I don't understand why this should be so hard

I know I said to head over to my other blog for tales of things like Special Needs Kids, but this one has a spot in both places.

But, being that this is all about tech and learning and all of that, I think this tale has to be told.

My son, otherwise known as Shrimper, has special needs. He's a kid who gets resource, speech, PT and OT. Since writing is the bane of his existence (hand tremor...just so stressed writing and trying to be good..he shakes.), I've been screaming for him to get some sort of technology, like a laptop, keyboard or something so he can type his work and get the ideas out of his head.

Now, this shouldn't be so hard. The kiddle has trouble writing. It's pretty significant. I didn't ask them to abandon handwriting with him, I just asked for something to help him in his day to day operations in the classroom, so he didn't have to burn through stickers, stamps and nearly sob when he had to pick up a pencil and write more than a few letters. I don't think I asked much.

I first asked about this upon entering Kindergarten. I was told that they wanted to give handwriting a shot and he was just too young.

I let that slide.

As the spring IEP showed up, I asked again for technology. I wrote letters, called the head OT, and was given the largest line ever-he was too young and still needed "pre-handwriting" skills.

If we are at this point, why aren't we looking at tech? I nearly went off the rails.

I asked what age they considered old enough.

Their response?

End of 2nd grade.

Yeah, that's not going to fly here. I teach 3 year olds how to manipulate the computer and keyboard. There's no reason that the OT can't train that, as he sees her in a 1:1 situation.

I kept pestering and even bucked the whole set of concerns up to the district office. I was shot down. I was told that there was a protocol, and the OT was correct in the age restriction.

Really?

I explained over and over and over again that I wasn't against working on handwriting, but we needed a way to level the playing field and if I had to send in a laptop, I would.

I festered the whole summer hoping that we'd get SOMEONE to see the light.

I kept quiet, but kept raising the question to the OT.

Then, it happened.

The OT finally saw the light. She came to me in early October and asked if I would sign the forms for the tech eval.

I asked her what she had been waiting for.

Then, everything stalled.

From the time I signed the paperwork, it took until just before Christmas to get the tech specialist in and then we began the waiting game.

I had heard nothing. I bugged the poor OT-knowing full well this was NOT her fault and let her know this in no uncertain terms.

My son hadn't gotten any of his assigned tech since the evaluation. We were in February by this point.

It was then I decided to corner the head of the Special Education department at the end of a meeting to see where the heck in heaven's name my child's technology was. When I pulled this one, we were in March, with the blessing of both the OT and the Resource teacher.

Enter May and June, and although we had the device (Inellikeys), why was my son not being trained to use them? He was not working with them in OT, he wasn't using them in either resource or the classroom.

Why?

Because the tech person couldn't make it over to train the teachers in the use of this device.

Now, here comes the question.

Why did my child suffer all year being frustrated in writing when we started asking for this stuff in October? Why did I have to take it all the way to the district to get any movement or response from the technology person? It just doesn't make sense to me.

Here we are, loading our classrooms with technology-laptops, IWBs and other things, yet we can't get one student something that will level the playing field for him without a parent kicking and screaming to the high heavens and taking things all the way to the top.

Although we do need to teach students where they are with the terminology and the technology, why are we not moving faster to put those with special needs on an equal footing with those without?

We are taught and have differentiated instruction slammed into our heads, but why, in this case, wasn' t it happening?

I was told over and over and over again by my friends this year that it was a good thing that I knew what I was doing and talking about or I may not have gotten the Shrimp what he needed.

That bothers me.

It should not be this hard to get a child what they need to be a success in the classroom.

Interactive Whiteboard or not?

A recent twitter conversation got me thinking. The Interactive White Board (IWB) is now an almost required staple of the "modern" classroom, but do we really need them?

I must give full disclosure here-for the longest time, I was an IWB devotee. I championed them to anyone who would listen. I would talk of how kids got more multisensory learning and more interaction with the material.

Then, I saw them in action fully for the first time. I saw the glitchy, expensive items being used more as a glorified chalk board rather than a true interactive tool. Some teachers even used them as a "Special activity."

Yikes.

When it was being used as an interactive tool, it facilitated my least favorite, but most widely used model of learning-the "Sage on the Stage" variety. All direct instruction, students watching and using the board one at a time. When they were talking strategy and asking each other questions, the students were hushed and told to "watch!"

Hrm. Is that the purpose of interaction? Is that the full purpose of an IWB? To encourage students to go up to the board one at a time and "interact" with a piece of hardware?

Where is the use for open ended problems? Where is the use for student driven learning?

Most times, when students ask to use the IWB, they "play" with the fun functions of the pens. Nothing else. No problem solving, no real learning, just pure, unadulterated fun.

For me, I prefer the "Coach in the Corner" model of teaching. I give them the tools and then allow them to take charge of their own learning-I'm there to help, but I don't have all of the answers. They need to find those out for themselves and rely on each other to help them through. A classmate is a resource-but I'm there to help and guide.

The IWB doesn't support that in the way I like to see it happen.

It's awesome to project the computer onto the board. It is awesome to be able to touch and drag and do all of these other things, but when you really think about it, does it make students more dependent on teacher for all of their knowledge rather than make them more independent?

I assert that it does make students more dependent. We have a generation of students that are not independent learners. They don't know how to collaborate, explore and find creative solutions to problems. How do IWBs help these students to gain those essential skills that they are missing?

That's the 7,000.00 question.

Hi. Welcome to the Tech Deck

So, I've bitten the bullet and decided to start a blog so I can ramble on and on and on and share ideas about education. I've got a personal space, so if you want to read about my penchant for bad customer service, special needs kids and the stuff in life I just can't make up, go visit My 3 Ring Circus of a Life.

You won't get that here.

Here is my space to talk all things education, and my love of integrating technology into education. I get to use this space to talk about the conferences and things I head to...and the cool people I meet and "meet" on twitter.

I'm really excited to start this space-there's so much to say...talk about and do!