Trust the process webinar
Regarding today's event in particular, you're going to meet Krish. He's a familiar face to some of you who attend the series regularly. You can learn more about Krish's personal journey through his early education in the webinar called "Partners in the Journey." That's part of our series. It was presented by MaryAnne Roberto and Gunjan Rastogi-Wilson.
Today's presentation also makes use of some pre-recorded material. Our presenters, Amanda and Joy, will be demonstrating some of the apps and tools that they use. So don't worry about trying to take detailed notes through these demonstrations as they're showing how they use the tool.
Remember that this webinar is being recorded, and you can return to that procedural step-by-step information later. Focus instead on what Amanda and Joy choose to adapt for Krish's classroom use and why they're making those choices.
So let me get right to our two speakers. Coming to us from Pennsylvania through the miracle of the 21st century, Amanda Whalen, MA Ed. is a teacher of the Blind and Visually Impaired and an assistive technology consultant who has worked with students with a variety of physical and cognitive disabilities for 10 years.
She has a graduate certificate in pre-K through 8 special education from Holy Family University. Amanda has presented on a variety of topics related to visual impairment, including national and regional conferences, staff development trainings, and local county board meetings.
With her, as well, is Joy Wilson, MS, also a teacher of the Blind and Visually Impaired and an Orientation and Mobility Specialist. And she is Perkins-Roman CVI range-endorsed since September of 2017. For the last 19 years, she has worked with students from two months of age to 98 years young.
Her experience with students with CVI has been limited to the birth to age five population, but she has worked as a TVI and O&M Specialist with children in all three phases. Joy has also presented on CVI at staff development trainings and for individual IEP teams.
And Joy's going to kick us off today. Thank you both for your time today.
Hi, and thank you so much for having us. We're excited to be here and be able to share with you what we have learned while working with Krish. Here are the learning objectives.
Identify three iOS apps that promote literacy for students in phase III CVI. Describe two ways that a child can participate in the planning and trial and error process. Identify two ways to share digital materials with team members who work with the child.
So now, a little bit about Krish-- I love that picture. Krish and his twin brother, Rohan, were born at 20 weeks' gestation. He was in the NICU for the first three and a half months of his life. And while in the NICU, he experienced a grade-II intraventricular hemorrhage, chronic lung disease, and GERD.
A little bit further down the road, Krish was identified as having hypotonic cerebral palsy and PVL, which is periventricular leukomalacia. That's a type of brain injury that affects infants by creating a hole in the brain as a result of dead brain tissue around fluid-filled areas called "ventricles." As a result of his CP, he also has fine motor challenges.
So Krish's initial eye exam revealed stage II retinopathy of prematurity, and he was identified as having intermittent right exotropia. In late 2012, at about eight months of age, he was suspected of having CVI by his early intervention teacher of the visually impaired.
But it was not until 2013 that he was officially diagnosed with CVI. He is currently in phase III, and his CVI score ranges from 7.25 to 8.25. And again, as Robin said, if you want to learn more about his story, there's the Perkins webinar link that she'll put up.
So Krish is now attending a part-time kindergarten in his local school district. And last year, when we started this process, we requested that he attend the morning kindergarten class, because we knew that's when he would be at his best. He has a PCA, which is a Personal Care Assistant. And he has two vision teachers, Amanda and I.
So why two vision teachers, you ask? Well, although I've worked with all ages, most of my experience is in early intervention in early childhood. I'm not familiar with school-age procedures and IEPs. You'd think they'd be the same as early childhood, but they're not.
And I'm also not familiar with the assistive technology beyond the basics, like uploading games into an iPad. So despite those things, what I was able to bring to the table was my knowledge of Krish and having worked with him since he was two years old and my knowledge of CVI, most of which I've learned by working with Krish.
So Amanda here was able to bring her knowledge of the school's procedures and her extensive knowledge of assistive technology. You'll see what I mean in a few minutes. Together, we've been able to share our strengths with the rest of the team and build a really solid foundation for Krish.
So I know that makes it sound easy, but it's taken a lot of effort from the whole team to get where we are now.
Mm-hm.
Trust the process. So what does it mean to trust the process? It required some very key elements on everybody's part to find out what works best for Krish. There was trial and error, student feedback, and failure. Yes, I said "failure," and that's OK.
Krish is a very academically driven student. He enjoys learning, and he learns quickly. So we really wanted to make the most of every learning experience and not let his CVI hinder that.
We knew color would help anchor his vision. We knew light would increase his visual attention and reduce visual fatigue. We knew that salient features were still very important to him when he's viewing something new. We knew his working environment would have to be closely monitored in order to be sure that it was balanced with his tasks.
Those of you that have taken Matt Tietjen's class know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, I highly suggest you check it out. So we know all of those things. But we weren't sure what they should look like for Krish in kindergarten.
So we trialed some things. Some things worked, and some things didn't work. And that's OK. It was all part of the process.
