iLearn, iCommunicate with iPad

My Students

I am a special education teacher at a public school in Sarasota County Florida that is designed for students with severe disabilities. Our day is very structured, my students use individual picture schedules to navigate through their day. My students are taught mostly on a one-on-one basis through a rotation of staff members.

My students are 7th and 8th grade and have Autism and behavior challenges.

My school is an amazing place for student with disabilities. We serve the MOST severe 1-2% of the special education population in our county. My students work on functional academic skills, social skills, activities of daily living, pre-work/job skills. My students have individual education plans, so each one is taught differently to meet their needs and learning capabilities. We use specialized academic curriculum and several online/computer curricula. My students have difficulty communicating effectively becuase some are are non-verbal or they have speech or language impairments. My students also have difficulty with self regulation and have a hard time controlling verbal and physical outbursts. My students enjoy school, they feel safe here, and are able to learn and improve themselves everyday!

My Project

My students learn best through the use of technology and interacting with pictures. They love the touch screen computer and the ActivBoard we currently have in my classroom. We have 2 online curricula that we use every day that help my students learn on exactly their level! Adding an iPad to my classroom would give my students another technology learning station that would supplement their individual education plans with the use of the endless educational apps that are available. In addition to academic learning, the iPad is an incredible tool for students that are non-verbal and need to use specialized apps that use pictures to help people to communicate needs, wants, thoughts and feelings. The iPad can also hold a library of books called social stories to help my students who do not know the right way to act or feel in certain situations in life (ie. "What do I do if There is a Fire Drill at school?", or "Personal Space" , "Ask a Friend To Play") . The options are endless!!

My students have severe challenges in their lives because they cannot express themselves like other people and they do not learn or act like other people.

Having a devise like an iPad in their classroom will motivate them to learn, let them have interactive learning activites that could in turn help them interact better with people. Any tool to help improve my students' ability to learn and become productive citizens of our community is more than words can say!