Adapted Mouse and Keyboard

This is a link to a Diigo list of different types of mice and keyboards that can be used by people with varying disabilities.

Technology for all Students

Recently I had the opportunity to use a few different computer programs that can be used to help students with disabilities (and those without) to complete assignments.

Kurzweil 3000 allows text to be input and read aloud to students. Teachers can make spaces for the students to respond via typing. This program has great potential, but it is difficult to use. Extensive study will be required for the teacher to feel proficient enough to use it with students.

Form Pilot allows a teacher to scan a copy of a worksheet onto the computer so that a student may respond by typing instead of writing. This program is much more user friendly than Kurzweil, and I had few problems while using it.

IntelliTools Classroom Suite provides students with opportunities to working on reading, writing, and math skills. Teachers can create assessments and follow students' progress. In addition, it has a word predictor tool, as well as a picture dictionary to aid writing. There are also puzzles to play. It is easy for teachers to develop programs with, and it comes with templates for a variety of different activities.

Boardmaker from Mayer-Johnson is a picture vocabulary system. Many classrooms for children with autism utilize Boardmaker pictures for picture schedules and other activities. The program is easy to use, contains multicultural pictures, and allows teachers to use tools to edit pictures to their liking.

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

"The Negro Speaks of Rivers" by Langston Hughes
Made with Microsoft PhotoStory 3

Let's Get Ergonomical

Living in campus housing has its advantages and disadvantages. I don’t have to go far for class, which is nice, but I also have no control over the furniture in my room. It is standard issue dorm furniture (read: boxy, heavy wood dresser, bureau, desk chair and desk) that, in addition to being unattractive, is hard (if not impossible) to rearrange and periodically gives me splinters because it’s so old.

This brings me to the topic at hand: the ergonomics of my desk setup. First, let us look at my desk chair. As you can see in the picture, this chair (standard issue) is not particularly appropriate for someone of my height (yes, I am approximately 5’2”), so my feet do not touch the ground if I am sitting with my back straight and against the back of the chair (I also often have this problem while riding city buses, but I digress). A simple solution would be to get some sort of foot rest so that my knees would be at a 90 degree angle and my feet would rest on something. This one, which I found on askergoworks.com, also massages feet.

A chair with good lumbar support would also be good for my lower back, particularly considering my current chair literally has no lumbar support. An adjustable chair would also be helpful as my desk was made for someone much taller and there is approximately 4 to 6 inches of space between my thighs and the desk, which seems excessive. This one, also found at askergoworks.com, fits those criteria.

According to the Cornell Ergonomics website, my keyboard and mouse should be placed so that my “forearms are parallel to my thighs,” generally through the use of a keyboard tray. My desk, however, did not come equipped with drawers, much less a keyboard tray. Also, since I use a laptop, an external keyboard would be necessary. This one (from askergoworks.com) decreases finger strain by having Tab, Enter, and Backspace keys in the middle of the keyboard. My keyboard does currently slant slightly downward, as suggested, because my computer has taken to overheating and now sits on a cooling fan. While I have gotten used to the fan, I admit that it is tiring to type now because my forearms rest on my computer but my elbows are in the air while I type. This increases the tension that I already have in my shoulders, as well as leads to headaches from the back, lower part of my head. Also, having my wrists resting on the computer increases the pressure on my nerves. My computer screen appears to be at an appropriate position, though it could probably be higher. My mouse is comfortably located on my right (while I am left handed, I have much more difficulty controlling the mouse with that hand, so I use my right). I also do not currently use a document holder, but I am generally working on assignments from the Internet or from memory, so I am not often looking down while typing.

There are definitely ways that I can make my workspace more ergonomical, so these resources are helpful to me. The most interesting piece of information I found was concerning my mouse. Overuse of the scroll wheel can apparently cause some sort of thumb overuse problem called DeQuervain’s Disease. See how it affects your hands at WebMD.

Thank you Wikipedia.org and WebMD.com for increasing the amount of information us hypochondriacs have at our fingertips.

Bookmarking Tools

I decided to check out ma.gnolia as a bookmarking tool. It's interesting, though I don't really completely understand it yet. Check out my bookmarks. They are a combination of resources for autism, adaptive/assistive technology, and general classroom helps.

In other, unrelated news, I hope this posts because my Internet has been kicking me offline every 10 minutes for the past four weeks. It's even more frustrating because I live in campus housing and can't do anything about it other than complain to the powers that be (which I have. Multiple times. Me, along with half the building). Ok, enough of that rant.

Livin' the (Second) Life

This is Sara and me hanging out on TC Island

Sara, me, and Pantea listening to the lecture in Milbank Chapel in Second Life.

$1 Design Challenge

My object looks like an ordinary piece of wood, but it can be so much more. I chose a coffee stirrer. While generally used to help mix cream and sugar into someone's daily burst of caffeine, the simple coffee stirrer has many other potential uses.






In lieu of a paintbrush, a coffee stirrer can be used to spread paint or glue. This is especially useful in that you can just throw it away after and not worry about that annoying problem of having hard paintbrush bristles which inevitably reduces the life of expensive brushes.




The other day, I got fruit from the cafeteria before class, but I didn't want to eat it with my fingers. If I couldn't find a plastic fork, I was planning on using a handy-dandy coffee stirrer as an impromptu utensil to spear my pineapple. Luckily, I found a fork, but it reminded me that a wooden stick is useful in so many ways.