Special Ed in the 21st Century

"The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in mathematics were created to help all students become prepared for the demands of future careers and life in an age of technology. Similarly, students with moderate and severe disability will need these skills to meet these changing expectations. Although mathematics instruction could focus on a few of the earliest mathematics skills throughout the students school career, research presented in this article shows students with moderate and severe disability can learn skills that align with the grade level of their chronological age while also practicing early numeracy skills. This article provides teachers with a 6-step approach to providing instruction to students with moderate and severe disability aligned to the new CCSS."

"With the proliferation of AAC apps, it seems that many people quickly get or want to get an AAC app for their child with an autism spectrum disorder. It is awesome and amazing to see so many people who need AAC begin to have access to AAC. But once there is accessibility, it is not always readily apparent what to do and it is like any technology or gadget, if you don't learn how to USE it, it could become like the 'proverbial treadmill clothes hanger' or abandoned musical instrument."

"Below is a list of webinars on a variety of AT and access topics. Click on the webinar title to read more and register. You can also browse over 30 archived ATC webinars or search all archived webinars by topic, age range, technology, etc."

This online game is a favorite! It works great on your interactive whiteboard, too!

VocabularySpellingCity has a new summer word study program that allows children to sharpen academic skills as they play. These simple assignments are a daily workout for the brain, building literacy skills such as vocabulary, spelling, and writing.

I originally read this in Washington Post's education blog Answer Sheet. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/05/16/how-to-teach-history-and-how-not-to/

VocabularySpellingCity provides the following sets of correlations to standards: U.S. Standards by State Common Core Standards for each States' Implementation Australian Standards by State Canadian Standards by Province English National Curriculum Standards

Heteronyms (also known as heterophones or homographs) are words that are spelled the same, but have different pronunciations and different meanings.

"The Peer Collaboration program is designed to assist students who have needs within their classroom environment. The program pairs a peer with a student who is struggling with a particular course, has trouble staying focused, has difficulty building relationships with classmates, or any other obstacle a student may face on a daily basis. Placing peers into classrooms with students who are struggling allows collaborating peers to build their empathy and leadership skills. Additionally, having more leaders in the classroom allows the teacher to focus on all students, balancing his or her time with each student. Peers learn to collaborate with their fellow students as well as with the classroom teacher. Classroom students learn to collaborate with their peers and gain a new understanding of the material, learn to build friendships, and overcome obstacles, eventually leading them to success."

"Check out the eBooks my students created using iBooks Author and published in Apple's iBookstore. We are so excited about these eBooks. All books are only available on the iPad for now. We truly believe that students will learn more when they realize that people from the global community value their work. As of today, we have had a combined total of 7500 books downloaded in 40+ different countries! Please support our efforts by downloading today and by spreading the news to your friends! We are trying to reach 10,000 downloads total!"

Research on playing and student achievement

Have students create and comment on videos