Lets dig deeper into Assistive Technologies!!

By: Allan BarriosECOMP 5007

What is Assistive Technologies?

• Assistive technology device means any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of a student eligible for special education. (http://wati.org/content/supports/free/pdf/Ch1-ATAssessment.pdf)

So what are some examples of Assistive Technologies?

• Braille• Pencil grip• Calculator with big numbers.• Keyboards• Text to speech websites.• Ebooks• Ipads• Computers • These are just some AT.

Helpful Videos with samples of ATs.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2G1U6U3zh8 – A good review of how ATs help people even when they are older.

NIMAS

• Lets connect students to technologies that can assist them in reading.– http://www.bookshare.org/• This website can connect students to digital books,

textbooks, periodicals and assistive technology tools.• Its FREE for students with qualifying disabilities.

- http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page • Another free website to access over 38,000 free ebooks. Students

can read them online or download them to a kindle. They do ask for donations but there is no fee to access it. Some of the books are in audio format.

What technologies can read online text or Ebooks?

• http://www.naturalreaders.com/index.htm– Naturalreader is a tool that can read online text,

ebooks, and files saved on the computer. The basic version is free and quite useful.

• http://www.projectpossibility.org/viewProject.php?id=1– Powereader is a free powerful tool. Students can

change the text according to their needs. They can enlarge print, change colors and even get definition for words they don’t understand.

– Powereader can also read text aloud to students.

Learning Ally• http://www.learningthroughlistening.org – Learning Through Listening– This website contains an array of resources from

lesson plans to teaching strategies for teachers.– Its Free!!!– Learning Ally is another online library for students

who qualify. This library contains books from different subjects and grade levels.• Students can get membership as an individual or

through the school.

What can we do different to address Assistive Technologies??

• Any suggestions??• Lets have one member from the team as an

“Expert” on Assistive Technologies.• This person is some one who has knowledge

on ATs and is learning what new ATs are out there.

Student & Family participation

• Our District does a great job in involving the parents.

• Why not involve students in this process?• Lets explore these forms intended for students

to assess their ATs. http://wati.org/content/supports/free/pdf/HeyCanITryThat08.pdf

Extras

• http://wati.org/content/supports/free/pdf/HeyCanITryThat08.pdf -Useful forms to assess if ATs are needed.

• http://www.imtyler.org/ - Get to know Tyler