Virginia Department of Education's Training and Technical Assistance Center (T/TAC)
What "Path" Are Your Students On?
Students that struggle with sensory integration may have difficulty with emotional regulation, attention, social skills, and/or behavior. While most people know about the five main senses: vision, hearing, sight, smell, and taste, many do not know about the two "hidden" senses: vestibular and proprioceptive. A sensory path or walk is a series of movements that a student moves through to provide the necessary feedback to meet their sensory needs without overstimulating them. This in turn helps them to reduce sensory seeking behaviors and focuses their congnitive energy on learning.
Nicole Stewart-Llamas, a special education teacher for Carroll County Schools, has taken this concept and made it mobile! The sensory path shown in video above can travel to different areas of the school in order to meet the needs of numerous students.
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Save the date! Virginia's early childhood birth-to-five conference will be returning to the Hotel Roanoke July 17-19, 2019. Registration for Creating Connections to Shining Stars is now open.
The T/TAC at Virginia Tech will be hosting an assistive technology open house at our office on Friday, April 26 from 10am - 4pm. Anyone interested in learning more about assistive technology is invited to attend.
The STEMability Camp is an engineering, science, and technology college transition program on Virginia Tech's campus for rising high school juniors and seniors with disabilities. Applications are due May 13.
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We are excited to announce the addition of a Makerbot Replicator+ 3D printer to our assistive technology lab. While the 3D printer itself is not available to check out through the library system, we are happy to work in consult with school personnel in our regions to create sample customized communication device overlays, switches, mounts, manipulatives, grips, adapted utensils, etc. that they can trial and keep. Please contact Matt Newton or Holly Nester for more information about designing and implementing 3D printed assistive technology.