Hi! Thanks for catching another episode of PATINS TV. I am Kelli Suding, just one of
the 8 specialists with the PATINS Project. Today, I thought I would spend a few minutes
to give you some quick tips to help lessen the overwhelm of the plethora of links to
tools that you may have been getting recently to support your learners either online or
in the classroom. (music playing)
So, If you are like I used to be, you attend a professional development, bookmark a ton
of new ideas and tools, get excited about them and want to try them all out at once.
You then share them with a student or students and have this excited expectation that they
will take it and run with it because you feel it will really help them. Then here comes
the burnout….yours and the students and all of those new ideas and tools get parked...until
one day you are working with another student who may need certain accommodation...and then
you think….now...what was that called?
One thing I try to tell fellow educators is to focus on the student...and not necessarily
the tool. Which is why I want to share the SETT Framework with you because it does exactly
that for you when you are considering an assistive technology tool for your student. That is
an acronym SETT. If you do not have the SETT Framework in your world yet...well, today
is the day my friends.
So the SETT framework helps in the decision making and implementation of the tools. It
is broken down into phases to help you be intentional when making considerations for
the assistive tech accommodations. Joy Zabala who is a dear friend of the PATINS staff has
so graciously created forms for immediate use so there is no need to recreate the wheel.
What I love about the SETT Framework is that the student is in the forefront of every phase.
The S stands for student and it’s really focusing on the abilities of that student,
any concerns, interests and what exactly are the expectations? This framework supports
remaining with high expectations for our students and not lowering them.
I appreciate this framework because the S or the student does not get parked in the
process. The student stays side by side with that E...to the T...and to the T. The E is
for the environment. It makes you really be intentional in making considerations about
not only the physical space but our supports, our instruction and if it is accessible, if
staff does or does not have high expectations for that student. If we are not presuming
competence for our students, that can be an enormous barrier and really be addressed when
having conversations about the environment
The T represents the task. This is where we need to consider the IEP goals and objectives
and then what the specific tasks are for mastering those goals and objectives and all specific
tasks that are needed for active participation.
Then onto the last but not least….but always LAST...are the Tools. The tools being any
devices, accommodations, training, services. Those are the initial tools that I mentioned
at the start that can be overwhelming as to how to begin and what will be usable, accessible
tools for your students. Once you have considered the student in all phases….you can pair
their needs with appropriate accommodation. I get asked a lot, “what's your favorite
app?” and I respond with “what is the goal?”
I do want to say to remember, new tools means training. These are new skills that will need
to be taught, otherwise students get frustrated and give up. For example, when using speech
to text, there is typically a delay in the text on the device as we speak and that really
bothers students and mixes up the fluidity of their writing. A solution can be to cover
the screen with a piece of paper so they do not focus on that delay and just speak...then
go back and read and make edits. Also, create opportunities for them to succeed in using
a tool and this can be done by beginning with a preferred activity so that they can practice
and ultimately master the skill.
This is the SETT Framework in a nutshell. Please check out the links in the show notes
to dive deeper and get supports for the implementation and you find all of the forms needed to get
started. I hope this helps with lessening that overwhelm of so many new tools and not
knowing where to begin. If you would like any tips or tricks on implementation of accommodations
for students with autism or specific learning disabilities, or with the SETT Framework please
reach out to me anytime at ksuding@patinsproject.org. That is k-s-u-d-i-n-g at p-a-t-i-n-s project.
Org
Thanks for watching this episode of PATINS TV. Please know that if you are an Indiana
educator, you may borrow assistive technology devices/solutions from our lending library
at no cost to you. Also, If you would like more information on no cost trainings, please
contact us anytime. Thank you and bye for now.
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That is p-a-t-i-n-s project.org