Nate Emerson: Cognitopia Intern Extraordinaire

Nate’s Emerson’s interest in voice acting, theater, and comedy began when he was in high school. Using a WordPress blog to capture his strengths, interests, goals, and preferences, Nate was one of the first individuals to transition his electronic portfolio into the MyLife application. While going to high school, Nate had an educational eligibility for autism spectrum disorder and subsequently … Read More

Empowering Students to Participate in their Own IEP Meetings

Individual education planning (IEP) meetings can often be stressful for everyone involved and not feel particularly good for parents and teachers alike. But IEP meetings can be even more painful for students when they are not included and not prepared for what the meeting will involve. Like many educators, I am a firm believer in having the student involved and … Read More

Creating Digital Resumes for Individuals with Limited Communication Skills

After graduating from high school, Michael Montgomery spent three years learning independent living skills through the 4J School District’s Community Living Program (CLP) in Eugene, Oregon. Diagnosed with autism at 18 months, Michael’s situation is typical among families receiving lifelong support services for their now-adult children. At the CLP students spend part of their day at community-based work sites. For … Read More

MyLife: IEP Self-Direction and Digital Storytelling

When we started the MyLife project, our focus was on the development of a cognitively accessible, multimedia ePortfolio that would function as a kind of online résumé with a person-centered planning style. The end goal was to provide an intuitive, digital tool for students as end users that would let them document and share their educational, work, and personal experiences, … Read More

How MyLife Can be Used as a Student-Directed Assessment Tool

In a student’s mind, assessment is synonymous with “testing,” and nothing causes anxiety like the prospect of having to take a test. Most educators realize, however, that effective formative assessment of progress, learning, and educational experiences go way beyond test taking. Measuring student progress over time should include formal and informal assessment procedures and it requires tools that capture the … Read More

Using My Life to Build a Digital Portfolio

Dorothy Miller presents at OAVSNP 2016

I met Dorothy Miller for the first time a few months ago. She’s young and beautiful and has the kind of optimism and enthusiasm one might expect from a person about to enter the workforce. Dorothy wants to make the world a better place, starting with children. Due to her dysarthria, Dorothy uses the TouchChat program on her iPad to … Read More

2016 Oregon Association of Vocational and Special Needs Personnel Conference Recap

Cognitopia was well-represented in beautiful Hood River, Oregon at the 2016 Conference of the Oregon Association of Vocational and Special Needs Personnel. Our team participated in three presentations featuring the newest Cognitopia web applications Goal Guide, MyLife, and ScanDo. On Day 1, Josh Barbour and Tom Keating presented Technology to Support Integrated Employment: Cloud-based Apps, sharing the latest developments within … Read More