Carl's AT Keys

Day 1

In this blog I am using the concept of keys to organize my thoughts on assistive technology and its uses. Each day I am going to try to find keys that I, and hopefully others, can use to help in the task of helping students. The idea of keys came to me while reflecting on the video that we viewed the first day. “Autism is a World” featured Sue Ruban, a person with autism who was brought out of her isolation in autism through AT tools and appropriate supports. The keys that I want to retain for future should be keys to let me into the world of the students and keys that they can use to unlock their own barriers to participation in the learning community and life in general. The key for today is the importance of believing in the potential and competency of the students that we are working with. The keys to bring Sue out into the world were found and the transformation was profound. Personally I will use this story to remind me of how important it is to “assume competency” and to continuously check my expectations for students with autism, LD, and other exceptional learning needs.