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"When a teacher is looking for a new way to teach a student, a concept, or a lesson, the chances are the best resource is another teacher. On LessonCast, teachers share ideas and resources through screencast videos called lessoncasts. The LessonCast community connects educators with classroom-proven experience and great ideas"

"A lessoncast is a spreadable example of the what, why, and how of effective teaching. Lessoncasts feature one lesson idea or management strategy in 2 minutes 30 seconds or less. Lessoncasts include teacher-created downloadable resources to help implement the ideas. A lessoncast is NOT a lesson plan, but rather a quick how-to overview meant to inspire and support teachers looking for effective resources."

This article is short, but sweet. It discusses the importance of proper transition planning and the laws that are involved. It also talks about how assistive technology is necessary to enable individuals to communicate and receive the accommodations they need.  This article is helpful to brush up on the laws of the IDEA and how they play an important role in the transition process. 

This is a great article to brush up on IDEA like you said. All those laws and regulations can be to much at times and it is always good to have a resource nearby to double check yourself.

"Why today's interest in competency-based education (CBE)? "Number one, the degree completion agenda period is driving this-the fact that so many states are moving to performance funding, and colleges are feeling drive to help students be successful," says Pamela Tate of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL). In addition, "A lot of employers are really pushing for having a clearer idea of what people know and can do in the workplace.""

"What does it mean to live a good life? What about a productive life? How about a happy life? How might I think about these ideas if the answers conflict with one another? And how do I use my time here at college to build on the answers to these tough questions?"

This article briefly discusses the laws under the IDEA and the transition process. It covers the transition process during school with the IEP and the transition process after graduation. It also discusses the importance of assistive technology in the transition process. This article can be useful to understand how assistive technology can play a role in the transition process. I could see myself referring to this article for guidance. 

Nice article Amanda! I like that this site provides ample information in short chunks and each chunk has another resource attached to it. I think it is very helpful

I really enjoyed this article. It is very easy to navigate through and will be very helpful in the teaching profession.

This website resource covers ages from 0-22 as a transition into adulthood which I honestly thing everyone could use help with, not just individuals with disabilities. There are 3 different links to help with transition; The basics of Student Involvement, Person-Centered Planning and Materials for Students. As you scroll down the website, each category gives a brief summary and a link for more information/agencies that can be helpful. There is also related information which discusses and IEP, how a disability is defined and the health care transition for youth with special care needs. This website would be important to use with a student. They would be able to research about transition under their own age at the link at the top of the page. After all, there is a quote on the home page saying ,"there's a very simple and common sense reason why IDEA 2004 requires that students with disabilities be invited to attend every IEP meeting where postsecondary transition goals will be considered: It's their lives."

"Jo Handelsman remembers the moment she realized something was seriously wrong with the way science was taught. She was an undergraduate at Cornell University in her junior year, sitting in a biology lecture with an unusually good professor. "It suddenly occurred to me that every idea I had memorized or learned or thought I understood in a textbook was actually the result of scientific investigation," said Handelsman, who is now a professor at Yale. "And that just floored me." She also couldn't help thinking why she hadn't realized this before. "What was missing that it took me so long?""

The National Assistive Technology Technical Assistive Partnership (NATTAP) is an organization based in Virginia. It works to provide assistive technology and information about assistive technology to people with disabilities. The programs provided by NATTAP "develop and disseminate training materials, conduct training, facilitate access to AT [(Assistive Technology)], and provide technical assistance to assist school children with disabilities transitioning to work or postsecondary education and adults with disabilities who are maintaining or transitioning to community living." The website provides information about training to use some assistive technology programs, as well as information about IDEA in terms of assistive technology and transition. As a special educator, I would use this site to find trainings for certain assistive technology programs. Being trained in the use of multiple assistive technology programs is incredibly beneficial because it gives the educator more knowledge about which programs would work best for students. In terms of transition and career development, I would use this website to help my students learn about new and different programs that will help them both in college and the working world.

This resource was very informative. I can definitely see myself using this as an educator to research assistive technology programs.

"Development of the TAGG began in 2007 with creation of the basic idea, collection of initial research studies, and social validation studies of the basic concept. A grant award from the National Institute of Education Science's National Center for Special Education Research provided the funding to bring together an involved group of assessment experts and transition professionals to create the TAGG. The following chapters of the TAGG Technical Manual describe the iterative development process that produced the TAGG assessment and results of various validity studies. We developed the TAGG following the steps detailed in the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (1999) by the American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, and the National Council on Measurement in Education. The Technical Manual Chapters will be updated as additional validity evidence becomes available."