A huge part in our decision that things worked well was not-- sorry-- that things worked well or not was based on Krish's feedback. He could tell us what worked best for him and what didn't. And sometimes we agreed with him, and sometimes we didn't. But again, that was all part of the process.
So throughout the year, we have used the saying, "just because he can doesn't mean he should" as our theme. Basically, what this means is that he can do a lot of the same activities as his peers without the modifications, but at what cost? He would have to pay a steep price.
Without the modifications, he would become fatigued, both mentally and physically, the result being that he would not be able to take in new information, because he would be too tired. So the last part of our trust the process is knowing or finding the purpose.
So in the beginning of the week, when Amanda is handed a pile of worksheets from the classroom teacher, it's important for her and I to sit down and figure out and know what the purpose of those worksheets were so that we could make the best decision on how to modify those worksheets.
Was the purpose of that worksheet to practice fine motor skills through cutting or coloring? Or was the purpose of those worksheets to learn his colors, numbers, letters, et cetera? The purpose drove the modifications.
So I'm going to let Amanda take over here and share her awesome technology skills with you.
OK. So what we did with the webinar was we decided it would be best to chunk it into two different sections. So the first section is going to be mostly focusing on adapting-- so how we're adapting everything on our end. And then the second part of it is going to be Krish and how he's going to access everything.
And in between there, we're going to talk about how we're getting materials back and forth between Krish and the classroom teacher and the PCA that he works with and myself and kind of how that whole flow works, because that was also a huge trial and error, as well, having all of those people working together.
So the first part is adapting. And the adapting was the biggest hurdle, because we were trying to figure out how to adapt Krish's curriculum on a daily basis with the complexity of a natural kindergarten classroom. So when we're adapting, we're obviously, like Joy had mentioned, taking into consideration his strengths and his needs, his capabilities, and of completing the work.
And there's just so much involved with that. So we needed something that we could easily take with us no matter where I went, being an itinerant teacher. So my thought was if I could get everything on an iOS device and adapt it that way, we would be golden.
So introducing these two apps, first one is You Doodle Pro. So the tools that we use for Krish in You Doodle Pro, we incorporate color and high-quality images. We eliminate clutter on the page, and we highlight important features-- so the salient features of something.
And we also use Stick Around. So Stick Around-- we first adapt the worksheets. And then we use those adapted images that we create from there, and we import them into Stick Around. And we use Stick Around in replace of activities that involve cutting and pasting and academic content.
So it's a little bit different when we're not asking him to produce something academically and to cut and paste, because cutting and pasting is very important in kindergarten, being able to in your strength and your fine motor and all of those types of things. So we didn't want to take that away. So we only used Stick Around in those specific instances.
So here's an example of You Doodle Pro. So on the left-hand side there, that's the before worksheet. So that's what I received from the classroom teacher. And the right-hand side is the after and what we did. So you can see there I got rid of the snowflakes on there. And we replaced the images with clip art, adding color.
And if any of you can guess what Krish's preferred color is, this slide will definitely give it away. So Krish's preferred color is pink. And when we're talking about saying the name of each picture and writing the CVC word on the lines, we want to highlight exactly what part of that cheeseburger do we want. It's the bun.
And the same thing with the jar-- we're focusing on the lid. And with the picture of the pig on the bottom, it's the mud on the bottom. So in addition to all of that, if you can kind of see the top left with the bun picture, it's best. You can see that it's highlighted in pink, as well. So the focus is on the writing part.
So we're going to show you a video that Joy and I pre-recorded. And it's going to walk you through a worksheet that we received from the classroom teacher and kind of our thoughts of the process, looking at everything that has worked well for Krish previously. And we're going to show you how all of that is done.
Hey, Joy and Amanda here. We are looking at a worksheet that Krish's classroom teacher gave us. And we're looking to adapt it in the app, You Doodle Pro.
OK. How did you get it onto the iPad and have it be such high quality?
We actually had Krish's PCA scan it with one of the school copiers and used the Scan to Email function. So by using the Scan to Email function, we're really able to have that high contrast of the worksheet with the really dark white background. So that way, when we put it in You Doodle Pro, we'll really be able to use some of the features more easily and have less clutter on the page. And you'll see what I'm talking about in a little bit.
So for this worksheet, "Spring CVC Words"-- so the directions say, "Cut and paste the letters at the bottom to spell the correct word for each picture." So for Krish, what we do is for adapting anything that has to do with curriculum and academic content when it comes to cutting and pasting, we additionally use the app called "Stick Around."
So part 1 of this is going to be adapting You Doodle Pro. And then part 2, you'll see in a little bit we will use Stick Around to be able to have him manually do that on the iPad.
So one of the things that we're going to do and look at are getting rid of the frog, right?
Yep. So we want to get rid of some of the visual clutter. We want to change some of these pictures because even though we've used Matt Tietjen's What's the Complexity, we know that he's OK with line drawing.
It still helps him be less fatigued if we use more realistic pictures and pictures with color, though I think we're OK to use either realistic pictures or abstract pictures, as long as they have color. That would help.
