iPad Apps for Learning Math

Recently my posts have switched gears from literacy to math. In my search I have found some apps that help students learn math and reinforce what they have learned. 

Here is a list and short description of the apps I have found:

MathBoard: is appropriate for all school aged children. This helps children with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. With a multiple choice answer key, and scratchboard section it helps the students actually figure out the answer instead of guessing. There is a problem solver that walks you through the problem you are having trouble with. 

iFormula: an app that is used mostly for older students to help them remember formulas used in math. It is easy to navigate and browse through. Definitely a good tool to have!

Sky Numbers: In this game you're given a target number while other numbers fall from the sky. You must combine these numbers with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to reach the target number. If a single figure falls through the last cloud, the game is over. The speed at which the numbers fall increases with time making this game a fun challenge.

Splash Math Worksheets: You can download this app by grade level. It is an interactive math book for students to work on. Learn at your own pace: Splash Math enables your child to learn various math concepts at his or her own pace. After each question, the app appropriately chooses the next question. Each topic starts with an easy level and based on the child's progress, the medium and hard levels are gradually unlocked. The practice mode can be used to focus on problem areas.

Low-tech and mid-tech adaptations that can assist students with disabilities in completing math assignments

What kinds of low-tech and mid-tech adaptations can assist students with disabilities in completing math assignments?

Just like in literacy we have showed different types of low and mid-tech adaptations for students there is also different kinds for students when doing math and math problems. Here is a short list:

Low and mid -tech adaptations:

• Manipulatives
• fraction rubber stamps
• manipulative number line
• laminated addition and multiplication tables
• special ruler with transparent overlays to help students understand relationships between different units of measure
• large calculators with oversized buttons
• talking calculators
• solve calculators
• "coin abacus" and "coin-u-later" contain keys that are shaped like money and just like coins

Educational applications that can be used to teach math concepts, math skills, and problem solving.

What are educational applications that can be used to teach math concepts, math skills, and problem solving?

Math Playground provides a wealth of resources to support learning math concepts, skills and problem solving. It is free online activities are provided in the categories of Math Games, Word Problems, and Logic Puzzles. 

Conceptua Math focuses on fractions and offers a variety of tools for teachers to use to enhance their whole class instruction. It provides visual modules with spoken text. The program also offers formative assessments and captures student data.

Destination Math targets the development of skills in math reasoning, conceptual understanding, and problem solving for students in k-12. Animation and audio helps students stay engaged. It is step by step instructions and opportunities to practice problem-solving skills. 


To benefit students, educational applications including virtual manipulatives must be connected clearly to the concepts being developed and must be matched to students' developmental levels. To support the development of math concepts for students in Grades K-12, virtual manipulatives are available at a number of websites. An excellent resources is National Library of Virtual Manipulatives maintained by Utah State University. 

Technology tools that can be used to address visual-spatial and motor control difficulties

What kinds of technology tools can be used to address visual-spatial and motor control difficulties?

Educational applications that minimize the handwriting demands of math work are especially helpful for students with visual spatial difficulties. Here are some math applications to help:

MathPad is a talking math worksheet program that enables students to perform arithmetic computations with whole numbers on the computer in the same way they would use pencil and paper. Students with fine motor difficulties can demonstrate by using the keyboard or clicking the mouse. Students with sever difficulties can utilize MathPad's scanning feature. MathPad displays one problem at a time and the digits are properly aligned. 

Virtual Pencil (VP) Arithmetic is an educational application designed for students who are unable to operate a pencil effectively. It allows students to perform math problems similar to MathPad and showing intermediate steps. it offers speech feedback in a detailed manner. There is also a "tutor" to help you through the problem where you are having difficulty. 

Number Navigator does not have specialized features such as speech or scanning but is a simple math processor to enter and solve basic math problems on the computer. It is a free program with customizable colors, fonts, and sizes. 

Educational Applications that can be used to address automaticity/math fact fluency

What kinds of educational applications can be used to address automaticity/math fact fluency?

Achieving math fluency and automaticity is difficult for students with disabilities to master. Automaticity is defined as the fast, accurate, and effortless processing of content information. It is also referred to as math fact fluency. Computational fluency is being able to efficiently and accurately carry out procedures to solve computation problems relies heavily on automaticity with basic number facts. 

