[Dan and Amy are in Paris attending a conference organized by UNESCO and Microsoft entitled "Accessible ICTs and Personalized Learning for Students with Disabilities: A Dialogue among Educators, Industry, Government and Civil Society." Dan is writing a series of reports from Paris]
The education on how to navigate the streets of Paris continues. We managed to get lost twice today. Fortunately we expected to get lost so we left a bunch of time to get to where we needed to go. We are starting to get a little sense of direction. One of the biggest challenges was that we had no point of reference. It has been so foggy that we have not seen the Eiffel tower. Well, today the weather cleared and we were able to navigate much better. I think tomorrow our goal is only one time being lost and by Saturday we should be good.
Today was a great day of discussion from experts around the world to discuss questions like, what level of awareness do educators have around individuals with mild disabilities? If you could implement personalized education tomorrow, what would that look like? This was a 10 hours day of discussion, brainstorming, collaboration and objective developments. The individuals that are attending the conference are so amazing and share some of the same passions that we have for the kids at LCA. After today, I have a greater respect for educators and particularly for the educators at LCA. There is a significant amount that needs to be managed when working with children with ASD - leaving little room to differentiate instruction, collect data and implement assistive technology plans for the kids. I admire the work that is done for these children and particularly when it is done well. I can also say that I am so grateful to have such an amazing team that challenges traditional methodology and works toward providing an education that is specific to a child's needs and abilities. Will post some of our discussion notes soon.