QIAT Resource Bank - UDL Apps!

Have you been to the QIAT Resource Bank lately?  I was looking for a document and ran across this beautiful Placement of Core Apps Serving Learning for All!  Each of the three separate sections, Representation, Expression and Engagement, list apps in categories by student area of difficulty: LD reading, LD writing, LD executive functioning, physical, visual, hearing and communication.

If you're looking for educational app, I'd start here!  Thank you to Barbara Welsford, M.Ed., ATP, ADE for putting this together!

This is just one example of the excellent resources on the QIAT Resource Bank.  Check it out at http://indicators.knowbility.org/resource-bank.html

Free AAC Photo Printables, and Much More!

Like British Columbia has SETBC (Special Education Technology BC), the United Kingdom has SENICT (Special Education Needs Information Communication Technology). And like SETBC, SENICT has put together a wealth of resources, many that are free. I just came across their general website of resources that anyone can submit entries to. In addition, they have a site for the SEN Teacher with tons of free printables, downloads and weblinks where you'll find free AAC Photo Cards, Math Activity Printables, Literacy Activities Printables and much more. What's better than FREE? We tried out the AAC Photo Cards and our Speech therapists had good reviews. Worth spending time at, but be warned, you could be there awhile!

Virtual History Museum

 The Family Center on Technology and Disability (FCTD) June newsletter features an interview with Dr. Cindy Okolo, a special education professor at Michigan State University and project director of the Virtual History Museum. The interview explains how the Virtual History Museum got started and describes how it can help struggling students learn about Social Studies and History in a motivating, interactive way.  "The Virtual History Museum is a web-based history-learning environment designed to promote the historical understanding of all students and offer cognitive supports that will enable full participation and success for all students in diverse classrooms."  Click on the post title to read the interview, or check out the Virtual History Museum at:
http://vhm.msu.edu/site/default.php

MI Learning on iTunes U

Here's what the MACUL (Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning) has to say about MI Learning, "MI Learning on iTunes U is a gateway to educational audio, video, and PDF files shared by organizations and educators throughout Michigan - free of charge. These curriculum, leadership and professional development resources can be accessed by computer and mobile devices offering great learning opportunities for students, educators and community -anytime and anywhere!"  
There are close to 200,000 downloads per month with new resources including Google Tools, Game Design and 3D Modeling.  New collections are welcome so if you have video resources already created, click on the post title for information on sharing them on MI Learning with other educators and students!

"LINC" - Low Incidence Network Connection

This Area Educational Agency in East Central Iowa has done a marvelous job putting together this site of Resources, Links and Blogs for Low Incidence Students.  Categories include: Adapted Books & Song-boards, AAC, Visual Symbols, Early Intervention, Computer Access, Switch Skills and more!

Amazing website - Search and download pre-made visual supports

Thanks to our ASD consultant who forwarded this cool website with a collection of pre-made down-loadable activities organized in a searchable database. There's device overlays too. Here's what Barb says, "you just press print and boom…..it’s ready for lamination and Velcro. I LOVED the fact that this spans the ages too. There are things for preschoolers as well as young adults and beyond school. There are many, many areas to search as well…school, home, behavior supports, communication samples, holidays…the list goes on. Books that are read by children and are in a video format, called accessible books. Just fascinating. Be careful though, you could get sucked in and stay for hours!!!!

VizZle - Visual Learning online program

We'll be having a 30 minute webinar at our January meeting on this program. It's web-based subscription software. You can create templates for interactive stories, games, matching boards, and first-then boards. There's a shared lesson library search-able by subject, lesson type and grade-level.

Pogo Boards: web based solution for creating visual support boards

There's a few new web-based visual supports programs out there and this one is quite inexpensive compared to others we've seen! It provides access to millions of images through online search. Boards are shared online, it can be used anywhere there's Internet and it boasts of being the next generation of solutions for designing custom communication and learning materials.

Symbolworld - A symbol supported web browser

Remember Writing with Symbols? The company is Widget and they have developed this symbol based browser called Webwide. It's a subscription based service that changes the view of websites from normal view to a simplified text layout or with symbol support. There's full speech support in any view. Because Communicate: Webwide is a subscription service, the symbols don't need to be installed on your machine. There is a free trial available. Pricing is in UK pounds and translates to about $45 US dollars for the first year, then about $31 per year thereafter. If you try it, please post your comments.

Photos, Clicker 5 resources, Intellitools CS and more!

Do you need digital pictures but don't want to take your camera with you everywhere you go? Check out Learning Magic, Inc. They've added a cd of over 4,000 high quality photographs organized in folders. The photos look very good and the cd sells for about $100.

In the Goodies section there are Clicker 5 and IntelliTools Classroom Suite activities free to download. Click post title or Links to Resources.

Pacer webinar on Using Visual Strategies

Pacer Center in Minneapolis has archived a two hour webinar on Visual Strategies. This post title links to their website. Here is the description of the session:

Many learners understand what they see better than what they hear. For these learners, visual strategies can be a powerful tool in helping learners understand directions, expectations, schedules, sequences and more. This workshop, part of a series funded in part by Autism Speaks, will lay a foundation for understanding what visual strategies are and how to use them.