By: Missy Emler, CESA 3

Last month in our Community of Practice, the focus was on designing learning experiences. This month we'll expand on the concept of designing learning experiences by taking a closer look at providing predictable supports for predictable barriers.

The concept of Universal Design originated in architecture, and when architects are designing buildings, they anticipate common barriers people may experience in the built design. In order to be ADA compliant, they add the predictable supports for the anticipated barriers to the design. You have likely experienced universal design features without recognizing them as such. Consider restrooms without doors, braille on elevator number panels, and entry ramps next to or in place of stairs. Those design elements are supports put in place in anticipation of a potential barrier.

Teachers can do the same thing when designing learning experiences. Learners are at varying levels of skill and at varying degrees of mastery throughout the learning process. Despite the variability, teachers must continue to make grade level standards and content accessible to all learners. This can be done by considering the predictable barriers (reading, writing, and expressing are just a few) and design learning experiences to always include the predictable supports (text-to-speech, speech-to-text, verbal response are just a few). When the predictable supports are always available, students come to expect them and use them if they need them.

In our classrooms prior to the pandemic, many of the supports for the predictable barriers relied a human and were likely provided to one student in the moment the support was needed. When the pandemic hit, teachers realized they would need to explore other options to make their content accessible and support their learners in gaining more independence. Use of video and audio supports increased. Students now know where to find the text-to-speech and speech-to-text features. Voice commands like, "Hey Google", "Siri...", "Alexa...", are common phrases used often to get a need met.

The devices schools have provided to their learners in addition to the computing devices in most peoples' pockets have many of the supports built in and can be used at the drop of a dime if people know they are available. The corporations that design these devices have full departments of accessibility engineers, and they are working around the clock to design predictable supports for predictable barriers. Barriers to accessibility have been greatly reduced simply because our students now have access to the supports in the devices they use.

The challenge now is to encourage and support our learners in using the access they have, and unfortunately, there's an elephant in the room.

Some teachers are hesitant to allow all students to use the supports because they worry the student is taking the easy way. People hesitate to allow learners who don't need the support to use the support.

Here's the thing: Need is not always visible.

When architects design an entry to a building with a ramp and stairs, there is not a sign at the bottom of the ramp that says, "Do not use if you do not need."

Predictable supports are designed to be universal. What is essential for some is good for all.

By: Kathy S. White
Assistive Technology Specialist School District of Janesville

Through the power and principles of Universal Design for Learning and Assistive Technology students are able to demonstrate their knowledge. Assistive Technology in very broad terms can be defined as “any item, piece of equipment, or product system whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities." Universal Design for Learning or UDL is defined as “a way of thinking about teaching and learning that helps give all students an equal opportunity to succeed.” Together these two strategies have immense power.

Meet Maddy. Maddy is a 4th grader at Monroe Elementary School in Janesville. She is a math wizard and author. Her long term goal is to be a chef. Maddy also has cerebral palsy. Because of her disability Maddy can not use typical classroom tools like books, or worksheets. Some of her tools are word prediction (Co-Writer), voice to text, touch screen chromebook, Bookshare, and an iPad Pro with GoWorksheet Maker. All of these tools not only make it so Maddy can keep up with her school work, but she excels in school. Maddy is also a crossing guard and an elected member of the student council. Maddy moves about the school in her power chair that can bring her to a standing position. Maddy and her classmates all use iPads or Chromebooks for various projects. Having tools that other students use helps Maddy feel like everyone else and not so different. Applying the principles of UDL to her learning helps staff understand how to design instruction that helps Maddy in reaching her goals. For example, if the goal is for Maddy to show her knowledge in the area of science, she would use voice to text to write her answers. The goal is to get out as much information as possible with as little expenditure of energy. Another example would be to demonstrate writing skills such as correct grammar and punctuation. The tool of choice might be word prediction. To remove the barrier of physically manipulating a book, we can provide the student with electronic text. If we want the student to demonstrate reading fluency, we might provide the student with electronic text without an auditory component. If we want the student to digest large amounts of text and decrease her fatigue we might add in an audio component.

Understanding the concepts of Universal Design for Learning and applying them through the lens of Assistive Technology provides students with the foundations for which they can share their knowledge. Together these two principles equal success.

Picture one is Maddy using her touch screen chromebook

Picture two is a picture of her desk setup with her tools, an IPad Pro and a touch screen chromebook.

By: Cassie Frost
Assistive Technology Specialist, Stevens Point

As students and teachers took to their devices for virtual learning this spring, the often quiet topic of assistive technology use suddenly became much louder.

Assistive technology is defined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 as “any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of a child with a disability.”

In many of our classrooms, assistive technology is something that we do not often think about in our day to day planning. The students that need it have support to use it, and we move on with our lessons.

When our lessons suddenly went online, we quickly became more aware of assistive technology and what it means for our content to be accessible.

Let’s look at the example of a student who needs to have text read aloud. If a paper worksheet is given out in the classroom, the student will often have the text read aloud by a peer, an educational assistant, or the teacher. This same student may have text-to-speech written into their IEP or plan of service, but it is simply easier to have another read it out loud because it is a paper assignment.

This is an easy way for the student to gain access to the content. However, it makes the student dependent on another person to learn.

When this same student moved to online learning, teachers quickly determined that students would need to use technology and text-to-speech tools to have their lessons read aloud. Very quickly, teachers learned how to create content in ways that screen readers could read.

The same student that relied on another person to read to them has now learned how to use assistive technology to access print materials online.

When the student moves forward in their education and into their post-high school life, the skill of using technology to read content will be invaluable. They may not have access to another person to read something to them, but they likely will always have access to some form of technology that has text to speech capabilities.

This same scenario applies to all areas of assistive technology use, including speech to text, screen masking, closed captioning, augmented communication, and every other tool that increases students’ ability to access their learning environment and materials.

This move towards student independence using assistive technology has progressed quickly with students learning outside of the classroom and as teachers have learned how to make sure that content is accessible.

As we move back into the classroom, it is essential to recognize that while many of us want to provide more non-screen related activities, we also need to continue to make sure that our content is accessible to every student.

Our students will be excited to be back with their peers, teachers, and assistants, but we mustn’t set students up to lose the independence and skills they have learned during this virtual learning period.

As we end virtual instruction, it is essential to remember that the use of assistive technology should not end with it.

If we do this correctly, we will be able to carry the lessons that we learned forward and create classroom activities that are interactive and accessible. And our students will continue to grow in their independence through the use of assistive technology.