The Assistive Technology Blog

Greetings from the VDOE Technology Leadership Conference in Roanoke, VA. An important presentation is underway by Arjan Kalsha, President/ CEO of Intellitools. Arjan is representing the Board of Directors of the Consortium for School Networking, http://www.CoSN.org.
This presentation is a filled auditorium, with a discussion unfolding about how technology can help ALL students, using technology that extends the reach of educators by:

multimedia concept modeling
illumination of text
infinite patience for student practice
instant and neutral feedback
progress monitoring

......also see universal design for learning (UDL), http://www.cast.org/udl
The research at CAST highlights the research around brain-based learning and the 3 networks of the brain:

recognition networks - gather facts
strategic networks - planning and performing tasks
affective networks - engagement and motivation

3 guiding principles help to match technology to these 3 networks:

provide multiple means of representation
provide multiple means for expression
provide multiple means of engagement

How to help reading? Phonemic awareness and phonics.....technology provides supported text, comprehension, and electronic study tools (i e, Kurzweil 3000, Balanced Literacy from Intellitools)

The future of supported text? See NIMAS, http://nimas.cast.org, http://www.nimac.us

How to help writing? Mindmapping, brainstorming, writing organization. Using technology tools with graphic stimulus and word prediction (Inpiration)

How to make math meaningful? Use virtual manipulatives. See http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html

Sign up for the Consortium for School Networking newsletter, http://www.accessibletech4all.org

Exciting, awesome!!

Posted by Fran Smith at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Below, please find our presentation from the VDOE Ed Tech Leadership Conference,
"AT TechNet Blog: Providing Assistive Technology Support to Regional Teams"
presented on Thursday, November 30, 2006 at the Hotel Roanoke, Roanoke, VA.
Download file

For additional resources please review:

Jones, S. & Ligon, K. (2006). Designing quality AT services. Innovations and Perspectives
Download file

Educause Learning Initiative (2006). 7 things you should know about blogs
Download file

Downes, S. (2004). Educational blogging. Educause Review
Download file

Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Blogs in Education http://awd.cl.uh.edu/blog/
Movable Type http://www.movabletype.org/

Posted by Susanne Croasdaile at 8:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There's a nice-looking group of switch activities on a Pennsylvania special education services website:
http://www.cliu.org/se/switch.aspx

Posted by Susanne Croasdaile at 4:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Check out this webpage from the Massachusetts Department of Education,
http://www.doe.mass.edu/sped/links/Assistive.html Take a look at the Assistive Technology Guide for Massachusetts Schools. It was written in 2002 and provides a nice format for developing an AT guide!

Posted by Sharon Jones at 12:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two local assistive technology teams have presented informative workshops at the Ed. Tech. Leadership Conference this week. Ronni Wiles and Brandi Clifford from Richmond Public Schools Assistive Technology Team presented a session about how to get started with developing an AT team. They shared their experiences about how they assessed the AT needs in their school division, developed an action plan and completed activities such as developing policies and procedures, identifying existing resources, building an AT lab and providing training activities. Check out their Online Resource Guide for Assistive Technology at http://www.portaportal.com (guest name: RPSAT).

Jude Hazelgrove and Alex Kurth from the Henrico County Schools Assistive Technology Team presented information on Considering AT in Every IEP. They shared their experiences in working extensively with IEP teams to consistently and appropriately consider the AT needs of each student and where to document the AT supports in the IEP. They suggest that you visit the Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative (WATI) website, www.wati.org to check out the resources that have been helpful to them.

Posted by Sharon Jones at 12:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's an interesting AT collaboration: Educational Service Unit #3 (ESU3) is an intermediate agency providing supplementary educational services to 18 K-12 and two rural school districts in eastern Nebraska. Here's what those school districts have worked out with ESU3 to meet their AT team needs:
http://www.esu3.org/departments/sped/assist/assist.html#team

Posted by Susanne Croasdaile at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm still trolling for interesting AT team websites...The San Juan AT team doesn't have a website, but they do have a flyer linked to the San Juan BOCS website: http://www.sjbocs.org/_pdf_/Brochure_Text.pdf. I bet it's nice in San Juan right now...

