We Need AT To Help Us Succeed!

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My Students

Imagine not having any independence. My students depend on adults for most needs. I want to create a learning environment where the students have the opportunity to access the curriculum and activate toys and devices with some independence. I need assistive technology to make this happen.

I teach a severe/profound medically fragile pre-k classroom in a high poverty, inner city school.

My students are nonverbal, non-ambulatory (not able to walk), and have many physical, cognitive and medical needs. Some students have a vision and/or hearing impairment, are fed via g-tube, and some need ventilator support to breathe. Our school has four pre-K classrooms- two inclusion classrooms and two severe/profound classrooms. We participate in inclusion as much as possible. We strive to give all of our preschool students the same opportunities and experiences no matter what their challenges or needs are. We were lucky enough to receive new iPads, one word/sentence communication buttons, and two switch activated toys from our Donors Choose project which was fully funded last year. Now that we have our new technology, we have run into new challenges. The students' physical limitations have made using our new assistive technology and iPads difficult at times.

My Project

My students have very significant physical limitations-all of which are very specific to each student. The students enjoy playing with their peers but this is not always easy. My students need adaptive toys because they are not able to hold toys or hit small buttons. We use the adaptive toys because they allow the students to play with more independence. The battery interrupters will allow me to make the toys in our room switch accessible. Some of my students cannot access a switch using their hands or feet. Our switches and iPads are too large for the students to mount near their faces or heads. The smaller switches will be easier to access if the student is activating it with his/her head or face. The communication switches will allow the students the opportunity to say more than one phrase or word. Each hit will make the switch say something different. Rote counting, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, and singing their ABC's are some examples of what we could do with these devices.

If my project is funded, my students will be able to access curriculum and play with less difficulty, no matter what their physical limitations are.

The switches will assist with communication, blended learning, and age appropriate play. The students will be able to play with the same toys as their same age peers because I will be able to make the toys switch accessible using the battery interrupters. Assistive technology makes learning less exhausting for students with severe physical needs.