Frustrated Swimmer

I have spent a lot of time today reading and commenting on blogs and I am struck by what an amazing group of educators we have assembled in one room. The other thing that strikes me is that although many of us approached this course and our plunge into AT with some trepidation, everyone has taken the leap into the deep end and now seems to be gamely swimming about, dog-paddling or at least treading water. I had been lulled into a false sense of security as I was feeling fairly comfortable doing the “blog-stroke” and felt all else would come about easily.

The whole-group planning process on Thursday was not as smooth as we might have liked. We got bogged down at several points as Bev mentioned in her blog. I’m not sure why this happened but I can certainly see how important forming a dynamic efficient program planning team is required to implement the process of planning the use of AT that effectively addresses the assessed needs of the learner (primary user). The student, environment, task and tools (SETT) must all be incorporated into the plan .

It makes little sense to simply identify a need and then blindly grasp for an AT device that may work. The user’s performance of an IPP task must be improved by the introduction of any AT. I believe upon completion of this group task we were well on the way to supporting Sally and her communication partners in using Proloquo2go and the ipod/pad to engage in meaning effective communication.

As my swim in the AT pool continued Friday I found myself going under as we began our first individual assignment. As we began our app shopping I found out that itunes was not on my laptop as my darling children had assured me. The last hour of the class saw me thrashing wildly about trying to catch up to the “already shopping fish”.

Today when I tried to download my chosen apps I was locked out because my password was not correct. I used the “forgot password” only to wait endlessly for an email with it. I then tried to access my account with my security question only to be told that March 13 1959 is not my birthday ...at least not at itunes.

So here I sit frustrated and stubborn. I want to do some shopping darn it!!