Kanako, this is from Zoom, not sure if helpful? Let me know. Thanks! 

WEBVTT

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Here we go.

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Well, hello, Jeff, and welcome to the podcast.

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Hi, how you doing today, Lori? Glad to be here.

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Well, I’m doing great. Thank you.

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So I’ve already told the guests, the listeners, what your background is. Given your extensive experience in assistive technology.

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And your role in shaping technology initiatives in such a huge school district.

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We’re eager to dive into your insights. So to start off.

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How do you see technology currently contributing to inclusive student learning environments?

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Sure, as you mentioned, I work in a very large school district. It’s the 12th largest in the United States.

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So we have very diverse populations with very diverse learning needs.

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And I always considered that exciting.

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And I also really kind of came in at a time with technology

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really in its beginning of evolution in terms of how it’s being used in the classroom.

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So I began as a classroom teacher, kind of exploring methods and I was a special education teacher

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to improve students abilities to read and write and perform really any classroom task

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In time. And so I think it’s very exciting now that we have so many one-to-one

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computing initiatives that are in schools.

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And students have access to so many broad technology tools.

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And these tools

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can really foster that inclusive learning environment that you spoke to.

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So there’s so many opportunities for personalized learning.

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where students can self-select tools that best meets their instructional needs

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at best accommodates their learning deficits, and then also speaks to learning strengths that they may have.

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There’s better opportunities to collaborate.

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And of course, that also lends to different types of learning projects and experiences inside of classrooms.

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And we’re an example of that even right now, even though we’re not necessarily dealing with some education, but it allowed us to connect and even have this conversation.

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the technology that’s available that is available now.

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There’s just more tools for enhanced learning experiences, better ways for students to express themselves.

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in literacy, reading and writing.

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mathematics and projects.

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And really just engaging and creative approaches

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that otherwise if those technology tools were not around.

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They just really have the opportunity to grab a hold and use those. And it’s just a matter of just really acknowledging that they’re there, recognizing that they’re there and creatively and building them and

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And implementing them in your instruction.

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Great. Thanks so much. You know, we really want to dive into that assistive technology

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piece today. So first off, can you just define that for us? What is it?

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Yeah, so by law, it’s actually been defined in the individual with Disabilities Education Act federally here in the United States, IDEA, as any tool

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and or service that will increase, improve, or maintain the functional capabilities of a student.

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So I feel like, you know, that definition

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kind of more maybe loosely defined

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levels the playing field for students that have some type of specific learning need.

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It’s just providing them access to curriculum.

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And the technology tools

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build those supports

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to allow them to engage in classroom content at the same level as their peers.

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And that’s really exciting for me personally. And I’ve watched a lot of students over a lot of years

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be able to access instruction, be able to be part of classrooms

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that they otherwise would have been excluded from.

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And so that’s assistive technology really at its core and why it is a required tool for those students rather than just even being a beneficial tool for those students.

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Thanks. Yeah. I know that when I was first teaching in a classroom.

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for students with more higher support needs, really.

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I learned that assistive technology could be something as simple as a button

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that students push

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that has one saying on it, right?

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Mm-hmm.

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Versus all the way to maybe an iPad where they’re using

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proloquo to go or some sort of communication

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software to help them

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Speak.

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actually what make choices. Yeah, speak. Thank you.

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Sure. Yeah.

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Thank you. I can’t speak right now. Yeah. So I thought that was really interesting is it doesn’t have to be these complex, like ace.

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Assistive technology is not necessarily this complex system.

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Mm-hmm.

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It’s anything, as you described.

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Yeah, another analogy that I’ve heard are just that many, many people have access to are eyeglasses or contact lenses.

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Mm-hmm.

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That is increasing, improving, or maintaining your ability to perform within that classroom.

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And I think that that’s a really good example too that most people can relate to.

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Because they’re not going to be able to visually see or participate in anything going around them unless they had those eyeglasses or those contact lenses

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or even the LASIK surgery would be the medical, you know, surgical version of that, which is not assistive technology necessarily but

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But that is usually just kind of assumed that it’s there to participate in doing what you’re going to do in the class that day.