So what we did was we did a basic Google search for all of these. So it was "cut." It was "net," "log," "fan," "hen," and "kit." And we found real images for some of them. And some of them, the clip art images, we tried to find images that had it in pink, which is Krish's preferred color. And we just saved them to our Camera Roll.
So let's get started. We'll go into You Doodle Pro. Opening You Doodle Pro-- so when we get in here, we want to go to the top right-hand corner to File. We're going to select Import, which is the first option. And then we're going to click on Start Over Blank.
So this doesn't really matter too much, so we're going to click on Done on the top right-hand corner. And from here, what we're going to do is we're going to be working in layers. So the Layers tab is the third option from the left on the top. It has the three pieces of paper up there.
And then we are going to click on Insert Foreground. And then from there, we're going to select Camera Roll, because that's where our worksheet is saved. And we're going to click on Camera Roll again. And then I'm going to click on the worksheet and then click on Done.
Your worksheet will load. And then from here, what you're going to do is you're going to crop. So I'm going to click on the circles and drag my finger down to be able to crop certain parts of the page. So we're going to focus on the top part right here, just because I want to do it in two different sections. We're going to do the top three frogs, and then we're going to do the bottom three frogs.
I'll just show you how we can do that. So that looks good to me, and I'm going to click on Done. Make it bigger so it takes up pretty much the entire page. And doing that, I'm just taking my fingers and pinching and zooming to enlarge it.
So when I'm satisfied, I click on Done on the bottom right. Are you sure you're done? Yes, I am.
All right. So let's get rid of the frogs, right, Joy?
Yeah.
That's one of the first things we want to do. So to do that, we're going to go to the bottom on our Tool section and click on Pick. So your Pick tool, wherever you click on the worksheet, it's automatically going to absorb that color. So if I'm going to click on the white section, see my Pick tool just turned white.
So to select that in my brush, I just tap on the Brush icon. You can see my brush immediately turned white. So if I click on the tool Brush again, I get a bunch of different options. So I always want to make sure my opacity is turned up to 1 and my Glow is always set to 0.
And from here, I can adjust my size. So I can tolerate a pretty big size to get rid of that frog. So that looks about right. And then I'll click on Done.
So now I'm going to use my fingers again to pinch and zoom. And I'm just going to focus on that first frog there. And I'm going to use my tool Brush to get rid of the frog.
OK. Great.
Get rid of all that. So it's good to have your original copy next to you, right, Joy, because you can easily forget which ones you erase, because you definitely don't want to put them in the wrong spot. So we have Cut and then we have Add. Just quickly get rid of that.
You make this look very easy.
It is very easy, I promise. And when I'm moving the page, when it's zoomed in, I'm using two fingers, because if I were to use one, I would write on the screen. And that's not something that I want to do.
But if you do accidentally just use one finger, the Undo is on the top left-hand corner. You can always click on that to undo any of your mistakes. OK. So we got rid of our three frogs there.
Great.
So now I want to add in the images that I saved from Google. So I'm going to hit my Layers tab again and then Insert Foreground. So the good part about this-- you can click on your Camera Roll-- is that you can insert multiple pictures at a time.
So the first one there, Joy, was what?
The "cut."
The "cut." OK. So I'm going to select "cut." And the second one?
"Net."
"Net." And third--
"Log"--
Was "log." So I selected my three images. I'm going to click on Done. And then all three are immediately loaded onto the page. And now I can just click on the center of the image and drag them down where they need to go.
And the second one was "net." I'm sure Krish will love the pink "net."
Uh-huh.
And then if you want to make the image larger, you can just use your two fingers and pinch the side of the image box. Make it bigger so that way, it takes up the entire box there.
And then I'm going to click on Done, because I think that looks pretty good. What do you think?
Yeah, that looks great.
Click on Done. Are you sure you're done? Yes.
So another thing that we can do is because we want to make sure that Krish understands where he's putting the letters when he's cutting them. So when he's using the Stick Around app, we want to kind of make some sort of anchor for him to know where the letters are going to go.
So in order to do that, you can click on Fill, which is the fourth option on the bottom. And again, if I tap on it twice, you're going to get more options. So knowing that Krish's preferred color is pink, I'm going to select pink. And I'm just going to turn the opacity down just a little bit.
You can see the example of the circle there get a little bit dimmer. I can get it pretty dim until that looks about right, right there. So then click on Done. And then I'm just going to tap on the center of each box.
So then immediately, we'll fill it in. So I don't want to overdo it with the pink. So I could do the first one and the last one pink. And Krish also likes the color blue.
So that's usually his second choice for things, blue. So then we click on Done. And then I can do the second one in blue.
I like that, that you alternated the colors within the three pictures, because then that helps separate it more. It helps divide it more. It makes it visually easier to see.
So there's that border on there, too. It's not necessary, but we can take it out. So we can use our Pick tool. Click on the white part of the page. Click on the Brush.
