Optimizing Graphics for Children with VI

The Animated Step-by-Steps® designed for children with Visual Impairments were created using high contrast graphics, presented on a black background.  The images are often outlined in white, to ensure that they 'stand out' on the page. 

When appropriate, I use the Correction feature in PowerPoint to make graphics lighter to promote better figure-ground contrast.

To  further enhance the 'figure-ground' differential, I typically create a narrow white border around the graphic. As illustrated in the image below, the white outline does indeed help the rock stand out against its black background and enhances the shape cues inherent in that object.  

When I bring images into PowerPoint, they are typically imported with a transparent background. For further information on creating images with transparent backgrounds please refer to a previous blog post.

The white outline can be easily achieved using a photo imaging program such as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.  As programs vary greatly in their available tools, I will present two options for outlining an image.

Strategy 1: Adding a Stroke

- open the image in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

-use the magic wand to select the background of the image

-under Select on the menu bar, select inverse to highlight only the foreground, not the transparent background of the image.

-set the paint color to white

-set the paint brush size to the width of the line you wish to produce around your graphic (Note: this value will vary depending upon the dpi. of your image.

-select paths (under Window on the menu bar), then select stroke path.

-a white line will magically appear around the image.

Strategy 2: Using the Expand Selection Command

-open the image (with a transparent background) in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements

-create a second layer (use the icon with a turned up corner at bottom to create a new layer) and position it below the original layer.

-use the paint can to drop white into this layer. We will now call this the 'white layer'.

-use the magic wand tool to select the background of the image in the original top layer

-under Select (menu bar) select inverse to invert your selection, i.e. you have now selected the image as opposed to the background. Now select the 'white layer'.

-under Select (menu bar) select the Expand command from the drop down menu. Enter in a pixel value that will determine the width of your border (varies with the dpi of your image)

-select delete on your keyboard to eliminate the background in the white layer,  leaving a white border around the image. 

-save your newly outlined image as a png (the .png format retains the transparency of the background image)


You now have an image lightened and outlined in white that stands out beautifully on its black background. Perfect for students with Visual Impairment!

…’til the next post … 

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©2018 Carol Goossens’, Ph.D.

Augmentative Communication Consultant

Speech-Language Pathologist

Special Educator

'How to Play' Game Resources

Games are a wonderful way to promote peer-peer interactions especially needed in Blended and Mainstream Settings. They're also ideal for targeting communication skills, while providing the scaffolding needed for nurturing friendships. In the home environment, games are a great way to further social closeness and build shared family experiences.

The Bloom Where You're Planted Store (TpT) is now adding a new line of Animated Step-by-Steps® called 'How to Play' Resources. These new 'How to Play' resources present the objectives and rules of familiar games in a highly visual, easy to understand format. They also provide some 'simulated' practice to 'set the stage' for the followup 'hands-on' portion of the training routine. 

Animated Step-by-Steps® are animated PowerPoints designed to address literacy, language, AAC and a host of academic goals and social agendas. Each page includes a series of animations. Read the text up to the star … click … and see an animation of what you just read. Symbol-Supported (PCS, SymbolStix) resources provide the symbol support after all the page animations are triggered. This strategy is designed to promote a 'literacy first' agenda so the symbols do not 'steal attention' away from the task of deciphering text. 

To date there are six resources in the 'How to Play' product line:

Each resource is available in 3 formats: Regular ( no symbol support), PCS (Tobii/Dynavox) and SymbolStix(n2y). Some titles also have a VI version.

The I Spy with My Little Eye Resource can also be used to 'set the stage' for the more traditional, environmentally-based, I Spy Game, e.g., " I spy with my little eye something that is yellow ... Is it that yellow ball?  … Nope! … Is it that yellow cup?  …. Nope, but you're getting warmer. (as they are moving closer to the mystery item). Is it that yellow J on our alphabet chart? ... No, you're getting colder (as they are moving further from the mystery item). As you can see from this script, it also provides repeated practice for language structures such subject-verb reversal 'Is it ...'  for questions.