Posted by Susanne Croasdaile at 4:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was looking through AT team websites again and liked this one for the link to the inventory at the bottom of the page:
http://www.esu1.org/dept/sped/specialteams/assttechteam.html

Posted by Susanne Croasdaile at 5:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Stumbled across the Boulder Valley School District's webpage this morning: http://www.bvsd.org/C17/Assistive%20Technology%20Team/default.aspx. It looks like it's still under construction...but it's always nice to see how someone else set up the page.

They posted an AT Referral Form, too:
http://www.bvsd.org/C17/Assistive%20Technology%20Team/Lists/Documents/Assistive%20Referral%20Form.pdf

Posted by Susanne Croasdaile at 5:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As Sharon and Kelly mentioned in an earlier blog posting, we attended some interesting sessions at this year's Closing the Gap conference in Minneapolis. One of the sessions was on ATSTAR, an online curriculum for professionals (like most of us tuning into this blog). The idea behind the ATSTAR program is that we learn how to do what we need to do as supporters of AT use in classrooms.

Interested? Check out what they have to say for themselves, then visit the website:

ATSTAR is an acronym for Assistive Technology: Strategies, Tools, Accommodations and Resources.

Our vision is an inclusive educational system in which each student has access to the technology he or she may need to succeed, to learn, and to meet educational goals. We envision teams in schools across the nation – teams of teachers, administrators, educational specialists and parents – that know how to implement technology as an integral part of the educational process. The ATSTAR process is a 6-step model of assistive technology assessment.

This online curriculum improves educational outcomes for students with disabilities by helping teachers learn to use assistive technology in the classroom. Our core program is a series of online teacher training modules with supporting CD-based videos. The course is revolutionary in that it brings assistive technology expertise directly into the school and into the classrooms of individual students. ATSTAR prepares instructional staff at the school level to conduct assessments, collect data, and integrate assistive technology into the educational process. The program provides a network of ongoing support as educators learn to use technology to include students with disabilities in classroom learning activities.

http://www.atstar.org/

Posted by Susanne Croasdaile at 5:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Got professional development money to burn? (Wouldn't that be a hoot?) Maybe you won the lottery? Found a $100 bill in the Thanksgiving turkey? Consider this...

The Technology and Media Division (TAM) is the official division of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) that works to promote the availability and effective use of technology and media for individuals with disabilities and/or who are gifted.

The goals of TAM include:
- Promoting collaboration among educators and others interested in using technology and media to assist individuals with exceptional educational needs.
- Encouraging the development of new applications, technologies, and media that can benefit individuals with exceptionalities.
- Disseminating relevant and timely information through professional meetings, training programs, and publications.
- Coordinating the activities of educational and governmental agencies, business, and industry.
- Developing and advancing appropriate technical standards.
- Providing technical assistance, inservice, and preservice education on the uses of technology.
- Monitoring and disseminating relevant research.
- Advocating for funds and policies that support the availability and effective use of technology in this field.

TAM publications include:

Journal of Special Education Technology: Providing professionals in the field with information on new technologies, current research, exemplary practices, relevant issues, legislative events, and more. Published four times a year.

TAM Connector: With information about upcoming events, current trends and practices, state and national legislation, recently published materials and practical information. Published four times a year. Co-edited by the former director of WATI!

TAM Tech in Action: These papers address various topics that provide practitioners with practical ways to use AT and are distributed to all TAM members periodically.

TAM Reports: TAM publishes timely reports focusing on conditions of Assistive Technology use. The most recent is in response to the reauthorization of the 2004 Assistive Technology Act.

Visit the TAM website to see the variety of information about assistive technology and special education instructional technology they have available, as well as info about joining.

http://www.tamcec.org/

Posted by Susanne Croasdaile at 5:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology Services (QIAT--pronounced "quiet") is a nationwide collegial endeavor dedicated to the development and implementation of quality assistive technology services in school settings.

Check out the quality indicators that can be used as a tool to support our teams as we:
- strive to develop and provide quality assistive technology services aligned to federal, state and local mandates
- evaluate and constantly improve our services
- deliver programs that promote the development of the competencies needed to provide quality assistive technology services

http://sweb.uky.edu/%7Ejszaba0/QIAT.html

Posted by Susanne Croasdaile at 5:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At the recent Accessing Higher Ground conference in Boulder, CO, Canadian consultant Karen McCall shared her expertise on best practices in creating accessible meda. She taught participants the steps involved in converting PDF files to accessible documents and the importance of first setting up accessible formats in Word files. In addition, the importance of a Daisy e-text standard is increasing (especially for students in higher education). As Karen noted, this digital format assures that digital document is created in multiple formats for all types of user needs. For more information on detailed steps around these tools, visit Karen McCall at http://www.iprimus.ca/~martha/distributed-education-resources.htm

Also, listen to an interview with Karen, recorded at the Accessing Higher Ground Conference, Thursday, 11/9/2006
Download file

Posted by Fran Smith at 5:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Want to build up your AT reference shelf?

