Happy Birthday Tek-Ninja!

Two years ago today I was inspired for some inexplicable reason to write a blog. My first article was called "The Covenant", and it was about our responsibility as parents to stay educated and aware of the cyber-world on behalf of our children.

Most popular articles

Since then, I've written over 200 posts, mostly though not exclusively about technology and education. I don't think of myself as a writer. Many of my blogs are likely riddled with grammatical errors. And my level of productivity varies. Some weeks, I write several times. Some weeks I don't write at all. I enjoy seeing how many "hits" an article receives, however, there is no monetary incentive to writing. 

International Readers!

So, why write? There is no money. There is no prestige or power. I write because the process helps me to think about my practice as an Assistive Technology Professional, and as an Occupational Therapist. Writing helps me organize my thinking, and scrutinize my assumptions. It also makes me reach beyond the tools that I might typically gravitate to from inertia. 

Tek-Ninja has been a great vehicle for me to develop my practice. I hope the writing has been of some use to others. Happy birthday to me, and happy therapy to you!

Thanks for reading!

Resistance is Futile!

Tek-Ninjas, if you've been reading my blog for awhile, you may remember this article I wrote a few years ago.

In the article I wrote about a conversation I had with a sales rep for a prominent education software company.  I had (and still do have) a lot of respect for the fellow, but I thought he was way off base on his opinion here.

Turns out, I was correct. Yes. this is one of those "I told you so" moments! 

He had posited that his company would NEVER make an app for the iPad, suggesting that the devices were essentially toys, without sufficient computing power to do their programs justice.

Well, several months ago his company released an iPad version of their prize software. I'm not gonna share who and what it is, because I don't want this conversation to reflect poorly on them.  I will say it's a really fine app that achieves everything the desktop version does.  I will add that with increased portability (intrinsic to the iPad of course), a more intuitive interface, and a fraction of the price the iPad version is a superior product.

To be fair, when we first had this debate, the iPads were new, and they did not have the processing power they now offer. It was a different beast. I'm pleased to see they have come around and created such a fine app.

One of his big concerns was that teachers/therapists/and parents would use the iPad much like the t.v. has been used on some occassions, replacing meaningful interaction with a "babysitting" device. This was for me a cautionary notion.

I still maintain, that the efficacy of any software whether on an iPad or laptop/desktop increases significantly with oversight from an educator, or therapist. 

This oversight means someone will apply educational/clinical reasoning to guide the process. Someone who will draw out the teaching moments, highlight successes, illuminate issues in order to correct them, tailoring the experience to the user.

So, my take home notions here? One: as iPads continue to become more powerful devices, expect to see even more powerful software solutions becoming available (COOL!), and two: continue to be vigilant of your practice... be mindful of any intervention you utilize so that the interventions purposfully bring you closer to your client/student's goals.

Happy Therapy!

Friday chuckle...

Fabulous conversation about integrating technology!

Happy Therapy!

Resources and reflections on integrating technology in education

A colleague of mine has started a new tech blog, JB-IT: Resources and reflections on integrating technology in education.

Jason Bales is a Technology Specialist with the Chapel Hill ~ Carrboro City Schools, and has a wealth of knowledge. His blog will likely be geared to the gen-ed population, however, certainly there will be cross-over interest for our special needs students. Be sure to follow!

Heres a brief excerpt from an article:

Multimedia projects can be a giant pain, which may be why some teachers avoid them altogether. Even the most tech-savvy teachers find these projects a bit daunting. Take audio recording as an example. You can use a simple site like Soundcloud, but it requires an account, and that account takes a while to set up, which can be a real issue if you are thinking of having students create their own accounts. You could use a desktop program like Audacity or Garageband, but then you have to set up some way to share or collect those recordings, which can be a time-consuming process. So, it seems like there's no happy medium, no way to do a simple one-take recording that doesn't require either an account or lots of work on the teacher's end in collecting the assignments.

Or is there? Recently, I learned about a way to do a simple recording online with no account, and you can collect all of the projects using a simple Google Form.

Happy Therapy!

Exercise your Visual Processing Skills!

I have a new favorite app! It's called Fit Brains, and it's made by Vivity Labs. This app really targets so many Visual Processing skills, and should make any Occupational Therapist happy!  It is initially free, and after a set number of uses, you then need to subscribe for 3 months, 6 months, or a year, all at different costs.  There is also a web-based version, but I've not investigated that yet.

