Project ENABLE - Day 1

Day 1 started off with a bit of a whimper.  We've had lots of technology and connectivity issues and spent a fair amount of time sorting all that out.  We had a fun introduction session where we met a great number of the participants in the room, speed-dating style.  I learned a little bit about a lot of people in a short time.  We also did a short pre-assessment to see how comfortable we are with information about disabilities, accommodations, IEP's, and presenting what we know/what we learn to others.  I was surprised at the things that I didn't feel like I had a huge amount of information about.  Of course, I didn't apply to come to this course because I had a firm grasp on how to best serve our students with disabilities, rather to find out what we're doing well and what we can improve, so I guess it's good to have gaps in my knowledge.
It was interesting to see the different perspectives of the workshop attendees and apply conversations Colleen & Brigitte and I have had over the course of the last day and projects that we've worked on over the course of the last few years.
After struggling through the technology quagmire this morning, we did a little simulation exercise, which I volunteered to participate in--I'm a big volunteerer.  :) I sat in a chair trying to listen to someone read me a passage on trolls texting while one person gently poked my neck, another rubbed my arm, and another read a different book loudly in my ear.  The idea was to simulate the experience a student with autism might encounter trying to focus in the course of the day.  It was really difficult to focus and kind of an eye-opener for many of us--definitely for me anyway.
We discussed disability law and the ways that a student might qualify for services--this was an area that I felt reasonably familiar with.   We were also provided with a chart to help us to identify various characteristics that students with certain disabilities might exhibit.  Colleen pointed out that we should be careful not to exclusively label a student based on one or more of these characteristics--it is important to look at the person first, and the disability (and symptoms thereof) later.  I found that some of the experiences I had with more severely disabled folks before I became a librarian are helpful in understanding some of the disabilities we've discussed.  Between these two jobs, I have had some experience with nearly every disability we discussed in one form or another.
After lunch, we discussed the role of the librarian, special and general educator in the special education process--interesting to see the different perspectives.  I also learned a bit about privacy laws, school libraries, circulation systems and overdue notices.  This is definitely a subject I'll be doing a little further research on.
Another interesting task that we took on today was attempting to navigate a simulation of a website delivered via screen reader.  his simulation and several others are available here: WebAim Simulations.  This simulation was incredibly frustrating, but led to an great discussion on how to better design websites to make them more accessible for those who need to use a screen reader.  As I'm thinking of redesigning the library website, I made a few notes on how to better design it to be accessible to all.
We finished the day with a discussion on Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning.  The principle behind these ideas is pretty simple--if you follow the guidelines put forward, you'll not only make things better and more accessible for your students with special needs, you'll make things better for everyone.  Cast.org has a lot of resources on Universal Design for Learning.  Our homework assignment dealt with taking a lesson plan and modifying it to reflect UD and UDL principles.  While I have enjoyed the formal and informal collaboration with my teammates thus far, this was one area where it was fantastic to have all three perspectives--special educator, general educator and librarian.  We pulled apart the lesson, discussed it's strengths and weaknesses and how and why we would change it, then discussed how we'd modify it to include UD and UDL principles.  It was an interesting lesson plan, and we're already plotting ways to modify it for use with a 7th grade class in our school, as well as how to tweak it for possible use in government and economics classes.  I'll take inspiration wherever I can find it!
Tomorrow I'm going to try to increase my note-taking and in-the-moment tweeting to better capture the experience.  Today's tech issues bogged me down a bit.  Thanks to Brigitte for the notes!