Congratulations to our July AwesomeStPaul Grantee Davia Christiansen, an occupational therapist at Humboldt High School. She will be expanding her adaptive learning tools to students not currently served. AwesomeStPaul Trustees chose her project because it will help many more 6th through 12th grade students achieve their academic goals.

In her words " I would like to start a closet that works to provide supports for students at Humboldt High School. These tools would provide adaptive, fine, and sensory-motor assistive technology options for students in 6th through 12th grade. Currently, only students in special education with specific accommodations have access to specific tools. The project I am proposing would provide access to these supports, ts’ needs that would promote an increased level of independence and participation in many of their academic settings.
This closet would contain items that would be as simple as spring loaded scissors and as more intensive as technology supports that make access and navigation on their iPads easier. Because each student's needs will differ, each student and their educators will have the tools to help develop and explore additional supports in specific educational needs.

With the addition of this closet, I will continue my training of all staff to be aware of how these tools can have a positive impact with their students and they can get access to the tools immediately. Currently, we can have conversations about the tools but then we have to wait to get access to them. With the closet located at Humboldt, we could more easily find the support that is the right fit for each student. Collecting data on the effectiveness of the supports, and the conversations that accompany this, is critical to helping students develop self-advocacy skills that continue well beyond their high school years.

The demongraphics of Humboldt is a 6-12 school on the West Side of St. Paul, MN. The enrollment is 1,065, with 159 students on IEPs. Humboldt also is the hub for the Multi-Lingual Learners. Total Demographics for Humboldt:76% of students at Humboldt qualify for Free/Reduced Lunches; 15% receive special education services; 45% are identified as English Learners.