7 ר‡ל ˘ - י ˜ ון ‡ייז ˙ נ ˘ 2024 Imerssive Educational Environment: Assistive Technologies for Multi-Modal Learning to Support Students with complex needs Hadar Zeltzer Fallah A multi-sensory room is a dedicated space that is designed to provide multi-sensory stimuli and an ideal environment for intervention needed for people with special needs of all ages. The multi-sensory room contains a variety of technological accessories as well as different items to create opportunities to improve capacities of communication, behavior and functioning. Among the accessories are changing lights, touch walls, multi directional sound systems and unique furniture. As DGBL (Digital Game Based Learning) is recognized as support for development of cognitive skills and knowledge, we used the innovative technology –SHX by QINERA to create multi-sensory rooms with easy access to games and educational content as part of a multi-sensory experience. The SHX technology provides a user-friendly interface that helps therapists and educators design multi-sensory experiences with individually-adapted visual and auditory elements. The multi-sensory adapted environment supports users’ communication and learning, enables creative thinking, and develops social integration capacities. Holding the keys to AAC implementation: Staff Communication Partner Training Noa Porath Lotan Communication partner training plays a major role in successful implementation of AAC. At the Meshi-Lema'anchem school in Bnei Brak, Israel, a school serving children with motor-based disorders and complex communication needs, staff underwent an 8-step training program based on the SMORRES model by Jill Senner and Matthew Baud (2016). The training took place in a classroom in which 5 out of 6 students are AAC users (4 use eye gaze communication systems. one student uses an iPad communication app). The classroom staff that underwent the 4-month training, primarily during classroom activities, were the teacher, 2 classroom aides, the occupational therapist and the SLP assistant. The parameters that were measured at baseline and post-training were: percentage of modeled utterances, use of open-ended questions, speech rate, length of pause following a communication partner’s utterance, and the use of expansion techniques (adding a word to the AAC user's utterance). Clinical implications and further ideas for expansion of training programs are discussed.
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