Assistive Technology for Reading

Hi! This blog will pick up from the prior blog, AT in the Writing Process. We looked at the impact of the writing process in the classroom and how AT can aid students who are seeking help in any of the 5 stages of writing. Besides writing, READING is another topic that can be difficult for students in school, especially students that have a disability. For this assignment we had to watch/listen to a  webinar on Assistive Technology for Reading. The webinar can be found HERE. This webinar provided a lot of great information that I can apply to my future classroom. I like how the webinar had different presenters. Each presenter shared a successful technique that he/she used in the classroom to help their students. Shonda Golden started her presented with the slide below:

As you can see the difference of the two above. This was a great entry into her presentation on Bookshare.org.

Bookshare is an online library that contains digital books for individuals who have print disabilities. Memberships are waived for students and adults that fit the qualifications. This is a valuable resource and well worth the time of researching the site. I went to the website during the webinar to see what it was all about, because I wasn’t familiar with the name. I was astonished at all of the material that is available on the site. It is clear and easy to use. It’s straight forwarded and organized in a manner where you should be able to find what you are looking for. It not you can contact the company and they will help you.

The webinar also mentioned the CAST website that we have investigated immensely.  It was nice to have that connection between the two.

I highly recommend this webinar.  I learned a lot and I wasn’t bored during it. The speakers were highly knowledgeable in the subject matter which made it an enjoyable experience. 

References:

1.https://atia.adobeconnect.com/_a1106703335/p4vi8fzxbyl/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal

2. https://www.bookshare.org/_/aboutUs/howBookshareWorks

3. first image: at4education.wordpress.com

AT in the Writing Process

My previous blogs lately have been focusing on AT devices and how they can help students in and out of the classroom. We looked at students with Learning/Sensory Disabilities and how there are high/low tech devices that can improve their learning. This blog is going to look at the importance of the writing process. We are going to break down each stage and determine what is needed to support our students in the classroom.

As we all know to develop a writing process can be somewhat complex and at times confusing for us the teacher. Imagine that you are a student that is trying to understand the writing process. Better yet imagine you are a student with a learning disability that is trying to learn the writing process. It can be difficult and tedious. Our goal as the educator is to make this process as clear and effective as we can. Below there are going to be examples and ideas that you can teach you students in the classroom to help them better understand the writing process.

Step 1: Pre-writing (putting ideas together)

Graphic Organizers:  Great tool that is used in the classroom that can organize a student’s thoughts and create a purpose for writing. Inspiration Computer Software (as looked at in an earlier post) has an awesome tab dedicated to this topic. This is a great research tool to have in the classroom.

Step 2: Drafting (starting to write down a few ideas and form a paper)

Word Processing for Drafting:  a device that works great for students is a talking word processor. A talking word processor can read individual letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs. This would work for students that have a reading or writing disabilities.

Word Prediction: as discussed in an earlier post, a word prediction software that can be used in the classroom is WordQ. WordQ works by predicting the next word that the student is typing.

Speech Recognition: like WordQ for word prediction, SpeakQ is used for students who have a reading or a writing disability. SpeakQ will help the student write an paper by using their speech (voice).

Step 3: Reviewing (reviewing your work)

Text–To-Speech: is a software that uses the student’s own words that were inputted into a device (computer) and verbally reads the words aloud. The student will be able to hear what he/she has written.  

Step 4: Editing (time to edit the work you have reviewed)

Phonetic Dictionary: students are editing at this stage in the game. One way for the student’s to edit their work is to use, Write:OutLoud ( link is HERE).This software provides much needed editing strategies. It will help the students to know the correct ways to edit their work.

Step 5: Publishing (final step in process)

Computers- students can use an computer to print out the completed  work. Students can also use the IPAD or PowerPoint to present their work.

This was a lot of information for one blog and you might feel overwhelmed, but trust me you will get it. It helped me to break out the steps and to look at each one individual. I highly enjoyed this blog and can’t wait to see what the next assignment brings.

References:
http://www.donjohnston.com/products/write_outloud/index.html

AT Web Resources for Software

Yesterday, we looked at AT & Learning Disabilities and AT & Sensory Disabilities. We researched each disability and determined which high/low tech devices could best support the needs of the students. Today, we are going to be looking at two websites that will help facilitate learning in the classroom. 

Graphic Organizers

Inspiration Software, Inc.

Website Link- HERE

Inspiration Software, Inc. is a great research tool that can be used in the classroom by the teacher or at home by a parent. The site provides much needed information along with examples that reinforce the written material. In this website I focused on the tab for Graphic Organizers under Visual Learner. I found this tab to be extremely essential to classroom learning. I know that I'm a visual learner and that most people are, this is why I wanted to share this link. On the site you are able to see different types of graphic organizers and what type of organizer works best for each situation. In the future I will use this site when determining what graphic organizer I can use for each class. This would be a great addition to a new teacher or to a teacher who has been teaching for twenty-years. The cost of the software will vary. There are different software packages (Inspiration, Kidspiration, InspireData, Webspiration Classroom, and WebspirationPRO). Prices seem to be roughly $30-$60 per single user depending on which one you pick. However, there is a free trail that you can operate before buying. This is great for a parent that might want to try Kidspiration. 

Text-To-Speech

WordQ

Website Link- HERE

 WordQ was design is to help students/individuals who have physical difficulties with writing. WordQ is efficient and useful because it uses word prediction to prompt the software to write sentences that user is typing. Another element of the software is that it uses text-to-speech voices to read back the words the user has entered. The writer is able to proofread his/her work and also edit what was written. WordQ is available on Mac, Windows, and now on the IPAD. Prices range from $199 to $279, based on the computer that you have at home/school. I was surprised to see the app on the IPAD was the cheapest of the group, with a price of $24.99. WordQ and SpeakQ are now available together in one software with a price of $279. SpeakQ was designed just like WordQ, but the focus of SpeakQ is speech recognition. Like the prior website, you have access to a free trial. This is worth looking into if you know someone that could benefit from this software. To me this would be a fantastic software tool to have in the classroom. You can reach so many of your students that have any type of writing or language disability. They will be able to take part in classroom activities without having to reply on another person. The best part of this site was being able to watch the tutorials that are displayed on the bottom of the pages. I like to see a device in action and this showed that.

References:
http://www.goqsoftware.com/#
http://www.inspiration.com/visual-learning/brainstorming-webs