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And so I like that analogy too. I think there’s a lot of good things there.

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that you’re pointing out that people jump to me to, you know, there’s more advanced, you mentioned the iPad with Proloquo to go

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as an augmentative communication speech generating device.

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Mm-hmm.

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very high tech, but those low tech accommodations can go a lot away. The simplest, I’m a big fan of simple and easy.

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those are the best assistive technology tools are the simple and easy assistive technology tools.

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Well, let me put you on the spot. What are some other easy

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assistive technology tools.

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Sure. So there’s a couple that I think that we’re going to speak to in a little bit. And again, I think that even simple and easy is changing.

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So it’s really kind of where you’re accessing

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your reading materials and writing materials and your content.

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And I’m seeing more and more of that actually happening

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on the computer as opposed to

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in a paper format.

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And so those tools I’m finding are being built into your computer systems more and more all of the time. You just have to really just kind of know that they’re there.

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Yeah.

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And so the two places that I go to first are speech to text.

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So that is having the auditory supports for your computers to read to you

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And then the opposite is the opposite

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I’m sorry, I just reversed that. I meant to say

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text to speech, excuse me. So that will have your computer read aloud to you. But then the flip of that, I think is just as convenient, which is what I’ve mentioned first.

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speech to text, and that is allowing your computer to dictate and write to you.

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Those are a couple clicks away on every computer

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pretty much that’s out there and whatever operating system that’s out there

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And you can even say that you have it in your pocket and every person that has a cell phone is carrying around those tools in their pocket so they’re

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their phones or the computers can read to them and provide auditory supports and additional auditory processing for that information.

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or then provide written dictation tools.

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So that you’re not necessarily having to type or even express yourselves

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where you’re writing through that typing can sometimes be a barrier, of course. And that’s just an easy way for them to you just

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put those thoughts onto a document

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Yeah.

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that can be cut and pasted and manipulated very easily. So those are the two places I think I would go to first.

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Yeah.

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In this day and age, you know, 20 years ago, we’d be looking at more paper supports.

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Yeah.

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Right. Well, years ago, I…

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hurt my arm and I needed to use speech to text.

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And I realized that I’m much more efficient and effective in my own writing when I use speech to text. So I use that

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Sure.

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Quite often.

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And they always use it when I’m text messaging. My daughter calls me a boomer, but…

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It’s so…

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So can I ask you, because I know the difference in how that looks in terms of the evolution of these technology tools.

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the tools that you were using

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that long ago, I would assume we’re much more difficult than the tools that you may have access now. Is that a correct statement?

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That is true. And when I would use it with my students

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we would have to

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Yes.

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have them sit down and they’d have to train it to recognize their voice patterns and

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And all of that. And now that’s not necessary.

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Yes.

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you just start and it works.

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So.

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Yeah, yeah. That is amazing to me i remember

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That’s to me how technology can evolve. I remember the first time that I saw that in a Google document and

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I see that in a lot of educational environments, not just here in Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, but

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many, many other places where there are Google documents are just being opened up and

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use as the main word processor for students.

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And when that tools menu included that voice typing option.

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it wasn’t announced. There wasn’t to me a lot of press around it. It was a call that I got from a friend of ours in the IT department.

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And he just said, Jeff, have you checked this thing out in Google?

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And I looked and I saw the dropdown and I was like, that is fantastic. And I wonder how many steps it takes to set that up. Exactly what you’re describing.

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Right.

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Wonder how long I have to read to this computer for it to learn who I am.

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But instead, in a couple clicks, it magically worked. And what a game changer for a lot of kids. And that was just a great

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It’s like a great day, a great leap in our technology evolution.

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Yeah. And also just a great example of universal design.

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for learning right i mean

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Yes. Yeah.

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It’s not just…

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a great tool for our students who

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have, you know, neurode

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Mm-hmm.

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diversity or whatever, they just um

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Anyone can use it, right? And it’s beneficial.

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So, yeah.

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Right.