FASTT Math (Fluency and Automaticity through Systematic Teaching with Technology; Tom Snyder) is a math intervention program that helps students acquire math fact fluency. The program assesses students' command of basic facts by measuring response time and then generates customized activities based on the results. Students progress through the customized series of activities to strengthen memorization of facts and eliminate the need to rely on counting strategies to solve problems. 

Timez Attack focuses on solely on multiplication facts and teaching the 2 to 12 times tables. It is produced by the team that created Sony Playstation so it engages students in a high-tech video game environment featuring high quality graphics. 

The ArithmAttack can be played online or downloaded free onto your computer and played off-line with Microsoft Internet Explorer. Students can practice basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. The problems are customized and students practice according to their needs. 

Arcademic Skill Builder math games are designed to help develop automaticity in addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, integers, fractions, and ratios. It can be played using 1-4 players, and can be customized. 

I think all of these sites are great to have and keep in mind. I will like to try them out and use them in my own future classroom. It will be interesting to see which ones work best for what students. I am excited to look further into these games!

Key Questions that should be considered when selecting educational applications to meet students' goals and objectives.

What are key questions that should be considered when selecting educational applications to meet students' goals and objectives?

Although there are many factors to consider when selecting educational applications for particular students, the primary considerations should be learning activities that naturally fit instructional goals or objectives and that meet the interests of the students. It is imperative to match the application to the student and not the other way around.

What is the intended outcome of the use of the educational application?
    Example: Is it meant to strengthen math skills in problem solving or is it meant to build      speed and accuracy with basic math facts?

Is the educational applications likely to fulfill its stated purpose?
    Example: If the stated purpose of the activity is to build problem-solving skills, does it provide the  explanatory feedback needed to do so or simply assess whether or not problems are solved correctly?

Can the educational applications likely be used as an alternative to traditional classroom activities to enhance students' participation?
     Example: Will students learn as effectively using online math manipulatives as they would using traditional manipulatives?

Assistive Technology

       Recently I listened to a webinar about Reading and Assistive Technology. It fits in perfect with everything I have blogging about because it discusses ways to use AT in the classroom to help students read. The webinar began with a discussion between what a Text-Reader is and a Screen-Reader. I did not know the difference until I listened and read about it so I figured I would share. A text-reader reads documents and applications for you. It is typically used with students with reading disabilities. A screen -reader reads everything on the screen including tool bars and anything else you may see. This is typically used for students with low vision. 

     To help students read there is a website called bookshare.org . This is a resource for electronic books. It is an accessible online library. There is a membership fee you must pay but if the student is qualified orthapedically, visually, or a reading disability the fee is waived. 

      A great resource that comes when you are a member of bookshare.org is a free download of Read:Outloud. This is from the same company that made Write:Outloud that I talked about in previous blogs. Read:OutLoud by Don Johnston Incorporated as the text reader that would best achieve the goal of providing access to reading materials and enabling students to read texts with comprehension. 

    In reading the text book Assistive Technology in the Classroom by Amy G. Del, Deborah A. Newton, and Jerry G. Petroff, I learned more about AT in the writing process. If you are a teacher you know that the writing process is made up of different steps; Prewriting, drafting, reviewing, editing, and sharing or publishing. Students with disabilities have a hard time with the process and sometimes try to avoid writing togetherGraphic organizers a great way for students to organize their writing. This can be done with a low tech AT such as a handout or a high tech would be the software program called Inspiration that I blogged about in earlier posts. Graphic organizers help all students not just students with a disability. I would like to incorporate that into my own teaching because I know how difficult it is to being to write and a graphic organizer would be so helpful. 

    There are a variety of tools to help students with disabilities in the writing process. 

       Prewriting: graphic organizers

       Drafting: word processing, word prediction with custom dictionaries and speech recognition

       Reviewing: text-to speech

       Editing: text-to speech, phonetic spell checks, talking dictionaries, thesaurus, grammar checker, text correction

       Sharing or Publishing: word processing, multimedia presentation application, digital storytelling, blogs, wikis

Websites for Instruction in the Classroom

In all of my blogs I have talked about Assistive Technology and different types of it. Today I want to take a closer look at different software that could be used in your own classrooms.

