How technology is changing education for students with disabilities — from edudemic.com

Excerpt:

Some people see computers as little more than gaming consoles and shopping tools. Recently developed electronics, however, have revolutionized education for children with disabilities. If you know a child with disabilities who is struggling, you might want to explore some of these devices.

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Article:

 

JeffreyWright-AmazingTeacherNPerson-1

 

Video:

 Mr. Wright said he decided to share his son’s story when his physics lessons led students to start asking him “the big questions.”

“When you start talking about physics, you start to wonder, ‘What is the purpose of it all?’ ” he said in an interview. “Kids started coming to me and asking me those ultimate questions. I wanted them to look at their life in a little different way — as opposed to just through the laws of physics — and give themselves more purpose in life.”

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JeffreyWright-AmazingTeacherNPerson

From DSC:
My thanks go out to Mr. Joseph Byerwalter for this very powerful piece…

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Assistive technology and the 1:1 student — from edutopia.org by Andrew Marcinek

Excerpt:

A Transformative Experience
Meaghan recalls her first moments with the iPad and how she and her liaison discovered the variety of new opportunities that this one device presented. One of the first things she used was the ability to invert the colors of the screen. The iPad gives users the opportunity to read predominantly black text on a lighter screen, or to invert the colors and overlay white text on a black screen. This one feature, Meaghan recalls, was “transformative” in her learning of what the iPad could offer her educational experience.

Aside from the color inversion, Meaghan utilizes the VoiceOver feature that will read any selected text on the screen, and the Zoom feature that requires a double-tap of three fingers.

Beyond the simple flip of a switch in the accessibility options, Meaghan soon found many new opportunities for her learning on this one device.
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Photo credit: Sean MacEntee via flickr

 

Transitioning students with disabilities into college and careers — from ed.gov by Linda Pauley

Excerpt:

Scott Rich is a prime example of how a student with disabilities can be successful. Rich was diagnosed with autism at the age of three, and behavioral problems affected him throughout elementary school. He had difficulty engaging to the point that he was expelled on several occasions, and during middle and high school, he suffered anxiety and time management issues.

Today, life for Rich is an entirely different story. At age 29, Rich has earned his M.A. in Special Education, a B.A. in Geography, and a Minor in Special Education. Rich now works as an outreach advocate and is mentoring students with special needs and autism.

 

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Special Education 101 Infographic

Excerpt:

…we would like to present the following infographic as an introduction to this rapidly growing field. It provides an overview of what special education is, how students are referred for special education services and definitions of acronyms common to the field, like “IEP” (or “Individualized Education Program”), along with much more.

Although special education began in the 1950s as a movement to win individuals with disabilities a free and quality education, it has today come to embrace the ideal of inclusion, with many students with disabilities being taught in general classrooms alongside their non-disabled peers. Thus, as fully inclusive classrooms become more of a reality, all prospective teachers can benefit from a better understanding of the basics of special education. The number of students receiving special education services is also steadily on the rise, so now is certainly the time to start learning more about the field.

Goalbook app -- great tool for providing excellence for students with special needs

 

Special Education and the Common Core — from goalbookapp.wordpress.com

Excerpt:

The three strategic initiatives below are the most fundamental initial steps to fulfill the promise of this new change:

  1. Special Educators Trained in Common Core Standards and Curriculum
  2. Standards Aligned IEPs
  3. General Educators Trained in Universal Design for Learning

 

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It’s time for a special needs app fund — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark

Excerpt:

Alesha Bishop and Lisa Valerio worked together for 10 years at Charles Schwab. After both gave birth to sons with special needs, they have reunited to support the development of learning tools for students with special needs and family-friendly apps.

Learnetic, a Polish-based eLearning publisher and developer, has just released Lorepo — an online authoring tool dedicated to the creation of interactive digital content compatible with desktop computers, tablet devices and smart phones. Thanks to HTML5 technology and the development of specific design guidelines, the new tool enables authors to create interactive learning objects that are compatible with the wide variety of operating systems, screen resolutions and mouse/touch interfaces in today’s marketplace. Read the rest of the press release here >>

 

lorepo.com -- Lorepo is our key solution for everyone interested in learning, creating and sharing interactive content.

