I was very appreciative of the chance to work on Proloque2go.  I found the activity of learning the platform and then "intuing" the required vocabulary thought provoking.
Most importantly I was less intimidated if no more effective with the technology.  I do think that starting with this fairly easily "programmable" app and familiar task may have made a troglodyte such as myself more comfortable with the topic of Assistive technology,   I may not wake up screaming "turn off ADOBE SPARK" or no not the AAC but the thought of 10 days labour with unfamiliar apps was not a great prospect.
Today I felt like I was learning and had the brainwave that, rather than figuring out what words a student needed, we should be teaching them how to create their own files to that met their needs.  That was when reality hit.  Not all forms of assistive technology are appropriate for all students and not all students can or should be expected to use each AAC.
The teacher and PPT have to be able to know the student, judge their strengths, weaknesses and goals and be able to recognize when it is time to transition to another platform.  If these kids could use a platform other than Proloqu2go, they would be and some day they will be but for now we use prolque2go to assist students in life and learning.

Later....

Well that didn't go so well.   Last night I tried to write my blog when it was too late and I was too tired.  I opened it this morning to see a Christmas Tree of misspellings and grammatical errors, plus my main question from the class had not been "queried".

My present job and background finds me heavily involved in EAL so last year the integration of 8 families into the school system was my responsibility.  Traditionally my board does not deal with EAL students who are not from the NSISP but luckily I work well with several provincial colleagues.  I had arranged for some assistive technology and discussed the options with some very well respected colleagues, the schools and technology department. One of the key take aways was that the technology was best utilised if it was n the hands of the teacher to distribute as necessary.   I did agree to a request from a school to send the technology home for the summer for two students.
In light of the comments from todays class about technology being in the hand of the user ( that makes perfect sense) I wonder if the EAL situation is essentially different. Students acquire, language through participation in language rich activities and environments.  Ask a junior high or high school teacher and there are a plethora of anecdotal references to students being tech dependent.

So, does the advice to keep technology in the hands of the students apply to emergent EAL learners?