The Family Center on Technology and Disability
Assistive Technology Works
ReadWriteThink
ReadWriteThink is a collaboration between the International Reading Association (IRA), National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and Verizon Foundation's Thinkfinity educational resources program. ReadWriteThink is designed to offer teachers free classroom resources for grades K-12 and free professional development resources. The ReadWriteThink website includes a professional library, online professional development courses and seminars, lesson plans, classroom activities, online interactive tools for students and after school resources for parents.
Published: 2010 by IRA/NCTE , Reviewed: 6 days ago
Spectronics Inclusive Learning Technologies
Spectronics is an Australian company that provides assistive technology products, assessments and consulting services to families in Australia and New Zealand. Of particular interest to U.S. visitors, the Spectronics website includes online demonstrations of common devices and software, and a library of product reviews and informational articles for parents, teachers, and AT professionals. The Spectronics Activity Exchange offers free customizable downloads for BoardMaker, IntelliKeys, and DynaVox activities; users can also ...
Published: 2010 by Spectronics Inclusive Learning Technologies , Reviewed: 6 days ago
Webspiration
MyWebspiration.com is a visual learning and collaboration service that helps users create, develop, organize, edit, and review their written projects online with a graphic organizer and outlining tools combined with automatic document backup. The service works with other popular collaboration features in Microsoft Word and Google Docs, and the Inspiration 9 visual learning software. Individual Webspiration accounts are free. Webspiration Classroom Service offers subscription access to Webspiration and additional account ...
Published: 2010 by Inspiration Software , Reviewed: August 11, 2010
Mighty Book
Mighty Book offers families and teachers a subscription service to access e-books and reading resources. The site includes games, hundreds of Flash-animated e-books, and dozens of stories, songs and activities for kids ages 2-10. New items are available every month. The "Parent & Teacher" section of the site offers lesson plans, activities, and stories written by kids. Subscriptions vary from $24.95/year for a household to $999.95/year for a large school ...
Published: 2010 by Mighty Book , Reviewed: 4 days ago
The iPod Touch in the Special Needs Classroom
This Ning Network was created by a group of Apple Distinguished Educators to prepare for their workshop at the 2010 CSUN International Technology & Persons with Disabilities conference. The site includes a collection of tutorials for iPhone and iPod Touch applications, a list of the applications the group uses in their classrooms, and a forum for information about iPod apps, tips for educators using iPods in the classroom, and ideas ...
Published: 2010 by Luis Perez , Reviewed: August 11, 2010
Visual Dictionary Online
Launched in 2007, The Visual Dictionary Online is a free, indexed, audio-enhanced, topic-correlated extension of the hugely successful Merriam-Webster’s Visual Dictionary. Fifteen themes help narrow general searches, and the index search offers precise results among the reported thousands of English language definitions and related images. The “Blog This” feature lets non-profit groups or individuals post images and terms from the Visual Dictionary Online for non-commercial use, provided images and terms ...
Published: 2010 by Merriam-Webster , Reviewed: May 21, 2010
MangoMon
MangoMon provides online education for exceptional students. There are engaging reading and math resources. The reading voices are enjoyable – the topics are relevant to older students and the multimedia options are varied. There is always an active component in each assignment, such as moving a word or coin into a relevant area to learn about it. The software was developed using a researched approach to learning which can be ...
Published: 2010 by Learning Today , Reviewed: 3 days ago
The Connected Classroom
The Connected Classroom is a blog devoted to education technology and policy, professional development, and the resources and support teachers need when using technology in the classroom. Written by a teacher, the blog includes videos, conference notes, and education technology resources.
Published: 2010 by K Hokanson , Reviewed: February 24, 2010
Windows 7 Accessibility Demos
This Microsoft site offers a collection of video demos for Windows 7 accessibility features, including Windows Touch, On Screen Keyboard, Accelerators (an automated task tool), and Magnifier. Windows Media Player is required to view the videos.
