Craig Smith
A Spectrum of Real: Augmented Reality and ...

A colleague and I have had a paper that we presented at an Asia Pacific Autism Conference some years ago just published in a Routledge textbook titled 'Gaming Disability: Disability Perspectives on Contemporary Video Games.

A Spectrum of Real: Augmented Reality and Social Scaffolding
Craig Smith
Assistive Technologies, Active Participation: ...

Every year the United Nations sets a theme for World Autism Awareness Day. The theme for this year is ‘Assistive Technologies, Active Participation’. At first, the definition of the term assistive technologies might seem quite obvious — you might think of technology like a hearing aid to support someone with hearing related needs, or perhaps even a motorised wheelchair to help with physical access. These are definitely pieces of assistive technology, but what else fits into this space, and how does assistive technology relate to autism?

Assistive Technologies, Active Participation: Riding Bicycles for the Mind (#WAAD19)
Craig Smith
ARKit and Autism: New Futures

In September the new operating system for mobile Apple devices, iOS 11, will likely be released, and with its release will come a new world of apps that build on the new development platform that Apple has created, ARKit, which puts unprecedented opportunities to develop augmented reality solutions in the hands of the world. We have already seen some spectacular demonstrations of what ARKit is capable of, and as always when new technological opportunities present themself, I consider what this could mean for the world of autism support and the education of children on the autism spectrum.

ARKit and Autism: New Futures
Craig Smith
Jamming with Skoog

I adore music. While there are too many artistic and sensory delights to hold in ones mind at any one time with regards to the wonder and beauty that the history of creativity have so far conjured, for me there is little competition for the central seat that music has in my consciousness. It is both a mystery that requires no preconditions upon it to make concrete sense or relate to anything that we perceive within our big real, but at the same time it is but a simple bird song that can be divided into equal measures and learned by an infant repeating the rhythms of a rhyme. 

Jamming with Skoog
Craig Smith
Reaching All Learners - 90 Minute iPad Workshop

As ubiquitous as iPad implementation is across so many education settings, we must make sure that we continue to understand the most effective and forward thinking modes of classroom use that will realise the greatest value of the device. On the back of my 2017 iPad Toolbox for Special Educationpost that has gained a lot of interest this past month, I present here a summary of content and topics that I cover in a ninety minute version of my 'iPad Model Classroom' full day course. You might find ideas below that you could utilise in your own staff development sessions, or it might lead you to seek out other examples of the practices noted so you can build them into your own teaching repertoire.

Reaching All Learners - 90 Minute iPad Workshop

Minecraft and the Special Interests of those with Autism

Minecraft and the Special Interests of those with Autism

There is an interesting paper, Klin, A., Danovitch, J. H., Merz, A. B., & Volkmar, F. R. (2007). Circumscribed interests in higher functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorders: An exploratory study. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 32(2), 89-100, in which a number of special interest areas are described and categorised in an effort to highlight how these areas relate to areas of talent that some individuals with autism possess. For example, the paper notes that some children with autism show particular strength in categorising and ordering information, such as being able to relate types of dinosaur to particular geological periods, or, in the case of a student I once worked with, to be able to categorise types of public phone boxes and to order them by the frequency they appeared in local suburbs.