Assistive Technology for Every Child

By Boyd, Barbara Foulks

The Montessori philosophy advocates that the classroom be a reflection of the home, the community, and the world. Now, a century after Maria Montessori founded her Casa dei Bambini, the world is becoming a hightechnology society, with computers a part of everyday American lives. Computers are almost a household necessity, and basic word-processing programs are now easier for young children to use. It is important that early childhood teachers use technology in their classrooms, and Montessori teachers integrate technology into the Montessori environment and curriculum areas. J. J. Hill Montessori School

Literacy is the foundation for academic learning. Computer literacy is also now considered a critical skill for young children. Basic technology skills are recognized as essential for young children by a growing number of states and educational organizations (Council of Chief State School Officers, 1999; International Society of Technology for Education, 2005; National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2005). The Partnership for 21st- century Skills has also placed an emphasis on technology tools as one of the key elements of 21st-century learning (Marvin, 2003).

The technology requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act include resources and best practices on technology literacy and effective teaching using technology. The National Education Technology Plan (U.S. Department of Education, 2003) promotes universal access to technology for all children. Finally, the Council for Exceptional Children/Division of Early Childhood (2001) recommends that children use assistive technology to enhance their learning. Ongoing research and continued development of new and emerging technologies and assistive technologies are critical to supporting children’s learning.

Assistive technology-according to the Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act, Public Law 100- 407 (the “Tech Act”)is defined as an item, piece of equipment, or product system that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. Assistive technology also includes “low-tech” items that are enhanced and refined by present-day advances in technology. While the term assistive technology is new, the idea of adapting technology to fit the needs of children with and without disabilities is not.

Although software programs aligned with the Montessori materials are already used in many early childhood Montessori classrooms, additional technology and assistive technology resources could greatly benefit every child. Assistive technology is deemed especially appropriate for early childhood education, early childhood special education, and special education (Council for Exceptional Children/ Division of Early Childhood, 2001).

Assistive technology training for early childhood teachers is emerging as a critical component of teacher education (Council for Exceptional Children/Division of Early Childhood, 2001; Council of Chief State School Officers, State Leadership Center, 2000; National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, 2005). Research indicates assistive technology achieves positive outcomes if teachers understand, use, and integrate the technology work into the curriculum (Kintsch & DePaula, 2002). Rapid growth in the field of technology and a sudden increase in assistive technology hardware, devices, software, and programs can make it difficult to stay current in the field of “high-tech” assistive technology. However, there are many “lowtech” assistive technology devices and programs that are also considered good practice in early childhood education.

Some assistive technology is actually built into our regular technology. For example, a child can draw a picture on the computer screen with Ink Drawing and Writing in Microsoft Office (or a similar program), then dictate a story or caption to an adult or older child to type into the computer. New laptop computers have features that allow the child to write with a special pen, which the computer will convert to type. This can be considered assistive technology when used with young children, who are learning that the spoken word can be converted into the typed (written) word.

An assistive technology tool should be simple to set up, customize, and use (Kintsch & DePaula, 2002). Keyboards, touch screens, and other devices for young children must be durable and washable, as opposed to those traditionally made for adults (Wilcox et al, 1999-2000). “Indestructible” keyboards, such as Adesso’s spill-proof, flexible keyboard, are available at reasonable prices ($18 to $40). Assistive technologies, including the availability of larger and simpler mouse devices, are sturdy and more user-friendly for young children than regular technology devices, and are designed to be used by the child independently.

Language

Literacy development can be greatly enhanced (and, simultaneously, technology skills developed) when children use assistive technology tools (Wepner & Bowes, 2004). In the Montessori language curriculum, the child learns a phonetic approach to writing in a printrich environment, which helps him associate sound-symbol- object relationships. Through sound, visual, and kinesthetic connections, the child simultaneously learns letter writing and sounds. He creates his own “whole language” experience in spelling, writing, constructing sentences, reading labels, matching objects, and manipulating symbols, objects, and words in constructing phrases and sentences. The child progresses at his own developmental rate, with the Montessori teacher individually working with each child every day. “We should encourage [language] as a spontaneous action carried out from the very first in a nearly perfect fashion” (Montessori, 1967, p. 223). Maria Montessori also noted that language fosters cultural continuance: “… it is the child who maintains its [country's] spiritual unity through language” (Standing, 1998, p. 122). The Montessori language work develops an understanding of the process and order involved in a “complete cycle of activity with a beginning, middle, and end” (Lillard, 1972, p. 124) and develops critical concepts in language areas such as sequencing, spelling and reading (quite/quiet), grammar, meaning in stories, and so on.

