LEARNING DISABILITIES

A Recent review of MakeBeliefsComix from Karin Draper, middle school occupational therapist:

"I just want to thank you for making this available. It has been great for my students with disabilities who have difficulty expressing themselves! Some of my students have never written a story before and they are ‘discouraged learners’. This format gives them a real boost and empowers them to create something. It yields a satisfying outcome that they can feel good about. It is great to see their eyes light up as they engage. I like to encourage them to see it as an exercise in sequencing events. Because you offer a nice selection of characters and different positions, they can create a simple story that shows beginning, middle, and end. I have been teaching some of them to type and they can put their skills to use."

FOR STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

Marga Zuzama, teacher, Fragile X Syndrome Primary School in Mallorca, Spain, submitted this excellent method for using MakeBeliefsComix to help students with learning disabilities:

"Toni, a fourth-year student, aged 10, reacted extremely well when I suggested making a comic. Firstly, I have to add that he was already motivated as his sister had made a comic at home and our corridors have a fantastic display of home-made and MakeBeliefsComix comics with strong, colourful images. We connected to the website and carried out the following steps:

  1. Look at the characters and talk a little about them. 
  2. Give them names - Rabbit, Extraterrestre, Man with Glasses, Lady with Glasses.
  3. Play for a good while at identifying different characters - Can you find the rabbit?, etc.
  4. Choose a character and click to take to frame.
  5. Carry out the same process with objects.
  6. Indicate which object to take to specific character.
  7. Experiment with colour changes for the background (this is not significant in Toni's case for colour knowledge as he does not distinguish but he is able to distinguish light and dark).
  8. Once all the frames are complete I invent a simple story and I tell Toni the story. 
  9. We pressed the NEXT button and finished the process, printing out the comic so Toni can proudly take it away as his classmates do.

"The text part is not of real significance for me or Toni. The most important thing is the process of selection and realization. He feels satisfied carrying out a complete short task with images and with sequence, in exactly the same way as his classmates. With Toni we are looking for and evaluating different resources, but the task is the same - to be attractive, appealing and fun to do. The fact that it is easy to print out his own version means that he can have a great final product to take away and show off, too.

"Thank you for providing this great online tool to help educators everywhere achieve creative and inclusive classrooms!"

SUBMIT YOUR OWN STORY! (https://makebeliefscomix.com/Feedback/) We want to hear how using this site helps people with different abilities. Please include your name, affiliation, city and country.

There is another Teacher Resources page on this site which offers 26 additional ideas on how to use MakeBeliefsComix in the classroom. Please give it a try, too.