Teaching before proloquo2go
According to Grandin (2002) the methods to teach children with autism before technology came into play and the invention of proloquo2go, were more structured, firm and hands on. Teachers needed to teach in a way that avoided long lists of verbal instructions so teaching methods included setting out activities for children that required children to write which is an issue as many children with autism have motor difficulties (Saggers, 2016). The use of visual methods in order to teach certain concept such as halves and quarters by cutting into fruit or teaching verbs by holding a card with a verb on it and then demonstrating the word using an action for example ‘run’ and then running on the spot which would enable children to form a connection between the action and the word. These examples demonstrate how before proloquo2go teachers played a more active role in the education of children with autism as they were heavily involved in designing creative ways and methods to teach children key concepts used in everyday life.
How proloquo2go has changed teaching in the classroom?
Kozma (2003, p5) points out that technology in general has changed the role of teaching and learning in the classroom in several ways such as the changing the role of the teacher from initiator to facilitator and changing the role of students from being passive learners to active independent learners. This view strongly correlates with how proloquo2go has changed teaching in the classroom as teaching is no longer traditional as the teacher no longer needs to design plans like they previously did to teach concepts and subjects to children with autism due to the fact that proloquo2go has a range of different subjects and topics available on the app that is supported through symbol and visual design easier to learn for children using the app than to be verbally explained. This may be seen as a disadvantage however, the positive side to this point is that it benefits teachers as they can invest more time into creating lesson plans that combine with proloquo2go to make lessons more interactive knowing that children will be able to show more active participation in answering questions and sharing their opinions as they have proloquo2go to allow them to do so.
How Prologuo2go changed learning from Constructivist to Social- Constructivist
The Prologuo2go app has helped with the learning of autistic children in a number of ways. The app has enhanced the chance to communicate independently; the app allows them to express what to say through the use of pictures, symbols, and easy vocabulary. Our chosen app does also enhance the imagination of the users, for example, prologuo2go allows key stage 1 students to build on their vocabulary, the assistive technology assists them by allowing them to explore and be creative learners. Proloquo2go allows this as it offers various levels of difficulty for children to go from forming simple sentences to more advanced sentences which supports children with autism who are on different levels of learning. Assistive technology and apps help children to scaffold news ways of thinking and learning. With the use Prologuo2go, children learn from constructivist learning method where they actively learn by the app and construct understanding for themselves, and they build upon what they already know and they do this through communication and interaction (Kaye, 2016). The app changed learning in a way that transformed children from being fully dependent on the teacher and requiring one to one support to become learners who are more independent as they are able to navigate the app in order to express their feelings, ask questions and collaborate with others. One the effectiveness of prologuo2go is that is enhanced by the levels of peer learning in classroom, research by McEwen (2014) illustrated how students started to use the app to talk to one another, they starter peer-to-interactions, they started sharing the iPad to talk to each other, it relates to Vygotsky’s concept of zone of proximal where enhanced development takes place when in ‘collaboration with more capable peers’ (Vygotsky1987, p. 86). There is evidence to suggest that through the Prologuo2go app learning is changing from a constructivist approach to a more social constructivist approach where learning is seen as a social activity and children learn well from interactions and conversation with their peers and teachers (Oluwafisayo 2010 stated in Kaye, 2016).
Below is a video demonstrating the use of Prologuo2go in teaching and learning.
Proloquo2go for autism 