Published: 2010 by Microsoft , Reviewed: May 12, 2010
AdaptedLearning.com
From DynaVox, AdaptedLearning.com offers popular PCS/Boardmaker AAC resources. Free registration offers users access to user tips, strategies, and examples of PCS in classroom and community environments. Additional forums, groups, and tools are also available.
Published: 2009 by DynaVox , Reviewed: March 12, 2010
AT Tipscast: The Blog
This blog is a collection of webcasts with additional resources and tips to help AT professionals and educators collaborate and develop effective strategies when using AT with students.
Published: 2009 by Christopher Bugaj , Reviewed: March 04, 2010
FSCast Episode 30, May 2009
This Freedom Scientific webcast discusses Twitter in conjunction with JAWS and PACMate Omni. The discussion features several application developers, including Dennis Lembree, the creator of Accessible Twitter (previously reviewed on the FCTD website) and Jamal Mazuri, the author of McTwit, as well as interviews with three Twitter users, and several notes about additional applications to expand Twitter functions and foster additional accessibility.
Published: 2009 by Freedom Scientific , Reviewed: March 12, 2010
Professor Garfield Reading Ring
The Professor Garfield Reading Ring is a free online game that encourages reading comprehension using Garfield comic strip characters. The game asks players to put comic strip panels in the correct order, then answer three questions about the comic strip (questions do not always relate to the current panels in the strip). When a player wins a round they can print out a championship buckle.
Published: 2009 by professorgarfield.org , Reviewed: February 24, 2010
Accessible Educational Technology
This blog provides strategies to support students with technology. There is a lot of great stuff on this blog and viewers can spend lots of time reviewing useful links. A recent post was about the issue of social networking and how it can be used effectively as an educational and communication tool. All the posts and links are equally interesting, sending the viewer to thoughtful content and new resources.
Published: 2009 by AccessText Network , Reviewed: March 12, 2010
Google Lit Trips
Google Lit Trips allows readers with access to Google Earth (a free download) to follow literary journeys in classic and popular fiction (such as Elie Wiesel's "Night" or Sharon Creech's "Walk Two Moons") using maps of the world, continents, country or city in which the story takes place. What a great way to pair literature and geography and make a truly integrated educational experience. Tutorials on the website walk teachers ...
Published: 2009 by Jerome Berg , Reviewed: March 05, 2010
KidZui
KidZui is a web browser for young children that allows plenty of safe browsing of parent-reviewed sites and some social networking. It was designed for use by 3-17 year olds, although realistically, is more suited for children to age 10. Children create their own 'Zuiis' (cartoon-like avatars), which become their login identities and can communicate with other Zui account users, sharing favorite sites, games, etc. No personal identification is ever ...
Published: 2009 by KidZui , Reviewed: March 04, 2010
Lisa's Lingo
This is a blog written by a teacher with a concentration on technology tools, UDL and hands-on learning in her classroom. There are many insights and concrete ideas posted here and both parents and teachers will be refreshed and inspired by the thoughts and applications of ideas they find. Also included on one of the sidebars are links to other blogs with similar focus on technology and education.
Published: 2009 by Lisa Parisi , Reviewed: March 04, 2010
Maxiaids Catalog Adaptive Devices
This is a very comprehensive online catalog of adaptive devices for daily living.
Published: 2009 , Reviewed: March 05, 2009
Your Child with Learning Difficulties
This section of the greatschools.net website provides a wealth of information for parents and teachers of children with learning disabilities. It offers strategies for use in the classroom and at home and discusses a range of AT tools for math, reading, organization, writing, and learning in general. The site is well-organized and easy to navigate. It includes a discussion bulletin board for parents and educators.
Published: 2009 , Reviewed: March 04, 2009
Screen Magnification
This article gives a good, concise overview of screen magnification products. These are products that enlarge what appears on the computer screen. Each product listed is accompanied by detailed information about its capabilities, whether or not it has speech output, and its compatibility with various operating systems. Each product also has a link to the manufacturer‘s web site. In addition to screen magnification, there are a few links to other ...
Published: 2009 by Special Needs Opportunity Windows , Reviewed: January 06, 2009