Group items tagged

" Digital Storytelling can transform your students' writing into a visual masterpiece that is filled with voice and emotion, while enhancing critical thinking skills. The iPad takes digital storytelling to a new level by making the process easier, and even more engaging for students of all grade levels as well as for their teachers. This site will help guide you in what you need for success in the iPad Digital Storytelling classroom."

"This collection of ready-to-use graphic organizers will help children classify ideas and communicate more effectively. All of our free, printable graphic organizers are designed to facilitate understanding of key concepts by allowing students to visually identify key points and ideas. By using graphic organizers across all subject areas, you will be empowering your students to master subject-matter faster and more efficiently. We have graphic organizers for reading, science, writing, math, and for general use. You'll also find blank printable templates like graph paper, dot arrays, and other useful tools. "

"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."

"Welcome to Wikijunior The aim of this project is to produce age-appropriate non-fiction books for children from birth to age 12. These books are richly illustrated with photographs, diagrams, sketches, and original drawings. Wikijunior books are produced by a worldwide community of writers, teachers, students, and young people all working together. The books present factual information that is verifiable. You are invited to join in and write, edit, and rewrite each module and book to improve its content. Our books are distributed free of charge under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License."

"iShare is an adapted electronic communication system that allows students with cognitive impairments to email and post to blogs. Students learn to use a motivating mainstream technology to work on social communication and writing skills. The iShare program includes an interface for clinicians or teachers to send email assignments, post class blogs and evaluate and graph performance on spelling, grammar, content or other domains they are targeting."

"The Texthelp Web Apps provide support tools that will work within multiple browsers (e.g. Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome, Firefox) on mobile devices including iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone, and other mobile devices, as well as on PCs and Macs. Users will benefit from having Read&Write GOLD features they are familiar with along with instant accessibility and mobility with these powerful web support tools."

Stories Unbound is a super-simple application that lets identify a point on a world map and write a short story related to it.

this is the actual site

"Stories Unbound is a super-simple application that lets identify a point on a world map and write a short story related to it."

"It would be impossible (and not the intent of this paper) to conduct a comprehensive review of every communication application (app) that exists as of this writing. Rather, a clinical framework for comparing and selecting apps will be offered to assist speech-language pathologists in answering the popular question "What communication apps should we use?" While this platform and certain apps may indeed represent a reasonable match to the strengths and needs of some individuals, it is important that the needs of an individual be considered on a case-by-case basis using a thorough and clinically based approach. To this end, the clinical application of a chart detailing features believed to represent critical and fundamental considerations for a broad profile of people evidencing complex communication needs will be discussed and highlighted through case examples."

Facts on AAC funding, programs and other resources. Contains an AAC Report Coach to guide writing AAC reports for funding. from Assistive Technology Law Center

A great resource for AAC funding

Another good accessibility post about Steve Jobs "When I heard that Steve Jobs had passed away, I was boarding a train from New York to Philadelphia to visit my son. A friend phoned and then text-messaged me the news before I could read it on Twitter. It felt, I said later, as if someone had torn the hair out of my head. When I did tweet, the first semi-coherent thought I was able to write about Jobs was also about my son: I'm on my way to PHL to see my son, who uses a device Steve Jobs invented to help him talk. He will never know. He will never know."

PapooTouch represents the new generation of AAC devices, not only when it comes to its shape but also its characteristics. Its large touch screen simplifies its use, makes its more comfortable, and the Writer function enables you to write message with your fingers; that makes it one of the most innovative device on the market. PapooTouch is also a complete device which combines 4 functionalities in 1. It's an AAC device giving back the ability to speak to persons who can't do it anymore. But it's also a device enabling you to listen to music, watch movies, browse pictures and play video games.

The classroom strategy section of the Reading Rockets website is designed to share with teachers what research suggests are the most effective ways to build fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing skills.

"Accessing Curriculum Through Technology Tools (ACTTT) developed and evaluated an integrated technology tool curriculum to support learning standards and provide access to the general early elementary curriculum. The ACTTT model was developed and tested in kindergarten, first, and second grade classrooms at Westview Elementary School, Lincoln Elementary School, and Eastview Elementary School in Canton, Illinois. Participants included children with typical development, children with disabilities, and children at risk for learning failure. Among the technology tools used in the curriculum were the Internet; computers, digital cameras, digital microscopes, video, printers, scanners, and switches; and software used for writing, graphing, mapping, authoring, graphics, and concept development."

Assistive Technology The term assistive technology encompasses a broad range of devices from "low tech" (e.g., pencil grips, splints, paper stabilizers) to "high tech" (e.g., computers, voice synthesizers, braille readers). These devices include the entire range of supportive tools and equipment from adapted spoons to wheelchairs and computer systems for environmental control. Assistive technology certainly includes computers, but it also refers to a number of other types of accommodations and adaptations which enable individuals with disabilities to function more independently. Computers are an important type of assistive technology because they open up so many exciting possibilities for writing, speaking, finding information, or controlling an individual's environment. But computers are not the only avenues to solving problems through technology. There are many low tech (and low cost) solutions for problems that disabilities pose. Examples of inexpensive, low tech solutions include wrist splints, clip boards for holding papers steady, or velcro tabs to keep positioning pads in place.

"For any student having trouble reading material on a screen, text-to-speech technologies can be wonderful. My March 2008 post, "Converting text to and from speech for accessibility and convenience" addressed some of the software options available today for text to speech functionality. Of those, "CLiCk, Speak" is probably the main one to check out. It's cross-platform, works in the FireFox browser as a plug-in, and is free. In addition to those text-to-speech options, the latest version of the Macintosh operating system (OS 10.6 "Snow Leopard") includes the built-in ability to convert highlighted text in many applications into an audio file. Here is an example of a file I created while writing this post, of this paragraph."

"Board Maker Files On this website you will find books that have been adapted using the Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) and the Mayer-Johnson program BoardMaker (c). The Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) are typically used by individuals who have difficulty being understood verbally or have severe difficulty with reading and writing. If you have your own copy of the book, we have files that allow you to print the symbols that we used to adapt the books. These PCS can be cut out and glued into your own book so that you can read the adapted book again and again to your child or students."

"Draftback is a Chrome extension that lets you play back any Google Doc's revision history (for docs you can edit). It's like going back in time to look over your own shoulder as you write."

"With Trello, you can create boards to organize anything you're working on. Use them solo, or invite colleagues, friends, and family to work together. Write your ideas down on Trello cards and arrange them in lists on your boards. Add details to your cards such as: * checklists to keep track of to-dos * comments to update your co-workers * photos and videos * who's working on that card"

"The latest version of Dictanote features QuickType, a faster than ever speech recognition engine using which you can actually write faster than normal typing."