Early Childhood Special Education and Assistive Technology Blog

By:  Caitlyn Pagnottaro, ECSEAT Scholar So much has changed since I was a young child starting school. Looking back I can see what we valued then compared to what we value today. I remember that I played a lot. If we had circle time and other structured parts of the day I don’t remember it. I remember playing. I remember playing with my friends at the time inside and outside of the classroom. The preschool/kindergarten that I attended was private and the play area that we had behind our building was amazing. At least from what I recall as a small child it was because everything around me seemed so much bigger. There was a huge climbing structure that I used to hang off of, or climb to the highest point as if I were on the top of the world. We had this playhouse that you could climb up to which my girlfriends and I would all go up to together and hangout and giggle. I can’t remember anything academic that we ever did in preschool unless it involved a book and that was a...

By:   Kimberly Chouinard , EC-SEAT Scholar App Review : SeeSaw Learning During this time of remote learning, as of April 2020, it is important to consider a few features in selecting the right app for your program's needs and students in presenting, monitoring and assessing student performance: 1. How easy is this SeeSaw Learning app to use for teachers? This app is easy to navigate. It offers tutorials and support pages for teacher to support its use. 2. Ease of use for families and security of information? Parents are invited by teacher to join SeeSaw via email using their email and student code.  For remote learning, parents need to join as the "student" in order to complete work and share with teacher on the app. Compatible with several devices including, Chromebooks, computers, iPads, iPhones, Android tablets, Android phones, and Kindle Fire. 3. What ways or modes will this app give teachers to share learning experiences? The app contains a library of activiti...

By Alicia Giannelli, EC-SEAT Scholar Education has always shifted. It has changed and evolved based on current socio-cultural values and goals. Over time, these goals have changed based on societal needs and desires. When early education began it was very different than what we have today. That is because society’s needs and learning opportunities have changed. In the past, children needed to be home to help the family and did not need simple educational skills, but now education is for all children to allow them to explore the world around them and to get the skills needed to support themselves and their families later. “The modern human mind has evolved with the history of the human species” (Bodrova, 2007, pg 11). Today there are many cultural influences that affect the early childhood education practice. Some of these include the push-down method and behavior management. These two influences are changing the nature of teaching and what the early childhood classroom looks like. Wh...

By: Sue Stubbs , EC-SEAT Scholar Managing behavior in a classroom is ever changing. One’s style of behavior management is never the same from year to year, maybe similar but not exactly the same. Behavior management truly depends on the class dynamics. I have found some Low Cost and Low Tech Assistive Technology tools that work in a preschool classroom to help assist with behaviors and children with varying needs.  Specialized Chairs  Specialized chairs with leg support and Box Chairs help assist children with sitting. These tools help children  have upright posture when sitting at circle or at a table. It provides one with the ability to be able to focus and maintain attention during instruction time. Wiggle Cushion  These assist with attention and provides a child with sensory needs the ability to sit in a whole group or small group setting while providing some movement.  Weighted Blanket and Vests These help with sensory integratio...

by Laura Kazmierczak , EC-SEAT Scholar Tiggly chef is a free app that combines fun cooking creations and early addition math concepts through cause and effect. The app allows for flexibility with numbers and reinforces the addition process with verbal narration as the items chef identifies are chosen by the student. The app can be used for all children learning early addition math concepts and would be especially beneficial to a child who loves to pretend to cook. The app also provides customization capabilities with the options to create your own recipes, ingredients, and addition problems. With its variations in recipe problems the app eliminates the possibility of simply memorizing problems to get them right and aims for learning through purposeful or meaningful ways. The app requires finger isolation and the ability to drag items into a bowl. You can also drag more than one item at a time to make varying math problems with the ingredients. Once the recipe's math probl...

By: Carrie Portrie, M.Ed, EC-SEAT project coordinator and doctoral student at the University of New Hampshire Transcribed using VoiceBase  and human verification (audio available) CP: I'm here with Beth Setear Preschool Coordinator for the Portsmouth School district, and she's going to talk to us about the referral process for preschool a special education... And much more. BS: So the process begins when anybody has a concern about the development of a young child. Ages between the ages of three and five. Doctors can make referrals parents can make referrals child care centers can make referrals. We encourage childcare centers to have parents make the referral. So we can talk to them on the phone and gather some information. Usually we gather information about the child's history. And if they're in a preschool or childcare center we also ask [the center] to fill out a checklist. And that helps us understand what the concerns are. CP: What is the differ...