Online Webinars

 

Overview:  Excited about the Assistive Technology (AT) that has been purchased with the stimulus monies? Wondering how to provide sufficient quality trainings to promote the effective use of the AT? Then this session is for you! Participants will learn about a framework for constructing professional development and training activities. Participants will also learn how to use free, readily available and fee-based commercial technologies to produce and provide effective AT training and support experiences for students, education professionals and families.

 

Overview:  We learn so much through our vision, including our movements, social behavior, fashion sense, spatial concepts, language concepts, and incidental learning. Vision helps interpret sound and movement experiences, helps build motivation and anticipation, and fixes the world spatially so that sensory information makes sense. A child born with a visual impairment will have difficulty with the meaningful organization of environmental information. The implications are huge; most aspects of functional life skills will be much more challenging than for sighted children. This presentation will include strategies for dealing with money, clothing, cooking, shopping, telling time, and marking items for later identification. A wide variety of assistive technology, or gadgets, will be explored. As providers, there are a lot of tools we can share with any of our visually impaired clients to help them gain as much functional independence as possible.

 

 

Overview: This webinar describes the Descriptive Teaching Model, an AAC classroom teaching approach that encourages classroom use of the student’s permanent, high frequency, re-useable vocabulary within the AAC device. This approach, when paired with Aided Language Stimulation, is an efficient and effective strategy to help teachers be successful as they teach students using robust AAC devices within their general education classrooms. This webinar will give both general education teachers and speech-language therapists the practical tools and strategies for collaborating in the development of teaching plans based on the descriptive teaching model.

Overview: Children with autism may often have difficulties with social situations. Social interaction requires the shifting back and forth from listening to responding, and may even include more than one other party on the listening end. It also requires eye contact and many other physical displays. One must also rapidly establish and shift attention. Many students with autism and intellectual disabilities may have difficulties accomplishing and recognizing these skills at speeds necessary to participate in social interactions. Auditory information disappears before some children have a chance to respond.  Social skills need to be explicitly taught, modelled and practiced.  In this session you will learn many strategies and modifications to assist your students with becoming more successful socially. There will be many other strategies shown as well; from the multiple uses of video, visual strategies, role playing, social stories, visual bridges, free web sites, and many more.

Overview: Blending together elements from Balanced Literacy, Classroom Suite, Map-A-Story, and Sight Words – Developmental Reading Program and adding adapted books and activities will produce unique recipes that will satisfy your students’ appetite for reading. My students’ demonstrated improvement in the following skills: word recognition, comprehension, cooperation, writing, and spelling. They are eager to work and actively engaged longer. Creating Reading Gumbo is possible even if you don’t have the programs listed; you can use what you have. You need to adapt materials and books to each student’s level and style and start cooking. You will be amazed at the results.

 

 

Overview: Virtual 3D worlds, games, and online learning environments are rapidly changing how students are engaged in educational services. By their very design these learning environments immerse students in technology and provide an amazing forum for collaboration, problem solving, and assessment. In virtual meetings students work together in ways that mirror how adults use 21^st Century Skills. In a virtual world, many students are able to participate in activities that would be difficult in the real world. The paradigm moves from having disabilities to having virtual abilities. Join us as we explore the educational integration of these amazing technologies.

 

 

Overview:   Explore over 25 iPad, iTouch, and iPhone applications that can benefit individuals with disabilities. These apps have been organized by functional limitations and include communication apps, voice recognition apply, apps for vision and hearing impairments, organizational apps, fidget apps, creativity apps for limited fine motor, and memory aids. In addition, this webinar will demonstrate low cost methods for mounting the iPad and iTouch to a desk, table, chair, or bed.

Overview: This session will address the IDEA stipulations for assistive technology, and how team members can increase their understanding of AT as part of the individualized education planning process to make sure students with disabilities obtain the services and supports they need.

 

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act recognizes the important role of assistive technology devices and services to support desired educational outcomes and successful transition for students with disabilities. There are misconceptions about the obligations of school districts, as well as “realities” that team members must acknowledge when seeking to obtain AT for the students they serve. This session will address the following:

(1)           What does IDEA/IDEIA mean by “assistive technology”? (the federal definitions of AT devices and services)

(2)           What are the mandates in IDEA/IDEIA for “consideration” and incorporation of AT in the written plan? (“special considerations” that open the door to AT for students with disabilities)

(3)           What are appropriate practices and opportunities for considering and incorporating AT in the IEP? (Opportunities within the IEP for incorporating AT; “taking technology home”)

(4)           But our school budget wasn’t passed – now what? (How other funding sources may be used – or not used – to assure access to AT for students with disabilities)

(5)           How can IEP team members, including parents, advocate for AT in the IEP? (Resources and strategies for advocating for the inclusion of AT in the IEP)

(6)           Strategies for including AT in transition planning (Approaches to and resources for addressing AT for students transitioning to post-secondary education, employment, and independent living).

 

 

 

 

Overview: For two decades in assistive technology, school districts have been promoting the use of assistive technology. But are we reaching all stakeholders, including our general educators, our special educators and parents. This webinar will explore new ways to conceptualize and deliver training. What can districts do to go beyond face to face training and move toward just-in-time, as well as, job embedded training. It will address the move from an expert model to a mentoring model. It will address the shift from a face-to-face training model to the use of web-based tools; from a training emphasis on tools to an emphasis on curriculum. This webinar will discuss ways that the HIAT team is achieving training for all using social networking, online meetings, web based screen capture tools, online courses, and professional learning networks to promote universal design for learning. Find out how a small assistive technology team is addressing AT training in a large school district.