AT Professionals What Could Their Education Be

ON BEING SARAH is geared for fifth grade and up. The au- thors are Elizabeth Helfman and Lino Saffioti. This book uti- lizes Charles Bliss symbol system throughout the book. The book zones in on Sarah's feelings and frustrations with her thoughts(which are set in italics). Sarah finds a true friend Mag- gie who learns her symbol system. PRIVATE EYE ROMEO RILEY-THE BOY WHO SAW TOO MUCh is geared for first grade and up. The author is April M Whitt. The book is a three book series with a boy who has CP and uses a communication device. He goes around solving mys- teries so calls himself private eye Romeo. This is a great book to read to a new device communicator or their class. I love the way it addresses mishits on a device. HOW KATIE GOT HER VOICE is geared for first grade and up. Author is a speech therapist, Patricia L Mervine. Katies is start- ing at a new school where everyone has a nickman, but Katies are different. She can’t walk or talk. The book is great for a class discussion with its twelve tips on how to talk with someone with different abilities. Another great book for a new communicator and their class. RULES is geared for fifth grade and up. Author is Cynthis Lord. Catherine, the main character, has a brother who has au- tism. She writes rules for her brother to live by so he knows how the world works. She likes to come to his occupational therapy sessions and meets Jason who is in a wheelchair and uses a com- munication book to communicate. She creates new cards to ex- pand Jason’s world. They become friends, and their friendship helps her with feelings she has toward her brother’s disability. Note: honest feelings of siblings explored. CINNAMON FRECKLES book series for preschoolers and up. Author is Sarah Leal. The picture book series is written to help her daughter through hard times in her life. What I like about these books is you can email Sarah to get a book put on a stu- dent’s communication device and they can read it to their class- mates themselves. GHOST BOY biography of Martin Pistorius’s journey. It is geared for eighth grade and up. Martin was 12 when he was sick and lost all cognitive and physical abilities. A caregiver rec- ognized his potential. First he used his eyes and body parts to communicate then after hard work and years he became one of the best known AAC communicators in South Africa. SAY WHAT YOU WILL is geared for high school students. The author is Cammie McGovern. Amy, who is in ler last year of high school, has CP and used a communication device. She’s extremely smart, gifted, and wants to have a typical senior year. She recruits peers to be her helpers so she can have a typical

me. I hope this paper gave you some insight and perspective on what assistive technology education can look like starting in mid- dle school and that people who use assistive technology, they can be in the field too. I made this list a few years ago. Please feel free to use it when a language arts teacher is looking for a book to read. If they or you find a different book with characters who need to use an assistive technology tool, please let me know so I can add it. Book list with characters who use AAC BOOK REVIEW LIST WITH A CHARACTER WHO USES AAC This is a list of books with a character or story line relating to complex communication needs or communication devices. I read all the books and put this summary together so adults and kids who use a device can feel connected to others by reading about charac- ters that use devices like them. So read a book to them or let them read themselves. School staff: please share with your libraries. If these types of books are in the library and available to classmates to read it may increase classmate’s awareness and understanding. Mike Hipple WINDOW BOY is geared for seventh grade and up. The au- thor is Andrea White. The book is about a boy who has CP grow- ing up in 1968. It was rare for a student with a disability to be included. Sam’s mother convinces the school to let Sam enter sixth grade. Sam gets to go to his local school for the first time. His caregiver Miss Perkins is a caring and loving lady who will do anything for Sam. She oftens spends more time with Sam than his mother. Miss Perkins is from England. She spends hours reading to Sam about Winston Churchill. Sam loves Winston and has imaginary discussions with Winnie. These discussions help Sam cope with his disability. His favorite sport is basketball. The title of the book comes from him sitting in his wheelchair look- ing out the window of his apartment where he watched kids play basketball. Once he got to go to school, he met friends, but everything changed when his mother met her new boyfriend. The book addresses many prejudices, old beliefs about what people with disabilities can do. Some parts of the books are sad and emotionally charged but Sam does win in the end. Read the Afterword sections too. OUT OF MY MIND is geared for fourth grade and up. The au- thor is Sharon Draper. The character Melody Brooks who has CP. She’s 11 and so smart but no one knows that because she can not speak. She finally gets a communication device and is now able to really be a part of her school. When she got a commu- nication device everyone learned about her amazing memory. She tried out the quiz team and surprised her classmates with how much she knew. The team qualifies for Nationals and she is all set to go with her team but….read on.

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