When it comes to a student’s ability to convey information in a clear manner, sometimes it can be a difficult task to undertake. Special needs students may have this experience more often than most, and it might take more to help them communicate effectively both in and out of the classroom, which is where AI can play a role.
Here we speak with Matt Gorin (Civics Lead Teacher at New York City Department of Education), Claire Keller, (Visual Arts, Education Liaison for the New York City Department of Education ), and Erin Laraway (Special Education Teacher and Sustainability Coordinator for the New York City Department of Education), about implementing AI solutions to help students better express themselves.
Giving students the ability to impact their learning environment is key, and communication is critical in making that happen. Technology use in the classroom doesn’t have to be complex in order to help students get their point across.
“First [we] highlighted the use of just very simple tech,” says Gorin. “Single switches to enable student choice. Then I wanted to show a progression of learning from available technology and how we can use that, especially with new AI tools, to really have the student’s thoughts come alive, and have them show interest. When they’re interested in things, then they want to learn more. They want to be more involved.”
Giving students the ability to communicate with ease can drastically improve attention spans in the classroom, in addition to improving interaction with the subject material. And finding tools that feature accessibility and ease of use can go a long way in helping special needs students get more involved.
“CoughDrop is a cloud-based AAC program (adapted and augmented communication program),” says Keller. The platform allows users to communicate in alternate ways, such as choosing images or symbols to form sentences. “I had been introduced to it through PD in District 75 with Amanda McKee (our Director of Arts). You can create your board and then access it from even an Amazon Kindle.”
With an AI-boosted program such as CoughDrop, students and teachers can access it from almost any device you have. But the main point is that students have the ability to interact in a way that allows them to help create the subject matter they use.
“Creating our rubrics, our kids co-generate our rubrics for every unit that we do,” says Keller. “The kids decide the levels of the rubrics. The kids describe the things at those levels, and then the next steps. I think [it was hard for the students] to vocalize what they thought the next steps should be. So we did the process and took video snippets and put that in the button so the next step would literally be a video of the next step happening, so that when they were in their peer discussions about their work for formative assessment, they were able to offer next steps to each other in a really impactful way.”
Even when a student has difficulty expressing themselves to a teacher or to their peers, finding simplified ways to provide communicative power to your students can make all the difference.
How to Get More Out of Your AI Tech
Helping students and teachers is well within the wheelhouse of AI, but we might not know the full extent of what certain tools can do for us. To realize those potential outcomes, Gorin says start by forging a good relationship with tech liaisons.
For example, “A thing I would suggest to teachers is that most buildings have an Adobe liaison or a tech liaison,” he says. “These companies love to reach out and give suggestions and show what’s going on. It’s good for teachers to learn, to feel comfortable, and to reach out to their vendors directly.”
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. The more information you garner from your vendors, the more information you have to give to your students. As Laraway explains, having this extra information can help immensely when dealing with special needs students.
“Technology has really opened doors for students with special needs,” says Laraway. “Some of our students have limited verbal abilities. What I’ve found, particularly teaching students with autism who do not like to make eye contact, is that using technology in the classroom through multiple types of applications has allowed me as a teacher to assess their knowledge in real time.”
Laraway also mentions the need to involve teachers in the decision-making process when it comes to what sorts of AI technology might fit best.
“Survey the teachers,” says Laraway. “Find out what their needs are. Every school district is different. Some school districts have more students with multilingual learners. They may rely more heavily on translation features or accessibility features. I think it varies depending on the population that the school serves.”
Keller cautions against trying to do too much at once. Picking your AI tech battles can help focus efforts.
“Pick a thing,” says Keller. “Figure out this particular program right now and they keep track for yourself of what areas you wish were different, or what doesn’t fully meet the needs of your students. It’s better than saying ‘I have to do all of this at once.’ Depth over breadth.”
As always, the support of your decision makers is critical.
“[We would like to] give a shout out to our wonderful principal,” says Laraway. “ Without her, none of this would be possible. She always gives us support.”
“A big thank you to [Barbara Tremblay], who really wants the teachers and the students to succeed,” adds Gorin.
If you want to achieve a higher level of communication with your special needs students, simplifying your tech offerings, learning what AI tech can accomplish by building rapport with your tech liaisons, getting your administration on board by showing the benefits, and learning what AI tech can best serve your students needs can help usher in a new level of accessibility for those who may not normally feel comfortable in a classroom.