Photo of Aeden doing a two-finger swipe down gesture and text
Strategy

Aeden’s Journey on the iPad: Part 4

Aeden learns two-finger reading gestures.

Lesson 10:  I can use two finger swipe up/down to activate the reading commands: say all and say all from the cursor.

Materials needed

Objective

To be able to use the say all and say all from cursor command using two finger swipe up/down and identify the difference between the two commands.

Lesson

****Please note- when I first introduced this concept, Aedan struggled with making the fist and then opening up the two fingers to activate the two finger swipe up/down command. After many attempts with no success, I used the viper/snake one single double tap command and he got the concept immediately. In the future, I will introduce the concept with the pause/play gesture first. I was then able to have him do the viper (two finger single touch and quickly swipe up or down) with no problem at all. 

  1. First, I had him turn on voice over. Then I asked him to tell me everything he remembered on the home-screen that VO reads to him when he swipes left/right.  He remembered his favorites like Pictello and my favorite which is the iPad Tools folder. So we hit the home button and I had him swipe left to listen to all of the apps again. 
  2. Then I said to him, what if we had the iPad read the entire page with just one gesture. The magic swipe up!!! With one swipe, it will read everything that we see on the page.  This is when we practiced the fist first and then held out the index and middle finger and swipe up or away from his body.  He required maximum assistance for the first three or four times.  He was very excited to hear all the apps being read to him without touching the iPad. Then I placed the focus on an app that he would know is not first (He knows that Exploring Braille is the first app on the home screen). Then I told him that he needed to listen to what is different with the magic swipe down. The first time he was not able to identify the difference, but after two to three practices about reminding him what the magic swipe up does (reads the entire screen from top to bottom) and the magic swipe down starts from where the focus is or the cursor (he already knows what the cursor is). He now is able to tell the difference.

Rule: I can use the two finger swipe up or the magic swipe up for the say all command and I can use the two finger swipe down or the magic swipe down to have the iPad read from the cursor or focus on. 

Lesson 11: I can use the two-touch single tap to pause/play speech.

Materials needed

Objective

To be able to pause/play speech during the say all command or while voice-over is speaking with no assistance.

Lesson

This was a quick ten minute lesson. The tricky part is for your student to understand what two finger single touch looks and feels like. Through the use of strategies taught by Diane Brauner- I used the viper or snake bite gesture. Aedan really liked this and caught onto it rather quickly. I talked to him about what fangs are and that snakes have fangs that look like your index and middle fingers. When they are ready to strike or attack their food, they quickly and smoothly use their fangs to bite their prey. We practiced it on the desk first, then my hand, then I did it to his hand so he understood how little pressure was needed for the ‘bite’ to work. Then I introduced the iPad. I had him swipe up and then do the snake bite gesture (two-finger single tap).  He picked up on it instantly and also connected the cause-effect relationship. After four or five ‘practice’ runs, he got it. And it made it much easier for him to get the feel of the two finger swipe up and two-finger swipe down. Due to his personality and feeling proud, we came up with the rule that we only use the snake bite gesture when it is free iPad time or when an adult asks him to do it, not during instruction time. 

Rule: I can use the snake bite (two finger single tap) to pause/play speech during my free iPad time or when I am asked to do it.

Pause and Play video transcript here.

 
Editor’s Note: Christina wrote this wonderful story, VoiceOver Poem, about Ted learning to use VoiceOver’s Read All commands. Your student will love practicing VoiceOver’s two finger reading commands while reading the poem!
 
View other post in this series: 
Aeden: Introduction to the iPad and VoiceOver
Aeden’s Journey on the iPad: Part 2 (Home button, Cause & Effect)
Aeden’s Journey on the iPad: Part 3 (Pause/Play, Titles/Select Socument)
Aeden’s Journey on the iPad: Part 5 (Connecting with Braille Display)
Aeden’s Journey on the iPad: Part 6 (Dictation)

Attached File(s)

https://www.perkins.org/sites/elearning.perkinsdev1.org/files/Pause%20and%20Play.plain_doc.doc.pdf https://www.perkins.org/sites/elearning.perkinsdev1.org/files/iPad%20poem.docx
By bcskayaker

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