COLLABORATION

PROJECT
Assistive technology motivation
Overview

◦Problem Identification
◦Problem Analysis
◦Plan Development
◦Implementation
◦Plan Evaluation
 PROBLEM
IDENTIFICATION
The Student
◦ J is a 5th grade student who at the age of 2 was diagnosed and treated for bilateral
retinoblastoma causing a visual impairment
◦ J’s parents recently decided to fore go braille lessons due to J’s lack of
advancement and requested to begin a focus on technology
◦ In January J’s parents, general education teacher, and I identified that J was not
using the assistive technology consistently
◦ J’s teacher and I discussed that we would both work to remind J to keep the
assistive technology on his desk.
J’s Behavior
◦ J spends 50% of his time off task
◦ J’s off task behaviors include fidgeting in desk.
◦ Not starting tasks when prompted
◦ Task avoidance such as going to the bathroom, asking to get a drink, or “not being able to find
an assignment”
◦ J refused to follow along with text even if it was enlarged
◦ Would fly under the radar by not asking for help
PROBLEM ANALYSIS
General Education Teacher Meeting
◦ His teacher felt that if J were to use his assistive technology
◦ J would be more engaged
◦ Participate in lessons
◦ Spend less time off task
◦ Be able to access the general education curriculum
◦ Other factors
◦ His teacher had a VERY challenging student in her class that prevented us from taking action sooner
◦ We had tried a couple of other plans previously but were both unable to practice them with much fidelity
◦ We also believe this student made J feel guarded about his exceptionality
Student Interview
◦ J is aware that he was held back in first grade and is older then the other students in his
class
◦ J regularly mentions this fact to classmates and myself
◦ J compares himself to his younger brother
◦ J’s younger brother is in 4th grade and has an easy time with school
◦ J is close to his younger brother but his younger brother does not stick up for J to his friends and
allows his friends to say unkind things to him
◦ J does not want to be defined by his exceptionality
◦ He acts as if he is an inconvenience that takes up so much teacher time
◦ J wants to be like his other classmates
◦ J REALLY likes goldfish crackers
Operational Definition
◦ Location: J’s general education classroom
◦ J is a 5th grade student with visual impairment. J used assistive technology, in his
classroom, on average 5% of the time J was in class. When J is unable to see
visual representations J will engage in off task behaviors such as digging in his
desk, coloring in the margins of papers, coloring white boards, crawling on the
floor, talking with a friend, and fidgeting with objects. Due to these behaviors J
has missing assignments, does not understand the content, and distracts other
students.
 PLAN
DEVELOPMENT
Plan
◦ J needed to be responsible for his device
◦ J needed to understand the benefit of using his device
◦ J needed a reason to use his device as much as possible
◦ Teachers needed to be involved as little as possible
◦ J needed to be involved in the development
◦ IT HAD TO BE EASY
The Plan
◦ I would use gold fish crackers to motivate J to use his assistive technology
◦ J would get a bag of goldfish crackers after his first recess if he used his assistive technology
for his self starter in the morning and brought it with him for group
◦ J would get a cup of goldfish at 2:45 during group is he used his assistive technology all day.
◦ His general education teacher and I would monitor how often we had to prompt J to get
his assistive technology out
◦ In the beginning I would ask J questions after he used his assistive technology to help
him recognize how much easier it makes participating with his peers
◦ I would also talk with a para that also assists this student in other general education
environments
◦ On March 12th we would get to together to evaluate our plan
Baseline observations
◦ J would avoid using the assistive technology
◦ When prompted J would agree and then never get his machine
◦ J would spend a lot of time disengaged from lessons with visual representations
◦ J was observed crawling on the floor, fidgeting in desk, coloring on white boards,
drawing, and other off task behaviors
◦ When lessons were accommodated J would participate effectively
◦ When J used assistive technology J would participate in lessons
Baseline Data
The Goal

