Educational Applications That Address Visual-Spatial/Motor Control Difficulties

     The previous post discussed educational applications that addressed issues regarding automaticity and fluency. These applications can significantly help and address issues in automaticity and fluency. This post will provide educational applications that address visual-spatial and motor control difficulties. Students with disabilities may experience difficulty with writing numbers, aligning digits in computation problems, and creating visual representations for a number of reasons. The following are educational applications that can be used to address issues in visual-spatial and motor control difficulties in math.

MathPad

MathPad Plus

Virtual Pencil (VP) Arithmetic

Virtual Pencil (VP) Algebra

Math Talk/ Scientific Notebook

Educational Applications Addressing Automaticity/Math Fact Fluency

     My previous posted discussed key questions that should be considered when selecting educational applications to meet students' goals and objectives. This post will discuss specific types of educational applications that can be used to address automaticity/math fact fluency. 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. The following are educational applications that address automaticity and math fact fluency:

Fluency and Automaticity through Systematic Teaching with Technology (FASTT) Math 

Timez Attack (Big Brainz)

The ArithmAttack

Arcademic Skill Builder

Questions to Consider for Educational Applications

     As stated in my previous post, assistive technology (AT) could be used in mathematics. IEP team members need to take a few questions into consideration when and if a device will meet the needs of students. Key questions that should be considered when selecting educational applications to meet students' goals and objectives include:

1. What is the intended outcome of the use of the educational application? For example, is it meant to strengthen math skills in problem solving or is it meant to build speed and accuracy with basic math facts?
2. Is the educational applications likely to fulfill its stated purpose? For 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?
3. Can the educational applications be used as an alternative to traditional classroom activities to enhance students' participation? For example, will students learn as effectively using online math manipulatives as they would using traditional manipulatives?

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!