Visit the WATI (Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative) site's free downloads page. There are some Spanish-language materials there, too!

http://www.wati.org/Products/freematerials.html

Posted by Susanne Croasdaile at 6:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Assuring that a web site is accessible for ALL users requires a number of important considerations. The national source that defines best practice standards for web accessibility is the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative http://www.w3.org/WAI/. Several national projects help to inform web designers of best practices techniques for assuring that all digital media is created in an accessible format such as WebAIM http://www.webaim.org. Web accessibility can also be determined using some access validators such as the tool WAVE or the Firefox accessibility extensions http://accessproject.colostate.edu/modules/firefox/index.htm
Consider how your website is accessible by trying out some of these resources (or sharing these with your web developer!)

Posted by Fran Smith at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Podcasts, blogs, and videocasts (Vodcasts) are becoming increasingly popular tools for sharing information. Podcasts, which are audio files, allow users to record interviews, lectures, and conversations, and convert them to portable MP3 files. MP3 files can then be shared on IPODs, portable MP3 players, and for ITunes subscribers. While these tools offer multiple formats to share information....they are often not accessible to individuals who are deaf. Thus, to assure accessible podcasts, the creator needs to keep in mind the importance of developing a text transcript.

Several tools that have been found to be helpful in accomplishing a podcast include the software programs Audacity (a free open source program), Total Recorder Pro, and Juice. For creating transcripts, users might consider investing in a speech recognition product such as Dragon Naturally Speaking (preferred or professional version 10).

For more information, visit: http://easi.cc/podcasts/

Posted by Fran Smith at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When Powerpoint files are placed on the web, they remain barriers for individuals who are blind or visually impaired. These graphically rich files are "roadblocks" for screen reading assistive technology users. A few useful techniques and tools are worthy of considering when adding PowerPoint files to the web. Each of these tools or resources offer strategies and techniques for making sure each PowerPoint slide meets web accessibility guidelines. Some of these tools include:

Creating a multi-media PowerPoint with a product such as Camtasia http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp, offers the program in multiple formats. However, the video product needs to be captioned for users who are deaf or hard of hearing

Convert a PowerPoint outline into html, then add accessible tags and headers - this creates a completely accessible format

Consider using the Illinois Accessiblity Wizard http://www.accessiblewizards.uiuc.edu/ This program allows the user to create an XHMTL accesssible PowerPoint into multiple user formats such as text only, text with graphics. or the completely graphical version.

Consider using the product LecShare Pro http://www.lecshare.com/ which allows the user to create an XHTML accessible Powerpoint in several formats including a captioned Quicktime Movie, a narrated PowerPoint, or an accessible presentation

For more information, visit the website of Terry Thompson, IT Specialist with DOIT, University of Washington, http://staff.washington.edu/tft/

Posted by Fran Smith at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

VCU TTAC AT Team members Sharon Jones and Kelly Ligon have "pushed the limits" of our AT blog and posted our first audio podcast. To hear this download, check the blog listing from their visit to the national Closing the Gap conference.

Posted by Fran Smith at 1:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While at the recent Closing the Gap conference I attended a session hosted by Boston Public Schools Access Technology Center, the developers of the SAM model for AT delivery. One of the many documents that was presented to the participants was a guide of math supports for diverse learners. This guide contains many strategies that can be used when teaching math lessons that incorporate the learning styles of multiple students. It is a great guide for trying to design lesson plans under a UDL framework. Download the file now:

Download file

Posted by Mona at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

GMU TTAC assistive technology coordinator, Estela Landeros-Dugourd, shared her expertise with the interactive Smartboards at the recent 2006 TechKnowledgy conference. As Estela noted, the versatility of these interactive whiteboards is found in the ability to work with varied media and multiple applications. In this true spirit of universal design for learning, students can interact with the media through touch, voice, or keyboard. As well, the output can be created through a software program, an instructional content program, a video or audio recorder--complementing varied learner approaches.