The first site I want to look at is Inspiration. This is a visual learning website and software for students to use. 

"What is visual thinking and visual learning? 

Visual thinking is a learning style where the learner better understands and retains information when ideas, words and concepts are associated with images. Research tells us that the majority of students in a regular classroom need to see information in order to learn it. Some common visual learning strategies include creating graphic organizers, diagramming, mind mapping, outlining and more.

Visual learning helps students organize and analyze information
Students can use diagrams and plots to display large amounts of information in ways that are easy to understand and help reveal relationships and patterns.

Visual learning helps students integrate new knowledge
According to research, students better remember information when it is represented and learned both visually and verbally.

Visual learning helps students think critically
Linked verbal and visual information helps students make connections, understand relationships and recall related details."

This website and software could be used when a student needs to write about a specific topic. They could make a concept map with visual pictures and comments to get their ideas on paper. It could also be used as a formative assessment to see what the student knows and has learned. Here is an example of one:

This software is user friendly and kid friendly. It is inviting with colors and pictures and easy to access and use. It is not expensive if you were to purchase it for one computer which would be &39.965. If you wanted to purchase it for 20 computers in your school it would cost $640.00. 

http://www.inspiration.com

Another software I found was Write:Outloud. Students who are reluctant to write, have moderate grammar and spelling challenges, and write better with auditory support would benefit from this. It costs about $84.00 per computer but the more computers you buy it for the cheaper it becomes. 

This software comes with a new speech engine, talking spell checker, dictionary, homophone checker, bibliographer, standardized test mode. 

This software is user friendly and looks almost like Microsoftword but with a few more buttons. When you type something it then will read it for you. 

A great way for students to use this device is while they are writing an assignment in the classroom they can use this to help them. 

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

All of my blog posts discuss Assistive Technology for students. I want to take a closer look at AT with students with learning disabilities. "Learning disabilities do not go away with time. However, assistive technology can help children with learning disabilities leverage their strengths and work around or compensate for specific learning problems. These supports can be key to helping users become more independent in school and throughout life — on the job and in activities for daily living." (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ncld.org/students-disabilities/assistive-technology-education

When using Assistive Technology with students who have learning disabilities, the focus is mainly on adapting processing and output. As I was researching LD (learning disabilities) online, I found a site which gives you the characteristics of learning disabilities. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

Typical characteristics of students with LD are listed below.  These characteristics, taken independently or in combination do not necessarily indicate a learning disability.

Reading

• Confusion of similar words, difficulty using phonics, problems reading multi-syllable words.
• Slow reading rate and/or difficulty adjusting speed to the nature of the reading task.
• Difficulty with comprehension and retention of material that is read, but not with material presented orally.

Writing

• Difficulty with sentence structure, poor grammar, omitted words.
• Frequent spelling errors, inconsistent spelling, letter reversals.
• Difficulty copying from board or overhead.
• Poorly formed letters, difficulty with spacing, capitals, and punctuation.

Oral Language

• Difficulty memorizing basic facts.
• Difficulty expressing ideas orally which the student seems to understand.
• Problems describing events or stories in proper sequence.
• Residual problems with grammar, difficulty with inflectional or derivational endings.

Math

• Difficulty memorizing basic facts.
• Confusion or reversal of numbers, number sequence, or operational symbols.
• Difficulty reading or comprehending word problems.
• Problems with reasoning and abstract concepts.

Study Skills

• Poor organization and time management.
• Difficulty following directions.
• Poor organization of notes and other written materials.
• Need more time to complete assignments.

Social Skills

• Difficulty "reading" facial expressions, body language.
• Problems interpreting subtle messages such as sarcasm.
• Confusion in spatial orientation, getting lost easily, difficulty following directions.
• Disorientation in time, difficulty telling time

Wren, C. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pepperdine.edu/disabilityservices/students/ldcharacter.htm

A high-tech type of AT for a student with a learning disability for example; dyslexia, could use a Text-to-Speech device. The student could highlight what they need to read and it would read it for them. It is not that the student can not read but they have difficulty reading since the letters seem jumbled up. Another type of high tech AT is word prediction software for students to choose a word from the list provided by the software. 

