Social Fortune and Fate/Comics Head

As a member of the Social Thinking® Blogging Team, I am happy to be given the occasional opportunity to review one of their excellent products (I have them all anyway)! In this post, I will be taking a look at Social Fortune or Social Fate: A Social Thinking Graphic Novel for Social Quest Seekers (SFOF) by Dr. Pamela Crooke and Michelle Garcia Winner. This book is positioned as geared toward Middle School students and a great starting point for teaching Social Thinking concepts to older kids, and it is indeed both.

SFOF is formatted as a graphic novel with a twist- one half of the book depicts episodes where characters make "unexpected" social choices and must deal with how they have changed others emotions in negative ways, leading to icky consequences. Flip the book over and the episodes, with identical situations, are presented as the characters utilize expected behaviors, with more positive emotions and consequences resulting. The episodes include ten situations very relevant to middle and high school settings (upper elementary, too), including participating in class discussions, group work, finishing homework, asking for help, figuring out what to say when hanging out, and dealing with boring moments.

Image from Social Thinking website, product description page.

Each situation is depicted, discussed, and analyzed with a number of visual and conceptual tools that you can target with students in many other "teachable moments" beyond the contexts of the book. These include a spin on Social Thinking's Social Behavior Mapping technique, in which behaviors are linked to others' thoughts/feelings, consequences and feelings about the self, here called the Road of Social Fortune or Fate. Once explored, this concept can be used in all sorts of situations across the home and school day (see also the book on Social Behavior Mapping or its in-depth teaching via Think Social). The book also includes "Emotion Meters" and a "Problem Thermometer" to emphasize  understanding of behavioral impacts on others' emotions and the "Size of Problem" strategy.

One of my favorite aspects of the book, besides the Manga graphics which kids tend to find engaging, is the use of "Strategy Codes" related to the episodes to emphasize ways of thinking about the social world. Geared to access kids' interest in games ("cheat codes" can be used to navigate through levels of various video games), these handy acronyms are ripe for visual display and reference in your therapy room. These include MOBS (Moments of Boredom Survival), FOTO (Filter Thoughts and Opinions Often), TAC (Think About Choices), and FBI-ESP (Feel it Big Inside, Express it Smaller in Public). Once established in your students' memory, these can provide quick ways of providing feedback on both expected and unexpected behaviors.

Like many aspects of Social Thinking, kids will need some time and extra activities to process and apply the information in this book, and I have mentioned before that I would be reviewing some Social Thinking products with a tech spin. I often pair lessons from SFOF with comic creation, a natural connection to the contexts of the book. Real-life photo comics can be great to create with students, but can take a bit of work with the staging and acting involved (see Story Me for a great way to get your feet wet with this type of app). I like at first to use comic creation apps that contain some content, i.e. characters and backgrounds. For awhile, this was an area lacking in iPad-dom (but see the wonderful Pixton if you have a laptop available), but this changed with the release of Comics Head (free, with full version allowing for unlimited editable comics available at 3.99).

Comics Head is a one-stop comic creator allowing you to select from a variety of character styles, emotions, and settings, including importing background images from the Camera Roll. Though the menu takes a few minutes to get used to, you (and students) can create comics with ease once familiar with the features. Comics Head also works well when paired with the Story Grammar Marker® methodology to help students plan their stories- what will the characters, setting, and initiating events be? The app, like Pixton, allows you to save your comic as a template; you can therefore remix the comic showing the characters making different social choices and experiencing corresponding likely consequences.

I have used Comics Head in this way to make comics in which students apply the various Strategy Codes from SFOF- this one was a TAC (Think about Choices), and although not exactly a nuanced interpretation of that strategy, was great work for this student!

Comics Head also lets you insert (and trim!) saved pictures, thus allowing for limitless contexts. Beyond Strategy Codes, you can consider creating comics for situations not addressed in the book or, for younger students, comics relevant to the Superflex! curriculum.

As always, YouTube is a great source of video tutorials on any app, including Comics Head.

I hope you will check out Social Fortune or Social Fate (and Comics Head). Even if you are just getting started, both of these resources will open a lot of doors for you!

Disclosure: Author was provided a free copy of this book (but already had it!) by Social Thinking, based on the work of Michelle Garcia Winner, and is a contractor for provision of blog content and workshop presentations for Mindwing Concepts, creator of the Story Grammar Marker.

30/30

30/30 is a free app that I have used in lessons specific to teaching kids about executive functioning, but it can be used with many contextual tasks (e.g. a game, project, or assignment) to help students build planning, time estimation and self-monitoring, including social behaviors that contribute to effective task completion. The app is basically a timer, but it allows you to break down tasks into their component parts and guesstimate time for each. 30/30 also allows you to color code task elements, which works well if you are using strategies such as Sarah Ward's "Get Ready-Do-Done" approach.

