Mac OS User Tabbing
For Mac OS users, there is a system setting that may not allow you to tab onto several types of elements in a web page. To change this setting:
Open System Preferences and go to Keyboard:
Select the Shortcuts tab. Make sure the box for "Use keyboard navigation to move focus between controls" is checked.
Additional settings for Safari Browser.
Open Safari Preferences:
Select the Advanced tab. Make sure the box for "Press Tab to highlight each item on a webpage" is checked.
There are a lot of moving parts in a school. It takes all of them to make it work. One of those components that doesn’t always get the most attention is our support staff. Our support staff, teachers aides and paraprofessionals, take on a myriad of responsibilities and duties each day. Those duties can range from crosswalk duty to PECs implementation to sometimes student toiletry needs. They deal with students that have behaviors. They continue to learn the strategies and techniques to help mitigate those behaviors. Through all the training that our teachers and paras have received from the Oklahoma Autism Center, we have learned that behaviors are communication. A student who does have language yet will act out to communicate their needs or emotions. The one thing that we cannot do is to give up on those students and believe that the behaviors will define their educational experience.
Recently, Mrs. Potter trained our teachers aides and paraprofessionals at Washington to implement the Picture Exchange Communication System. We have posted articles and information about PECs in the past. It is a system of teaching students to use pictures to communicate. Normally, these are students who have come to school with no verbal language. Not only do those students not have verbal language, but also they sometimes do not even have the intent to communicate. PECS helps those students to bridge the gap between picture exchange and verbal communication. In the last 5 years that we have implemented this system, Washington has had 14 students who have been taught how to use the system. Five of those students have acquired verbal language skills. Two have moved out of the district in the middle of implementation. Seven are currently learning the system. It has been a game changer for students. These pictures become their voice. Can you imagine trying to communicate your day to day needs or worse a life threatening situation without a voice or words? It is literally a life saver for these students.
It cannot be accomplished without our paras and teachers aides. Our Speech Pathologists, Beki Houston and Hattie Potter, are the best in the business at teaching our students this system, but they also rely heavily on our aides and paras to complete implementation. Our students require much practice with teachers, students, paras, aides, and administrators to master this system. The support staff is on the front lines everyday. During our training, we were able to watch PECS implementation in practice by viewing some videos of students in the various phases of training. It was super rewarding to see how far these students have come. The school business isn’t the most prolific financial sector, but it has other rewards. It is rewarding to see students become well adjusted. It is rewarding to see paras and aides who continue to learn how to do their jobs and impact young people. Thank you to our support staff for working diligently to help our students.