In our classroom this year, we do not really have any children with special needs that would require specialized assistive technology. What we do have, though, are a number of dual language learners, and also young children for whom social skills are not intuitive. They all need to be taught. As I have discovered in the field of education, many things that were developed for children with special needs are often very helpful for all children in general. Since I have heard a lot over the years about the power of Boardmaker, I decided to use this Weekly App Practical to see if I could employ Boardmaker to address these concerns in my classroom.
I signed up for the 30 day free trial, downloaded the Boardmaker Studio software, and was immediately amazed and overwhelmed at the same time. It was very apparent that I could not just poke around and adequately figure out all this application had to offer, so I took advantage of their comprehensive training opportunities and spent an hour with the Boardmaker Studio Basics webinar.
I learned that Boardmaker Studio was an installed piece of software that allows you to create print or play activities on computer or smartboard using Picture Communication Symbols. You can create offline in Boardmaker Studio, and then manage online via BoardmakerOnline.com. You can create from scratch or use one of many (over 600!) templates already available that you can customize to your purposes. In my opinion, this is one of the most powerful features of the product.
In very short order, following the clear instructions in the webinar, I was able to create from scratch a visual aid for my not-quite-English-speaking children to make their requests for help known at lunch time.
But I also discovered that Boardmaker is not just for printing. There are robust capabilities to create all manner of interactive projects that involve sequencing, making choices, checking off completed tasks and the like. I searched the templates for a suitable one to accomplish my second goal, and found this sample for the sequence of events involved in washing hands.
Using something like this template as a starting point, it would be quick and easy to create numbered steps for many preschool skills we teach - like joining a group, interrupting, asking for help, etc, with help from the book Skillstreaming in Early Childhood that was introduced in our Classroom Management course. That would be a great addition to our toolbox for social/emotional training.
At $100 to $200 a year, though, (depending on whether I want a personal or professional license), Boardmaker is a commitment! I had better complete these projects quickly before my trial runs out, or convince my higher-ups that we need Boardmaker going forward.
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