And I'm just going to bring my brush size down just a tad bit because it's a little bit of a tight spot in there. So when you get into tight spots like that, you're not quite sure where your finger is going to go. What you can do is just put your finger down on the screen and just keep it there for a second.
And you actually get a little magnifier that comes up on the screen that really will be able to show you how close you are to whatever it is that you're working on, just so that way, it's a little bit more accurate. So I did do that part a little bit slower, just because I didn't want to get rid of the box. But we could do that through the whole order here. Just do that real quick.
So another thing that you could do--
That helps a lot.
Yeah, it does. It's the little things that you don't notice that really make a difference.
So another thing that you can do is if you want to focus on something-- so whether it's something in the directions or part of the worksheet that you really want to give emphasis to, you can do that by the Recolor tool. So on the bottom right-hand side, the third from the last is called "Recolor."
So if you tap on that twice, you get a bunch of different color options. So we're going to go to pink, and then we're going to click on Done. The Recolor tool will recolor any of the original. So if I wanted to recolor and focus on "CVC," I can just use my finger and drag over any part of the text to highlight that section of the word. There you go.
Oh, that's great. Yeah.
So this is part 1 of the adapting using You Doodle Pro for the "Spring CVC Words" worksheet. I think we're ready to go on to part 2. What do you think?
Yep, that looks great. It's amazing what color can do.
Yeah.
OK. So Stick Around-- here we go. So Stick Around is the app that we're using our You Doodle Pro images. And we're importing them to be like cutting and pasting. So here's a worksheet that we did back in January, and it was called "Snow Much Fun!"
So the students had to cut and glue the pictures correctly on the graph. And then they had to answer the questions about the graph. So instead of importing new pictures, what we did was we used that Recolor tool and the Fill options in You Doodle Pro to highlight certain parts of the page.
You can see we alternated the columns there. So then on the right-hand side, that is the bar and the tray where the students actually pick. And they drag it over into the selected part. So we can use the same image over and over again. We didn't have to redo any of the snowmen or the igloo and the snowflake there.
And what's great about Stick Around is that once you're finished with it and you've completed your "puzzle," which they're called, you can save it to your Camera Roll and then use the Markup feature in your Camera to fill in the rest of it.
So Krish used that to answer the question. So which has more? Circle one. So he used the Markup feature to circle those, as well.
And we're going to walk you through. So this is going to be the video on how to use Stick Around.
Hey, Amanda and Joy here-- part 2 of the videos. And so we're taking a look at the pictures that we adapted in You Doodle Pro. So we did the first one with these guys. And I believe that it was this one, with the "cut," the "net," and the "log."
But then we also did the second part of that worksheet, which is the "fan," the "hen," and the "kit." So Joy, do you want to talk a little bit about the pictures and why we chose these?
So using Matt Tietjen's What's the Complexity, Krish can do line drawings. However, we don't want him to become visually fatigued. So we don't want him working at any frustrational level.
So what we did was we looked at some clip art, and we looked at some real pictures. Amanda found a great clip art of a pink fan, because that's Krish's preferred color. And it's also a more appropriate fan, because that handheld fan, just he might not know what that is. Then we'd have to go to some salient features. There it is right there.
It's a hand fan.
Yeah. So using the more traditional fan, it makes it a lot easier for him. And we found some clip art of the hen. For some reason, it just didn't seem-- we felt that the real image was more appropriate for him. Plus, this one also had an egg. That helps him understand that this is a hen, not a rooster.
And then, of course, this is a first aid kit, too. And I noticed Amanda highlighted the word "kit" or underlined it in pink, which is fantastic, using his preferred color to draw his attention to that word "kit" to help him realize what the word is.
Awesome. So then what we also did, too, was we used the Recolor tool in You Doodle Pro to highlight the font and the letters that he's going to be dragging and dropping over or the cutting and pasting in Stick Around. So we did it this way because adding text in Stick Around is a little bit more complicated than just being able to crop it quickly and putting it over for one of your stickers.
But you'll see what I mean in a little bit. So let's get into Stick Around. And let's create a new project. So when Stick Around opens, you have all your projects in one area.
So to add a new project, you go to the top left-hand corner. Click on the Plus button. Click on Create New Project, and you're going to click on Blank Project. So your background immediately opens.
And what you want to do is you want to create the background of your worksheet, essentially. So you're going to hit the Plus button on the left-hand side and then Photo Library. So that worksheet that we just adapted, you're going to open up Camera Roll. And what you adapted in You Doodle Pro, you can immediately import in here as your background image.
The first time that you open Background and the Camera Roll, it's going to take a little while. So it's going. It's going. It's going.
So just to let you know the reason why I split the worksheet in half and I did three for the top and then three for the bottom was I figured that it would take Krish a very long time to scroll through all of the letters that's going to be on the dashboard. I figured it'd be a little bit easier for him.
So I'm going to go in and select my background file. And from here, once it opens, you can crop. But it looks pretty good from here, so I'm going to click on Done. And then I'm just going to use my two fingers to pinch and zoom so that way, it fits within the highlighted area.