For any task, you can give it a label at the top of the screen (main idea), then double tap each task element to edit its description and time interval, as well as color. The app is VERY gesture-based, but provides a tutorial when you first open it- my recommendation is to screen shot this or write the information down so you can remember what the different gestures do. Also be aware of the settings (tap the cogs)- you can turn off notifications and sounds, especially for those who get nervous with timers, and this area also allows you to email the complete list of tasks onscreen, which is great for collaboration with other educators or parents working with the student. You can also upload task lists to iCloud for use with different students or groups. This is a nice app to use in conjunction with an interactive whiteboard to keep ALL students on task.

Have you tried 30/30? Let us know in the comments what you think of it!

Still Space Available- PD Opportunity in Boston Area

I am happy once again to be offering the "Technology Links to Language Intervention" course starting in February. This is a hybrid course with a 6-hr face-to-face workshop in Waltham on February 6, 2014 followed by an required online component, offered for PDPs and an optional graduate credit available from Framingham State College (not for official ASHA CEUs). The online activities require about an hour weekly and run through March 14, 2014.

In this class, you will:
-experience models of technology integration with curriculum contexts and IEP objectives
-evaluate web and mobile (iPad) resources according to the FIVES criteria
-learn many tech tricks and practice them with peers
-create pre- and post-activities around technology resources and contexts that further clinical objectives
-access channels for further learning about technology integration in your work.

My favorite part of the course is when I get to step back a bit (but not totally!) and let participants engage with each other around selected articles related to tech integration and language-enriching methodologies, as well as create and share with each other exemplars of work created with web tools and apps.

This course is designed to be helpful to SLPs and anyone else who works closely with language development issues, such as ESL/ELL teachers, literacy specialists, or special education teachers. The course is listed as being geared toward K-8 but has applicability for the preschool and high school populations as well.

You can find all the information and registration materials here! (registration is managed entirely through EDCO) Hope to see some of you there.

Daisy the Dinosaur

Did you hear about the Hour of Code? This initiative in computer science education was featured in December 2013 in many schools where students were encouraged to work on programming projects. While programming might seem far removed from special education, it incorporates many skills our students need: language, sequencing, cause-effect, problem solving!

So it's nice to see some apps available that address these skills in very basic ways. Daisy the Dinosaur is an app that was actually designed to attract girls to programming, but it can be "repurposed" for speech and language activities:

The app has two modes: free-play and challenge. In "free-play," you can move the dinosaur using a number of verbs or modifiers. In challenge mode, you are given a set condition to achieve, such as making Daisy spin five times.

I do wish the app allowed you to select specific or leveled challenges instead of requiring you to proceed through them sequentially (though in doing so, you can note which programs you can instruct students to achieve). However, for a free app it offers a fun and engaging way to develop skills of following directions and sentence formulation (particularly sentences using the subordinating conjunction when). Additionally, as the app consists of selectable actions, it could be used to develop narrative action sequences.

Timeline

The folks at ReadWriteThink are doing a nice job turning a number of their language-based web tools into apps- that are free, to boot. Brought to us by the International Reading Association, these apps including Trading Cards and RWT Timeline make great use of some of the features the iPad has to offer. Namely, it's great when an app lets you set up profiles for students or groups for saving work, as we often don't complete activities with students in one session, and can focus more on the language opportunities inherent in creative processes if you can come back and complete work. These apps also allow you to add pictures from the camera roll (which, if saved from the internet, provide endless visual contexts) and share in various formats, facilitating consultation and collaboration. Additionally, the RWT apps have a mature look and feel that fills in some of the dearth of apps geared toward middle-high school students.

What can you do with a timeline, or more specifically the RWT Timeline app? Break down any sequence, a story line, or historical content. It's very simple to use, and again, FREE, so I hope you will check it out!

Common Core Connection:

-CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.6.2 Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study. 

-CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.6.4 Present claims and findings, sequencing ideas logically and using pertinent descriptions, facts, and details to accentuate main ideas or themes; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.

PD Opportunity in Boston Area

I am happy once again to be offering the "Technology Links to Language Intervention" course starting in February. This is a hybrid course with a 6-hr face-to-face workshop in Waltham on February 6, 2014 followed by an required online component, offered for PDPs and an optional graduate credit available from Framingham State College (not for official ASHA CEUs). The online activities require about an hour weekly and run through March 14, 2014.

In this class, you will:
-experience models of technology integration with curriculum contexts and IEP objectives
-evaluate web and mobile (iPad) resources according to the FIVES criteria
-learn many tech tricks and practice them with peers
-create pre- and post-activities around technology resources and contexts that further clinical objectives
-access channels for further learning about technology integration in your work.

