Got Diverse Learners? Lawrence School Shares Best Practices Sally Garza Upper School Technology Director Lawrence School sgarza@lawrenceschool.org 330-908-6800
Population at Lawrence School
Lawrence School Teaching Methods Key Comprehension/Keys to Literacy All Kinds of Minds/Schools Attuned Visualizing and Verbalizing Wilson Reading CodeBreakers Assertive Discipline Olweus Bullying Prevention Program Multi Sensory/ Differentiated
Technology in Buildings and Classrooms
Assistive Technology Program Read & Write Gold Read & Write Web Apps Read & Write Google Docs App Inspiration Dragon Naturally Speaking AlphaSmart NEO's Tablet Computers with touch screen and digital pen Google Docs used as assistive technology tool
Training for Staff & Students
Parent Training
Assistive Technology as Tool, not just for Special Students
Changing Attitude of Using Assistive Technology Tools It's not used just in the Resource Room!
Using Assistive Technology for Interventions, not just Accommodations Text to Speech to build reading speed Spell check to collect data Fluency Tutor to build oral reading fluency Use Fluency Tutor during summer
Text to Speech as Processing Support Using a text-to-speech tool as a prosthetic processing tool
Specific Tools for Specific Situations
Digital ebooks Bookshare Bookstream Project Gutenburg Are they truly accessible for text-to-speech? Most ebooks are not!
Listening/E-Reader tools Kindle Kindle for PC with Accessibility Plugin Learning Ally (must qualify) Audible.com (itunes/amazon) Apps
Listening/E-Reader tools Make your own audio books/docs Speechmaker tool (text to mp3 tools) Narration tools in Power Point CAST UDL Book Builder
Speech-to-Text You talk... computer types requires commitment to training free apps built into newer devices and Google tools
Organizing Work, Homework, and Projects Assignment notebooks To keep track of homework and assignments due Digital versions: OneNote Outlook Excel, Word Google Docs Google Calendar Outlook Smartphones/iPods/Tablets
Templates & Forms Starting Points Fill in vs. re-write all information
Templates & Forms
Planning and Concept Mapping Tools How to plan Tools for planning/mapping
Prewriting Rough Draft Edit Revising Final Draft Publication
2-Column Notes
Skeletal Notes
Picture Boards
Quizzing and Testing with Assistive Technology Lock
Spelling Help contextual spellchecker phonetic spellchecker should learn as you correct spelling logs
Eliminating Distractions Screen Masking Readability tool
Questions
Got Diverse Learners? Lawrence School Shares Best Practices Where differences are not disabilities; where great minds don t think alike www.lawrenceschool.org Sally Garza Upper School Technology Director Lawrence School sgarza@lawrenceschool.org 330-908-6800
Resources for Assistive Technology for Students with Learning Disabilities Name of Resource URL Price Comments/Description Who should use? Amazon Kindle http://www.amazon.com/kindle-storeebooks-newspapersblogs/b/ref=topnav_storetab_kinh?ie=u TF8&node=133141011 Pay ereader that will read aloud books purchased through Amazon s Kindle ebook store. Books must be available for text-tospeech when you purchase from Amazon People wanting to listen to ebooks on an ereader device Amazon Kindle App for PC with Accessibility Plugin http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/cust omer/display.html/ref=hp_pcland_pcac cess?nodeid=200596280&pop-up=1 Free* Tool to allow text-to-speech software on your computer to read aloud Kindle books on your computer; Books must be available for text-to-speech when you purchase from Amazon App is free; books may have be purchased Bookshare www.bookshare.org Free* Online Accessible Library for people with Student with visual print disabilities visual print disabilities to *qualified students only Bookstream www.bookstream.com Pay Online epub delivery system Anyone wanting to use online ebooks Bubbl.Us http://bubbl.us Free Online collaborative concept mapping tool People wanting to incorporate webbing and concept mapping to writing and learning tasks Dragon NaturallySpeaking www.nuance.com Pay speech recognition software helps students with learning disabilities reach their full potential. Instead of manually typing documents, students (or adults) with dyslexia or other language-based learning disabilities can create papers or complete reports simply by talking Fluency Tutor www.texthelp.com Pay A web-based service that allows students to practice reading, take assessments, and see how they did. Teachers can assess students, monitor progress, and individualize instruction. Google Apps for Education www.google.com/apps/intl/en/edu/k12.html Free Suite of tools from Google free to schools including Gmail, Google Docs People who need speech-to-text services People who work with students who struggle with oral reading fluency Google Docs is excellent for people who do not file and save files well (executive function issues) because of auto-save feature and ability to search for documents Created by Sally Garza Lawrence School www.lawrenceschool.org sgarza@lawrenceschool.org
Name of Resource URL Price Comments/Description Who should use? Google Chrome Free Web browser, includes built in spell check on all web page forms as well as voice searching capabilities People who need spell check online and need speech to text services while searching the internet Inspiration www.inspiration.com Pay Outlining/concept mapping software People wanting to incorporate organization, webbing, and concept mapping to writing and learning tasks Learning Ally www.learningally.org Pay Collection of more than 75,000 digitally Students with visual print disabilities recorded textbooks and literature titles in audiobook format. National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials http://aim.cast.org/learn/accessibleme dia/text/digital_content Information on the process of accessible books for students with disabilities Anyone wanting to know more information about accessible digital content Project Gutenberg www.gutenberg.org Free Free versions of public domain works Anyone who needs digital classic books Quia www.quia.com/web Pay Online quiz, activity, and class page service People who want students to take online tests compatible with assistive technology software as well as provide interactive review activities QuizStar http://quizstar.4teachers.org Free Online quiz & test creator; auto-grade feature Read & Write Gold & Read & Write Web Apps Read & Write Web Apps for Google Docs Readability www.texthelp.com Pay Customizable toolbar integrates reading, writing, studying, and research support tools that can be used on the internet and in Word, Adobe Reader, and Google Docs. www.texthelp.com or search in the Google Chrome Web store http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/read ability/ Free Free Google Chrome extension that offers an abbreviated Read & Write tool suite that can be used in Google Docs including textto-speech, dictionary and picture dictionary, Fact Finder, highlight collector and vocabulary tool Eliminates distractions on webpages to make it easier to read People who want students to take online tests compatible with assistive technology software People who want to provide the differentiated instruction that is necessary to meet the needs of diverse student populations, including those with reading and writing difficulties, dyslexia, learning disabilities, and English Language Learners People who need text-to-speech and other tools in Google Docs ADD/people who struggle in being able to focus on a web page due to distractions Created by Sally Garza Lawrence School www.lawrenceschool.org sgarza@lawrenceschool.org