Assistive technology provides access for children to use technology to extend Montessori language work into our modern age of computer literacy. Several ways that technology can enhance language learning in early childhood have been suggested by NETC (Northwest Educational Technology Consortium, 2002). The child learns literacy concepts when he observes that:

* what he says can be written down;

* what is written down can be read;

* what others say can be written down; and

* he can read what others write down.

Tape recorders and computers can be resources for helping children develop language and literacy skills, including beginning reading and writing. Using a tape recorder, a young child who cannot yet read or write can listen to stories being read and can record his own. With speech recognition programs, such as Dragon Naturally Speaking, made by Nuance ($99 to $199, depending on the version), the child’s spoken words appear on-screen; the child sees how the spoken word becomes the written word. Also, a child can create his own stories on the computer with the help of an adult, using word- processing software. This activity integrates all aspects of literacy-speaking, listening, reading, and writing-and helps the child develop an understanding of how sound connects to print.

Digital cameras document children’s work: A child can build or create a physical object, then use a digital or video camera to take pictures of the creation and display them on the computer. She can write or dictate or record captions for these photos, or use voice recordings to tell about her work.

With the Go Talk unit (a tablet that looks like a thick clipboard with a handle), up to nine letters, words, or pictures can be premade by the teacher and placed into the tablet. The teacher also can prerecord up to four different recordings or sounds for each of the nine picture frames. The child can say the letter, practice the sound, read the word or “picture,” and then check his answers by touching the word/letter/ picture. It is a self-correcting assistive technology tool set up by the teacher, based on the needs of the child or children.

The Go Talk unit

It is easy to incorporate both the BigKeys Keyboard and IntelliKeys into the Montessori language curriculum. For example, after a child has worked with the movable alphabet and wordfamily lists, she can type the wordfamily list (from a list given by the teacher) and print it out. A child may type the consonant-vowel- consonant words for a series of pictures and print out her work. The teacher can set the level of difficulty with the pictures or objects. The BigKeys Keyboard has keys that are one-inch square, brightly colored, with easy-to-read labels. This keyboard attaches to any standard Macintosh or Windows computer. BigKeys makes finding the keys on the keyboard easy, allowing children to focus on their work. The keyboard’s letters are in the regular (“QWERTY”) order. All the vowels on the BigKeys Keyboard are in yellow, so the child can easily identify them.

The IntelliKeys keyboard is a versa tile enlarged keyboard that also plugs into any Macintosh or Windows computer. It enables children and others with physical, visual, or cognitive disabilities to easily type, enter numbers, navigate on-screen displays, and execute menu commands. Specific overlays that have only numbers, mouse movement, or special QWERTY key layouts can be slid into the IntelliKeys for instant use. An especially nice overlay is that of the lowercase keys in Zaner-Bloser manuscript. Additional overlays include base ten blocks, shapes and patterns, fractions, and a study of ant colonies, among others. Customized overlays can be created by the teacher and printed with the Overlay Maker Program. The available overlays, and the ability to create an unlimited number of overlays, makes IntelliKeys a versatile program that crosses all Montessori curricular areas. Sensorial Activities & Mathematics

Children can utilize patterning or drawing software to practice seeing relationships and predicting what comes next in a series, helping to build a concrete understanding of math. Many programs can be used in conjunction with building blocks, patterns in music, or math manipulatives such as pattern blocks or tiles. Kidpix has “stamps” (pictures of animals that can be placed in a graph or picture and then animated, letter and number graphics, and colorful pictures) that can be used to build patterns and to work with numerical relationships of “more than,”"less than,” and “the same as.”

Some work tasks require the student to build a small graph with objects, such as buttons, shapes, or leaves, and then color in the graph paper to match the number of items in each row/column. The child can then take the next step by placing the same information into a computer spreadsheet or graphing program. This helps the child connect the physical items with the symbols, reinforces the concept of graphs as visual information, and increases computer literacy.