A low-tech type of AT for a student with a learning difficulty could be a book mark type of tool where you place it under the line of the text you are reading. This keeps the student focused on one line at a time so they are not over whelmed. Another low-tech device is a Light Pen. 

A sensory disability is a person with a disability that has any of the long-lasting conditions such as blindness, deafness, or a severe vision or hearing impairment. Characteristics include hearing impairment, vision impairment and auditory. 

A low tech type of AT would be a pencil grip. This helps students hold the pencil and they can write more clearly. Another type of low tech AT is raised line paper. The students can feel where the lines are on the paper. 

A high tech device to use is Big Keys – one of several alternative large letter, abc order keyboards for young children or students with motor or cognitive challenges difficulties.  Another would be Earobics which is an auditory discrimination reading software. 

Assistive Technology based on IEP Goals

In my last blog post I talked about implementing AT in the IEP. Now I want to look at IEP Goals that were written and show the type of AT using a picture to link it to the goal. 

1. Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance: Johnny uses his right hand to write and to physically position his left arm and hand. He has difficulty managing papers as he writes. He collects and utilizes a lap tray, incline board, non-slip mat and modified clipboard but often waits for staff to set up modifications.

GOAL: Johnny will initiate the set-up of his writing station 80% of the time given a chart of needed materials for each task.

*this picture is just an example of what it might look like but altered for writing. 

2. Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance: Eric participates in regular education programs for his academic subjects. His hand strength is limited and he fatigues quickly when doing any handwriting task. Civics and English homework are a particular problem because of lengthy assignments and reports that need to be completed.

GOAL: Eric will use a computer or portable word processor to complete 100% of his assignments in 10th grade English and Civics classes.

3. Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance: Becky is learning to read and is anxious to complete writing assignments with her peers. She is not able to produce handwritten material due to severe spastic quadriplegia. Becky is interested in using the computer and has been introduced to it. The staff has helped Becky experiment with several switches in a variety of locations. She seems to be most accurate using a switch mounted next to her head.

Goal: Becky will use a single switch mounted on a switch-mounting arm positioned to the right side of her head and scanning software to access the computer 9 out of 10 times for a variety of educational assignments.

4. Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance: Mary currently communicates with sounds that are not always understood by those around her. She often becomes upset when she is not understood. She likes people and likes to be around both adults and children. She is beginning to play simple games.

Goal: Mary will communicate her interests and needs in three or more environments/situations using a single message voice output device.

Short Term Objective (STO) 1: Using a single message voice output device, Mary will communicate when she wants to change activities during play time on three out of five opportunities on three consecutive days.

STO 2: Mary will use the single message device to interact with others during games, such as Peek-a-Boo on three out of five opportunities on three consecutive days.

STO 3: Mary will initiate communication by “calling” someone using a preprogrammed message on a single message voice output device on three out of three opportunities on three consecutive days.

STO 4: Mary will “lead” singing during circle time by activating a preprogrammed single message voice output device on three out of three opportunities when it is her turn.

5. Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance: Sarah can use eye gaze fairly successfully to indicate her wants and needs when items are appropriately displayed so that her communication partner can tell what she is gazing at. She currently makes a grunting sound to greet others, to get attention, and to represent both yes and no. She has recently been using a four-message output device and is having some success at making choices. Sarah travels independently about the school in her power chair.

Goal: Sarah will interact with others in the school environment in four out of five opportunities to indicate her preferences and needs using voice output devices and eye gaze strategies.

STO 1: When provided with a single message voice output device on her wheel chair, Sarah will use it to greet peers in the hallways, lunchroom and classroom 100% of the time.

STO 2: Using an eye gaze frame mounted on her wheelchair, Sarah will indicate her preference between four choices 80% of the time on five random trials. 

STO 3: When asked “yes/no” questions, Sarah will indicate “yes” with a smile and eye contact with communication partner, and “no” by looking down at her wheelchair tray for at least three seconds 90% of the time on 10 random trials.