The Fit Brains Trainer is a scientifically-designed app that provides a collection of fun brain games, personalized training sessions, and visual tools to help you improve your brain's performance. The Trainer utilizes an innovative adaptive learning system that automatically scales the level of each brain game to your appropriate level.

Subscriptio

Fit Brains Trainer includes more than 360 unique training sessions that are designed to enhance your Memory, Processing Speed, Concentration, Problem Solving and Visual skills. Use the Fit Brains Trainer a few minutes daily to improve the performance of your brain.

Matching

As an OT, I found many of the games familiar... they remind me of some of my Visual Processing assessment tools, and worksheets that I used early on in my therapy. 

When you finish a game, it reports your Average Reaction time, a ratio for your correct answers, and your Accuracy percentage. At the same time the software informs you about the next task you are about to move onto, and what it skill it challenges. 

Your standings

You are also able to look at how you perform next to your peer group. Evidently I have pretty weak Concentration, and my speed is only average. In my defense, ummm, I was tired when I was learning this. I will get faster, I promise!

Overal Performance

The app also tracks your overall performance, and so if you are looking to document a student's performance, you will have true data.  

Games

More Games

And still more Games!

The app is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

I am finding this game/app to be addicting. Granted I like this sort of thing, but that bodes well as a therapeutic intervention, and the fact that it collects performance data makes it all the more useful for therapists. 

One last point is that once you purchase a subscription, the app writers provide a function to move the app onto all your devices, so you don't have to pay for a subscription for each device.  Nice!

Happy Therapy!

Technologies merging...

Tildee Tutorial

A resource teacher that I work with just emailed me this really cool link. It is a tildee tutorial for Dragon Dictate on an iTouch that she made. I've blogged about both tools before, and I love that she made this tutorial about Dragon Dictate using Tildee, and is sharing it with staff and parents!

Here is the tildee blog, and here is the Dragon Dictate blog.


Happy Therapy!


And here's an addendum: she just sent me a second tutorial on how to email your Dictation to your self.  Check it out here.

Join Me: Intervention for Visually Impaired Individuals

I have long been a fan of LogMeIn, software which allows me to help my wife or sons when they are struggling with something on their computers (say adding a printer).  LogMeIn was designed for remote management over the web.  So, I can be at work, and my wife at her work, and she may call to ask for help. Sometimes I can talk her through a process, but other times, I really need to drive the computer. LogMeIn allows for that, even if her laptop is across town.

The folks at LogMeIn have taken their remote management and streamlined it to allow users to share what is on their computer screen with other users, specifically on iPads. The beauty of this is that the viewer can view, but cannot edit. JoinMeIn was originally designed with a business user in mind, but really is an amazing tool for our students with visual impairment (VI).

Imagine the teacher using the SmartBoard, and all the students are engaged watching the lesson unfold. Some VI students might follow along by pointing their closed circuit tv at the SmartBoard Screen, but this is not ideal because the image quality is not great (CCTVs are not really designed for this use).  Now imagine that the VI student is able to watch the lesson on his/her iPad, even taking screen shots of salient images. The student is able to expand, and hone in on anything they deem important. Watch the "how-to" video here.

JoinMe is free. To use it, first download the iDevice app here. Or, if your an Android user, get the app here.  Then get the software for your computer. PC users here, and Mac users here.

Happy Therapy!

Google Forms

If five years ago someone told me I would be able to make a portable form or test which would collect data in a spread sheet, that I could make it to my exact specification I would have been skeptical.  If they told me I would be able to make such a form in just a few minutes, I would have been beyond skeptical.

Well, that's a reality now.  Google Forms provides this ability, all for free.  I use Google Forms a lot.  When I was providing direct Occupational Therapy I used the forms to track my contact notes. I currently use it to keep track of AT inventory, and my milage. I have staff using Google Forms to track student behavior, and others make quick tests. Using a built in reader, as provided by Macs and some PCs, many students benefit from having a test and the possible answers read to them.

I've attached a video here on how to make a Google Form. What forms would be useful for you? Could your teacher's use such forms? Take a look... and as usual, I'd love to hear from you all about innovative ways you are using Google Forms.  The video is about 14 minutes long.

