AT Use In Mathematics

     Math is a critical subject in school that is devoted a good chunk of the day. With the common core standards now implemented in the state of Pennsylvania, math curriculum's have become extremely rigorous starting as young as kindergarten. All students are expected to learn this math, regardless of whether you have a disability or not. This is where the use of Assistive Technology (AT) could be beneficial for students. It may be beneficial for students without disabilities as well. 

       My next few posts will be on the use of AT in regards to mathematics. Informational videos, pictures, and graphs will be given to potentially be used in an inclusive classroom or for students that have IEPs.

AT Reading Software

     As discussed in previous posts, I have discussed a variety of  text-to-speech software's. These software's are very beneficial for students who have reading disabilities. There are multiple software's that provide similar accommodations that effectively get the text across to students to understand their readings. The webinar I watched on AT Reading Software was very helpful. The webinar started out with these principles of a text reader vs. a screen reader:

Text Reader                                                                        Screen Reader
Software programs that read all the text                       Screen readers read ALL the text 
in any given document or application.                            elements on the screen.

Most often used for students with a reading                 They provide access to program 
disability, but with adequate vision.                               navigation and written text. Most often                                                                                                     used for students with visual                                                                                                                 impairments.

Some of the programs described in the webinar included Kurzweil 3000, Premier Literacy Productivity Pack, Read and Write Gold, SOLO, WYNN, Natural Reader, and WordTalk.

The presenter focused on the features of these programs and how beneficial they may be for students with a reading disability. These features include the following: 

• Choice of High Quality Voices
• Modify text interface 
• Ability to control rate
• Dictionary 
• Highlight and extract key information 
• Ability to insert/create/modify Scaffold for reading
• Can read files directly from bookshare.org
• Can OCR documents
• Consistent format for Internet and other Reading 
• Convert to MP3
• Language translator 

If you are interested in learning more about these programs, visit the webinar AT for Reading

goQ Software

GoQ Software provides five different tools within their software: wordQ, wordQ + speakQ, iWordQ, thoughtQ, and WiViK. 

wordQ

• Word prediction software
• Offers a list of words with similar meaning to add variety to your writing.
• Gives examples for words that sound similar by using them in a sentence.
• Works even if words are misspelled or creatively written.
• Students who benefit: Students who struggle in writing, have specific academic learning disabilities like reading or writing. 

wordQ + speakQ

• Word prediction, speech feedback, and speech recognition.
• Uses clear and pleasant text to voice feedback.
• Uses text to speech when writing

• Students who benefit: Students who struggle in writing, have specific academic learning disabilities like reading or writing. 

iWordQ

• Advance in-context word prediction and speech feedback for the iPad.
• Provides a writing and reading mode. 

• Students who benefit: Students who struggle in writing, have specific academic learning disabilities like reading or writing. 

 thoughtQ

• Triggers, Words, and Thoughts 

• Students who benefit: Students who struggle in writing, have specific academic learning disabilities like reading or writing. 

 WiViK

• Inclusive all in one access. 

• Students who benefit: Students of all ages who are unable to physically use a keyboard such as ALS, muscular dystrophy, and cerebral palsy 

    This software is very user friendly and students can easily learn how to use the software. The software however can be costly. Depending on the software package you get, it could cost into the hundreds. However, it may be extremely benefit to students if school districts will pay for it. 

    Visit the website GoQSoftware today!

TextAloud- Text-to-Speech Software

     TextAloud 3 is Text to Speech software for the Windows PC that converts your text from MS Word Documents, Emails, Web Pages and PDF Files into natural-sounding speech. You can listen on your PC or create audio files for use on portable audio devices (TextAloud 3 can automatically sync with iTunes™).

     This type of software will benefit a variety of students. It can help all students to hear what they wrote and see if their thoughts were well organized and if the paper has a nice flow to it. Students with disabilities that may benefit from text-to-speech software include: beginning readers, ESL students, students with low vision, specific learning disabilities like dyslexia, businessmen, and lawyers. 

     The use of TextAloud 3 can be used to have Microsoft Word documents or e-mails read out loud to an individual. It is user friendly and very cost efficient costing only $29.95. You can download different automated voices and even voices with accents to match your preferences. The software itself is easy to use and extremely beneficial for a variety of purposes. 

     Visit the website nextup.com for more information!

Past Event Cards

     In my previous posts I discussed break and choice cards for students who may benefit from their use in schools. Students who may benefit from these cards are students with emotional and behavior disorders, ASD, or other severe disabilities. Students may benefit from past event cards. This concept is a picture system that has the events that occurred during school. This system helps build their expressive language at home and in school. It serves as a reminder and communication starter with parents, teachers, siblings, and peers. If they forgot what happened at school when asked, they can refer to this template and serve as a reminder of what they did. I feel this is a wonderful tool to use with students to help promote the use of communication about their day with their families. 

Choice Boards

     Based on my previous post of break cards, this post will discuss choice boards. Choice boards are pictorial cards that express an option the student wants or needs. It serves as a visual for students to see what they want/need and do not necessarily need to communicate verbally.  


     This is an example of a choice board a student may have when they have appropriately completed an assignment or exhibited expected behaviors for a sustained amount of time. Students earn a break/reward and will use the choice board to receive their reward.


     Another use of choice boards can be to cut individual cards and place them on a clipboard with velcro. Students then have the freedom to move the cards over to a request area that is easy for the teacher to understand what they want/need. 

Break Cards

     Based on my previous post on Expressive Language Disorders, this next low tech piece of AT break cards may be extremely beneficial for students with this disorder. Break cards provide a way for students to express a want or need without having to communicate verbally. They may simply just flash the card to express this need. 

     This is a card that is available for students to present to the teacher if they need a break.  There are many ways to set this up.  You can allow one break per activity, or you can allow a determined number of breaks per day (if you give too many, your student may end up on a break all day, if you give too few, you may not see a decrease in problem behavior.  You can always gradually fade out the number of breaks as your student's problem behavior decreases.)

      Teach your children to "request" a break when they are frustrated or need a few moments away from the task. This card is a nice visual reminder for the student and is useful for home, school, and community environments.

     I have had the opportunity to use break cards in my current classroom. It truly is a great system to have with students in an emotional support setting as these students can become easily frustrated. This system provides a tangible object to flash when frustrated.