AUTISM AWARENESS

Happy Autism Awareness Day!! 

"Nearly a quarter century ago, the Autism Society launched a nationwide effort to promote autism awareness, inclusion and self-determination for all, and assure that each person with ASD is provided the opportunity to achieve the highest possible quality of life. This year we want to go beyond simply promoting autism awareness to encouraging friends and collaborators to become partners in movement toward acceptance and appreciation." (Autism Society)

Be sure to check out tons of FREE and discounted apps today!
http://www.smartappsforkids.com/2015/03/autism-awareness-month-day-1-1.html

http://www.macrumors.com/2015/04/02/apple-promotes-world-autism-awareness-day/

http://atmac.org/waad-2015

#ATchat

I'm new to the Twitter world, but I often hear that its a great place for PD. I've made it a goal to try to use Twitter more often now that I'm in this field. Karen Janowski is a well respected professional in our field, and I've learned a lot from her through classes, meetings, conferences, and various professional development opportunities. Karen leads an #ATchat on Twitter every Wednesday evening from 8-9, and I finally had a chance to attend last night! The discussion was on "AT, EdTech and UDL" and I thought it was awesome! People from all around the United States participated, and I felt that there were some great conversations, questions, and ideas. It was interesting to see how everyone runs into similar problems no matter what state they are from, but it was great to hear the different ways people educate and provide PD to assist with these problems. I'm looking forward to attending more #ATchat discussions in the future.

Video Modeling

What is it? “a visual teaching method that occurs by watching a video of someone modeling a targeted behavior or skill and then imitating the behavior/skill watched.” (Watch Me Learn)

What can you use it for?

•       Motor behaviors

•       Social skills

•       Communication

•       Self-monitoring

•       Functional life skills

•       Vocational skills

•       Athletic performance

•       Emotional regulation

This is a great tool to use for a variety of skills. Luckily we are often surrounded by many different types of technology; lets take advantage of the built in features, such as cameras and videos! At my school, we did a presentation with all of the speech and language therapists to show staff how they can use the cameras on their iPads for video modeling! This could benefit many students in special education that are struggling with a skill.

Links:

http://ericsailers.com/blog_files/Summary_of_a_video_modeling_tutorial.html

http://newsinfo.iu.edu/web/page/normal/5634.html

http://www.watchmelearn.com/video-modeling/what-is-video-modeling

https://www.pinterest.com/dowerassociates/video-modeling/