Malayna Antramgarza, 5, looks at a picture of herself on an iPad during a class for students with disabilities at School 29 in Rochester on Tuesday. Thanks to the way kids have been focusing on the iPad applications, some of their symptoms, like having seizures, have been reduced substantially. / CARLOS ORTIZ/staff photographer
For most of her years in school, 10-year-old Haydee Lopez’s ability to participate in class was extremely limited.
The School 29 student has spinal muscular atrophy, which is slowly eroding her physical strength and has confined her to a wheelchair. The muscles in her hands are so weak that Haydee cannot hold a pencil. Her reach extends just a few inches from her body, so she cannot use a keyboard. While her body lacks physical strength, her mind is sharp, and helping her express herself is a constant challenge for her teachers.
But despite her limitations, this school year Haydee wrote her first report. Using an iPad, she was able to type out full sentences to demonstrate what she learned about dolphins.
“I think this is the first time she ever saw something she did from beginning to end,” said her teacher, Becky Robbins.
Haydee’s story highlights the success some city schools are seeing as they use the latest technology trend to help their special education students.
While other schools and districts have taken a broader approach to buying iPads — some putting them in the hands of every student at every grade level — Rochester is taking a more focused approach, targeting students in the primary grades and those with disabilities.
City school educators say that they see the greatest potential for the tablets among those two groups. While older students need to use technology for writing papers, creating Power Point presentations and doing research online, younger children and those with special needs have far more basic skills to master in the classroom — things like letters, numbers and colors.
“The needs aren’t the same,” said Randy Schenk, a teacher who is on special assignment supervising the iPad implementation. “Younger kids don’t need to be sitting on Microsoft Word typing when they don’t know how to write words yet.”
There are a number of applications that teach these skills in a game-like format that engages students, something Schenk calls “educational trickery.” Teachers at School 36 say that even when they allow the students to use the tablets for free time, the children opt for the educational applications.
The devices are also fairly simple for anyone to use, even those with severe physical or mental limitations. The ability of those students to participate like other children gives them a sense of normalcy, which in turn encourages them.
Some teachers are even using iPad applications — most only cost a few dollars, if at all — that allow students who cannot speak to communicate their needs by touching pictures, rather than DynaVox devices that cost thousands of dollars.
“This is changing instruction in the classroom for these kids,” said Tim Cliby, who oversees the City School District’s use of technology in the classrooms. “What we’re seeing is an opportunity for kids to actually engage in the classroom. It really is enriching their whole school experience.”
The district has purchased about 2,000 iPads, the vast majority of which have gone to kindergarten, first- and second-grade classrooms or those that serve special education students.
Integrated Arts and Technology High School has experimented with providing every student at one grade level with an iPad, but Principal Kevin Klein said computers that allow students to use the Internet seem to be more appropriate for the high school level.
The iPad’s effectiveness with special needs students is evident in Pat Markus’ classroom at School 29. While her kindergarten students are all 5 years old, most of them function mentally at the level of a 2-year-old. Markus must help them catch up on their developmental skills, while at the same time introduce them to concepts taught in kindergarten, such as tracing letters.
“My kids come in different every day,” Markus said. “I need to be ready to provide opportunities at a moment’s notice.”
Markus has seen students who normally do not participate in class take to the iPads, which helps them focus and gives them many different options for learning particular skills. Repetition is important for special-needs students, and her students can use the iPad to go through a lesson repeatedly, with little help from a teacher. There are applications that show pictures and say words so students can learn sounds, letters and vocabulary. And for some simply touching the screen serves as a form of occupational therapy.
“The kids are realizing, ‘Hey I don’t have to watch anymore, I can do this’ and they participate,” said Markus, adding that the iPad is the most effective tool she has seen in her 18 years as a special education teacher. “It’s like the world has opened up for this population.”
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