A Shopping We Will Go!

Yesterday Jill and I set out to the dollar store to see what we could find that could be used as low tech assistive devices. I wasn't sure how easy a task this would be but to my surprise it was a fairly simple task. As we roamed the aisles it did not take us long to find many items that would be suitable to use with some of our students to help make their learning more purposeful. The item that we chose to talk about that we found at the store is a clipboard. The clipboard can be used with any students that may need to move away from the table to have a quiet work space. One of my students with ADHD would often take a clipboard and find a quiet corner to work in. Also a clipboard is good to use when the students are required to roam the room or maybe working outside so that they have a solid surface to work on.

For the students who have a difficult time holding on to their pencil or pen a string can be added to the clipboard and the pencil attached so that the student will not loose their pencil.

A cookie sheet is another great tool to use in the classroom. It has a magnetic surface so students can use magnetic letters/numbers or shapes to help in doing spelling and reading activities and it also gives a defined work space for the students.

Flower foam is another item that we found yesterday. We thought it could make a great pencil holder for a child's desk. It could be velcroed down to the table and the pencil, pens, markers etc could be placed in it and they would stand up and be very easily accessible to any students. this would be a great organizational tool for a student with autism or ADHD. Having it right on their desk would be a great visual for them to remember where to place the pencils when they are done.

A mirror is another good tool to use in a classroom. If there is a child who has a hard time with emotions and expressing themselves, having a mirror available for them to see what their face looks like when they are angry and to help control those emotions. Also, mirrors are good tom have when teaching students sounds and what their mouths should look like when making that sound.

These are a few items that we found while on our little shopping excursion. The opportunities are endless and almost anything can be adapted to meet the needs of many of our students. A few other things that we found are

- velcro (used to adapt toys or items)

- bucket and clothespins (using their pincer grasp students have to put the clothespins around the top of the bucket and than take them off and put inside the bucket.

- balloons with flour in them (stress ball)

- velcro baseball mitt (for students who have a hard time closing their hands, the ball will stick to their mitt)

- Fly swatter - great for having children point to things around the room

- large roll of tape (attach to corner of a desk for a student who used a cane. The cane is than off the floor and hanging on the side of the desk)

- velcro bowl (this item is great for a student with cerebral palsy, if they only have use of one arm. they don't have to worry about having to hold on to the bowl)

- magnifying glass ( for student with a visual impairment to help magnify words

- ball cap (for students who are bothered or sensitive to light the cap would block some of that light out.

These are just a few of our items that we found while out shopping. We are looking forward to creating our own technology that would help some students.