So then once you have your background set, you're going to go to your stickers. And then if you use your finger to pull and drag, your little dashboard will appear. And with stickers, you can either add text, picture, or text and picture.
So for the purpose of this one, for the "Spring CVC Words," we have our text already on the worksheet. So we're just putting it over the picture. So we're just going to do the first one here, which is going to be "cut." I'm going to pull over three for "c," "u," and "t."
So once I do that, I'm going to hide my little dashboard out of the way. And then I'm going to click on the picture in the middle and click on Photo Library. So now I'm going to go to the image where I adapted the letters.
So you could use the Lasso tool, which is the first option on the top right, or the second one, which is like a square cropping tool. So I'm just going to click on the square because I think that one's easier. But everyone's different. Find what works best for you. And then I'm just going to click and drag.
Find my "c." Click on Done. Click on Done again, and I'm just going to drag it to that second spot. I'm going to do the same thing for "u." Done and Done. And then the last one, I'm going to do "t."
Looks good. Click on Done and Done again. So from here, if I want to make my stickers a little bit smaller, I can actually pinch and minimize them. Or what I could do is make them larger, as well.
So whatever you need to do to get them and paste them here, I'm vowing it'd be good. So you can see it didn't really take too long, a few minutes to create those stickers.
But then you need to create your answer key. So that's the third option on the top. So you have three tools that just popped up on the left-hand corner. You have a circle, a square, and a Lasso tool and then two kinds of x's. And what we're going to focus on, the correct response would be the first three options there.
So I'm going to use the square, just because my whole thing is a box section. And I'm going to select the entire thing. Now take a look at what happens when I let go of my square. All of those stickers pop up.
So that means that that is where those answers are allocated. The reason why I selected that whole bunch is because if Krish were to not be completely on the square, it might mark it wrong. And we don't want that to happen.
So just to play it to give you an idea of what it looks like, bring over the "c," "u," and then we check our work. And hurray, we won. We got it.
So you can save your image to your photos, where you can click Save to Photos. And I'm going to get out of here and actually go in my photos and show you what Krish does. And then he can go back in here, go up to the Edit, Markup tool, which is the third, the very last option on the left, Markup.
Or I'm sorry. That was the last option on the right. I think I said "left." I meant to say "right." So now we have our marker. And I'm going to select the red.
And I'm just going to go up here and write on top for my name. Put Krish's name in there, and click on Done. And there you go. So if there's a second part to it where you need to edit, he needs to do that, too.
And from here, you can export and actually select a printer and print directly from his iPad and get something that they want to hang up in the classroom or he'd like to take home or show off to all of his friends. So that's just a brief tutorial on what you can do in the app, Stick Around.
And that's fantastic. You use so many CVI strategies here, with using the color to help anchor his vision. You're using the iPad, which has the backlighting, which is also going to increase his visual attention and help reduce visual fatigue. And by separating and reducing the complexity in the worksheet, you're also helping him by reducing all the complexity-- so really nice job with all those CVI strategies.
And Krish enjoys Stick Around, too. He'll ask to have some of the worksheets in there. And we're like, no. You actually don't have to cut for any of these things.
But he just really enjoys the app, in general. So it's great. And that's the end of video two.
So that was Stick Around. So sharing with Krish and his team is the next obstacle. And we primarily use AirDrop. So once I adapt or Krish's PCA adapts his materials, we AirDrop it to him.
So funny instance-- this past week, we did a similar worksheet, where we adapted the CVC pages. And he had a drag and drop. And AirDrop wasn't being so friendly for me. And so we had to adapt on the fly and just quickly color in and use some of those highlighted features in You Doodle Pro and give it to him that way.
So even the best-laid plans-- our teacher is absolutely wonderful and organized. And she gives us everything at least one week ahead of time. So we are very lucky. And so we have time to plan.
But even with planning, it still doesn't work out that great. So AirDrop is obviously the first option that we use there. We also use the printer. So we have AirPrint capabilities connected to my iPad, the PCA's iPad, and Krish's iPad.
So another option that we can do is once we adapt all of those worksheets, we can print them out. And then if Krish wants to, he can use a hard copy with it, use the crayons and the pencils that his peers are using. And he can complete it on a light box.
So the third option there is the USB lightning port. I use a Leaf iBridge Memory Mobile device. So I know that there's a lot more out there. I ran into a snag at the beginning of the school year, because a lot of school districts, what they do is the Scan to Email function, they only allow at whatever their school district name is dot org.
So mine is from the IU and not the school district. So they can't allow that onto the server for security reasons. So what I did was some scanners actually have a Scan to Device function. So I just plugged that little flash drive in, scanned it as a JPEG, and I was able to open.
I plugged in that USB, and I opened it right onto my iPad. So you could use that for printing, as well. And it's just an easy way to transfer materials if you don't have the first two options.
So this brings us to the second part. So once we adapt everything, we have it on Krish's iPad. He has access to it. These are the apps that he's using right now. And this was a huge trial and error for Krish, especially between iBooks and GoodNotes.