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So…

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you were talking about using assistive technology and some of the tools you use. Can you share a success story?

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of…

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how assistive technology has significantly improved a student’s learning experience.

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Sure. I’m glad you asked that because I’ve been involved with professional development for a number of years, close to 20 years.

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And my role as an assistive technology coach and now as an assistive technology administrator.

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And as good as I think I am.

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There is nobody better than a student speaking to how they use assistive technology.

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And those stories carry so much more weight than I could ever carry.

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Mm-hmm.

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In terms of getting up in front of a group of teachers and explaining the benefits of assistive technology.

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And we have developed a group of students here that anybody could look up and see.

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If you look for Fairfax County Public Schools AT ambassadors, assistive technology ambassadors.

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there are students that are willing to share their story

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And we have that on our public webpage. And there’s one I’ll specifically point out because she’s just a fantastic story. They’re all fantastic stories. So I guess I could…

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shouldn’t favor one over another, but

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She’s just a student that I’ve been working with for a long time. And her name is Emmy.

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And her story was first published in a, it’s a great video. It’s only a three, three and a half minute video.

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tell the story very well and you get to actually see and meet her in fifth grade.

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And it was about the time that she was diagnosed with dyslexia.

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And not revealing any confidential information when I tell this story because

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her and her family are very open to telling this experience.

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And her family participated in this little video segment that we have towards her assistive technology use and assistive technology tools.

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And when she was diagnosed with dyslexia, she wanted to explore what that actually meant for her.

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I think that there was a little bit of fear associated with that for her, that diagnosis.

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And also what the impact would that would be for her at school and how she could continue because she liked being in the classes that she was in.

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But she was struggling with reading.

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And so we were able to document

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Basically, her own advocacy

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Where she looked into the tools that she wanted to use to support her reading needs

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on her school assigned computer

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And then her going back in and showing her teacher and others in the school

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the tools that would best benefit her

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So that she can continue participating in her fifth grade class.

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We were able to capture that video just before COVID.

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And that became a great, you know, course, as more we relied more on

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computing technology than ever for instruction during COVID closures.

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that became a great way to give a student example of how they self-selected

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the assistive technology tools that best met their needs

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And then how they were able to communicate and implement those in their regular school setting.

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To this day, Emmy remains

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one of our most active AT ambassadors

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She is in 10th grade.

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She is an advanced academic placement classes

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And she still uses those tools

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to have speech to text

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for yes and text to speech both. I’m going to reverse those back and forth in this whole conversation. So I apologize. Apologize, Emmy.

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If you turn around and listen to this.

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How she advocates for the use of those tools in those academic settings so that she can access all of the reading and all of the writing that she needs to do

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And keep up with the pace of those rigorous classes.

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So she remains with us as a fantastic student example of assistive technology integration.

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in a universal design for learning

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environment and as a success story. And again, she’s not the only one

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Sure.

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These are just the students that are willing to share their stories. I go back to that because we have many, many others with similar stories.

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Well, first off, well done, Emmy, if you’re listening. And I think it uh

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First off, advocacy is something you mentioned there that Emmy advocates for herself and i’m

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I’m curious about the advocacy piece

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Mm-hmm.

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In terms of

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a student

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learns of what works for them. Is it the expectation of that student to share that with the teachers? Is there anything from your

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your position at your school where you also advocate for the student.

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Absolutely, Laurie. We really take

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We’ve really, especially over the past two or three years, more recent years.

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a really strong emphasis on that universal design for learning approach that you mentioned.

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So we don’t want this to be one person.

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whoever that person would be

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to drive this type of instructional change. It’s what we call our collective responsibilities. The collective responsibility of a team inside of a school

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to advocate and to use these types of technology tools.

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If you go back, I’m going to again mention the video again. What I love about the video, it’s hard to tell

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in that video, who is actually driving the change

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We’re ME to use these technology tools inside of her classroom.

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Everybody speaks to the experience. And what I mean by everybody, it is Emmy. It’s her teachers.

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It’s her family, administrators. There is an assistive technology coach.