Learning to classify, or identify and sort, objects by their attributes, is a basic activity in both science and mathematics. Classification software encourages the child to group objects by attributes such as size, color, and shape as well as to create his own groupings of objects. IntelliTools, Kidspiration, and Kidpix are all excellent programs for classification work. A series of picture objects can be created on the computer screen in much the same way that physical objects can be ordered by size in the classroom. In both Kidspiration and Kidpix, children can change the size of the pictures and physically move the pictures to different places on the computer screen. If they create their own pictures, they can also change the color of their pictures, and sort according to gradations of color.

History & Geography

The daily calendar is a part of many early childhood classrooms. Constructing calendars and making timelines provide additional ways to build awareness of how time is measured in days, weeks, and months (Northwest Educational Technology Consortium, 2005). If the classroom is fortunate enough to have a Smart Board (an interactive white board), then the children can actually write on the smart board, and their writing will be captured by the connected computer, producing a calendar/timeline document that can be printed.

Internet access to specific sites provides virtual field trips and other activities for children. They can visit the White House and take a virtual tour to see inside the rooms (www. whitehouse.gov/ kids/tours/). Children can develop in-depth knowledge by visiting the Discovery Channel’s website (http://school.discoveryedu cation.com) and going to the Learning Adventures section. The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History has an online exhibit of mammals with interactive elements that would be excellent for Montessori children. Other sites that Montessori teachers may want to check out for use with their children are the National Wildlife Federation at www.nwf.org and the National Weather Channel at www. weather.com.

The Eyewitness Children’s Encyclopedia CD is an outstanding tool for geography learning. It presents three-dimensional landscapes that provide interactive experiences for children. Children can hear and see a rain forest with animals in their native habitat; they can visit the seashore and go into the water, among other activities. see also Dorling Kindersley’s E-encyclopedias, available online.

Special software programs for young children, such as Kidpix and Kidspiration, help children use computers to illustrate their thinking and to help organize their thoughts. Kidpix provides background climate scenes that enhance learning about geography habitat and climate studies. Children can locate and put the animals in their correct habitats (forest, desert, seashore, plains, etc.), and then print out the entire scene. The Kidpix program also has a variety of pictures with corresponding music and sounds that afford children an opportunity to hear different types of music, including music from other cultures.

Science and Other Areas

Picture This-Professional is a program with over 5,000 photos that can be printed in any size, and a phonetic and word search engine that allows searches by phonetic or correct spelling, or photo category, plus many other features. Picture This-Professional is an especially good assistive technology tool that teachers can use in creating the Montessori language materials. Teachers can make three-part cards with labeled pictures and/or photos, along with discussion pictures and matching pictures. Picture This- Professional also provides good pictures for Montessori science booklets.

Kidspiration offers webbing (graphic organizing techniques that build connections between similar words or ideas), outline writing, reading and writing, social studies, science, and more. Each category has many layouts ready for teachers and children to use. Structured layouts, backgrounds, and realistic pictures allow children to make patterns, categorize pictures/ information, develop weather charts, label pictures by typing, etc. There is a voice feature that says what the mouse arrow is pointing to, e.g., “cow.” A Spanish version is also available. The Kidspiration software program is useful for history (many pictures of famous Americans and patriotic symbols), science, and pre-math (putting the same number of animals in both circles, etc.). Children may work alone on many tasks or work in pairs to assist one another on a complex task.

Boardmaker-Morning schedule sample

Communication

Examples for augmentative communication tools (pictures with dynamic displays for children who have difficulty with expressive communication) are Boardmaker and Go Talk. Go Talk can be set up with pictures of everyday activities and requests that require special permission, or for issues that the child has difficulty communicating. With this assistive technology device, she can participate in the Montessori classroom, and touch the preset pictures on Go Talk when she needs to ask her teacher a question. Using Go Talk can encourage the child to repeat the word or short phrase emitted by the device.

Boardmaker is a communication and learning tool containing over 3,000 Picture Communication Symbols (PCS). It is designed to enhance the language and learning processes of children at all levels. With Boardmaker, teachers can make pictures and word cards or word labels, and create daily schedules for the whole class or for individual children.

