By Chelsey Hinsenkamp
SLN Staff
New forms of technology are being integrated into schools every day, making learning and teaching easier and more fun for students and teachers alike.
Students and staff at Lakeland School of Walworth County are no exception to the rule, and they in fact might be using technology in an even more adaptive way.
The school’s new building, built in 2008, allowed for the installation of SmartBoards and an upgraded computer system from the get-go, which have proved to be highly beneficial, according to Tonya Corey who teaches upper level high schoolers.
“We’re always trying to introduce kids to technology because that’s what life is,” she explained.
The school also recently began using iPads, tablet-style computers with touch screen capabilities, as an alternative to more traditional learning tools.
With the recent donation of four iPads to Lakeland School by youth golfer Logan Zurn, the school geared toward those with special needs now has 20 of the highly interactive devices.
Zurn, an 8-year-old Tibbets Elementary student, donated the iPads valued at $2,399.96 after seeking donations on behalf of the school’s students. Zurn is on the National Golf Circuit for Juniors and is ranked at the national and world competition levels.
With such a wide variety of uses, the iPads are circulated and rotated throughout classrooms and among the students to ensure that everyone has chance to utilize them.
“Occupational therapists are using them for handwriting, and they’re using them for curriculum now, and math and reading, and we use them a lot for the communication and a lot of our speech activities we’re working on,” explained speech/language teacher Anita Finley.
So even with 225 students, ages 3-21, all with widely varying disabilities, speech/language teacher Michelle Baugrud stated that “Every child in some way throughout their day is having exposure.”
Dozens of useful applications have already become staples in the school’s curriculum.
For some students, daily schedule applications with photos demonstrating a sort of routine have proved helpful.
There are activities like “Which does not belong?,” specifically developed for children with autism, which offers a group of similar items with one that must be identified as different.
There are cause-effect applications where children with more severe disabilities can learn simple relationships like that touching a virtual button or switch makes something happen.
There are also applications that act as simple flash or picture cards. Almost all of the activities integrate things like music, speaking or movement.
“It’s a little bit more engaging for kids then just looking at a picture card,” Baugrud explained.
The school is working to make the easy-to-use devices even more accessible to some of the children who have more difficulty with physical coordination.
“We do have one student who, if they can’t touch it we have adapted a switch so it scans and he hits the switch. So we’re kind of getting into that field of adaptive styluses and adaptive switches for some of them,” Finley explained.
Lakeland staffers have welcomed parents into the mix as well, hoping to include them in the learning process. The school hosted two classes last year to give parents a chance to learn how the iPads are used and what the best and most appropriate applications available are.
“The parents really did enjoy that,” Finley said.
With great feedback, it’s a class they hope to host more of in coming years.
For some children, the iPads serve simply as their best way of communicating needs and wants. The process typically includes selecting from a group of photos representing things like food, bathroom and even emotions.
In this regard, the iPads have replaced some more expensive alternative communication devices that serve little purpose other than to relay a message.
“The iPad serves a lot more functions than the DynaVox, for example. The DynaVox is used just for communication and it’s a lot more expensive,” Baugrud explained.
Fourteen of the school’s 20 iPads were donated by the Geneva National Fund, along with several other items including iPad accessories totaling $28,065.
Currently, the school has acquired all of its iPads through donations, according to Finley. She also said they hope to continue to add to the current amount as they have proved to be such useful tools.
As for student feedback related to the use of the iPads, Finley said, “They absolutely love them.”
