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One of the major benefits of using technology in the classroom is the ability to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of every student in every lesson. Just as every student grows and develops at different rates, they learn in different ways and at different speeds. Technology makes it possible to pace lessons appropriately for each student's learning level and can be used to promote learning in the multiple intelligences. Below you will find website suggestions that address the different learning styles in your classroom with the help of technology:

"# Lets children (and adults) of all ages create cool, educational picture books called RealeBooks ("Really Books"). # Gives children of all ages access to thousands of free RealeBooks created by children, parents, and educators. # Lets you print RealeBooks, share them with friends and family via email, and share them with the world through RealeLibraries ("Really Libraries"). # Anchors your community's literacy cycle, enabling parents, teachers, and students to create and publish culturally relevant books that help other students develop reading skills. "

"This is a list of the iPad apps that Nolan really enjoyed and that I believe will help him to develop and encourage the skills that he needs to work on. Because of early intervention, he has grown so much with his vocabulary and communication. Most of the apps he and I liked aren't targeted for autism, but they are "autism friendly". I tried to find as many free and under $2.00 apps as I could. "

The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) with the mission of providing a world-class education to anyone, anywhere. Currently posting 1,800 short video teaching targeted topics. We are complementing Salman's ever-growing library with user-paced exercises--developed as an open source project--allowing the Khan Academy to become the free classroom for the World.

MITS Freedom Stick 1.0 The MITS Freedom Stick is the result of global collaboration and the leadership of Ira Socol. The design and primary technical work was all done by the Regional Support Center - Scotland North and East. We are extremely grateful for their time, effort, and generosity. Much of the support for our "Americanization," localization, and development of the accessible Firefox Browser came from the Mozilla Corporation, and Mozilla Education. The MITS Freedom Stick is designed to provide students with information and communication access on any computer using a Windows or Linux operating system. When you insert the USB Flash Drive into the computer the LearnApps software should load giving you a menu in the toolbar on the lower-right corner of the screen.

"Pictello is a simple way to create talking photo albums and talking books. Each page in a Pictello Story can contain a picture, up to five lines of text, and a recorded sound or text-to-speech using high-quality voices. Stories can be shared using iTunes File Sharing or via WiFi with other Pictello users through a free account on the Pictello Sharing Server. Pictello is developed with non-speaking people in mind, so it is easy to use and requires no literacy skills to locate and read stories. Pictello offers an easy visual story creation wizard so everyone can use pictures and sound to share important moments in their lives. An advanced editor gives full control of the editing capabilities"

"Maximizing Literacy Learning for Students with Moderate/Severe Disabilities Development of web based versions of these resource materials was supported in part by Initiative 24 of the Higher Education Support Center for Systems Change at the School of Education, Syracuse University, sponsored by the New York State Department of Education Vocational Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities under Federal Grant CFDA #84.027 and is not endorsed by the HESC. © 2008 Roberta F. Schnorr and Amanda Fenlon"

Four MIT students are developing a web browser interface that uses large motor hand motions. Not a product yet.

What is the Everyday Life (EDL) project? The EDL project uses interactive, situation-based lessons to teach functional literacy skills. Each activity provides learners with the opportunity to test their knowledge of real-world situations and to develop the confidence and skills necessary to be successful in everyday life.

calibre is a free and open source e-book library management application developed by users of e-books for users of e-books. It has a cornucopia of features divided into the following main categories: * Library Management * E-book conversion * Syncing to e-book reader devices * Downloading news from the web and converting it into e-book form * Comprehensive e-book viewer

an online data visualization tool developed by IBM. Many Eyes provides tools for creating a wide variety of data visualizations using your data sets There are six categories of data visualization types offered by Many Eyes. Within each of those categories you will find three or four tools for creating visualizations. You will find common visualizations like line graphs, bar graphs, maps, and word clouds. You will also find some less commonly used and or more difficult-to-create data visualization displays like treemaps for comparison, block histograms, bubble charts, and phrase nets.