Back in the fall, I would say until about November, when the recent iOS update came out, iBooks in the Markup feature didn't have all the colors. I think it had the standard, what is it, the black, the red, the green, yellow. And it didn't have pink, his preferred color, didn't have all the crayon colors that the classroom has.
And that's an issue in kindergarten, because you want colors. You want options, which brought us to GoodNotes. But we still use iBooks for all of his read-aloud material.
So the classroom teacher gives the PCA a handful of books at the beginning of the week, sometimes two weeks in advance. I tell you, she's wonderful. And she takes pictures of them all and imports them into iBooks.
So then we have GoodNotes, where we're doing all of the worksheets. And he is using the keyboard, predictive text, a stylus-- specifically an Apple Pencil, which also was trial and error with the type of stylus we were going to use-- and the combination of his finger. And we're using the Stick Around, Epic, and Learning A to Z kind of as support for reading and listening activities.
So we're going to show you videos, again, of how we're doing it. It's Joy and I demonstrating what he's doing. But this is Krish.
Krish actually does this independently on his own in the classroom. He understands how everything is organized, and he's able to get to everything, essentially, that all of the other students are working with. So if he's having trouble finding a file, we just tell him, find the Library folder.
And look for the word that starts with an "L" and ends with a "Y." And he's there. He's got it. So it's pretty impressive. So here is iBooks and how Krish is using that.
Hey, Amanda and Joy here again. And this time, we're going to be talking about iBooks and how Krish is using iBooks in the classroom. So at first, we were using iBooks for him to complete worksheets.
But up until I would say November or December, when iOS came up with their most recent update, it only gave us a certain amount of colors that were available on the Markup tool. And apparently, that's an issue in kindergarten, not having enough colors to color with.
Fancy that.
So that's when we decided to just make another switch to GoodNotes, which is going to be in the next video we're going to show you. But we liked iBooks because we had the ability to put on any of his guided reading textbooks, the read-aloud books, the library books that he takes out, even the library read-aloud books.
So pretty much what we do is once we have a copy of the book in our hands, Krish's PCA will take pictures of them ahead of time and export those pictures on the iPad from Photos into iBooks. I like iBooks because you can organize them in your library by collection.
So the Library option's the second option on the bottom. And then Collections is up on the top left. And you can see I made a few folders there for him. And this one in particular-- oh, I closed out of it-- in particular is the Krish Read Aloud. So here are some of the books from the beginning of the school year that he used for the read aloud.
So when you click on it-- let's go to Listening Buddy. Krish can go through each page and focus in on the pictures if he wants to, just by the pinch and zoom. And if he wanted to or for some of the guided reading books that we have, we actually use the Markup tool and click on pink in our marker and highlight parts of the book that we want to.
Circle things, and highlight things. So this is pretty much what we're using iBooks for. And Krish, I would say, uses this two to three times within his kindergarten school day.
Now, this is great, because this comes back to just because he can doesn't mean he should. He could follow along with the book that the teacher's holding. But what this allows him to do is reducing complexity by zooming in to the feature, whatever it is she's talking about.
So by zooming in, if you're eliminating all the other visual information, he can focus on what he needs to. The other part to this is that because of the backlighting that the iPad gives him, it helps reduce visual fatigue.
Absolutely. So iBooks is definitely a great option. And the best option is that it's free. And it comes preloaded on any iOS device.
Can't beat that. Definitely.
So that's iBooks. And this next one is just a brief overview of GoodNotes and how Krish is using GoodNotes.
Amanda and Joy here again. And this time, we are going to walk you quickly through GoodNotes. So this is how Krish is accessing his worksheets, anything that he really needs to write on. So here's an example of one of the CVC worksheets.
This was done in the winter, in January. And some of the worksheets that I did, I got rid of things like this little penguin over here. And I found out that Krish was asking where his penguin was on his worksheet, because he wanted to color it in, just like everybody else.
So the good thing about an iPad and using something like GoodNotes is that sometimes for things like that that students enjoy doing-- coloring in certain pictures, just like their peers-- they can actually zoom in and focus on certain parts of the page. So You Doodle Pro is awesome in getting rid of everything.
But if you don't want to get rid of everything for those reasons, he can just pinch and zoom and focus on one part. So in GoodNotes, Krish uses his finger, he uses a stylus-- the Apple Pen, more often than anything-- and a keyboard, external keyboard or the onscreen keyboard. And when he uses the keyboard, he's using predictive text.
And the features up on the top part here on GoodNotes is just like the new iBooks Markup feature. So you click on it twice, and you have all different options for how big and small you'd want your pen to be. You have a Highlighter. You have an Eraser tool, and you also have a Lasso tool.
So the Lasso tool, you can select the part that you write. You can copy and paste it and move it, make it bigger and smaller and adjust it. And so for this right here, what Krish could do is click on the Pen and select his color and then just write on here.
So again, these are all the worksheets that we adapted in You Doodle Pro. And now Krish is editing them in here. You get the idea with that.