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That is, you know, technology support within the school. There’s also another technology support personnel we would call our school-based technology specialist.

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All of them are active in the conversation.

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So it doesn’t feel that it’s coming from one place and this person prefers to do it and that other person may disagree.

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it is that a collective role of everyone

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To ensure STEMI success, because at the end of the day, that’s what anybody wants, right? We all want our students to succeed.

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And that’s where we find that success is best met when everybody participates in it.

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Yeah, thank you for that.

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Sure.

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And we’ll post the link to that video in our show notes so everyone can

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Excellent. Absolutely.

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easily get to it.

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So that brings me around to what are some common misconceptions about assistive technology? You’ve mentioned that it’s collective effort

00:17:06.000 –> 00:17:07.000

Thank you.

00:17:07.000 –> 00:17:09.000

Have you had pushback?

00:17:09.000 –> 00:17:13.000

And what is that pushback and why?

00:17:13.000 –> 00:17:21.000

Yeah, I’m going to go to two C words here where I think is the pushback for assistive technology use. And the first one is cheating.

00:17:21.000 –> 00:17:22.000

Hmm.

00:17:22.000 –> 00:17:25.000

that we have run across some

00:17:25.000 –> 00:17:28.000

perceptions that are out there that

00:17:28.000 –> 00:17:32.000

These technology tools presents an advantage for students that’s unfair

00:17:32.000 –> 00:17:45.000

to other students that may not be receiving that advantage. But again, we go back to that definition of increase, improve, or maintain. That’s all we’re looking to do is level the playing field

00:17:45.000 –> 00:17:50.000

And a lot of, and that’s what I mentioned to you earlier with that inclusive learning experience and the the

00:17:50.000 –> 00:17:51.000

the tools or the the tools

00:17:51.000 –> 00:17:57.000

The great things that technology tools can offer of us, that is that personalized learning.

00:17:57.000 –> 00:18:00.000

go back to pretty much everybody has a cell phone.

00:18:00.000 –> 00:18:02.000

And pretty much everybody has an iPhone.

00:18:02.000 –> 00:18:06.000

And they may have pretty much the same model.

00:18:06.000 –> 00:18:14.000

But if they open their iPhones, they all look very different. It’s customized to the needs of the individual.

00:18:14.000 –> 00:18:19.000

And that’s what we go back to with the technology and technology and learning.

00:18:19.000 –> 00:18:22.000

We can customize a lot of our tools to the needs of our students

00:18:22.000 –> 00:18:26.000

Locally, and then that they are going to take those tools

00:18:26.000 –> 00:18:29.000

to use to benefit them and support their needs.

00:18:29.000 –> 00:18:33.000

And I get back to that Emmy example. Emmy’s not cheating. She’s never been cheating.

00:18:33.000 –> 00:18:39.000

But she does have dyslexia. She does have something that prevents her from reading in a traditional way.

00:18:39.000 –> 00:18:44.000

And so these technology tools are accommodating that. And that allows her to participate

00:18:44.000 –> 00:18:47.000

in those advanced academic placement classes.

00:18:47.000 –> 00:18:53.000

You can even see with these types of tools that I mentioned in that universal design

00:18:53.000 –> 00:18:57.000

environment, everyone has access to these tools

00:18:57.000 –> 00:19:08.000

And so other types of students such as English language learners may benefit from using them also because their auditory may provide additional auditory processing

00:19:08.000 –> 00:19:09.000

for what they’re attempting to read.

00:19:09.000 –> 00:19:20.000

So it may become a cumbersome tool for others as an example. So it might get in the way and it might not be reading in the way that say a more visual learner

00:19:20.000 –> 00:19:23.000

may be able to interpret and read that text.

00:19:23.000 –> 00:19:31.000

So that’s where I think is a barrier that we’ve been working to overcome, I think that as more people familiarize themselves

00:19:31.000 –> 00:19:38.000

with the tools, the more they realize that that’s not the case, that cheating is not going on.

00:19:38.000 –> 00:19:44.000

that it actually is fostering learning and that we’re working to meet learning objectives for students.