HelpKidzLearn is a collection of free software for young children and those with learning difficulties to play online. The software is split into five sections: * Early Years * Games and Quizzes * Stories and Songs * Creative Play * Find Out About You will get the most out of these activities if you play them together with your child. Use them as a focus for chatting. Speaking and listening is very important for young children's educational development, particularly reading and writing. HelpKidzLearn has been created by Inclusive Technology Ltd., a commercial organisation providing assistive technology and educational software. Many of the activities at HelpKidzLearn are free samples taken from our own software titles

Free education videos and resources for professional development With over 3,500 videos available,

"iPhones and iPodTouch We all see those great advertisements about iPhone "apps", what you might not realize though is how wonderful the iPhone can be for people with various challenges. Much of the attractiveness of the iPhone and iPod apps, available for children and teens who benefit from options in communication and organization, is that everyone is so familiar with them or willing to learn more about them due to their awesome appeal, popularity and tech culture status. They are the in thing! What you may not know is that parents, Speech and Language Specialist and teachers have begun developing programs specifically for the disabled population. Some may not be designed for the disabled but have become a great tool for them anyway! This is not a complete listing, I am sure, but it is a beginning. I will try to keep it up-dated. Please let me know if I miss something! Remember also that you do not have to have a phone as part of your system as you can download, purchase and use the same (most anyway) "apps" by using an iPodTouch. "

"Using Voicethread for Digital Conversations Beginning with email and instant messages and stretching to texting and synchronous video web conferencing, digital dialogue has gradually become a common element of everyday life for today's students-another opportunity to "gather." The kinds of personal relationships shaped on the playground in an earlier era are now developed in MySpace and Facebook. While the format may be different, the purpose remains the same: Our students are crafting identities and are driven to connect."

A Visual Representation of Bloom's Taxonomic Hierarchy with a 21st Century Skills Frame. For the record...this is an implementation point, a discussion starter. Those of us that provide staff development around instructional technology have identified a need to share more than just tools with teachers. To evaluate them based on Bloom's Taxonomy is simply a way to connect the tools to those that would be identified with the Affective, Psychomotor, or Cognitive domains--specifically the Cognitive. The visual that you see here is the seed of discussion. There are other models in the section to the left called "Ideas for the Visual." I would hope that the critical analysis of what we've started here includes attention to the fact that we are building something from the ground up, starting conversations and collaborating around doing what's best for kids and teachers. This is a work in progress and will continue to evolve.

Resources from the National Educational Technology Plan Statements by individuals and organizations expressing ideas, opinions, and recommendations for the new National Educational Technology Plan. Written Resources such as journal articles, reports, and book chapters that discuss educational or technological developments that can help inform the plan. Technology Tools such as hardware, software or applications that hold promise for transforming our education system. Exemplary Cases of programs, activities, curricula, and system redesign that have harnessed technology in innovative ways to enhance student learning, quality teaching, effective assessment, increased productivity, or other educational goals."

"This Issue Brief harnesses the thinking of NCTI stakeholders and the literature in the educational and AT field to provide insight for current and future investment, development, and research. The Issue Brief discusses five themes that define state-of-the-art assistive technology: 1. Convergence 2. Customizability and universal design for learning (UDL) 3. Research or evidence-based 4. Portability to promote independence 5. Interoperability Underlying these themes is a design imperative: devices should be simple - simple to learn, to use, to integrate, and to support."

"The Center for Learning and Inclusive Practices (CLIP) is a non-profit organization committed to promoting inclusive practices in education. CLIP provides professional development services and web-based instructional resources to facilitate the integration of technology as an instructional tool to eliminate barriers for special education and at-risk students, as well as for English Language Learners and economically disadvantaged students."

"CK-12 has developed an online system for collaborative, custom-collated, self publishable educational content that can be adapted for individualized needs in a digital-age textbook known as a FlexBook. CK-12 website has titles for math, science, technology and history classrooms. To use these resources, simply create a free accoun and you can start to browse available titles and download them for use in the classroom.