These 'How to Play' resources can be displayed on the 'big screen'(interactive whiteboard, large screen TV using Apple TV) or the 'small screen'(computer monitor, iPad/Android tablet using the free Microsoft PowerPoint app).  I prefer to display them on the classroom's interactive whiteboard using a wireless switch (i.e., infrared, bluetooth) to trigger the animations. This option allows all the students to share the magic of activating the animations in an efficient, time-saving manner. It also guarantees greater student engagement. 

Consider initiating a  'Games Project' at your school ... providing students with structured instruction on how to play various popular games. Every two weeks a new game is added to the roster of interactive games. This would necessitate setting up AAC devices for 'task-oriented' messages (e.g. 'Crown me!') and 'relational oriented' messages (fun interactive comments that nurture social closeness) (framework derived from Dr. Erna Alant).  Initially, classroom staff serve as 'game coaches', with the long range goal of fading assistance to foster independent game playing. 

'Let the games begin!"

…’til the next post …  

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©2018 Carol Goossens’, Ph.D.

Augmentative Communication Consultant

Speech-Language Pathologist

Special Educator

Custom Touch Sensitive Glove

To be in the field of AAC you need to have a 'large bag of tricks' … an assortment of 'things you can try' in the hopes that something will be a great fit for your students. It might not be an adaptation that works for your current students but it's comforting to know that it might just 'do the trick' for a future student. I've always been interested in motor access as it pertains to AAC. Recently I've been devoting a lot of energy to creating Animated Step-by-Steps® as they are a wonderful way to address a variety of goals (AAC, language, literacy) in a range of resources. I like the fact that they can be flexibly displayed on a range of options. One of these options is the iPad or android tablet using the Microsoft PowerPoint app. When using this option, the animations can be triggered in three ways:

• swiping to the left with a single digit (may be difficult if the child is not able to isolate a   finger)
• touching an imaginary vertical bar on the far rightof the screen
•  using a bluetooth switch(that communicates wirelessly with the iPad or tablet). 

Recently, I have been giving some thought to physical adaptationsthat might provide more reliable access when using Animated Step-by-Steps on the iPad. In earlier days : )  (before technology), we made simple mitts that allowed us to isolate a child's index finger to better decipher where the child was pointing on their non-electronic communication display. 

Today a lot of attention is being directed toward accessing the iPad or Android table. Here is an exellent blog (OT's with Apps & Technology) by CarolLeynse Harpold, MS, AdEd, OTR/L, ATP) that offer numerous fantastic suggestions. 

When using the Microsoft PowerPoint App on an iPad/adroid tablet, the older solutions would work but a more elegant solution for the digital age might be a custom 'touchscreen compatible' glove. So …..consider using an adaptive glove with only one digit that has been made 'touchscreen compatible' (e.g., index finger or side of thumb). This might allow the child to swipe left more reliably without the distraction of other gestures being triggered inadvertently by the other fingers.  

You can purchase 'toddler size' cotton Eczema treatment gloves  (http://bit.ly/kidscottongloves) and make one digit 'touchscreen compatible' by 

a)  adding 'Any Glove' liquid solution  (https://amzn.to/2KwCVUY) on the  accessing digit (finger or thumb) of the cotton glove; 

b) embroidering conductive thread (http://bit.ly/2IELYy3)  on the tip of one digit on the cotton glove. (Sparkfun, Adafruit, Sternalb are cited as brand names that are reputable sources of the thread)

Hope this suggestion proves helpful for your students!

…’til the next post …  (new posts every Monday)

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©2018 Carol Goossens’, Ph.D.

The Judicious Use of Sound Effects

Animated Step-by-Steps® are animated PowerPoints designed to address literacy, language, AAC and a host of academic goals. Each page includes a series of animations. Read the text up to the star … click … and see an animation of what you just read. 

Animations are frequently associated with sound effects  … and yes ...  there is a bit of a science to how sound effects are selected and assigned to animations. 

