Low Tech Assistive Technology

  

My Visit to Dollarama & Stapples



Until a few days ago, I never spent more than 10 minutes inside a Dollar store. To think outside the box at a dollar store was not an easy thing to do for me. After almost 40 minutes, I came out of the store with 3 items that can be viewed as low-tech assistive technology.

#1 Felt: Like most individuals I use felt to protect my floors from scratches. However, felt can be use in the classroom, instead of tennis balls, to reduce the excessive amount of noise in one’s classroom. Furthermore, felt is not visually distracting like tennis balls. Some LD students have a hard time focusing in noisy environments. Some autistic kids are extremely sensitive to certain noises. I experienced, in the past, an autistic child get into a rage (slapping his head), when a woman at my Church started to scream when the rest of the congregation was silent. His mom and deacons had to take him out of the sanctuary (took him to a quiet room). In school, I sometime had to send some students (non-autistic) to the library to get their work done because my classroom was too noisy for them to focus.

#2 Knee pad for gardeners: No, I do not expect my LD students to kneel down during class. I bought the pad because I could cut off part of it to put at the front of a desk or laptop (comfortable resting place). Furthermore, the pads can also be use to prevent bruising in some autistic kids who can be oblivious to pain.

#3 Tri-Conderoga pencils: These pencils are perfect for individuals with poor to low motor skills (pencil grip). I purchased these pencils because of their width and sturdiness. I will be using them this week with the child I am doing my case study with, and will report on it during class.


knee pad for gardeners




tri-conderoga pencils

 

A-Frame for iPad. I purchased it at the Dollar store for 3$. It has a low angle holds. It is wrist-friendly when lay flat.

My Low-Tech Youtube video

On March 23, I selected this youtube presentation because the low-tech examples are simple. They can easily be use in all classroom (across levels).  Great options for teachers who do not have access to high-tech technology.