So we showed a video of Krish using GoodNotes and the keyboard and entering text into GoodNotes for one of his homework worksheets. So here is Krish using GoodNotes in the classroom. And so this is for kid writing.
So kid writing was really the biggest trial and error for us, because just the whole process of kid writing and how you write and you draw the picture. So we weren't quite sure how that was going to work for Krish. And with Krish's feedback, we finally found a good solid working part for that.
So he's using the Apple Pencil. And then he's also using the grip that the OT provided us. And he's drawing a cupcake on his screen. So that's the first part.
Or for Krish, that's the second part of kid writing. Usually, the other students are drawing first, and then they're writing. So we kind of reverse that for Krish. We have him write first, and then we have him draw.
So he's just doodling on there for his kid writing piece. And then this is him using the keyboard and the on-screen predicted text. And what we do is we talk about the word.
So for example, "I am sleeping." So "sleeping," the beginning sounds there, you hear the "s." So he goes, and he types the "s."
So then we look at the predicted text. OK. Did "sleeping" come up? No, it didn't come up.
So OK then. What's the second sound, the "ul"? And we do that until we find the word that shows up on the predicted text.
So we can take a look at his keyboard. I had the enlarged stickers on there. And I used black paint to cover up the other parts of the keyboard that he necessarily doesn't need.
And I just put two textual little indicators on the "F" and "J," just because we're working on typing. And I want to make sure that he has good strategies, that he had the home row finger placement down. So he's working on that with me during his one-on-one vision instruction lessons.
And here are some of the pictures that we have for the trial and error writing process. So we tried using the hard copy, and that's actually a portable light box that is connected to the iPad for a power source. So that way, we could use it in any part of the classroom. He didn't necessarily have to be sitting next to an outlet.
And we've also pulled Krish, too, into a more controlled setting, where we were able to dim the lights and really have that backlit screen of the light box to focus on writing and just forming words and things like that. So we tried it all. And we listened to Krish and his feedback and what worked best.
And like I said, we have a pretty good feel that what we're doing right now is pretty good. And he's having that feeling of success. And he's proud of the work that he does.
So after he does his writing, everybody has a kid writing book in the classroom. So what Krish does is he hits the AirPrint option, and it gets sent directly to the classroom printer. He prints it out, and we just paste it right on his kid writing book. And he has it just like everybody else.
So the teachers comment on it, give him stars and great job and can write on it, just like everyone else. And it works out well. And that concludes our part of the presentation for Krish and how he is accessing his curriculum. So I hear there are questions.
There are, so much. In spite of everything, we still finished ahead of time. So I wanted to address-- there were a number of questions around Stick Around.
Yes.
So Valerie was able to find us links to the app. And one of the questions was, is that an iPad Pro? Or is it the most recent iPad, because it seemed like people who were on older iPad versions weren't finding it in the store?
I don't think it's a pro version. It might be that you need to have a certain--
Like 10, maybe?
Right. Yeah. It might be 10.
OK.
Now, we had a number of variations on this question. And you may have heard me while I was answering a little bit. When you show us in real time how you're able to adapt a particular worksheet or a section of the worksheet, when you think about a typical worksheet for Krish's work, about how much time does it take to adapt a particular worksheet? And then if you can think about maybe in a week, how many hours do you feel like the team is spending on that?
I would say probably-- well, in kindergarten, you have a lot of worksheets and just a lot of manipulative things, like cutting and pasting and things like that. So kindergarten I think is a little bit more challenging in the time aspect. We have about four hours allocated into Krish's IEP that is just for accessible material production.
So that's shared between the PCA and myself. And sometimes, we use all of that. We exceed that. And sometimes, we go below that. So it just ebbs and flows.
I think for a typical worksheet, it probably takes anywhere between five to 10 minutes max-- so 10 minutes using a Stick Around app. So again, just the quality-- or sorry-- the quantity of materials that is coming in for kindergarten is a lot. So all of that adding up, it's not actually the amount of time spent for each actual worksheet. So I would say five, 10 minutes is the average.
Thanks. And about GoodNote, which version of GoodNote did you demonstrate? Do you know?
Yep. I'm looking it up right now-- GoodNotes.
There seems to be a 4 and a 5.
Yeah. Let me go into the app itself.
While you're looking for that, Valerie confirmed that Stick Around requires iOS 9.1 or later for the iPad only.
OK.
DS Adams, you asked a question about the APH light box. Can you just clarify your question for me and I'll represent it?
It's GoodNotes 4.
Great-- GoodNote 4. And does the school have a colored printer that you're able to use? Is it specific to him? Or what was involved in getting permission to do that?
Yes, specific to him. So it was just a trial that we decided to do at the beginning of the school year. And with it, we deemed that it was successful for Krish. And he uses it on a daily basis. So it's now his, and he has access to it now in the classroom.
You mentioned Learning A through Z. Is that one of the apps? Can you tell us just a little bit more about that?
