discovered computers. "I loved the keyboard; it took away that dreaded piece of dead wood—the pencil," he says. "The keyboard was tactile; I could feel it, I could connect letters with physical action." When letters appear on the monitor, they're far clearer to Lee than when he writes them down on a piece of paper. Spelling checkers cleaned up his frequent misspellings, and grammar checkers flagged muddled word distinctions. "The computer made a huge difference in my ability to learn," he says.

In 1994, Lee landed a job at the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation as training director for a learning disability, research, and training grant. "That's when I really began learning how the state of Georgia helped accommodate people with disabilities."

State of Georgia is Trailblazer in Providing Assistive Technology Access for Citizens

Following the lead of the federal government, all U.S. states have created vocational rehabilitation and assistive technology programs. One state that has led the way is Georgia. Georgia is a trailblazer in ensuring that its citizens have access to the assistive technology needed to lead full and productive lives. The state's Assistive Technology unit has evolved over time. Currently, it has two branches—one focuses on equipping individuals with technology that will help them to work, and the other, called "Tools for Life", provides technology services to all Georgians with disabilities regardless of age or work status. Lee was introduced to Tools for Life while working at the Roosevelt Warm Springs Center for Rehabilitation, and it was here that he really learned about assistive technology.

Assistive Technology: A "Huge Help"

"Assistive technology products were a huge help to me, especially after the Internet came along," Lee says. In his current job as project director for Tools for Life, Lee uses a standard Windows-based PC outfitted with Texthelp Read&Write, which combines a screen reader, phonetic spelling checker, homonym color coder, word prediction program, word abbreviation program, and thesaurus. He also uses Dragon NaturallySpeaking for speech input, the ZoomText screen enlarger, and Inspiration Software's Inspiration visual thinking and learning software, a program that lets him draw his way to clear expression.

When he needs to read a lot of scanned documents, Lee uses the Kurzweil 3000 screen reading program, a high-end optical character recognition program that reads typed text and will even read definitions using a built-in dictionary. He uses the Soothsayer on-screen keyboard, which aids him in navigating his way to correct word choices and spelling. Lee also uses the accessibility options in Microsoft Windows 2000 and the Microsoft Office 2000 suite, taking advantage of the enlarged icons and color features.

"Assistive technology vendors are starting to see that there is a huge market for individuals with learning disabilities in addition to sensory disabilities. Because cognitive disabilities are invisible, it's easier for individuals to fake it or deny the existence of the disability. They end up falling into the welfare system because they don't understand their challenge, or what technology exists to help them," Lee says.

But the state of Georgia is making great strides in preventing this loss of human and economic potential. Tools for Life and other state of Georgia-sponsored programs are increasing access to assistive technology for Georgia's 1,700,000 citizens with disabilities.

Here's a video of Christopher Lee, talking about Microsoft Accessibility.

Picture source: Microsoft Enable website

The Learning Disabilities Association of Michigan 2009 Conference will be held on November 16 and 17 at Kellogg Conference Center on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. To download the brochure for the conference, or to get more information click on the links provided. SB-CEUs will be available. Teen and family conference scholarships are available by contacting ldamich@sbcglobal.net or by calling 1-888-597-7809. Register before November 1st for a discount on the registration fee.