STO 4: When provided with a preprogrammed four message voice output device, Sarah will participate in story time by using repetitive phrases, requests to “hear more”, “turn the pages” etc., appropriately 80% of the time during five random trials.

IEP Considerations and Assistive Technology

    All of my blog posts have been about Assistive Technology and different types of AT. Now I want to explore a little more about AT and how it is used and implemented into IEPs. 
    An IEP (Individual Education Plan) is like a roadmap for students with disabilities to help their teachers know a little bit more about the student and their accommodations and modifications to the learning plan. In the IEP, there is a section where the AT that is needed for a child is listed. By law, if an AT device is listed in the student's IEP it is mandatory that the student receives and uses the AT. You must use general descriptions of the AT device when putting it in the IEP. You should not provide a brand name of an AT device because then you will be locked in to that device only and there could be a better and cheaper way to implement the AT for the student. Any accommodations that the student needs should be listed in the IEP with detail describing the assistive technology used. 

Here is a list of some AT used for students with disabilities:

For Learning Disabilities—focus mainly on adapting processing and output. Computer Access Approaches are:

1. Simple layout, appearance and operation; Obvious intuitive operation; Built-in cueing; Allowance for error recovery; Alternate forms for presentation of information; Simple direct selection; Written procedures for common tasks; Spell Check/Grammar Check; Touch Window may be more intuitive than other mouse alternatives.
2. Voice Output presents information auditorily for reading disabilities, dyslexia; Highlights word or sentence; Talking dictionary option; Scanning/OCR option such as WYNN.
3. Word Prediction software for spelling difficulties; Option for reading difficulties; Some basic spelling required.
4. Voice Recognition may be faster, more intuitive input method for writing difficulties; Discrete speech software may assist more with learning; Can be combined with reader applications for auditory feedback of word list; Continuous speech software also an option.
5. Picture Based Writing Programs: Pictures and/or icons with labels; Some programs link to common word processing software; Often coupled with voice output or communication software.

AT & Sensory Disabilities—focus mainly on adapting output. Computer Access Approaches are: 

1. Screen Magnifiers: Low vision access; 
2. Large High Contrast Key Labels for low vision; 

Screen Reader: Low Vision/Blind Access computer navigation tool; Reader program option with screen enlarger or comprehensive screen reader; Operates a speech synthesizer which voices the contents of a computer screen; 

Notetakers and Refreshable Braille Displays: Alternative to screen reader; Requires good peripheral sensation. 

Braille Embosser: Needs Braille translation software; Paper Type/Grade

1. Scanner/OCR: Low Vision/Blind; Scan printed materials and convert into clearly spoken synthesized speech; 
3. Reader-digital talking book reader, allows user to search and navigate digital talking books,. 

1. Low Vision: Accessibility Features Available On Computer: Toggle Keys allows user to hear tones when pressing cap lock, num & scroll lock; Windows can also provide high contrast colors and fonts for easier reading.

1. Hearing impaired/deaf: System Beep Modification; Change system beep to Visual beep that generates a visual warning when system makes a sound (Sound Sentry). 

*This document was taken from one that was used in my AT class. 

I think it is important to understand and know about how to implement AT in an IEP. As a future special education teacher, I will be one of the people on the IEP team and have to write the IEP. It is great that I am learning the rules and ways of how to write an IEP. Assistive Technology is sometimes the only way a student is successful in his or her learning. It helps them reach their goals. 

Assistive Technology in School Aged Children

   This past week I have been reviewing a website, http://www.atinternetmodules.org/mod_list.php to learn more about AT with school aged children. The process of finding the correct type of AT for a student includes many checkpoints to go through. Here is a list of some concerns to consider when choosing appropriate AT:

• Which tasks to target
• The environment(s) in which the tasks will be performed
• The evaluation of the student's needs and abilities
• Matching features of AT to the needs of the student
• Interpreting the information
• Narrowing the options to select and try
• Obtaining AT options
• Conducting trials
• Interpreting the data collected from the trials
• Selecting the AT tool or service that the student will use
• Progress monitoring to ensure the selected AT tool or service is effective and remains appropriate

It is important to put al of these concerns into consideration. It was interesting to me to see the whole list because I would have never thought of half of those ideas when considering AT for a student. 