I will blog next about how to add a short-cut to your Google Form onto an iDevice. I would have a folder on my iPhone with all my contact notes. Make sure your device is password protected if you have confidential information!

Happy Therapy!

Reducing Distractions on your Student's iDevice

One concern administrators, teachers, and parents express when our team wants to assign a student an iTouch or an iPad, is how they will manage the built in distractions. Distractions like students surfing the web during class.  

If the iDevice is for a specific function such as tracking homework, following a schedule, or a aug comm device, this is easily fixable. The iDevices have a built in "Restrictions" utility that lets you remove different functions.  Let's get rid of some the unnecessary and distracting apps. 

Begin by clicking on the "Settings" icon. Then click on "General", and then click on "Restrictions".

You will be prompted to create a "Restrictions Passcode". Write it down somewhere if your not confident you will remember this! Otherwise the only way to override this is to restore the iDevice to the factory settings, thereby losing any materials you have on the device.

Also, if you have a tech person managing your iDevices, be so kind as to share that code with them too...

After entering your passcode twice, you will be presented with a page of options. We often turn off Safari, iTunes, as well as the ability to Install or Delete the apps. 

With some students turning off the ability to delete apps is really important! I cannot recount how many times a device has come back to us that has "mysteriously" lost a bunch of apps! 

When you go back to your "Home Page", you notice that the Safari and the iTunes icons are gone. 

Depending on the student goals, we may remove the FaceTime Camera as well. 

So there you go! Pretty easy to reduce unnecessary distractions for our iDevice using students!



Happy Therapy!

Have you met TED?

Educators, parents, therapists, teens, people! Have you met TED yet? TED of TED Talks?
TED is a video library of great thinkers and doers giving a 10-15 minute talk of their lifetime about their passion.

TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: TECHNOLOGY, ENTERTAINMENT, and DESIGN.  

TED's mission statement is: "We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other. 

Here are three of my favorite TED Talks:

Sarah Kay: If I should have a daughter...

Tony Porter: A call to men

and of course, Temple Grandin: The world needs all kinds of minds

So you see the topics range far. Some are uniquely funny.  Other's inspiring. All though provoking. 

I would love to know what your favorite TED Talks are!

A Case Study #2

Some of this is a rehash of recent blog articles. But this time it's in action. I hope to report any stumbling blocks we encounter as well as our success.


We have an eighth grade student who we will refer to as Joe.  Joe was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, and Autism. Both are relatively mild, but still hinder his ability to write quickly and effectively.  He is a fairly bright young man, and wants to do well.  Joe is mainstreamed throughout his day, and receives some resource services, and Occupational Therapy services.

As a middle schooler he is asked to record his homework from the board, as well as take notes of the board.  His mother has expressed frustration that he often comes home and neither he nor she can read his notes. They are non-functional.  Despite this, (and to her credit) she wants him to be responsible for gathering this information, and not to rely on others to do it for him. 

The plan is to set Joe up with a blog, which will serve as the repository for all his notes.  He will use an iTouch to take pictures of his homework, and any board notes. Joe will publish the snapshots onto the blog.  Refer to this blog for a quick look at the app Blogger. 

Lets break this down. 

Week 1: Joe's Occupational Therapist and I introduced the iTouch to him. We taught him how to take snapshots with his iTouch camera. We specifically taught him how to stabilize his elbows on his desk to keep the camera from shaking.  We have asked his classroom teachers to put up a "tape boarder" on their white boards to give Joe a target to aim around.  We also taught him how to email the photos to his personal email address. Refer to this blog for more on this process.  In addition, we taught Joe how to use Dragon Dictate on his iTouch and email that to himself, incase there are any short notes he wants to record.

None of you will be surprised to hear that a middle-schooler was quite comfortable using an iTouch!  Joe will use the camera and Dragon Dictate in this capacity for a week. He will photograph his homework and notes only. We've discussed privacy issues, and he understand that he should not photograph peers.  

Week 2: Assuming that Joe has had success using the camera and emailing photos and dictation to himself, we will teach him how to use the app Blogger.  This involves opening Blogger, clicking on the camera icon in the bottom, taking a picture, and than clicking the "Publish" icon.  Similiarly, we will have him copy from Dragon Dictate and paste into Blogger any dictated content, and then click "Publish".  