00:19:44.000 –> 00:19:48.000

On the flip side of that, the other C word that I refer to is the crutch.

00:19:48.000 –> 00:19:49.000

what we refer to as the crutch so that

00:19:49.000 –> 00:19:56.000

if my student uses these tools, they’ll never learn to do this independently.

00:19:56.000 –> 00:20:05.000

And any body of research and any professional experience that I’ve come across actually fosters the opposite. It does the exact opposite.

00:20:05.000 –> 00:20:10.000

We’ve been talking a lot about text to speech, and I got it right that time and I made sure that

00:20:10.000 –> 00:20:14.000

You know, I watched myself before I said it.

00:20:14.000 –> 00:20:27.000

But, you know, really kind of a different example of this is speech generating devices so that a device that will foster communication, verbal communication for students that are nonverbal for either physical or cognitive reasons or both.

00:20:27.000 –> 00:20:35.000

We’ll find over and over again with a speech generating device, the more a student begins to use a speech generating device.

00:20:35.000 –> 00:20:37.000

the more verbal they actually become.

00:20:37.000 –> 00:20:44.000

Because they start to understand the process of communication more and more. And the benefit of communication more and more.

00:20:44.000 –> 00:20:47.000

It’s not cheating. It’s not a crutch.

00:20:47.000 –> 00:20:51.000

It does nothing but promote learning. And that’s the beauty of assistive technology.

00:20:51.000 –> 00:20:55.000

Yeah, for sure. I know when I was using

00:20:55.000 –> 00:21:05.000

proloquo to go with a student. Her mom actually took away the iPad because she was convinced that it was taking away her ability to be verbal.

00:21:05.000 –> 00:21:06.000

Sure.

00:21:06.000 –> 00:21:09.000

So, you know, we talked our way through it and it all worked out, but

00:21:09.000 –> 00:21:12.000

Those are some misconceptions that definitely happen.

00:21:12.000 –> 00:21:13.000

Yeah.

00:21:13.000 –> 00:21:14.000

So thanks for sharing those.

00:21:14.000 –> 00:21:16.000

Yeah, sure.

00:21:16.000 –> 00:21:24.000

All right, so what’s the process of assessing a student’s needs and then matching them with the appropriate

00:21:24.000 –> 00:21:25.000

AT.

00:21:25.000 –> 00:21:31.000

So basically what we do when we explore AT use with

00:21:31.000 –> 00:21:33.000

We’re always trialing.

00:21:33.000 –> 00:21:36.000

the technology tools that are out there and

00:21:36.000 –> 00:21:42.000

We look for the least restrictive tools for students as possible within a universal design

00:21:42.000 –> 00:21:51.000

for learning environment. But with all of that said, we fall back on a framework that’s been established by a researcher for assistive technology

00:21:51.000 –> 00:21:53.000

A long time ago, Joyce Avala

00:21:53.000 –> 00:21:57.000

And it’s called the set framework s e

00:21:57.000 –> 00:21:59.000

And the acronym that first

00:21:59.000 –> 00:22:04.000

is the student. And that makes sense that the student comes first, right?

00:22:04.000 –> 00:22:09.000

Because we want to know what specific learning needs that they have

00:22:09.000 –> 00:22:12.000

And in an attempt to explore

00:22:12.000 –> 00:22:15.000

some technology accommodations that would be appropriate for them.

00:22:15.000 –> 00:22:20.000

So identifying student need, that’s the first piece. And then the E is environment.

00:22:20.000 –> 00:22:24.000

So what is the student’s learning environment? How are they accessing instruction?

00:22:24.000 –> 00:22:28.000

How are they participating in reading, writing.

00:22:28.000 –> 00:22:30.000

and other classroom tasks

00:22:30.000 –> 00:22:34.000

How are they engaging and collaborating with other students within the classroom?

00:22:34.000 –> 00:22:38.000

And again, how do those needs then interact with the environment?

00:22:38.000 –> 00:22:42.000

And then the first T represents task.

00:22:42.000 –> 00:22:44.000

what tasks are they attempting to perform?

