Hello Everyone!
This week I read an article entitled, “Whiteboards Engage Autistic Students,” by Kathleen McClaskey and Randy Welch. I chose this article because I hope to become a special education teacher in the future and I thought this would give me good insight into the minds of autistic children. The main purpose of this article was to share with others that with the proper interactive tools, autistic students’ capabilities can drastically transform for the better.
The article first gives background information, explaining that these students have short attention spans, are socially uninterested, and do not like to be involved with reciprocal play, or social learning. The majority of autistic students require a great deal of one on one instruction with the teacher because they typically need to be taught skills directly, rather than through observation.
The Autism, Communication, and Technology (ACT) Project at Spaulding Youth Center in New Hampshire bought interactive whiteboards for five classrooms that contained students with autism or neurological disorders. The students varied in age from 7 to 20 years old. The main purpose behind doing this was so that group instruction would increase, and thus autistic students could participate in social learning. They hypothesized that with this tool, it would lead to better communication skills for these students, both in and outside of the classroom. This interactive whiteboard was invented in order to engage students in virtually any subject, including: using pictures to create a story, observing the weather, or learning math and science. There were many obstacles to overcome when making it, but it definitely paid off in the end. Due to this new invention, the students had learned appropriate social behaviors, such as raising their hands before speaking, “taking turns using the interactive whiteboard, and engaging in instruction for about 45 minutes, compared to 15-19 minutes before the ACT Project.” By the Second year, the whiteboard started to be used for literacy purposes, and student “engagement was extended to 90 minutes in the morning, with additional afternoon activities in math, science, and social studies.” Group instruction became natural, and students were able to better express themselves through the use of this new technology. These positive results led to teachers raising the bar for their autistic students because it was apparent that they were capable of achieving so much more than what everyone had thought.
After learning about this interactive whiteboard, I am definitely an advocate of it. I feel that it would be very beneficial for me to utilize in my future classroom since I plan on becoming a special education teacher and will most likely have autistic students in my classroom. I would incorporate it throughout the day for each lesson that I teach because it clearly does wonders. It would allow my students to become more engaged with the learning, which would lead to a higher success rate. It would also introduce group learning and appropriate social and communication skills for my students. These are all things that not only could be used inside the classroom walls, but also things that they can take with them and use in the real world.
This article best aligns with ISTE NET-S Standard number 2: Communication and Collaboration. “Students interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.” It falls under this category because the main purpose of this interactive whiteboard is for students with autism to engage in social behavior and become involved in group settings. Therefore, communication and collaboration with others is key for positive results.
The APA Reference to this Article is:
McClaskey, K., & Welch, R. (2009, February). Whiteboards Engage Autistic Students. Leading and Learning with Technology, 36, 30-31, Retrieved March 26, 2012 from ISTE.org.
Hope everyone had a great weekend!
Madison
Hi Madison,
ReplyDeleteI also read this article and thought it was a great step forward in helping students with Autism. Also being a hopeful special ed teacher in the future, I think it would be awesome to see these types of programs being implemented into classrooms. Hopefully by the time we get hired we get to see these programs in action.
See you next week,
Vince Riedel
Madison,
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. Sounds like with the advancement of technology more and more students with special needs can learn in a more appropriate environment. To hear that just by using those whiteboards their attention spans grew from 15 - 19 minutes to 90 minutes is a huge improvement.
Great article,
Sheila Lowe