Some sound effects are arbitrarily learned (Symbolic mappings) 

e.g., the chimes that signal the end of the slide, the whoosh that signals a graphic is entering the page, the drum roll to announce an upcoming answer, the sharp ting to suggest something is about to happen. Every effort is made to ensure that symbolic mappings are held very consistent across the almost 700 resources currently available through the Teachers Pay Teachers site. A student soon learns that when they hear the chimes sound, it is time to select the page forward arrow and advance to the next slide. 

Some sound effects reflect the sounds generated by the event (Nomic mappings)

e.g., liquid pouring,  boiling water, microwave being activated, dog barking,

Such sounds serve to deepen the student's understanding of the concept being targeted. Nomic mappings are the easiest to learn and remember, so they are usually given priority when selecting sound effects for Animated Step-by-Steps®. 

Some sound effects are merely suggestive, i.e., they reflect similarities between the target and representing system (Metamorphical mappings) 

e.g., pitch down sound .... when the clump of brown sugar is dropping down into the bowl; when the firefighter is sliding down the pole 

e.g. pitch up sound ... when the balloon is drifting up to the sky; when the cookies in the oven are visibly rising

e.g. boing boing boing sound ...  when the monkeys are jumping on the bed; when the rabbit is hopping on to the page; 

Sound effects help to alert the child that an animation is occurring on the page. They also help to 'round out' the child's conceptual understanding of the world. 


…’til the next post …  (new posts every Monday)

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©2018 Carol Goossens’, Ph.D.

Augmentative Communication Consultant

Speech-Language Pathologist

Special Educator

'Book End' Animations

I recently posted another Animated Step-by-Step, 6 Brave Firefighters, designed to address the needs of students with Visual Impairments. This resource addresses numbers (1-6), colors (red, blue, yellow, green, purple, orange) and the concept of down using high contrast visuals.

In many of the VI resources, I have tried to separate out the important auditory linguistic information from the visual information, using attention-getting 'book end animations' (get the visual attention … present the important auditory linguistic information … maintain the visual attention). For example, when the six firefighters are being counted, the number appears first using the 'grow & turn' animation + an attention getting 'whhhht' sound effect … then you hear the auditory count, "two" … then the number is pulsed 3 times to ensure the child is looking at the correct target item. 

This strategy is being employed to ensure that students with visual impairment have time to 'get a visual lock' on the target visual before the important linguistic information is added. Then … just to be sure … an additional animation is provided to ensure the child's visual focus is correctly on the target visual. 

This 'book ends animation' strategy may also be useful for students on the autism spectrum. Researchers at Hearing & Speech Sciences and Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Vanderbilt University (Camarata et. al) (Bit.ly/sensorydiffs) presented two groups of children (with  & without ASD) with audiovisual stimuli and asked them if the 'audio' and the visual events happened at the same time or not. 

According to the researchers, children on the autism spectrum may experience a 'lack of a time lock' between the spoken word and a visual explanation, when that audiovisual information is simultaneously presented. This may suggest that simultaneously presented visual & auditory information may present learning challenges for students on the Autism Spectrum.  

Here's hoping that the manner in which animations and linguistic information are presented to children with Visual Impairments, and possibly to children on the Autism Spectrum, can actually increase the likelihood that learning will occur!!!!

…’til the next post …  

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©2018 Carol Goossens’, Ph.D.

Augmentative Communication Consultant

Speech-Language Pathologist

Special Educator

The 'Outlining Animation'

Highlighting/Outlining is a strategy frequently used when working with children with Visual Impairment. This strategy highlights or outlines the target graphic to ensure that the child is focusing on the item under discussion. In Five Little Pumpkins, for example, an attention getting red line is gradually drawn around that target pumpkin ("The second one….") when it is the 'second pumpkin's' turn to speak. This allows the child to better differentiate the target pumpkin from the other pumpkins in the five-pumpkin array.

This is what the animation looks across a 5-second span. 

