FarFaria app for iPad: The Netflix/Hulu for kids books

A while back someone told me about a new iPad app called FarFaria.  It has been described by some reviewers as "A Netflix (or Hulu) for children's stories". I just recently got around to downloading it and playing with it a bit and there are some things I definitely like about it.  The app is free to download, but, in order to actually use most of the books, you must pay a $3.99/month subscription fee (roughly $48/year).  You do get to try it for free for 30 days.

  Some of the things I like about this app is that there is a wide selection of books in the Preschool to 2nd grade range.  The books are high quality, and many books come with a "read to me" feature that will read the book in high quality, pre-recorded human narration.  All of the books are developed specifically for the app, so you can't find your favorites from Barnes and Noble or the public library here, but most of the books are still very good.  This app is easy enough to use that a child could operate it independently, which would be great for self selected reading time in school and at home.  If you are willing to spend a little less than $50 a year for children's books, then this app might be for you. 

For a more in depth review of the app, check out this link.

Putting Tar Heel Reader books into iBooks with speech! (repost)

I am posting a link to a great blogger by the name of Jane Farrall, about putting Tar Heel Reader books into iBooks on the iPad.  Tar Heel Reader is a great source of simple, user generated books for all ages, and now the ability to use them with the iPad makes it even better.  There are also a few other Tar Heel Reader posts on Jane's Blog that you might want to check out as well.

To read the post, click here.
To simply go to Jane's blog, click here.
To check out Tar Heel Reader, click here.

Ty gives a speech in class, even though he can't talk!

Some great teachers and a fabulous SLP at one of our middle schools have worked really hard to provide meaningful opportunities for students with disabilities to interact with their non-disabled peers.  One of those students, Ty, cannot speak for himself, but his teachers have found a way for him to communicate using a Step by Step sequencer device with pre-recorded voice messages that he activates with a switch when he moves his head.  The following video is of Ty giving a speech about his favorite movie, Disney Pixar's UP!  Ty's SLP communicated with Ty, his mom, and his teachers to identify his favorite video and some of the things he liked about it.  While Ty did not write this speech himself (the SLP did), I absolutely LOVE that he is able to give the speech in front of a class of his peers, following the same format that all of them are expected to use.  It is plain to see that he really enjoys the experience, and I'm sure at least some of the students in that class gained a new appreciation for Ty and what he is truly capable of.

That is the power of assistive technology, to give a voice to people who otherwise would not have any.  Please check out the video below.  I hope you will enjoy it, and it will get you thinking about things you could do in your classroom or home.



Note: if you are unable to view the video in this blog, try clicking this link to view it in a separate page.

Boardmaker Studio-taking boardmaker to the next level

I attended a training session at the UATT conference about Boardmaker Studio, the latest product in the great Boardmaker line of products.  Boardmaker Studio includes all of the great features of the original Boardmaker, but includes lots and lots of activity templates to create interactive lessons with relative ease.  It also costs the exact same amount as regular Boardmaker, (or you can upgrade to Boardmaker Studio from Boardmaker for half the cost!).  You can access the notes from the presentation I attended by clicking here.  You can also get more info at the Boardmaker website.

A Literacy based lesson plan for students with severe disabilities

At the recent UATT conference, we had the change to attend a presentation from an SLP and music therapist from the Hartvigsen School in the Granite District in Utah.  They demonstrated a very well planned and executed lesson to teach students with severe disabilities a wide range of important skills in a brief (30-45 minutes) time period using AT, AAC, music, Core Vocabulary, and much more.  I really was impressed with how much thought went into the lesson, and how they were able to target important skills such as:

• Social reciprocity (greetings, farewells, conversations, etc.)
• Communication (including AAC for nonverbal students)
• Vocabulary
• Literacy
• Following 1 and 2 step directions
• Turn Taking
• Sensory/Tactile experiences
• Cause and Effect
• Civil Rights awareness
• and more!

The entire lesson was based on reading a nonfiction book about Martin Luther King Jr. They had carefully planned selected vocabulary and activities for each page of the story. While they included a lot of music into their lesson, you don't necessarily have to do so.  You also don't have to be a trained Music Therapist to teach a lesson like this.  I think a thoughtful teacher could use their lesson plan as a template to design any lesson to target the same skills with a literature based approach.  You can access a copy of their lesson plan by clicking here.

UAAACT is now UATT!

We got back last Friday from the biennial statewide UAAACT conference and I wanted to share a few things we learned at the conference.  So the next few blog posts will deal with things we learned at the conference.  This particular blog post deals with UAAACT changing its name to UATT.

  First of all, this conference marked 25 years of UAAACT in the state of Utah!  UAAACT was originally adapted from the SWAAAC model in Colorado and has been a collaborative partnership between several Utah state agencies, programs, and most Utah school districts, with the aim of providing high quality assistive technology evaluations to students with disabilities in Utah.  25 years is an impressive milestone and speaks to the lasting quality of this impressive program in the state.

 But the big news from the conference was that the UAAACT leadership council has decided to change the project name from UAAACT to UATT.  UATT is an acronym for Utah Assistive Technology Teams.  Nobody could keep all the A's straight in UAAACT, so they decided it was time to shorten it.  Nothing else has changed, just the name. UATT will continue to provide an important service to Utah students for years to come.  I can't wait to see what they change the name to at the 50th conference!