00:22:44.000 –> 00:22:50.000

Are they attempting to write sentences, compose sentences? Are they attempting to compose paragraphs?

00:22:50.000 –> 00:22:58.000

Longer essays, read longer readings, shorter passages, or just exploring reading in itself, or even letter identification.

00:22:58.000 –> 00:23:03.000

So student, environment, task, and then finally, the last tier, we get to the tool

00:23:03.000 –> 00:23:07.000

that’s when we finally make that determination. A lot of people like to work in reverse.

00:23:07.000 –> 00:23:11.000

like I’ve heard of this, so let’s try this.

00:23:11.000 –> 00:23:14.000

And typically when that approach is taken.

00:23:14.000 –> 00:23:20.000

it flops. I feel like kind of we’ve seen that like every time again and again just because

00:23:20.000 –> 00:23:26.000

Something’s been discussed or advertised or shown somewhere and

00:23:26.000 –> 00:23:28.000

This might work here.

00:23:28.000 –> 00:23:35.000

But there’s less consideration with those first three elements first, that student, the environment, and then the task.

00:23:35.000 –> 00:23:40.000

When those are really kind of considered first, then you can begin that exploration for the tool

00:23:40.000 –> 00:23:42.000

And then it really kind of makes

00:23:42.000 –> 00:23:45.000

that commitment to the tool more lasting.

00:23:45.000 –> 00:23:46.000

Mm-hmm.

00:23:46.000 –> 00:23:50.000

In that process. So I’ve seen a lot of different uh

00:23:50.000 –> 00:23:52.000

you know different types of

00:23:52.000 –> 00:23:57.000

what we would say assessment approaches. To me, none of them are, say, formal assessment approaches

00:23:57.000 –> 00:24:05.000

other than they’re based out of that set framework each and every time. And we have our own processes here in Fairfax County and Virginia.

00:24:05.000 –> 00:24:08.000

But we base them off of set.

00:24:08.000 –> 00:24:10.000

Great. Thank you for that. That’s a new one for me.

00:24:10.000 –> 00:24:12.000

Sure. Okay.

00:24:12.000 –> 00:24:13.000

Yeah.

00:24:13.000 –> 00:24:15.000

Sure.

00:24:15.000 –> 00:24:18.000

Well, let’s talk about future um you know

00:24:18.000 –> 00:24:22.000

I mean, future seems like it’s now, right? With all the AI and everything happening but

00:24:22.000 –> 00:24:23.000

Yeah.

00:24:23.000 –> 00:24:36.000

What are some possible future technology growth areas that will positively impact our classrooms?

00:24:36.000 –> 00:24:37.000

Thank you.

00:24:37.000 –> 00:24:38.000

Yeah, you brought up the speech to text and I got that right this time again, instead of reversing it yet again.

00:24:38.000 –> 00:24:42.000

But so we brought up that experience with the Google document piece. And you don’t know what’s going to hit you until it hits you.

00:24:42.000 –> 00:24:44.000

Right.

00:24:44.000 –> 00:24:51.000

One thing that I like to go to, I feel like I’m very nerdy when this type of topic comes up, so I might

00:24:51.000 –> 00:24:54.000

My nerdiness is really flaring like in these moments

00:24:54.000 –> 00:25:00.000

But I almost see the developments and technology developments that become accessibility developments

00:25:00.000 –> 00:25:08.000

almost happening in the world of video games first. It’s really kind of amazing, like the innovations that happen there

00:25:08.000 –> 00:25:13.000

for people to engage, and that’s really kind of the main thing is how they’re engaging with technology.

00:25:13.000 –> 00:25:20.000

As opposed to typing, a lot of video games don’t give you the time to type, right? So you need other access methods

00:25:20.000 –> 00:25:25.000

to engage with the technology and the dialogue that’s happening in that environment.

00:25:25.000 –> 00:25:27.000

And I say right now that I’m really excited

00:25:27.000 –> 00:25:31.000

And this really kind of really speaks more to students today with physical disabilities

00:25:31.000 –> 00:25:35.000

and more severe physical disabilities specifically

00:25:35.000 –> 00:25:39.000

maybe some cognitive disabilities, but with eye gaze technology.