◦ By March 12th, 2018, J will have his assistive technology on his desk at least 80%
of the general education instruction and desk work time, with no more than two
reminder prompts from either the special education teacher or his general
education teacher, for three consecutive days.
IMPLEMENTATION
The beginning
◦ J would use his device in the morning or closer to the end of the day just to get some goldfish but was not
using it for the entire day
◦ I had to work in another time for goldfish so that he would use his device throughout the entire day especially as soon
as he got into class because once the device was on his desk he would use it during every lesson
◦ The teacher and I talked and decided goldfish after first recess would work with the contingency that his device was on his desk as
soon as he came into class and he brought it to group as well as used it after group since that was the point in the day that had the
highest amounts of transitions

◦ He wanted to work in places where his device was not easily used
◦ I brought in a laptop lap-desk from home so J could sit on the floor with his device.
◦ His device would run out of battery half way through the day and J would be unable to use it
◦ We had to come up with a charging schedule
Observations
◦ J began to come in every morning and put his device on his desk without prompting
◦ J would use his device for all class activities
◦ J started bringing his devices to appropriate specials
◦ J began to use his screen reader without being prompted to
◦ J spent 75% of class times on task, engaging in the subject manor
◦ J stopped getting frustrated with teachers and paraprofessionals
◦ J began asking for help!
 percentage of
classroom time J's Aimline:

Monitored Classroom Times

assistive monitored
technology is on classroom
Date day J's desk times
3/13/2018 1 0 0
3/14/2018 2 20
J's use of assistive technology 3/15/2018 3 0
3/16/2018 4 0
3/19/2018 5 40
100 3/20/2018 6 60
%of classrom time J has technology on desk

y = 9.6154x - 7.3077 3/22/2018 7 90

90
4/2/2018 8 90
80 4/3/2018 9 95
percentage of classroom time J's assistive
70 technology is on J's desk 4/4/2018 10 100
60 4/5/2018 11 100
4/6/2018 12 100
50
4/9/2018 13 85
40 Aimline: monitored classroom times 4/10/2018 14 100
30 4/11/2018 15 90
4/12/2018 16 80
20
10
0 Linear (Aimline: monitored classroom times)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Day
 prompts given
Date Week Prompts given (aim line)

Prompts 3/13/2018
3/14/2018
3/15/2018
1
2
3
8
4
6
8

3/16/2018 4 2
3/19/2018 5 5
3/20/2018 6 3
How often J was prompted to use his Technology 3/22/2018 7 0
4/2/2018 8 1
9
4/3/2018 9 0
8 4/4/2018 10 0
4/5/2018 11 0
7 4/6/2018 12 0
Prompts given 4/9/2018 13 0
6
4/10/2018 14 0
prompts given

5 4/11/2018 15 0
4/12/2018 16 0 2
4
prompts given (aim line)
3

1
Linear (prompts given (aim line))
y = -0.4515x + 5.65
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Day
EVALUATION
Did it work?
◦ The data speaks for itself
◦ It seems more like J needed an excuse to use his assistive technology
◦ He is now using the other items that go along with his device more often
◦ He brings his monocle with him when his device is available
◦ He isn’t as upset when he is referred to as blind
◦ He doesn’t act as if he is an inconvenience
Other factors
◦ A very difficult student was removed from his class
◦ Won the school science fair and presented his project at the University of Utah
◦ Spring Break
Next steps
◦ I would love to not have to buy so much Goldfish Crackers
◦ I plan to decrease the amount that he is getting until he is using his device without needing an extrinsic
motivator
◦ However if he were to decrease his use of his device I would need to reinstate the goldfish cracker
incentive
CEC Ethical Principles and Professional
Practice Standards for Special Educators
◦ Maintaining a high level of professional competence and integrity and exercising professional
judgment to benefit individuals with exceptionalities and their families.
◦ Advocating for professional conditions and resources that will improve learning outcomes of
individuals with exceptionalities