So how exactly do you make that magic happen?

This effect is easily achieved by stacking a pumpkin graphic (no outline) on top of pumpkin graphic (identical in size) but stroked/outlined in red. 

This outline can be created in a graphics program such as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. When the outlined pumpkin is animated using the 'wheel' animation, it gives the effect of a red line being drawn (clockwise) around the pumpkin image. Magic, indeed!  

Pulling apart the two stacked images, this is what's happening 'behind the scenes' across a 5-second span:

So if you are using PowerPoint to create educational resources for students with visual impairment,  be sure to add this 'outlining animation' to your 'bag of tricks'. 

…’til the next post …  

Visit my website   http://animatedstep-by-steps.com

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©2018 Carol Goossens’, Ph.D.

Augmentative Communication Consultant

Speech-Language Pathologist

Special Educator

Personalizing Animated Step-by-Steps® - Method 2

Personalizing has always been a very powerful technique for nurturing greater student engagement. In the past, only resources specifically designed for personalizing could be adapted with photo faces. Ideally, all ASbySs should be candidates for personalizing but gulp … the thought of going back to retrofit over 600 ASbyS resources made me 'weak in the knees'. 

6 Little Monkeys VI  is a resource that I recently posted in my TpT Store. After posting the resource,  I promptly regretted the fact that I had not created the resource in a way that would allow for easy personalization.  ARRRRGH! How short-sighted of me!  So this had me agonizing ... yet again ... how can we retrofit existing resources allowing them to be personalized without disrupting the existing, meticulously orchestrated, animations.

This time around, I am pleased to report that I finally achieved success!

Here are the instructions for Method 2: ('the work around'). 
This method will be discussed using the 6 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed VI resource. 

Step 1:   Duplicate the monkey #1 graphic. Move it down toward the bottom of the page to minimize confusion. 

Duplicate the graphic

Step 2:  Drag the photo face (created with a transparent background) on to the PowerPoint slide.You can also bring in the image using the Insert picture tab. If you require further information on how to make photo faces with transparent backgrounds, please check out the following blog post http://bit.ly/PhotoFaces

Step 3: Select the photo face that you have just added to the page and size it to completely cover the existing monkey face. (Don't forget to hold down the shift key when you re-size to maintain
the correct proportions; you can also flip or rotate the image to optimize its appearance)

Add & re-size the photo face

Step 4: Select the 'duplicated monkey' and select the photo face while holding down the shift key (monkey body + photo face). Group these two components. You will note that the
animations assigned to the monkey image are lost when you perform this action.

Group the monkey body and photo face                                                  Save as Picture   

Step 5: Now the grouped image (monkey body + photo face) must be converted into a graphics file that can be imported/substituted for the original animated monkey. Right click on the new grouped image, then select Save as Picture from the drop down menu. Give the newly saved file a distinct name, e.g., Monkey 1- Rayhana. I always save to the desktop where I can easily find my 'newly minted' graphics. 

Step 6:  Right click on the original monkey image. Select Change Picture from the 'drop down' menu. Navigate to the desktop where you have stored  the altered graphic (e.g., Monkey 1- 

Rayhana). Presto the original Monkey #1 is replaced with the personalized monkey without

disturbing the animation sequence! Yay!

Use the Change Picture tool to import the new graphic

Repeat this procedure for all 6 monkeys. You will then need to replace the monkeys on each page of the resource.

Obviously it is easier to incorporate photo faces on resources that are specifically designed to accommodate photo faces. Method 2 does require more steps ... but the extra effort is well worth the additional engagement that will occur as a result of personalizing. 

Go forth boldly and personalize!!!!!!

... 'til the next post

Visit my website   http://animatedstep-by-steps.com

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Follow my blog http://animatedstepbysteps.blogspot.com

Email me canadiangoosse@gmail.com

Visit my digital store http://teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Bloom

©2018 Carol Goossens’, Ph.D.

Augmentative Communication Consultant

Speech-Language Pathologist

Special Educator