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Lorepo is provided to you by Learnetic, an eLearning industry leader offering a wide range of products and services for modern education. Lorepo is our key solution for everyone interested in learning, creating and sharing interactive content.

Either you are an individual person willing to share some knowledge with your friends or the whole world, a teacher eager to provide your students with personalized learning resources or a publishing company aiming at preparing professional, multiplatform interactive content, Lorepo is the best choice for you.

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learnetic.com-  Learnetic S.A. is a world-leading educational software publisher and e-learning technology provider,

 

.Learnetic S.A. is a world-leading educational software publisher and e-learning technology provider, based in Poland. Its content, publishing tools and eLearning platforms are widely used by publishers, teachers and students in over 30 countries, including Poland, United States, United Kingdom, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Malaysia, Singapore, Chile, and Australia. The company’s talented team of software engineers specializes in designing applications for education markets and is dedicated to satisfying the diverse needs of contemporary educators and learners.

50 best blogs for special ed teachers (updated) — from onlineuniversities.com

Excerpt:

While being a teacher is never easy, working with students in special education comes with some unique challenges. From writing lengthy IEPs to working closely with parents and other teachers, it takes a calm, collected, organized, confident, and very special person to work with students who often need a great deal more support and assistance than their peers to succeed. Yet even the best special education teachers can use a little guidance, inspiration, and information to help them to be even better at what they do. That’s just what the 50 blogs we’ve collected here can do. Read through this updated list (a revision of this list to reflect new blogs and to remove old, no-longer-updated sites) to find resources that will help you teach, learn, and grow right alongside your students.

 

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Autism Expressed helps autistic children learn about the Internet — from techcrunch.com by Jordan Crook

Excerpt:

The Internet is an incredibly powerful tool, but it’s also a very dangerous place. Because of this, children with autism and other disabilities often can’t leverage the power of the web, which is a place where you should be able to learn anything.

But Autism Expressed, a startup we discovered on our TC Philly Mini Meetup, is looking to educate autistic children about the Internet so they can have a safe surfing experience and enjoy social media like the rest of us.

Dozens of iPad Apps for young students on the Spectrum, at your fingertips — from emergingedtech.com by K. Walsh and Gemma Jones
Apple’s popular tablet can be a great tool for students, parents, and teachers dealing with PDD and Autism Spectrum Disorders, or with other learning disabilities or special needs.

 

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How the blind are reinventing the iPhone — from TheAtlantic.com by Liat Kornowski
At first many blind people thought that the iPhone would never be accessible to them, with its flat glass screen. But the opposite has proved true.

Students benefit using iPads for speech therapy — from keloland.com by Nicole Winters
We’ve seen how iPads can be used in traditional classrooms for learning. They’re also proving to be beneficial for Special Education students. One Sioux Falls Speech Therapist says she’s seeing the benefits with her students.

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presencelearning.com -- great, new resource for online-based speech therapy

Excerpt:

Our mission is to make telepractice practical and affordable while providing an extraordinary therapy experience. The PresenceLearning solution includes the latest video-conferencing tools, engaging games and evidence-based activities, and time-saving collaboration and practice management tools.  See videos of how it works

Also:

  • PresenceLearning Wins 2012 BESSIE Award
    Live online speech therapy service recognized in Special Education Website category
    SAN FRANCISCO, April 19, 2012 – PresenceLearning (www.presencelearning.com), the leading provider of live online speech therapy services to K-12 students, was recently named a winner in the Multi-Level: Special Education Website category of The ComputED Gazette’s 18th Annual Best Educational Software Awards (BESSIE Awards). The awards program targets innovative and content-rich programs and websites that provide parents and teachers with the technology to foster educational excellence.
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