"Research shows that students with ADHD can concentrate better when they're allowed to fidget (here's a link to the study). But what if this becomes a distraction for the rest of the class? We received hundreds of Facebook comments from teachers, parents, and students with great ideas for letting students quietly fidget, and here are some of our favorites:"

"Life is full of transitions, and one of the more remarkable ones occurs when we get ready to leave high school and go out in the world as young adults. When the student has a disability, it's especially helpful to plan ahead for that transition. In fact, IDEA requires it."

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is committed to ensuring that students and youth with disabilities are held to high expectations and have the resources and supports needed to expand their learning opportunities and prepare them for success in postsecondary education or careers. To that end, this "Questions and Answers" (Q&A) describes how State educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), and State vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies may coordinate to assist students and youth with disabilities, including students and youth with intellectual disabilities who are in high school and at postsecondary education institutions, through appropriate supports funded under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Rehabilitation Act), as amended by Title IV of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

This website provides very helpful information for families regarding the different assistive technology systems that are available to children with disabilities. It provides resource reviews about hundreds of technology resources that are available to help families chose the one that works best for their student. It also provides a search engine based on state to help families locate organizations in their area who work with students with certain disabilities. This site has a link to discussion forums where families can talk and connect with others who have students with similar disabilities. The Family Center on Technology and Disability has created this site to be helpful and informative for families. It is very easy to navigate and user friendly. As a special educator, I would use this website as a way to help families connect with organizations and other families in the area who have students with similar disabilities. Disabilities can be very challenging not only for the student but also for the families who are supporting them. Having someone else to talk to about any possible struggles they may be having and having someone else to relate to can be very helpful.

This website provides many different links about different types of assistance technology. Each link has a short summary about the tool which gives a person in need of assistance an idea if the type of technology is necessary or not. Each resource provides a wide range of topics such as introductory fact sheets and CEU's for practitioners and educators. This resource is also important for families who are new to the transition phase of a child's life. These tools can support children who are very young as well which means it can provide assistance to a wide range of families.

"Knowing where to begin and how to proceed can be daunting though. We're here to help. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs, the Family Center on Technology and Disability provides a wide range of resources on assistive technology, from introductory fact sheets and training materials to in-depth discussion of best practices and emerging research. Try setting aside 30 minutes a day to review an FCTD resource. Before you know it, you'll know a lot more about assistive technology and the ways in which it can improve the lives of the children and youth with disabilities. Of course, we're here for your just-in-time information needs as well. We hope you'll visit our site often!"

Hi Andrea---Great resource, assistive technology helps to support growth in a student's self-determination....please tag all of your technology resources as mcst-assistive-tech. Looking forward to your summary and written connection to transition.

This article reminds people that children and people with disabilities are people too. They can participate just like anyone else they just need tools to help them succeed. Through technology we can help people with disabilities feel more independent and empowered. This a great article and connection to resources for my upcoming career in special education. Not only does the article offer some great ideas but also who/where you could contact to learn more.

Great posts Andrea....can you make sure to tag mcst-Assistive-tech. Thanks

This was an article desribing how teachers can use AT in their classrooms. AT can be used to "develop, monitor, and provide instructions, and for students to access and engage in learning." AT is a way to reach students needs. Through AT it can assist in the following areas organization, note taking, writing, productivity, access to reference materials, cognitive assistance, and material modification. This article gave me some great ideas to use with my current and future students. Each student learns differently whether they have a disability or not we as educators need to provide them with the most developmentally appropriate learning experiences so that they can be successful. That maybe through AT. AT can enhance and engage students more than the traditional way of teaching.

This article focuses on children with autism. Children with autism typically have communication and social needs. Technology can assist in the communication needs but the author warns against using technology to teach social skills. This is due to the fact that a computer is not a real person. To teach social skills children need to be interacting with other people. It is all about creating a balance. This reitterates the fact that no child autism or not is the same. Not one thing is going to work for all. Through having this resource and using co-workers, parents, etc... as resources we can better meet the needs of all students. Not one particular learning experience will meet the needs of all students. We as teachers need to vary the methods we use to teach depending on our individual students.

I really like how this resource provides examples for how assistive technology is used with students at a variety of different age and education levels. It really serves to demonstrate the scope of assistive technology and how it can be used with such a wide variety of students.

This resource provides examples of AT all across the board from pencil grips to voice recognition software. Schools are now required because of FAPE to provide students with AT that are in need. The challenges for schools in that area are lack of training and funding. However, the article does provide many success stories that make AT worth it. AT can be as simple as having a student in a regular education classroom take notes on carbon paper so that the student with learning needs can focus there attention on listening and get a copy of the notes later. This resource makes AT reachable to all educators whether you have the funding and training or not. There is no excuse not to meet the AT needs of your students. I plan to use this resource in the future with my students.