iPad project shared at Ontario Council for Exceptional Children

iPad pilot presentation at OCEC December 3
On December 3, Special Education Department area Coordinators Angela Scarano-Iuorio (Assistive Technology) and Jan Fukumoto (Autism Spectrum Disorder), co-presented at the Toronto Hilton at the 55th Annual Provincial Special Education Conference for the Ontario Council for Exceptional Children (OCEC).
    

The TDSB group presented the details of last year’s iPad pilot project. Eight schools participated in the project last year. The teachers, who ranged from first-year to experienced in the classroom, introduced and incorporated iPad use in their specific Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) classrooms (primary through intermediate grade students). Each teacher focused on iPad use for individual or group(s) of students, in a variety of ways. Some examples included: academic (reading comprehension and decoding), socio-emotional (social interaction, classroom integration, task completion and motivation) or using a specific app as an alternative communication device.

Teachers documented their journey by creating specific, measurable SMART goals for their student(s). They collected and analyzed data, in order to create final summaries for their part in the iPad in ASD classrooms project. The results were shared at a culminating celebration/presentation at the Board office last June. Each teacher presented her/his specific journey, sharing data and video snippets on in-class student-teacher-iPad interaction with invitees and members of the TDSB’s Special Education Department.

The OCEC two-day conference focused on ways to support learning and achievement of exceptional children in topics which included assistive technology, practices which are evidence-based as well as instructional resources.

Earlier in the week, Angela Scarano-Iuorio (Assistive Technology Coordinator) and Jan Fukumoto (Autism Spectrum Disorder Coordinator) together with several teachers from the original iPad pilot, co-presented the 2010-2011 iPad project results and findings at Beverly Public School.  Beverly students - specifically those with communication disorders - used iPads last year as part of phase two of a research project done in collaboration with the University of Toronto called:Touch Technologies in the Classroom.

Related web links:
See the website: www.cecontario.ca for more information about the Council for Exceptional Children. To see the original iPad project Prezi presentation shared last June, see the blog link here: iPads in ASD classrooms.