I have already setup a Blogger blog. I used this blog service for a number of reasons. 1. I'm already familiar with it... it's what I use for Shinobijimbo, 2. The Blogger app is really simple and free! 3.  Other blogs undoubtedly offer this, but I can lock down who the blog is available to. We wanted only Joe, his family, and select teachers to be able to access the blog.  You may be more comfortable with another program.

Ideally, Joe will be able to publish all his homework for each class. Each will have a date. If you look at my blog, on the right you see hyperlinks for articles by date and name. If Joe titles each entry it can be really easy to reference. He won't have to store dozens of photos on an iTouch, or emails on his account. He will have a running record for the year.  Joe will be able to access this information from any internet-connected computer.

Things to consider:

1. I made an email account and a blog account for Joe. It felt important to get permission from the family to do this. I gave them the passwords, and encourage them to take ownership of both accounts. They can change passwords if they choose. 
2. Students need to know that they cannot photograph other students without written permission from those student's parents.  Best to just avoid.
3. I locked down the blog account. It does not appear in google searches, and the only way someone can access it is with an email invite. 
4. Teachers need to be onboard with Joe taking his iTouch out in the middle of class, and snapping photos. With the knowledge that this is an academic tool for him, all our teachers were supportive. 
5. It helps to have someone who will work with the student periodically to make sure they are learning the necessary skills to make the whole program work. 
6. Don't just dump the whole idea on him/her at once. Build the component skills one at a time: learn to take the photos. Learn to email them, learn to use the Blogger App. 
7. Tweak as necessary.

When it all comes together, the student should have a really elegant and easy to use plan in place to get his home-works assignments home.  I'll report back after we have some experience.

Happy Therapy!

Guided Access! Apple finally delivers!

If you follow my blog, you may remember an article I wrote called "Disable the Home-Button on your iDevice!" 

I was soooo pleased with that bit of code writing (which I had nothing to do with writing) and that I was able to bring it to users.

Well, with the new OS update that code is no longer necessary!

From the "Disabling the Home-Button" article, I wrote:

"Okay, so if you've worked with students using an iDevice, you've had the experience of them hitting the home button to "explore" before you were done with the lesson. Oftentimes undoing whatever progress they were making. Very frustrating, and thus creating our Love/Hate relationship with the "home" button!"

Apple's latest update OS 6 now offers a feature called "Guided Access".  Guided Access addresses the issue more elegantly than I could have hoped for.

Just click on Settings. Then click on "General" Down towards the bottom click on "Accessibility. Then, under the "Learning" category click on "Guided Access". You will be given clear directions on how to use this function. Follow the prompts and you will be delighted by how easy you can use the function.

In addition, when setting up the Guided Access, you can designate aspects of the app which will not function, allowing you to control your instructional session precisely.  Refer to the video below to see this in action.

Teachers, therapists, and parents have been asking for the ability to disable the home button for some time. Apple heard us, and went above and beyond what we wanted.

If your still using an iPad-1, alas, this OS update is not for you. But, you can still use the code from aforementioned article.  

Once again, Happy Therapy!

Keyboarding Faster!

Many of our students struggle with the typing process; even if they are a bit too advanced for word prediction programs.  

When possible, training students to use a mainstream word-processor will provide users with greater versatility out in the community. Most libraries offer Microsoft Word, Libre Office, or Open Office. 

One tool that I find very useful in helping students experience success while keyboarding is Auto-Correct. 

With Auto-Correct, you or the student can set-up often typed looooooong words, setting specific initials that will then convert to the full word, or even phrase.

Watch the video above to see how it works. 

Note that the Auto-Correct is offered on all of the big word processors, under the menu "Tools". The process is pretty much identical in all of them.

Happy Therapy!

Read a Book!

Time and again, educators encounter students who struggle with the decoding process of reading. The comprehension is there, they just can't get the words. Historically we've turned to books-on-tape, or more current, books-on-CD. This is a great way to help students hear literature, but it doesn't really support the acquisition of reading skills.

Read2Go

Imagine that you download a book (maybe even a NY Times Bestseller) to your computer or iDevice and the device reads the text aloud to you, while highlighting each word as it reads. This happens using Don Johnston's "Read: Outloud" on your computer (PC or Mac), or if you want portability, you use "Read2Go" for your iDevice.

