Linda Burkhart handout on AAC for students with complex communication needs

"This site is a collection of links and resources that I use as a school based Occupational Therapist, as well as some resources I've developed. These resources are primarily in the following areas: Assistive Technology for students with physical disabilities; Assistive Technology for students with multiple disabilities; and Occupational Therapy support for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder."

"The cre8txt keyboard mimics a mobile phone text keypad and so captures the skill that nearly all of our young people have taught themselves and turns that into a benefit you can use in the classroom. The keyboard also comes with word prediction software, the same sort of assistance that young people are used to when composing messages on their mobile phones. "

"This series of four video demonstrations show a student successfully communicating using a Pragmatic Organization Dynamic Display (PODD). See Lorenzo and his speech-language pathologist, Marta McAulay, communicating using PODD. The PODD system is based on work by Linda Burkhart and Gayle Porter. A summary of PODD is included. "

"This comprehensive resource provides detailed information and a range of templates to support the production and use of Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Display (PODD) communication books. This resource provides practitioners with templates and guidelines to develop an appropriate communication book and also describes comprehensive strategies to enable the use of the system in the child`s daily life - at home, at school and in the community. "

"There is a lot of research and evidence to prove that social stories are an effective way to work with children diagnosed with Autistic spectrum disabilities. We want to use these methods and ideas to develop a website for all children with behavioral difficulties. We want to include stories based on the social story format, but geared towards specific behavioral issues that parents and teachers may be having with students. We would like to provide supports through suggested websites, links, tools for creating your own behavioral stories, and examples of stories we have used and found effective."

"Anki is a program which makes remembering things easy. Because it is a lot more efficient than traditional study methods, you can either greatly decrease your time spent studying, or greatly increase the amount you learn. Anyone who needs to remember things in their daily life can benefit from Anki. Since it is content-agnostic and supports images, audio, videos and scientific markup (via LaTeX), the possibilities are endless."

"For children and young people with reading difficulties, text-to-speech (TTS) software offers some of the benefits of a personal reader. The article provides an overview of the technology and its application, and then summarizes the research on benefits of TTS for struggling readers. The different kinds of TTS software available are described in three categories, according to sophistication, and information is given concerning how teachers can obtain electronic text materials for use with TTS. Finally, suggestions are provided for implementing TTS in the classroom. Related Postings from the Archives * Teachers' Use of Technology in a Reading Clinic by Ernest Balajthy et al. * Wait for Me! by Ofer Bergman * Jumping off the Page by Bart Pisha and Peggy Coyne What Is TTS? | Impact of TTS | Available Software | Available Texts | Practical Considerations | Suggestions for Use | References "

"NBC Learn is the education arm of NBC News. We are making the global resources of NBC News and the historic film and video archive available to teachers, students, schools and universities. * NBC News Archives on Demand (K-12 and Higher Ed) unleashes the power of the NBC News archives and makes thousands of video clips available to teachers, students, schools, colleges and universities. * What's Your iCue? is the video trivia challenge that blends learning and gaming. * Original video content from NBC Learn is engaging, innovative, and makes learning fun!"

"These interactive games are extremely flexible and accessible. Using the standard settings, all Nanogames will play like typical computer games. Experienced gamers without disabilities will be able to play them comfortably. However, unlike most computer games, Nanogames are extremely flexible and if the player needs to use alternative controllers, or needs the games to be much slower or easier to play then Nanogames can do that too - easily."

Social Stories from Inclusive Learning Technology

"The following, amazing list was compiled by Carolann Cormier and developed as a handout resource. It is not meant to be exhaustive and is not a suggestion on what apps to download. It is always helpful to review the ratings on apps before purchasing. For review of apps, click on the review button when you are on the app download page in iTunes. If a lite version is available, generally they are free or cheaper, so they can be a way for you to try an app. For children's apps, click on the Apps for Kids category in iTunes sidebar. For books, click on the Books category. Use the search parameters built into iTunes for apps by clicking on the apps button when your search results come up."

"Edistorm takes the metaphor of sticky notes on a boardroom wall and brings it online allowing anyone - anywhere to brainstorm with only a web browser. Each user picks their favorite ideas and Edistorm brings the best ones forward."

"Collaborative multimedia presentations enable small groups like teaching teams to work together to: * present knowledge in different and (if you do it right) compelling ways * engage active participation by the entire class instead of broadcasting to it like a passive audience"

"ipadio allows you to broadcast from any phone to the Internet live. Phone blog, collect audio data, record and update the world, or simply let your mates know what you're doing - ipadio is integrated with Social Media & Blogging platforms."

"UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING Supporting Learning Diversity with Free Digital Resources

"The purpose of this resource is to provide a series of study modules that can be used by practicing teachers who are interested in increasing student outcomes through the implementation of effective best practices regarding instruction and technology. We recognize that individual, and groups of, teachers are in various stages of developing knowledge regarding AT concepts, practices and principles. Depending upon your level of knowledge and your interests, you can go through this manual from beginning to end or self-select certain modules. Each learning module includes: * Selected initial readings * Key ideas * Extension and Reflection Activities * Additional resources Each module is meant to serve as a starting point, only. You and your colleagues are encouraged to review the materials and modify them, as appropriate, or alter the activities, as needed. "

"Welcome to the Ohio Treasure Chest! The Ohio Treasure Chest is an online collection of thousands of websites which are high-quality, teacher-reviewed, interactive, and free. Each website is aligned directly to the Ohio Academic Content Standards in math, science, language arts, and social studies, and ready for use in your classroom."