Sunday, May 4, 2014

PECS Wallets & Monday Made It


Last year I was able to get a personal iPad with the Proloquo 2Go app for two of my nonverbal students to use for communication. The students carried the iPads back and forth between school and home. 

While one of the students used hers daily to communicate, she continuously kept getting into the settings and wiping things out and messing up programs. Once, she even permanently disabled it, and it had to be sent in to be unlocked! Unfortunately, even though there are ways to restrict students from deleting apps and from performing other functions....there is no way to lock them out of the settings. 

My other student simply refused to use his. He didn't think it was cool and found it too laborious to locate what he wanted to say. He also doesn't really see himself as different, and doesn't understand why his speech is not intelligble to others. I am very concerned for him as he is going to the middle school next year and I feel it's very important that he have an alternate way to communicate. I have had him for 4 years, and while I have learned to understand his language pretty well, the middle school teachers are not going to be able to and he is going to get frustrated!

Our speech pathologist came up with the idea of PECS wallets! I had never heard of them. She thought this might be something my student would think would be cool.....having his own wallet!! So I retired the iPads and started using these wallets this week. 




So far they are working well!! Both of my students LOVE them and have carried them everywhere! Even my boy that didn't think the iPad was so "cool," thinks his wallet is "COOL!" I'm working on getting another set for them to keep and use at home. I've also been working with the middle school teacher to add some words that he will be needing in middle school.

Now to announce the winner of my Prefix Centers!!
Brenda, you won!



If you're still looking for a Cinco de Mayo activity for tomorrow, check out my Cinco de Mayo mini activity booklet. It's perfect for kinders and preschoolers. 





And now for a "Monday Made It" and a housewarming idea you might like. I made this yesterday for my nephew that just got his own place!





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3 comments:

  1. I have 3 students that also have iPads with Proloquo2 on them and I am able to lock them out of the settings by using the guided access feature. This allows them to only use the communication app and nothing else. You can use google to get more instructions on how to lock them out of settings. It's worked out great so far for one of my students that has destroyed multiple electronics at home because he gets into the settings. I also don't send the devices home until I see that they can use it to communicate, because they forget to send the cords back, and so forth. Once it is useable by the student, then it can go home, but so far none of my 3 students are at that level yet, although one is getting close. The Pecs wallet sounds great! I might want to try something like that for when we go out in the community. Thanks!
    Jannike

    www.anautismconnection.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for dropping by Jannike! You're lucky your students haven't become as iPad savvy as my girl yet. I love guided access and it works so well for most all of my students, but this child has figured out that all you have to do is shut the ipad down and restart it....and guided access ends. Believe me, it's a no win situation with this child. I've tried everything. I'm sure she will most likely grow up to be a computer technician...seriously!

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  3. Those wallets truly are a great idea! I doubt I would have ever thought to use those, but seriously, genius! I can see how they may be easier for students than an iPad, but hopefully they'll decide the iPads are cool, too. Cute kitchen gift, too. :)

    Mandy
    The 4th Grade Journey

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