Help for Everyone

The Montessori curriculum, literacy, children’s thinking, and computer literacy can be greatly enhanced using assistive technology with all children in the classroom-not just those with special needs. Social skills can also be developed if two children work together on the same technology. Assistive technology is designed to be durable and washable, to support academic and technological learning, and to facilitate each child’s computer literacy skills at developmentally appropriate levels.

Internet access to specific sites provides virtual field trips and other activities for children. They can visit the White House and take a virtual tour to see inside the rooms.

Resources

BigKeys Keyboard. Greystone Digital Inc. www.bigkeys.com

Boardmaker. Mayer-Johnson LLC. www.mayer-johnson.com

Dorling Kindersley. us.dk.com

Dragon Naturally Speaking. Nuance. www.nuance.com

Go Talk. Attainment Company, Inc. www.attainmentcompany.com

Indestructible Keyboard. Adesso Inc. www.adesso.com

The IntelliKeys(R) keyboard, IntelliTools. www.intellitools.com

Kidpix Delux 4. Riverdeep Interactive Learning Limited. www.encoreusa.com

Kidspiration. Inspiration Software, Inc. www.inspiration.com

National Wildlife Foundation. www.nwf.org

Picture This-Professional. Silver Lining Multimedia. www.silverliningmm.com.

The Weather Channel. www.weather.com

The White House. www.whitehouse.gov/ kids/tours/

References

Council for Exceptional Children/ Division of Early Childhood. (2001). Washington, D. C: Author. www.cec.sped.org/ps/ perf_ based_stds/knowledge_ standards.html

Council of Chief State School Officers. (1999). Early childhood and family education: New realities, new opportunities-A council policy statement. Washington, D. C: www.ccsso.org

Council of Chief State School Officers, State Leadership Center. (2000, March). Preparing teachers to meet the challenge of new standards with new technologies: Report on the CCSSO state educational technology leadership conference-2000. Washington, D. C.

Dragon Naturally Speaking Nuance, Burlington, MA. www.nuance.com

Hutinger, P. L., & Johanson, J. (2000). Implementing and maintaining an effective early childhood comprehensive technology system. Topics in Early Childhood and Special Education, 20(15) 71- 73.

International Society of Technology for Education. (2005). National educational technology standards. (NETS*S) http:// cnets.iste.org/students/s_ profile-k2.html

Kintsch, A. & DePaula, R. (2002). A framework for the adoption of assistive technology. Supporting learning through assistive technology, SWAAC, E3, 1-10. Lillard, P P. (1972). Montessori: A modern approach. New York: Schocken Books.

Marvin, E. (2003, October). Achieving 21st-century skills. The role of today’s schools. Alexandria, VA: Appalachian Technology in Education Consortium.

Montessori, M. (1967). The discovery of the child. New York: Ballantine Books.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2001, July). NAEYC standards for early childhood professional preparation. Washington, D. C. [NCATE approved October 2001]

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2005). NAEYC accreditation performance criteria. Washington, D. C.

National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. (2005). Washington, D. C.

Northwest Educational Technology Consortium. (2002). Five effective ways for young children to use technology. Portland, OR.

Northwest Educational Technology Consortium. (2005, September). Early connections: Technology in early childhood education. Portland, OR. www.netc.org

Standing, E. M. (1998). Maria Montessori: Her life and work. New York: Plume.

Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1988, Public Law No. 100-407, USC 2202.

U.S. Department of Education and State Education Technology Directors Association (SETDA). (2003). National leadership institute toolkit: States helping state implement NCLB. Washington, D. C. www.seta.org/NLiToolkit/

Wepner, S. B., & Bowes, K. A. (2004). Using assistive technology for literacy development. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 20: 219-223.

Wilcox, M. U. J., Norman-Murch, T., Obersstein, J. S., Volkmann, M. A., Wagner, D. K., Musselwhite, C. R., Malena, E. & Weber, C. A. (1999-2000). Assistive technology: Tips, tools, and techniques. A parent resource manual. Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University.

BARBARA FOULKS BOYD has been teaching early childhood education for 29 years and is AMS-certified at the early childhood level. Currently, she teaches in the early childhood education and early childhood special education teacher education program at Radford University in Radford, VA.

Copyright American Montessori Society 2008

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