The folks at Bookshare are determined to bring great e-books paired with read-aloud to people with disabilities.  To date, Bookshare offers 161,310 titles in both fiction and nonfiction works.

Bookshare is a free service if your reader has a qualifying disability. Through the service, Don Johnston's Read: Outloud is also free. Read2Go on you iDevice retails for $19.99. Read2Go on the iPad is bigger obviously, but the iTouch is really portable and discrete, especially with headphones.

Eligibility

WHAT'S A QUALIFYING DISABILITY?

If your student has a disability that makes it difficult or impossible to read a printed book, she most likely will qualify for Bookshare services. To confirm that she qualifies, you, or the organization representing you, will be asked to provide your Proof of Disability (certified by a qualified professional) during the registration process.

The table titled "Eligibility" provides guidelines for determining what qualifies as a print disability. It also lists examples of professionals qualified to make this assessment.

Selection of Stephan King

Information regarding Membership Options can be found here.  If you are a teacher, it may make sense to have one person at your school get a membership and "manage" your readers. It's really pretty simple, and an incredible service.

One last note, the folks at Don Johnston have compiled a body of research that supports the efficacy of pairing reading instruction and technology. Check it out here. Nothing like "evidenced-based teaching"!

Happy reading!

Technology makes things smart and bright...

Okay, so I don't know anything about Ashford University.

But, I love this commercial!

http://ashford.edu/

Disable the Home-Button on your iDevice!

Okay, so if you've worked with students using an iDevice, you've had the experience of them hitting the home button to "explore" before you were done with the lesson. Oftentimes undoing whatever progress they were making. Very frustrating, and thus creating our Love/Hate relationship with the "home" button!

There are some physical solutions.  Such as the BubCap Home Button Cover.  To be honest I've not used one yet. Seems like a good intervention, and at $6.99 for an intro-pack with 2 BubCaps and 2 BubCaps Ultra, fairly inexpensive!  BubCaps apply like a sticker, and are removable and reusable.

Reviews are generally pretty positive for the BubCap, and so this may be the way to go for many of us.

However, if you'd like a solution that doesn't require another object in your therapy/teaching tool bag (albeit a very small object), here is another solution that is pretty slick.  Install a user profile.

Clicking on the link below, with the browser on your iDevice will allow you to instantly download a user profile that locks you into the first app you open.

CAUTION: DON'T INSTALL THIS UNLESS YOU FEEL CONFIDENT REMOVING IT!

Let's walk through how this works, and I think you should get to the place where you will be confident!

INSTALL: (read through INSTALL and UNINSTALL before doing this!)

Install Profile

1. Open your browser on your iPad (or iTouch/iPhone)
2. Browse to this amazing blog your reading!
3. Click on the "HOME LOCK" link below.
4. Click "Download"
5. Your iPad will open your Settings, and you will be presented with the screen to the right.
6. Click "Install Now"
7. Click "Done"
8. Turn the iPad off
9. Now when you turn it on, the very first app you open will be stuck open! The home button is disabled.

If you want to switch apps, you will have to shut the iPad all the way off, and restart. The next app you open will be stuck open. This may be a little cumbersome, but it's a sure fire method to stay in the app of your choosing!

Remove Profile

Now, your done with the student, and want to unlock the home button. Follow the procedure below.

UNINSTALL:
1. Turn on iPad
2. Open "Settings"
3. Open "General"
4. Open "Profile"
5. Make sure you select "App Home Button" and then
6. Click on the red "Remove" button
7. Turn your iPad off and on, and you should be back to "normal".

Short Cut!

Click Arrow

One last trick to make this a bit more convenient. Open your iPad browser back to my blog here. Click on the arrow in the bottom middle of the browser window, and choose "Add to Home Screen". Now you have a short-cut on your iPad desktop that will bring you back to this app profile easily whenever you want to do a quick install for therapy!




Click here for the App Profile:  HOME LOCK

This incredibly wonderful bit of code comes from Joris Kluivers, my new hero in software writing. He makes it available for free on his interesting technical blog.  

Nuance Impresses. Yet again!

Wow! This is a cool app! PaperPort Notes... maybe one of my new favorites!

Early on in the world of iPads, I was a fan of Notarize. It allowed me to capture PDF's and enter text into the form on my iPad. I could even take a picture from the web, or with the introduction of the iPad-2 take a snapshot of a student's test. Using Notarize we could enter text easily.