00:25:39.000 –> 00:25:40.000

Mm-hmm.

00:25:40.000 –> 00:25:49.000

And that is technology that’s tracking your eye movements so that it will engage and explore and assist you with reading and writing, not necessarily gaming.

00:25:49.000 –> 00:25:52.000

inside of a computing environment.

00:25:52.000 –> 00:25:57.000

And so that I see is really kind of growing very, very rapidly now.

00:25:57.000 –> 00:26:02.000

As well as we mentioned augmentative communication with speech generating devices.

00:26:02.000 –> 00:26:07.000

I think that’s becoming more inclusive, fortunately, for those student populations.

00:26:07.000 –> 00:26:10.000

I see more and more growth in

00:26:10.000 –> 00:26:14.000

companies that develop that type of technology as opposed to

00:26:14.000 –> 00:26:21.000

really kind of developing a more intensive and expensive augmentative communication system

00:26:21.000 –> 00:26:29.000

to being tools that were easily accessed through a touch device, as you mentioned before, such as an iPad or any type of tablet.

00:26:29.000 –> 00:26:32.000

And that then becomes more recognizable

00:26:32.000 –> 00:26:37.000

to more people outside of that augmentative communication device user, because that’s an important part too.

00:26:37.000 –> 00:26:38.000

Right.

00:26:38.000 –> 00:26:47.000

So we may teach you to use this with some of our students, but when we go to interact in an environment when people have not seen that type of communication before, that becomes a barrier.

00:26:47.000 –> 00:26:55.000

So the more that those systems become more and more inclusive and more of a tier one approach inside of our multi-tiered systems of support.

00:26:55.000 –> 00:26:57.000

the better that is for kids.

00:26:57.000 –> 00:27:01.000

or adults that use those types of tools.

00:27:01.000 –> 00:27:10.000

And then lastly, you mentioned AI as well. And I’m really excited for that. And I will say that in our district, we’re really kind of wrapping our heads around that.

00:27:10.000 –> 00:27:15.000

as that’s really growing unexpectedly very quickly for us at this time.

00:27:15.000 –> 00:27:16.000

Right.

00:27:16.000 –> 00:27:21.000

Yeah. So, you know, how this is going to build processes for writing because

00:27:21.000 –> 00:27:27.000

We all know what happens and AI is not, it’s far from perfect and we just say

00:27:27.000 –> 00:27:30.000

I’d like to have an essay on the French Revolution.

00:27:30.000 –> 00:27:32.000

And what magically then will pop up

00:27:32.000 –> 00:27:35.000

And does it

00:27:35.000 –> 00:27:40.000

accurately convey what it’s supposed to convey inside of that documentation

00:27:40.000 –> 00:27:45.000

Is it what we really kind of sought for as a task within the instruction?

00:27:45.000 –> 00:27:50.000

you know and our teaching and in our learning.

00:27:50.000 –> 00:27:51.000

Yeah.

00:27:51.000 –> 00:27:54.000

So I think that we’re figuring that out right now. But I think it also proposes some

00:27:54.000 –> 00:27:59.000

potential rewards for students that really that are dysgraphic

00:27:59.000 –> 00:28:07.000

And that have executive functioning issues

00:28:07.000 –> 00:28:08.000

Yeah.

00:28:08.000 –> 00:28:12.000

and struggle with the organizational processes of writing, I think there can be a lot of benefit with those students. And that’s exciting as we continue to figure that out and learn more about it.

00:28:12.000 –> 00:28:15.000

Yeah, I’m i’m

00:28:15.000 –> 00:28:18.000

keep exploring this AI um

00:28:18.000 –> 00:28:20.000

A recent one that’s come up for me is Ella Kids.

00:28:20.000 –> 00:28:21.000

Mm-hmm.

00:28:21.000 –> 00:28:23.000

And it’s great because it’s great because

00:28:23.000 –> 00:28:27.000

It creates social stories.