I also learned that the IEP team is responsible for carrying out the AT process. There should be an Assistive Technology specialist as well as the rest of the IEP members. This was new to me I never heard of an AT specialist before. 

While reading, I stumbled upon a website that allows users to identify potential AT solutions by creating a customized search based on the selected features. This website is specifically developed for finding technology options for students with special needs. I think this website is a wonderful resource to have and use as a future classroom teacher. You may not always have an AT specialist with you all the time to help and guide you and this website could come in handy.  Here is the link: http://techmatrix.org

Another item I learned about is the SETT framework. The SETT Framework is a tool that helps teams gather and organize information that can be used to guide collaborative decisions about services that foster the educational success of students with disabilities. SETT is an acronym for : Student, Environments, Tasks, Tools. The team needs to review each of the parts of the SETT framework before making decisions for the student. I was really glad I was able to learn about this because it opened my eyes to how to begin even looking at a student and getting them the help they need. I believe this is an easy tool to incorporate into my own classroom as a future teacher. I am excited to be able to put all of my new information I am learning to use in my own classroom!

iPads Used For Communication for Children with Autism

       iPads are a wonderful tool for students with autism who can not speak. The iPads are finally something that can give these students and children a voice. They are able to say how they feel, what they want, and show just how bright they are. In some research I have done, I found some videos to demonstrate what a great tool the iPad is. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuCbYNls0V0

This video is a short clip from 60 Minutes. This video shows how effective the iPad is with students from teachers perspective. They say how the students are so much more engaged more attentive while using the iPad. They show a teacher with a student going over numbers on paper. The student was disengaged and not paying attention. As soon as the student was given the iPad she was calm and glued to the screen. The teachers also talked about how the attention span is longer while using the iPad. They can spend time more wisely and teach the student while using the device instead of wasting time when they are disengaged using paper. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKaPk8cm85I

This next video is done by a Speech Language Pathologist. She works with children who have autism and have limited speech. She says that children understand more words than they speak. For instance, she uses an app that helps students associate a picture with a sound. On the screen there would be a picture of a cat and when you click on it it "meows". This helps introduce pictures with noises and helps fine tune listening skills. Auditory associations help build auditory skills for communication. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vomkNSluWW4

This video is about an app called Proloquo2go. This app can speak for the child or student who is non-verbal or limited verbal skills. This is an easy app where the student can click a card that has a picture and a word or phrase. The child can speak through this device and be able to communicate with others. If a child wants a drink he or she can click the "I want" button then "apple" and "juice". It will become the phrase "I want apple juice." and be read out loud for the child to express their wants to whomever they are speaking to. This is such a beneficial application for parents and schools to invest it. It gives the child a voice. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4XMlhCfp3Q

This video is about a 14 year old girl names Carly who has autism. She began intensive therapy for 46 hours a week with a one-to-one since the age of 3. They thought she was mentally challenged as well as having autism. She was making almost no progress to slow progress. One day when she was 11 she ran to a computer and typed how she was "hurt" and "help" and then ran to the couch and threw up. It told them that she was bright. She was never taught those words. She began communicating through the computer and typing. Her parents and therapists found out how smart and intelligent this young girl is. They were amazed. She began talking about what it feels like to be trapped inside of her body. She wants to be a normal girl and have fun. It was medically amazing that she was found to be so bright when at first doctors thought she may be mentally challenged but that was not the case. In a social way, Carly is more social and able to communicate and talk with people around her by typing. She is able to say how she feels and talk about her desires. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWli1-84CNQ

   This video is about a young girl named Autumn who has autism. Her mom has been her sole support and has been keeping up to date at ways to help Autumn progress. She does not speak. She was given an iPad for the day to test it out. Autumn worked on a program and was able to repeat the word "ball" after hearing it on the iPad. The mom of Autumn was elated at how well she was engaged and focused on the activity. The family was given an iPad to keep to help with Autumn. From the parent perspective, her mom was happy to find something that could keep her attention and that will help her make some progress. They were excited to be given this new tool to work with. 

