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"As schools get ready to deploy iPads this year, each one is scrambling to figure out how to develop an efficient and effective system that works. With no standardized system or uniform roadmap to follow, at the moment, it's up to individual schools to reach out through their networks to find information about best practices and smooth, streamlined service."

"While my school district has a very clear Media/Website consent form specific to public media and our school district website there is no consent form yet in place for the on-line activities I do with my class. These activities include but are not limited to our class blog, my students' individual blogs, our class tweeting, our class skyping, and the global projects we take part in on-line."

"My IEP is a free iPhone and iPad app designed to help parents and guardians to gather and organize information before, during, and after IEP meetings. ( IEP = Individualized Education Program. )

This blog site was developed to share information about apps used to support individuals with disabilities. The picture menu on the top shows you the six "big" categories into which apps have been organized. Click on any of these pictures to get a list of the posts that fall within each category. Sometimes, apps don't neatly fit within one of these six areas, so posts have also been tagged with other descriptors that might help you find what you are looking for. The list is on the left side of this screen. Just click on any category tag that is of interest. You can also use the search tool that is at the very bottom of this page.

"Since November I've had the privledge of teaching with an iPad in my grade one class. Along the way I have discovered a lot of great ways to use it to help my students have their individual learning needs met.  Having just one iPad did bring about its own set of challenges but we were very lucky to have access to some additional iPads in the final term of school.  Next year we will have  iPads again thanks in part to my participation in my school's successful innovative learning grant application and another special project I'm involved with at the school district level.  Needless to say my head has been spinning all summer with ways I can integrate this technology into my classroom with out loosing sight of the important non technology based teaching and learning my students need too."

"In this post, I'm sharing 10 free and low-cost apps that may be especially helpful for individuals who find reading and/or writing challenging. I've written previously about some of these resources, but I thought it might be useful to put them together in one place, with information about the apps in point form."

"Closed Captioning places written text at the bottom of video content, allowing for anyone to read along with the video rather than listen to the audio. This is an essential feature for certain accessibility purposes and for individuals who are hard of hearing, but it's also just a useful feature to enable if you want to watch a movie silently and read subtitles. "

"Here are some options for schools and individuals who are looking to project the iPad onto a larger screen via an LCD projector. (Note: These options only work with the iPad 2 or later)."

" Apple has long touted its device's assistive technology as a powerful tool for the educational development of physically and mentally disabled children. The iPad's touch screen makes it easier to manipulate than more traditional educational tools. For children with autism, "the iPad is not a toy, but a tool that works best when there is a 'team effort' between parents and therapists encouraging its proper use," said Marc Reisner, co-founder of Reach for the APPs. "Our goal is to provide schools with iPads so they can reach every child on the autistic spectrum." Reach for the APPs built their site with an initial donation from Managed Digital. Now, they're seeking out donations of money and/or iPads from both individuals and corporations to propel the program forward. According to reports from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 1-in-88 children have some form of autism, up 78 percent from just a decade ago. The demand for augmentative communications devices is growing. But the schools can't meet the demand, so the children are losing valuable time during critical developmental years. Lois Brady, a speech language pathologist and assistive technology specialist, said apps can help develop fine-motor skills, which will in turn make functions like writing and manipulating small objects easier for the students. "I have spent years working with the most challenging students that are considered profoundly disabled," she said. "And I have seen some small miracles when I introduce the iPad into our therapy, as the children have made huge gains in attention, focus, communication, language and literacy skills." Some experts also say that the iPad can lessen symptoms of autistic disorders, helping children deal with life's sensory overload. Brady will be contributing content to the Reach for the APPs website to inform therapists about the latest-and-greatest apps for children all over the autistim spectrum. Apps must be tailor

"ter-loving capybara. Understanding their differences is the first step, but even if we create individual education plans that differentiate instruction for each student, teachers are forced to make choices that affect student learning when it comes to instructing them all at once. "

"A key element to ensuring any successful pedagogy is student engagement. However, keeping students motivated and actively involved can be difficult. Besides the basic challenges of maintaining students' interest and participation in class, today's teachers also have to deal with growing numbers of students and the increased distraction from smart phones and other personal devices. One good way to keep students engaged in the learning process is by varying class exercises to include a combination of lectures, individual assignments, group work, computer activities, videos, and other pedagogical tools like games. Games are interactive, fun, and appealing to most students, and they also offer a number of specific benefits to the learning process."

"Each morning as we start our day together, I draw attention to things that my students may have missed or mentions from our Twitter feed. This short time together each morning discussing our Twitter feed has resulted in rich discussions that prompt thinking, cause us to wonder and lead us to seek out further information. There are many opportunities during the school day to incorporate the use of twitter. A good place to start is to read the tweets from the other classes you follow, ask questions or provide comments as a whole class. The following examples will give you some ideas on how to involve Twitter in literacy, math and science. All of the Twitter activities explained can be done as a whole group, small group or by individual students. "

"Habits are unconscious patterns of behavior that are acquired with frequent repetition. This post will look at what habits exist among innovative educators. While the conditions in education are not ideal for our disruptive educators, there are individuals working hard from within the system to create change. Whether you are looking to join them, better understand them, or you are one of them, this post is for you."

""The single most important thing I learned in this class is that I don't have to have tons of homework to learn a lot." Mid-year or more frequently, I ask students to complete an evaluation form. I craft the questions carefully so simple answers are hard to write. Instead, I try to create specific, complex questions that cover the material, the classroom activities and the students-peers and the individual. Many teachers shake their heads and avoid these exercises. They scoff that students would actually take the forms seriously or that the students will say anything useful. But I find the nature of the questions often elicits a straight answer-short, but helpful."

"IdeaStorm is a free iPad app for quickly creating sketches and diagrams. IdeaStorm allows you to create individual sketches and collections of sketches. To create a sketch just tap the "new drawing" button and start drawing. You can choose from three line thicknesses and five colors to use in your drawings. All drawings are automatically saved in the app."

"Over the summer, I have been blogging about Redefining Learning in the Mathematics Classroom through the use of individual student blogs. After hearing about the great things going on in Kristen Wideen's classroom and her use of QuadBlogging for creating a Primary Blogging Community, I have been inspired to attempt modifying a similar approach for blogging in mathematics."

"The term "blended learning,'' is fast-becoming one of the education buzzwords that you will hear at conferences and in news articles. Some call it digital learning or "personalized learning,'' which is another way of describing how teachers can work with students at their individual skill level and deliver real-time instruction as needed - with the help of technology. Blended learning is a better term than some of awful jargon that has crept into the lexicon of education, but it still merits some explanation. That's why we are posting this this video by The Learning Accelerator, a non-profit whose mission is to accelerate high-quality blended learning in school districts across the U.S."

"If you don't have a YouTube channel as an education provider, there's a good chance you're behind the times. Nearly every major educational institution in the world now hosts its own collection of videos featuring news, lectures, tutorials, and open courseware. Just as many individuals have their own channel, curating their expertise in a series of broadcasted lessons."