My favorite part of the course is when I get to step back a bit (but not totally!) and let participants engage with each other around selected articles related to tech integration and language-enriching methodologies, as well as create and share with each other exemplars of work created with web tools and apps.

This course is designed to be helpful to SLPs and anyone else who works closely with language development issues, such as ESL/ELL teachers, literacy specialists, or special education teachers. The course is listed as being geared toward K-8 but has applicability for the preschool and high school populations as well.

You can find all the information and registration materials here! (registration is managed entirely through EDCO) Hope to see some of you there.

Cloudart

Wordle has long been hailed as a great visual way to work with language. Text or a web address (URL) can be pasted into this tool and then a word "cloud" is displayed, with emphasis on more frequently used words. In this way, the tool can be used with any digital text passage or content related website, and the visual that results can be used to develop vocabulary and skills of identifying main idea.

Worldle is not iPad-friendly due to its basis in Java, but Cloudart ($.99) is a great translation of this tool to the iPad platform.

Cloudart has a very simple interface, but with many features that make it useful! Simply copy a block of text via Safari or perhaps from an electronic book in iBooks (many samples of novels commonly used in educational settings are free), or a text-based URL (e.g. the Wikipedia article on any academic topic), and the app will generate your cloud. You can then customize it visually, and even tap to remove or change the emphasis of irrelevant/key words. The cloud can be saved as an image to the camera roll or emailed. 

Common Core Connection:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.2 Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.2 Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.4 Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 5 topic or subject area.

Column Archive

I am excited to have been asked to contribute more columns to The ASHA Leader in 2014. This is a great opportunity and I am grateful to the editors there for helping me with the writing!

I started an archive of these columns and it is now displayed on the FIVES Criteria, Columns and Free Booklets page of this blog (accessible via the links under the banner when viewing the full site). The links to the columns are also here:

November 1, 2013. Mobile Devices Show You the World

August 1, 2013. Welcome to Kindergarten!

July 1, 2013. App-ing Up for ASHA Convention

June 13, 2013. Gather Around the Virtual Meeting Table

April 1, 2013. Apps for High Schoolers with Autism

March 1, 2013. Vocal Workouts go Mobile

August 28, 2013. Apps that Crack Curriculum Content

October 9, 2012. App-Enabled Telepractice

May 15, 2012. Slash your Workload

April 3, 2012. Tech to Ease IEP Pain

Write About This

Write About This is an app designed by educators that uses the technique of providing photo prompts as a way to foster writing skills. Visuals such as those in this app give students a place to start with their language, and the prompts that come with the app provide a context to develop writing with the use of strategies such as story grammar mapping or use of expository text structure (list, sequence, description, etc).

What I like particularly about the app is that the authors didn't stop at simply substituting printed photo prompts with an app version, but incorporated a few key features of the iPad to make this a more powerful resource. While students can type onscreen (and text or text/images can be sent via email to continue developing the work in class), they also can "Publish with Audio" and save their visual work with an audio narration as a movie on the Camera Roll. Additionally, pictures taken with the iPad or saved to the Camera Roll can be used in the app to create customized photo prompts. This would give clinicians or teachers the opportunity to work with a group of students to select a great photo and create a prompt for another group of students to use. Presenting the recorded audio between groups will also allow you to work on auditory comprehension.

Write About This is available in a full-featured free version with a limited number of prompts (about 50 as opposed to 375). I was excited to see that the authors are developing another app called Tell About This, which takes the writing component out and focuses on oral language prompts for younger students.

iPad 101 Webinar

If you feel like you could use some strategies to get your feet wet with your iPad, or know others that could use a contextual introduction to increase their comfort with integrating technology in their work, please sign up for or share my upcoming webinar for ASHA. The content of the webinar will be presented as sort of a "week in the life of an SLP with an iPad," chiefly geared toward the school setting but generalizable to other areas of practice.

The information is below, and you can register here. The webinar will be broadcast live on 2/16/14 and available as a replay for the following year.

This webinar will familiarize you with the basic functions of the iPad in order to more effectively use its associated tools for productivity and clinical application. Sean Sweeney, speech-language pathologist and instructional technology specialist, will demonstrate key tricks for applying the iPad in clinical settings, including use of the Camera and Photos apps, Calendar, Notes, and web-browsing with Safari. This webinar will include an exploration of accessibility settings, strategies for app evaluation, and free or low-cost ancillary apps to facilitate your integration of this powerful tool. The webinar will present strategies applicable in the context of a typical school week, but those suggested can be generalized to other settings. 

Image via Creative Commons: Sean MacEntee on Flickr