After watching all of these videos it was great to see how great of a tool the iPad is. It really makes you hope and wish that all students with disabilities who would benefit from this tool would be able to have one. It is amazing to see how engaged this students are no matter what age they are. Parents are excited because they have a way to communicate with their children, students are excited because they can voice how they feel and teachers are excited because they now have a tool to be able to communicate and teach the students with something that holds their attention. 

Assistive Technology Software

We have been talking about UDL and AT (Assistive Technology) in my recent blog posts. I want to take a closer look at some of the different types of AT.

    One type of assistive technology is a Talking Word Processor. This device is a writing software program to provide speech feedback as the student writes and echoes each letter as it is typed and each word as the spacebar is pressed. This is best used with students with learning disabilities. It helps the students with their writing and reading. It helps them to better comprehend and organize. They also have other adjustments in which the student can make such as; enlarging the print, changing the font type, and highlighting words as the student is reading. This program can be used for elementary school students, middle school as well as high school students. This program helps them write letters, essays, stories, or any type of writing activity. It helps them with the spelling and mechanics of writing. One popular software for a Talking Word Processor is Write:OutLoud. 

      

     Another type of AT is Assisted Literacy Software. This helps students develop their literacy skills and is great for students with disabilities especially dyslexia. One brand is called CALS Computer Assisted Literacy Solution. CALS help develop phonemic awareness, decoding and comprehension, and fluency. This is used in younger grades in elementary schools. 

                     

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGjB7zcog7k

Watch the short video to learn more about CALS!

I enjoyed researching and learning about different types of assisted technology devices. I feel as though they seem easy to use for all different types of learners. Once the teacher is trained how to use the program he or she can easily show the class how to use the program and integrate it into day to day lessons. I would be excited to use this in my own classroom. It is interesting to learn about the different devices and what they are used for. After doing some research I feel as though I have more resources in my teacher tool belt to use when I become a teacher in the future. 

iPads in the Classroom

     In all of my previous blogs I have been learning and sharing about assistive technology. I recently watched a YouTube video about using iPads in today's classroom especially for non-verbal and children with autism. Here is the link for you to watch as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGU1ELjS7bQIt is definitely worth the time to watch! I have learned so much from the 1 hour video about different apps and resources to use in the classroom when working with children. 
    I received an iPad for Christmas last year and did not know much about using the tool. For the past year I have been using my iPad mainly for the internet or a couple of games. I am not a great technical person so I was a little intimidated by the tool. After watching the speaker talk about all the different ways to use the iPad in the classroom and showing how easy it is, I feel as though it is something that could be easily learned and used. 
   The iPad is a wonderful tool for students who are non-verbal. There are so many apps to use to help the students. One of the apps the lady used in a classroom was just like a big communication board you might be used to seeing in the class but it was on the iPad. The student was in middle school and rarely used the communication board because it was big and clunky and embarrassed her. When she got her iPad she was more confident and engaged with the rest of the class. It is amazing what a small little electronic device can do. 

There is also a program called Yes/No. This program is also used for non-verbal students. When asking them a question the student can point to either yes or no on the screen. It will verbally play back their response using the computer generated voice. You can also customize it to your needs. For example if you want the child to choose milk or juice for snack you will create two buttons one for each and can even put a picture with the word that way the student can recognize the word and picture and choose. 
Another awesome idea I though was using the app Sonic Pics where you can make your own social stories with your own pictures. So using the iPad the student or teacher could take pictures of what the student was working on all day. She then could create a 12 picture show and add audio describing the pictures. The teacher could e-mail the pictures to the students parents and they would be able to see what happened that day. 
  There are other apps such as a sign language app where it actually shows you how to sign the words which are in a list which looks like a phone list on the iPhone. There is also an app called Speak It and you type what you want to say and it says it for you. One app for helping students write letters is called Doodle Buddy. By just using your finger you can make a letter on the iPad. Once the child becomes familiar with that you can incorporate using paper and pencils. 
   Most of the apps that were talked about were ones for young children learning numbers, letters, and putting puzzles together. Also a lot of them were for communication. I would love to incorporate iPads in my future classroom. I become nervous when using technology but I believe that once I get the hang of the app and how to use it it would be able to be used very easily in the classroom.