ABC Consulting Services
Coalition of
Education Advocates
Assistive Technology Resources
for Parents
Accessible Textbooks: A Guide for Parents of Children
with Learning Disabilities
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/16308?theme=print
“You will need to try different
software programs to figure out which one is good for your child. The school
should offer this technology to help your child and you need to put it in their
IEP. Regardless of the choices of your
child's school, it may be helpful to introduce your child to supported reading
software early, at home, so they can use it to understand complicated material
as they learn to read. Free NaturalReader is
a good product to use on your home computer to test out whether or not your
child would benefit from text-to-speech support.”
PaTTAN A.T. Presentation
and new Allegheny Intermediate Unit Assistive Technology Forms (Check I.U. web
sites for other county resources):
- “Focusing
on Assistive Technology: What Every Educator Needs to Know” PaTTAN
Teleconference –
http://www.pattan.k12.pa.us/files/Handouts07/AT111307a.pdf
- A.T.
Forms: http://www.aiu3.net/Level3.aspx?id=3484
o
Assistive Technology Considerations Checklists
o
2007
- 2008 Request for Assistive Technology Consultation Sample Request for A.T. Consultation: http://www.aiu3.net/uploadedFiles/Curriculum_Instruction_and_Professional_Development/Individuals_with_Disabilities_Education_Act/Request%20for%20AT%20Consultation%20Sample.doc
o
Assistive
Technology Action Plan Sample A.T. Action Plan: http://www.aiu3.net/uploadedFiles/Curriculum_Instruction_and_Professional_Development/Individuals_with_Disabilities_Education_Act/AT%20Action%20Plan%20Sample.doc
Examples
of publishers with digital online textbooks:
- Holt
(Rinehart & Winston) Online Learning (http://my.hrw.com/
- Glencoe/McGraw Hill at http://www.glencoe.com/sites/common_assets/socialstudies/ose/national.html
(Online Social Studies Sampler Version at http://www.glencoe.com/sec/socialstudies/ose/gwhmt/sample/docs/Chap11.pdf)
You’ll see that digital textbooks with copyright dates as early as 2002 are available:
http://www.glencoe.com/sites/pennsylvania/student/socialstudies/index.html
You must have a user
name and password to access digital textbooks
Textbooks
that are not available in digital format may be scanned onto a CD. Contact: Systems Imaging: Document Scanning
and Imaging Specialists.
Systems Imaging has done textbook scanning for several
districts in I.U. 3 and for Pittsburgh City Schools. They scan onto a CD and save files as
PDFs. Scanning Services: http://sysimg.savvior.com/scanning.php
Contact: David DeSantis, VP of Sales, 412-323-8375
Text-to-speech, word prediction and speech recognition software:
·
Natural Reader (text-to-speech)
at http://www.naturalreaders.com/ (free)
·
Premier Predictor
Pro (word prediction software) at http://www.readingmadeez.com/products/PredictorPro.html
(free trial - 25 uses)
·
WordQ/SpeakQ
(word prediction and speech recognition software) at http://www.wordq.com/ (free 30 day trial)
·
“Premier to Go”
(portable flash drive) http://www.readingmadeez.com/home.html
(Provides access to technology wherever student goes—no installation required. This
unique toolbox consists of 10 easy-to-use literacy tools.)
Assistive
Technology: A Parent’s Guide
http://www.schwablearning.org/pdfs/e_guide_at.pdf?date=3-13-06&status=new
Assistive
Technology and the IEP
http://www.fctd.info/resources/AT_IEP.php and
Documenting
AT in the IEP http://www.fctd.info/resources/AT_IEP.php
Assistive
Technology and the IEP: http://www.uwm.edu/~edyburn/SETP43iep.pdf
Accessible Instructional Materials and the IEP: http://nimas.cast.org/about/resources/accessible_iep.html
Assistive
Technology Evaluation Guide http://www.ncatp.org/Forms%20PP%20Documents/Lynne%20Presentations/Eval%20guide%20for%20LD.pdf
Technology
to Support Diverse Learners (How to use Microsoft Word accessibility features) http://www.wested.org/cs/tdl/view/tdl_tip/19
and http://www.abilitynet.org.uk/athome_skillsheets
(a British web site)
PSSA
2008 Accommodation Guidelines
http://www.pde.state.pa.us/a_and_t/lib/a_and_t/2008AccommodationsGuidelines.pdf
Assistive
Technology Training Online (http://www.atto.buffalo.edu)
Learning
Disabilities and Assistive Technologies http://www.gatfl.org/ldguide/default.htm
Teaching
Response to Intervention (RTI): What it Is and What It’s Not
http://www.pattan.k12.pa.us/files/RTI/RtI-WhatItIs110807.pdf
Early Intervening Services (EIS)
funds may be used for Professional development (which may be provided by
entities other than LEAs) for teachers and other school staff to enable such
personnel to deliver scientifically based academic and behavioral
interventions, including scientifically based literacy instruction, and,
where appropriate, instruction on the use of adaptive and instructional
software. http://www.pattan.k12.pa.us/files/RTI/EIS-RtI-Ftsht.pdf
The TechMatrix is a powerful tool for
finding educational and assistive technology products for students with special
needs. http://www.techmatrix.org/
http://www.elc-pa.org/pubs/downloads/english/dis-assistive%20technology%208-07.pdf