So Learning A to Z is one of the apps that his school district uses for all of their students. So Krish has a login that he goes into. And it's just leveled books. So he has options to listen. He has options just to read along with it. And then he also has questions that he could answer afterwards.
So we use that a lot for him when he needs downtime or if he finishes something early, because we are doing so many things adapted for him. So sometimes, with the kids, it does take longer for cutting and pasting. So we use that to supplement some of the time, like two to three minutes. Just log in, read a book, and then he's up to speed with everybody else.
So we just go by his reading level that's on there. And he can select from-- there's at least, I would say, 50 books within each level, at least.
Thank you. And the light board, how is that different from an APH light box?
So that is not-- it's actually a tracing board that I found on Amazon. Actually, Krish's mom had found one on Amazon that they were using for their daughter, who likes to color a lot. And I said, oh, that's interesting. Let me check that out.
So I went and got one, as well, and gave it to Amanda and said, what can we do with this? And so she started putting it to use.
So I believe you have it on a slant board. So it's clipped to a slant board. It's a very thin piece of glass. It's not big and bulky, like the light boxes are.
So it's just this thin piece of glass that has LED light, I guess, behind it. She attached it to a slant board to put it at an angle for him.
So some of them require batteries, and some of them are just the adapter that you need to plug into the wall. So the ones that you plug into the wall are stronger, and that's what we needed. But we weren't necessarily next to an outlet.
So that's when I used-- it was just like a lightning port to USB cord that you can buy off of Amazon. And I just plug that into his iPad in the USB in, and we have the power that we need for the light.
That's great. This is a question about Krish's mobility and his hand-eye coordination. We weren't able to show a particular video that shows him doing a worksheet, but it will be available on the page. So I feel like I know the answer to this question.
But if you can just address-- so Krish is able to, for example, do zooming in and out on those iBooks independently? Can you just talk a little bit about his ability to manipulate the device itself?
Yes, he's able to zoom in, zoom out, go to the next page, and swiping. There's definitely a learning curve to that. And even selecting the tools and everything, he's independently doing that. We had to teach him how to do that and where they were located.
It's just like any of us when we're working on a tablet or an iPad. We might accidentally tap out of something or swipe too fast. So we just need to remind Krish at times, slow down. Or oh, you zoomed in at this part and not this part.
So just that prompting and supporting of him when he's using it I feel like is typical. But he picked up on it very quickly. Yeah.
And you will be able to see that video of him doing a worksheet in the Watch and Learn Library when this is available, probably by the end of the week. It takes us a while to render all that back to the website. But you'll see that and doing a point and drag. And so you'll see that.
But it's an important thing to think about, depending on the students that other people are working with or other students that you work with, who may have different challenges or different ability levels. I think the power of this presentation is showing how you thought through, these are his challenges. These are his strengths. This is what he tells us is working and not working for him, and that is the process.
So even if you have a child who you find can't make that pinching motion or becomes frustrated trying to make that pinching motion, you may have to try a different adaptation. And that's where you say, we should do a presentation some time of all the things that failed for Krish or for you and how you were like, well, we thought that would work. That didn't work. We'll try something else.
So I guess I just want to encourage people who are attending, you find yourself sighing, going like, oh, well, Monica can't even hold herself in that position. This won't work for her.
No, this won't work for her. Something else will work for her. And you've got to trust the process and try those things out.
It's interesting to think about where Krish's computer literacy and his competency with devices might be compared to other five-year-olds. This is a generation that learn these things very young. You can see any two-year-old pull up a video on a phone. They're not afraid of that at all.
No.
But to have the kind of keyboarding skills that he has, it's helping him look at the alphabet. He can find letters on a keyboard. So it's a good skill for him.
Yeah, absolutely.
How many hours a week do you have with Krish?
So total hours-- I see him every single day for an hour within the kindergarten classroom to focus on the kid writing skills and strategies and overall access of the iPad. And then I also see him three times a week in the home for 45 minutes.
So kindergarten, he's only there in the AM. And then we give him a little bit of a rest. And then I service him in the afternoon at home then for 45 minutes.
Thank you. Well, I appreciate everyone staying a little bit over time. I will have to end it there.
Krish's father has just written in. "I can confirm that Krish is very good at navigating on an iPad. He even fixes things for me." And really, thanks to Krish and to his parents for allowing us to share so much of his experience through this program, because he is a remarkable young boy.
And his development through CVI has really been a learning experience for all of us. And so I'm so grateful for the Rastogi-Wilson family for allowing us a little peek into that experience and to the two of you for taking so much time to put this presentation together for us. Thank you.
I just want to let everybody know we will have a webinar in June. It will be pre-recorded, so you may not see an announcement from us. But we will let you know when it's ready. And it'll be available in June.
We want to thank everybody for their time in this year and all that you do for the students that you work with as we go into the summer and that you'll have a very productive one. On behalf of Perkins eLearning, myself, Valerie Welland and all her help today, and Dr. Mary Zatta, we will see you next time. Thanks a lot.
Thank you.
Bye.
Bye.