Last week Tiffany D'Abbraccio, Special Education Preschool Teacher, along with Deb Clark and Melissa Angelo, Speech and Language Pathologist at Francis Wyman School, provided local Special Education Directors a tutorial on how we are using i Pad's in the Burlington Public Schools. Participants had the opportunity to explore applications that are being used in the preschool as well as in speech and language therapy.The Burlington Integrated Preschool supports the school district’s initiative to integrate technology in our classrooms. Each classroom in the Burlington Integrated Preschool has 4 IPads. The IPads have proven to be an effective teaching tool for several reasons.
Our students are digital natives; born into a society dependent on constantly evolving technologies. Many of the students in the preschool have been exposed to similar technologies at home prior to their first school experience. Many children enter the preschool with the prior knowledge necessary to navigate personal computers, IPods, smart phones, and IPads.
Another reason the IPads are an effective teaching tool is that children are highly motivated by this technology. Young children who have difficulty attending to task, following multi-step directions, working independently, working in a group, or taking turns with a peer are motivated to attempt these difficult tasks when presented in the form of an IPad activity. Children are so motivated to use the IPads that teachers can use IPads as an incentive for children who earn a reward in school. The IPad is a wonderful reward for students because they have earned a reward that allows them to engage in an educational experience, rather than enjoy their reward by spending time out of programming.
The use of technology in classrooms, including IPads, supports a multimodal, multisensory approach to instruction.
The IPads serve several functions at the Burlington Integrated Preschool. Here is a list of some of the apps we use and their functions:
· Developmentally appropriate apps to enhance lesson plans for curriculum-related activities
o FirstWords - literacy
o Preschool Lunchbox
o Game Factory – vocabulary
o Preschool Adventure
o Counting – number skills
· Augementative Communication Device
o Proloquo2go
o Look-2-Learn
o TapToTalk
o Baby ASL
· Data Collection
o Behavior Tracker Pro
o Skills Tracker Pro
· Fine Motor Development – navigating an IPad includes practices with fine motor skills and visual motor integration
o iWriteWords
· Discrete Trial Training
o Kindergarten.com: object function, receptive vocabulary, identify category, etc.
· Eye Contact
o Look!
· Video Modeling/Social Stories
o Going Places
o Stories2Learn
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-ipad-for-prek-0511-20110510,0,943811.story
| Educational Games | Communication | Data Collection | Social Development | Cognitive Development | Storytime/Music Enhancement |
| FirstWords: FWAnimals FWVehicls | Prologquo2go | Behavior TrackerPro | GoingPlaces | Kindergarten.com Alphabet (flashcards) | Kidztory1 |
| PreschoolLunchbox | TapToTalk | SkillTrackerPro | Stories2Lears | Kindergarten.com Actions (flashcards) | Five Monkeys |
| TTCountingLite | Look-to-Learn | IEP Checklist | | Kindergarten.com Receptive By Class (discrete trial) | Sesame Street Playground |
| PreschoolAdventure | Baby ASL | | | Kindergarten.com Receptive By Feature (discrete trial) | |
| Look! (attending skills) | Grace | | | Kindergarten.com Receptive By Function (discrete trial | |
| Preschool Playground | | | | Intro to Math | |
| ABC Phonics | | | | Counting | |
| iWriteWords (literacy/OT) | | | | Pocket SLP | |
