Day Seven

Presenting our dollar store finds….

Today’s class was awesome! It was amazing to see how many low-tech AAC items were found at the Dollar store.

The item I presented was Sandpaper. I cut-out images using the sandpaper, applied velcro to the back of the cut-outs, and then used the images to create a storyboard.  Below is a picture of the final product.

There were a few groups that had items in common such as the pool noodle; however, the use and applications varied. For example, Nick's application of using the pool noodle where it was attached to a wheelchair as an extension to tag others when playing tag in Physical Education class. Where as I thought of using it as a numeracy aid cutting the noodle to represent place values. 

For me, the most humorous presentation was John and Laurianne's starting with their “confessions” of their Dollar Store shopping experience. It was certainly entertaining. The alternate use for a scarf holder…. loved it!

I thought the most ingenious use was presented by Joy and Nike. Their presentation was spectacular from the beginning. They started by asking the class to guess an AAC use for a soap dispenser, while the guesses were awesome, Joy and Nike's use was brilliant…. They didn’t actually say it out loud, but showed via video their use. I would not have imagined a hand soap dispenser acting as a weight for a toilet paper dispenser; limiting the number of sheets per use…awesome!

Of course, all of the presentations were interesting and very creative...

After the presentations - in groups of five - we set out to do a bit of investigating on what AAC apps are available in the different platforms:  iTunes, Chrome Store, Microsoft Store, Google Play, and Apple MacIntosh. Finding at least 5 names of Apps/extensions/software and sharing the titles in a Wordle OR CloudArt or Mindmap/graphic organizer. 

This was an interesting process as Wordle or CloudArt were not working, or at least for me they were not. I would type my list, click go, and nothing...after several attempts, and realizing our time was running out....I thought I try this later at home.....

Here's hoping my group members are having the same success. Here is my finished Wordle ....