Home Catalogue Software

SoftTouch has developed a software framework with a changeable format to teach computer access and choice making. Each Steps to Learning Program can help educators assess and prescribe the correct scaffolding for students with severe disabilities. Steps to Learning Programs are easy to use with a mouse, touch screen, single switch, two switches or an IntelliKeys keyboard.

SoftTouch’s changeable format options include:

• One to nine spaces
• Spaces may either be filled or left empty
• Empty spaces may be hidden or shown
• Fewer spaces = larger targets; more spaces = smaller targets

How to Use the Steps to Learning Programs To Teach Choice Making and Computer Access Skills

1. Start with one item or target or choice.

2. Add complexity by changing the location of the target. Offer two choices but leave the second choice blank (unfilled space). Select “Hide unfilled space.”

3. Increase the number of selections and assess student preferences. Find one item the student obviously prefers. Add a second item that is not preferred by the student.

Targets can be placed to accommodate student’s access goals (i.e. extending reach, crossing mid-line, placing hand) as well as encouraging exploration of visual field and making cognitive choices. Changing the placement of the same target can help assess choice making. Does the student always select one particular item regardless of its location? Does the student always select the same location regardless of the item?

4. Move beyond cause-and-effect by including empty white spaces. The student learns the consequence of selecting a desired item vs. selecting nothing.

5. Accountability – Steps to Learning Programs keep data on student performance. This data can be used for assessment of preferences (which item is being selected repeatedly regardless of location), of access (which locations are selected) and of choice making (what items are selected and what variety of items are selected).

Assessing, Teaching and Measuring Choice Making Skills of Students with Significant Disabilities using SoftTouch Steps to Learning Programs

Learning to Activate a Switch
Most students with severe disabilities learn to activate a switch. They learn to turn on music, a fan, a toy or a similar device by pressing or releasing a switch with some part of their body. Students may also use a switch to play cause-and-effect computer activities.

Making Choices is Random
Not all of these students, however, learn to make choices using the same method. Their understanding of choice making seems to be limited to either choosing or refusing to hit the switch. Choices using a single switch on a computer often appear to be random and not cognitively planned by the student. Assessing the child’s skills and interests should help alleviate the problem but this is not always the case.

Assessment is Trial and Error
Assessing a student’s skills is often a trial and error approach. Consequently these students may spend their critical learning years in the assessment process rather than the learning process. Educators need to constantly teach, observe change and make adjustments throughout each learning experience. Assessment should lead to best practices in teaching.

Students Learn Through Repetition
All children need to direct the pace of their learning. They need the opportunity to repeat a task over and over again until they are ready to move on. They need opportunities to make choices and explore. Brain-based research indicates that when children are given a choice and variety in their learning, their motivation and learning increase. Student motivation increases when given control of content and the process of learning (Jensen, 1994). Explicit extended practice allows for acquisition of new concepts and information (Goldman & Pelligrino). The educator’s challenge is to provide an accessible learning environment that is child directed yet flexible enough to present new experiences.

Accessible Computers Provide Learning Opportunities
Children with severe physical disabilities may not be able to play or interact with toys and learning materials in a typical manner. Computers provide students with disabilities the opportunity to interact, manipulate and control their learning. A physical disability may require a special way to control the computer. However, the student’s education cannot be put on hold while the student learns and masters a computer access device. Learning how to interact with the computer, learning how to make choices and learning the curriculum content must occur simultaneously. Educators must have leaning tools with built-in universal access. Computer access tools include such things as timing, location of selections, visual stimulation, and speech and sound feedback. Educators must be able to modify the computer access tools to fit each student’s needs.

Look for these Steps to Learning Programs:

Concepts on the Move – Basic
Concepts on the Move – Advanced
My Own BookShelf
Songs I Sing at Preschool
SoftTouch Classics 1
SoftTouch Classics 2
Switch Basics
Switching On Science: Habitats
Switching On Science: Earth
Task Builder
Test Me, Score Me
Teach Me Nouns
Teach Me Functional Foods
Wheels on the Bus

To view/download the PDF version of this document on Steps to Learning Programs click here.