Easy Tipping

After winter break, I covered three days in a mod to severe special ed class. (Read: high school aged kiddos who read at an elementary school level.) For the last period of the day, they worked on "life skills". 

The students all had workbooks. Some were working on things like street signs and writing out their home address. I ended up sitting between two girls who were working on activities related to dining out. 

I was later told that Audrey was very anxious and needed lots of assurances. She started with a page that showed various steps in ordering food via phone app, and she had to put the steps in order. Which she did, fairly easily (once I confirmed that she was, in fact, doing it correctly). 

Then we moved on to tipping. 

Explaining how to figure out the tip on a restaurant bill is a challenge even with general ed students. (Everyone hates percentages.) With these special ed students? But I dug in and was ready to work it step-by-step with her.

(And yes, there are shortcuts that are easier in the actual restaurant. And yes, most places now print how much a tip could be on the receipt. Or, it'll automatically add it if you're paying via kiosk. But when it's an actual lesson in an actual workbook, working the actual steps is expected.) 

But then Ms. S, one of the instructional assistants, pulled out her phone. There was an app for that. 

(If you click on the link, the screenshots show just how easy the thing is.)

Oh my. So, so, so much easier. 

Audrey understood what we were doing. Fiddling with the math was the challenge. But the app? She easily could input the total of the bill, slide the percentage to what it needed to be, and have the tip right there. 

This is what we talk about when we talk about accommodations. The student can understand what needs to be done. They just have issues working through the steps to get it done. Take away the fiddly bits, and they can exist in general spaces just fine. 

Audrey needed just a little guidance, and then she was calculating the tips all on her own. 

Phew. That could have been a way harder activity. 

(And if you need such an app, now you know it exists.)