Saturday, October 18

Today's class was really interesting for a few reasons. One is that I always find learning the science behind an issue fascinating, and the movie segment from the Secret Life of the Brain did an excellent job of summarizing the development of the child's language capacities. It really is amazing to think about all of the concepts and skills that are necessary in order to hear, process, understand and create spoken and written language. The stories from the video were so inspiring and emotional because communication through language is so important to our development and well being, that losses or challenges to our capacity to communicate in any form can be devastating not only for the individual facing the challenge, but also for those who love and support them. Language is so central to our humanity in how it allows us to interact so significantly with others; to share ideas and feelings, and empowering us to contribute to society and manipulate our own environments. It is so easy to take these amazing feats of communication for granted until we see how even one missing concept or skill can stall the whole process of learning to read or write.
Secondly, it was amazing to learn there are programs out there designed to help students with developing these specific skillsand concepts for reading and writing, and that they aren't used more in every classroom! Why isn't this a required course for Bachelor of Education programs! Anyone who works with or has children could benefit from many of the programs available. When you think of all the different ways that we can learn and share our knowledge (i.e. multiple intelligences), and all the different resources that are available, it seems a real shame that it takes so long for these resources to actually become more mainstream and available for daily access in our classrooms. What a shame also that the schools which could benefit the most from these sorts of resources (Kurzweil, Bailey's Bookhouse, Classroom Suite, Earobics, etc) might also be the ones to lack the funding for computers and equipment necessary to run them.
I've always had an interest in communication and language development, as became evident in my undergraduate studies in psychology, which explains my concentrating on the language areas of assistive technology in this post. I could argue that I see more students affected by reading and writing difficulties in the classroom than I do by mobility issues. But as severe physical mobility challenges can often also present as language challenges, it seems the more an individual can express his/her needs and ideas, the better we can address his/her physical needs and determine the best solutions to an individual's physical challenges.

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