a.) I have performed one webquest prior to this webquest assignment. This webquest included creating a powerpoint, to educate others on an educational theorist. I really enjoyed and found doing this webquest on a specific case study of a student with a disability, very intriguing. The prior webquest that I performed did not compare to the immensity and information-rich content and availability of sources in this current webquest. I chose to perform a webquest on Hayden, a seventh grader with autism. Hayden's main accessibility problem was focused on having limited verbal expressive language. This webquest provided links upon links of information of assistive technologies, funding resources, the laws and regulations based on communication problems and various other links to learn about other information that could correlate to the student's disability and CCN.
The directions of the webquest were quite simple to follow, alleviating the ever common stress and frustration factors of understanding the ins and outs of an assignment before delving into it. It was very organized according to having a list or different tabs (introduction, task, process, educator and employer resources, evaluation and conclusion) that led to the links under specific themes or headings to have an easy route to find your information. Organization and clarity are key aspects of an assignment.
As a future special education teacher, there is no doubt in my mind that I will definitely use webquests within my classroom and out of the classroom, for home related projects and assignments. These webquests allow the students to still perform research, with provided links and sources by the teacher, in having to search through the links to find the specific information that is needed. Having students do webquests also allows students to perform research, knowing that the sources they are obtaining their information from are reliable and valid, having the assurance they are learning real and true information and material. Specific ways in which I would put a webquest into effect in my classroom, would be by using it as a tool for learning about a specific theme within a novel, such as Tom Sawyer, or if we are learning about different crustaceans in science, I can create a webquest for the students to complete on different aspects of crustaceans. Such aspects can be habitats, food consumption, physical characteristics, etc.
b.) Before reading the article on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), I was not very familiar with this term at all. I learned that AAC is all the forms of communication that can be used to share ideas, make friends and express needs and wants. The article was very informative in making clear that Assistive Technology and AAC must be coupled together, to be most effective in accommodating and supporting students' with communication disabilities. I had a good amount of informational background on Assistive Technologies (AT) from one of our previous modules, in looking at different AT's and understanding how and why they are used and seen as high importance within a special education classroom. Within the topic of students with communication disabilities, whether it be caused from cerebral palsy, down syndrome, autism or any other disability, it is important for teachers to provide specific AAC systems, according to the severity of the communication disability.
Although i am familiar with different AT's for particular disabilities, I have not done research or heard of many of these AT's provided in The AAC Resource Guide For Teachers and even more that I found within my webquest for Hayden's difficulty in verbal expressive language. As a future special education teacher, I will be encountering several students with communication disabilities, making now the time to understand the resources that are available to support such students with these disabilities and know how and when to apply such AT services. I know when I become a teacher, there will most likely be even more AT services for students with communication disabilities. I now have a better understanding and awareness of the many AT's for students with communication disabilities, that currently exist, that I can now begin to apply within the classroom.
There are several hand held objects that are very accessible for students to use in the classroom, such as the Palmtop Portable IMPACT, LightWRITERS, Digital Talking book player and alphabet, picture, symbol and word boards. The alphabet, picture, symbol and word boards are probably one AT service that all students with communication disabilities should have in the classroom. They allow the student to be able to quickly form words on their board, to answer questions or provide feedback in large or small group discussion. They are also very useful for the teacher to manipulate according to what the class is learning about. For example, if the class is learning about reptiles, have pictures and vocabulary for that week, along with other basic vocabulary words (yes, no, what, how, when, where) for the student with CCN to use when participating in discussion.
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