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Some great resources that can be downloaded in PDF form from these workshops focusing on special education and differentiation! Each presentation includes the presentation and handouts in PDF form (2 documents per workshop). Good article on co-teaching.

Excellent resources, presentations, handouts from teacher workshops on special education and differentiation. Teacher-to-Teacher is US Dept of Education initiative. The Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative has been created by and for America's teachers. It supports teachers' efforts in the classroom through professional development workshops and digital workshops and by sharing relevant information through email updates. Teacher Workshops Teacher Workshops offer classroom teachers a free opportunity to participate in high-quality professional development designed to provide the classroom support, technical assistance, and increased collaboration needed to assure academic success for all students.

"For many -- not just those with special needs -- participating in an online course is very difficult without assistive technologies. Augmentive and alternative communication products can help students with disabilities. It is useful, however, to look at some assistive technologies as effective for learners who have specific learning preferences and who may benefit from being able to access content in more than one format. Take a look at the different assistive technologies that are available. You may be surprised how affordable they are, and how helpful they might be for you, especially with respect to keyboards, touchscreens, screen-readers (and "talking books"), and speech recognition. "

Excellent compilation of technology tools and links for assistive technology.

Accessible Books and Periodicals for Readers with Print Disabilities

Sir Ken Robinson talks about how education needs to change to preserve divergent thinking and creativity instead of destroying it.

Learning How to Learn Assistive Technology (one of my presentations) "Toolbelt Theory" suggests that we must teach our students how to analyze tasks, the task-completion environment, their own skills and capabilities, an appropriate range of available tools… and let them begin to make their own decisions.

This is definitely a "must read" blog by Ira Socol. This post discusses the "Toolbelt Theory" but there are tons of other valuable resources and important ideas throughout the blog. It's something you should plan to subscribe to via RSS feed so you will get the latest updates. Includes many technology tips and information about Universal Design.

For those unfamiliar with the term, a learning style is a way in which an individual approaches learning. Many people understand material much better when it is presented in one format, for example a lab experiment, than when it is presented in another, like an audio presentation. Determining how you best learn and using materials that cater to this style can be a great way to make school and the entire process of acquiring new information easier and much more intuitive. Here are some great tools that you can use to cater to your individual learning style, no matter what that is.

Look at this awesome compilation of helpful web tools for every kind of learner! Learned about it on Karen Janowski's blog.

Lisa Parisi is an amazing educator with a Master's in Special Education who has been an inclusion teacher for many years. She has done some fantastic things with Voicethread in the MathCast project. Spend some time exploring her blog and you'll get some great ideas for integrating web 2.0 into working with special needs children.

Lisa Parisi's blog post on "The Successful Inclusion Program". Lisa is an outstanding 5th grade teacher who regularly blogs, twitters and hosts ustream.tv sessions to share her tools, tips and strategies. She includes some excellent advice about inclusion programs in this post.

Another great suggestion for instructional modifications using technology to work with special needs students.

Excellent suggestion for using video iPods with special education students. They can listen to content or tests being read and follow along with both the visual on the iPod and the hard copy.

Excellent blog with links and resources from an experience special education teacher.

Fantastic blog maintained by a special education teacher. Lots of great links to resources for integrating technology in special education.

Amazing story of a school that uses technology to include a homebound student in everything going on in the classroom.

This is an incredible video that tells about how one school has found a way to include a long-term homebound student in everything going on in the classroom-instruction, interaction, friendships and much more. Very inspiring and a simple solution using an Activboard, iChat, iSight camera and Mac computer.

This blog and live show is always excellent. On this particular session (July 16, 2008) Lisa Parisi is interviewed about her successful inclusive classroom. Lisa is an awesome web 2.0 educator and her blog is definitely worth following!

LD LIVE! Living with Learning Disabilities Connecting Innovators, Ideas and Individuals in the Field of Education and Learning Disabilities! Melinda Pongrey, MSED, hosts a weekly conversation exploring learning, learning difficulties, and learning disabilities with featured leaders in the field of medicine, science, education, ADHD, and various learning disabilities, including dyslexia.