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Fundamental or the BBC CBeebies
storybook sites. The students became
so familiar with the stories and Web
sites that they would sign for specific
stories they liked. They began modeling positive social behaviors by raising
their hands, taking turns using the
interactive whiteboard, and engaging
in instruction for about 45 minutes,
compared to 15–19 minutes before the
ACT project.
Theresa then added a daily weather
lesson. Students observed the weather
outside and then selected and moved
objects into the Kidspiration five-day
weather template.
Next she moved the students’ desks
to the front of the room to extend
group instruction in math and science.
She used the whiteboard to access interactive sites to teach her daily math
lesson. Theresa began creating original
science lessons using whiteboard templates and graphics and realized that
her instruction created an active learning environment for her students.
By the end of the year, the students
had learned how to use the specific
tools for the interactive whiteboard,
how to use Kid Pix tools for storytelling through drawing, and how to
navigate interactive Web sites.
Theresa said she believes the interactive whiteboard is “training the students’ attention.” In our observations,
that was exactly what was happening.
By the second year, Theresa started
using the whiteboard for interactive
literacy and story activities in which
students took turns selecting the
software and tools. She noted that
this type of activity would not have
been possible before the interactive
whiteboard. The students’ engagement
was extended to 90 minutes in the
morning, with additional afternoon
activities in math, science, and social
studies. Group instruction became the
norm, and the students demonstrated
positive classroom social behaviors
and were able to express themselves
using tools. Learning for these students was transformed!
Astonishing Results
Katie is a 12-year-old girl diagnosed
with multiple disabilities and a primary diagnosis of autism. She has a
history of aggression when confronted
with nonpreferred activities, such as
school, and she has not been successful in a classroom setting.
At the beginning of the project,
Katie was able to sustain attention for
only about five minutes without direct
staff intervention. She was often disruptive, and her participation in class
was based on whether she liked an
activity or not. Her primary method
for expressing her wants and needs
was to throw a tantrum, growl, and be
aggressive toward the staff.
Instructors used a hand-over-hand
method to teach Katie how to touch
the board to make sounds and animation. As the ACT Project progressed,
she learned to generalize previously learned classroom skills, such
as pointing to meaningful icons on
the whiteboard. Katie quickly progressed to mimicking her peers and
then to making unique, personalized
decisions. Before this project, no one
believed that Katie was capable of this
level of social learning. By the end of
the first year, Katie was waiting her
turn to use the board without assistance from staff. She was taking social
cues from her peers. Her ability to
attend to lessons increased to 45 minutes. Staff expectations of Katie increased dramatically. More important,
Katie knew that she could do more
and rose to the occasion.
Perhaps most astonishing was
Katie’s language development associated with lessons taught on the interactive whiteboards. In addition to her
own individualized instruction, she
watched her peers participate in language development lessons, and she
was able to generalize what she
observed. She generalized the icons
used on the board to other picture
symbols used in communication devices and picture schedules. Not only
could she use them, but she saw the
use in them and the use in communicating with other people. Her aggressive behaviors toward staff abated. Her
verbal skills increased exponentially.
Katie’s improvement, while astonishing, is only one example of many at
Spaulding Youth Center that have
resulted from the innovative use
of interactive whiteboards.
Lessons Learned
Using the ACT Toolkit, teachers created an environment where autistic
students could become engaged and
active in their learning. We observed
that teachers were increasingly motivated to use these tools as students
were gaining new and often surprising
skills each day. Above all, the teachers
increased their expectations of what
their students could achieve.
Resources
BBC CBeebies: www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/
drilldown/stories/2/1/1/
Family Learning: familylearning.org.uk/
counting_games.html
RIF Planet Read Aloud: www.rif.org/reading-planet/content/ read_aloud_stories.mspx
Scholastic: teacher.scholastic.com/clifford1/
flash/ story_3.htm
Starfall: www.starfall.com
Kathleen McClaskey is president of Ed Tech Associates
( www.edtech-associates.com),
a 26-year veteran in integrating
technology in the classroom, a
consultant and instructor for
Universal Design for Learning,
and a member-at-large of ISTE SETSIG.
Randy J. Welch, MA, CAGS,
is the chief program officer for
the Spaulding Youth Center,
a residential treatment center
in Tilton, New Hampshire,
for children and youth with
a wide range of neurological
and clinical disorders.