00:28:27.000 –> 00:28:32.000

And you can kind of design the character yourself.

00:28:32.000 –> 00:28:33.000

Uh-huh.

00:28:33.000 –> 00:28:35.000

Based off your student.

00:28:35.000 –> 00:28:36.000

Uh-huh.

00:28:36.000 –> 00:28:39.000

And they’ll do like a cartoon version or a clay version or whatever version.

00:28:39.000 –> 00:28:44.000

But create a whole social story for you.

00:28:44.000 –> 00:28:47.000

Yes.

00:28:47.000 –> 00:28:48.000

Yeah.

00:28:48.000 –> 00:28:53.000

within seconds, it used to take me hours, you know, and then get the clip art and put it in and everything. So that’s been…

00:28:53.000 –> 00:28:57.000

Really great. Just on my end as a teacher

00:28:57.000 –> 00:29:03.000

But also I wanted to just go back to your

00:29:03.000 –> 00:29:05.000

your discussion about

00:29:05.000 –> 00:29:11.000

using the AC device in public.

00:29:11.000 –> 00:29:12.000

Mm-hmm.

00:29:12.000 –> 00:29:17.000

an example, my son loves Starbucks and so he’s learned how to order a specific drink

00:29:17.000 –> 00:29:21.000

on his

00:29:21.000 –> 00:29:22.000

iPad.

00:29:22.000 –> 00:29:23.000

Excellent.

00:29:23.000 –> 00:29:28.000

And so we practice. I mean, it took a really long time, but we practiced and he’s got it.

00:29:28.000 –> 00:29:33.000

But when we took it into Starbucks.

00:29:33.000 –> 00:29:34.000

Right.

00:29:34.000 –> 00:29:37.000

They couldn’t hear it. They didn’t know how to read it. You know, it was just all that kind of like

00:29:37.000 –> 00:29:41.000

wonky kind of

00:29:41.000 –> 00:29:42.000

Yes.

00:29:42.000 –> 00:29:46.000

Oh, this is awkward. But as we kept going in there, of course, they were more and more accustomed to it.

00:29:46.000 –> 00:29:47.000

Right.

00:29:47.000 –> 00:29:50.000

But I do think that’s kind of the future is trying to get

00:29:50.000 –> 00:29:54.000

society to

00:29:54.000 –> 00:29:57.000

be more…

00:29:57.000 –> 00:29:59.000

I don’t know what the word is. Aware. Yeah. Aware.

00:29:59.000 –> 00:30:03.000

aware, just awareness, building that awareness sure

00:30:03.000 –> 00:30:05.000

Yeah, and, and…

00:30:05.000 –> 00:30:13.000

interacting with the kiddos and with their devices is so important so

00:30:13.000 –> 00:30:14.000

Yeah.

00:30:14.000 –> 00:30:16.000

Yeah, there’s multiple means of communication. And I think that that’s a learning experience for everyone and

00:30:16.000 –> 00:30:18.000

And again, I do see

00:30:18.000 –> 00:30:23.000

I see, at least in my kind of corner of the world, less segregation, you know, between

00:30:23.000 –> 00:30:24.000

Mm-hmm.

00:30:24.000 –> 00:30:34.000

you know those student populations and that is just a great approach for universal design as we continue to do that in many facets, you know, in our educational environments.

00:30:34.000 –> 00:30:35.000

Yeah, for sure.

00:30:35.000 –> 00:30:39.000

Yeah, yeah.

00:30:39.000 –> 00:30:40.000

Yeah.

00:30:40.000 –> 00:30:43.000

Well, Jeff, I think that’s all we have time for today. Thank you so much for coming and sharing your wisdom with us.

00:30:43.000 –> 00:30:49.000

I am happy to talk about this stuff anytime. It’s very exciting for me. It’s been my life’s work and my life’s passion.

00:30:49.000 –> 00:30:53.000

Thank you for inviting me. And if you ever want to talk more, I’m always happy to do so.

00:30:53.000 –> 00:30:55.000

Awesome. Thanks a lot.