Unfortunately, the company that made Notarize quit making it. So, while I still have it, I was unable to provide it for students.

Document in Notes

Well, that's no longer an issue! The smart folks at Nuance, makers of Dragon Dictate and Mac-Speech have acquired Notarize, renaming it PaperPort Notes, and making it even better!

Help Box

All the bells and whistles from the original app are present. Now though, they have included a built in web-browser, with the ability to take "web-shots". Even more impressive though is the ability to insert a text box, and instead of typing your answer, dictate it. It works really well!

Free-hand

There is a nicely designed help feature that pops up whenever your doing something for the first time. Or, if you prefer, you can download the user guide, and read it in the app itself.

Web Browser

Notes can be shared in PDF format, and can be password-protected.  There is also the ability to write free-hand, or add drawings as necessary.

Also nice is the price... Free.

Import Capabilities

So once again, kudos to Nuance!


Happy therapy!

What's Your Homework?!?!

Homework

Many of our youngsters with learning disabilities struggle to get their homework for the day copied off the board. This is a regular sore point for parents! Kids come home and they either wrote nothing, copied incompletely, or what they did write is illegible.

One solution we've used when we've exhausted other modalities is to have the student take a snapshot with an iTouch.

I like to make a box for the teacher to write in, using electrical tape on their white-board. This serves two functions: 1. the teachers have an area dedicated for homework (this can help our scribing students as well), and 2. it serves as a visual cue for taking the photograph.

Once the picture is taken, the student can email it using the built-in software to do so. We ask the student to mail it to an email they share with a parent. The other option we've used on occasion is to load the picture up in Dropbox or iCloud. Using Dropbox or iCloud, we want to be certain the accounts are shared with the parents, and that they are emptying the photos at the end of each week.

Whether the student emails the photo or moves it to a "cloud" server, the picture will have a date and time associated with it automatically, which further helps reduce confusion.

I'd love to hear if you are using the iTouch camera in interesting ways.

Happy therapy!

Voice Dictation Delivered!

Icon

Have you tried to get voice dictation to work for your students with special needs?  Has the promise of voice dictation never quite delivered yet?

As an Occupational Therapist, and an Assistive Technology Professional, every few months, I get a request from a parent to set up voice dictation for their student.

Dragon recording

In 12 years I have seen perhaps half a dozen students use desktop based voice dictation software successfully. Those are really low numbers.  Voice dictation software often requires a high frustration tolerance when training the software, as well as reasonably clear dictation. Many of our students with learning disabilities lack those two skill sets.

Recently though, we have discovered that Dragon dictate on an iTouch, iPad, or iPhone works great. And, there is no training involved.  This whole blog entry is being dictated with Dragon Dictation. After dictating to my iTouch, I copy and paste the text into Apple's Notes which comes pre-installed on all iDevices. Notes is free, as is Dragon dictate.

Dragon Dictate

In Notes I can e-mail the document to myself. In this case I cut and paste my writing into my preferred  blog editor. It would be just as easy to cut and paste into a word-processing software on a computer. On the computer it's easy to perform necessary editing.

The upside is that the voice dictation seems to work pretty well. Even with young students I have had good success.

Notes

The downside is that it requires layers of technology:

1. Voice dictation,
2. copying and pasting into Notes or an e-mail program,
3. emailing the text to yourself,
4. copying and pasting again into a word processor.

Mailing Notes

It is important to weigh whether the benefits of voice dictation outweigh the costs created by the layers of technology. But if your reluctant writer can manage the multiple steps of dictating, copying, mailing, copying and pasting, this may be a very elegant solution.




Happy therapy!

The good, and the bad: technology

Parents, teachers, ministers, coaches, teens, and etc, etc... Read this New York Times article! In the past year I have seen 3 incidents similar to the one in the article, with "good kids" who simply made really poor choices.

Don't assume your good kid could't be involved.

Discuss with them the potential ramifications.

Technology, as you know has both  good, and bad aspects. And like most things, knowledge = power.

From the article: "Lacey students were convicted of dissemination of child pornography, they could be sentenced to up to 36 weeks in a juvenile detention center. They would be registered as sex offenders."

Click here:
A Girl’s Nude Photo, and Altered Lives

A version of this article appeared in print on March 27, 2011, on page A1 of the New York edition.