Posted by Fran Smith at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While at the recent Closing the Gap coference I attended a session hosted by Boston Public Schools Access Technology Center, the developers of the SAM model for AT delivery. One of the many documents that was presented to the participants was an updated continuum of AT from low to high tech. This document contains valuable information that can be shared with team members when meeting for IEP's or even by Child Study teams trying to find strategies for assisting struggling students. Download this file now.

Download file

Posted by Mona at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

TechKnowledgy 2006 got off to a great start with a rousing keynote address by Mr. Nate Sparks. As an advocate for students with disabilities, Nate opened with several personal vignettes of people that he's known, the challenges that they've faced, and the triumphs they've enjoyed because of assistive technology. His address ended with a selection from his newest CD, showcasing his talent as a country musician.

Posted by Fran Smith at 6:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The theory of UDL emphasizes that student's learning styles are unique and models of instruction should allow for flexibility in methods and materials so that ALL students can have access to learning. CAST has developed model lesson plans aligned with curriculum standards utilizing a UDL framework. In addition, a lesson plan builder is available which will help teachers create their own lesson plans and then post them to be shared with others.

Check out this link for learning more about the national trend toward UDL in education and help creating your own lesson plans around the UDL framework.

http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/

Posted by Mona at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Many of you are regular visitors to www.ldonline.org, a well-know website loaded with information for students, families and professionals regarding a variety of issues related to serving students with learning disabilities. It was originally started by Richard Wanderman, a well known educational consultant, presenter and successful adult with learning disabilities, who also happens to be a technology wiz. The site now contains lists of tools, schools, organizations and professionals and other resources for the LD community as well as new articles and commentaries. Richard has now developed a blog with his colleague David Clark, a well-know web accessibility consultant and successful adult with cerebral palsy. Richard has presented several assistive technology workshops for our TechKnowledgy Conference and is an amazing source of information. His creative and practical use of technology is helpful to students and adults with learning disabilities and the families and professionals who support them. We suggest that you check out his new blog at www.ldresources.org!

Posted by Sharon Jones at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The new Boardmaker 6.0 has some new features that make this program even more flexible. Some of the new features allow for aligning symbols to the right, left and center of the drawing board and make it easy to centering text and symbols wtihin buttons. Now you can also design freeform shapes for your symbols with curvy and straight edges. There is also an improved color tool called the eyedroppper. In the past, we were limited to applying only colors found on the color tool, but with the eyedropper you can duplicate any color displayed in the symbol. Now you can change the colors of faces, clothing or objects in the symbols. How cool is that?

Boardmaker Plus is even better! Create movable and destination buttons and select actions to associate with them. Drag and drop pictures from other applications and from the internet onto your Boardmaker activities and then add these images to your symbol finder. Resizing buttons and recording sounds is easier than ever too. Contact T/TAC at VCU if you would like to see Boardmaker Plus.

Posted by Sharon Jones at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A new interactive demo CD of Laureate's special needs software is available. It includes an overview of Laureate's seven-stage Linguistic Hierarchy with software suggestions for each stage. The CD includes 17 interactive demos of Laureate Software, including 7 Sterling Edition programs. Request a FREE CD Demo at http://www.laureatelearning.net/professionals602/custserv/request.php

Posted by Susanne Croasdaile at 5:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Do you know about Webwide from Widget Software? This program has two amazing features. First, with the click of a button it will convert any website to a text only website (removing all graphics, photos, videos, etc.). Second, and best of all, with the second click of a mouse it will convert the text on the website to words with picture symbols, similar to Writing with Symbols 2000. Use this software to create a talking symbol web browser. Now all of your students can have easy access to relevant information on the internet. Visit widget.com for a free trial of this software and to learn more about widget products and services!

Posted by Sharon Jones at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Watch for new blog entries with tricks and tools we learned about at this amazing conference!

Download file

Posted by Sharon Jones at 9:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Check out the "Introduction to the Screen Reader" - a short video demonstrating how screen readers assist people who are blind to navigate the web and more. Produced by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Division of Information Technology, featuring Neal Ewers of the Trace Research Centre.

http://www.doit.wisc.edu/accessibility/video/intro.asp

Posted by Susanne Croasdaile at 5:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)