Instructional Resources:
The Chrome Assistive Technology applications shown in this diagram are useful instructional tools for engaging students with autism in the inclusive classroom setting.
The applications are categorized into the following categories to support instruction:
1. Math Tools
2. Writing on the Web and Google Docs
3. Reading on the Web
4. Attention Tools
5. English Language
6. Organization and Study Tools
VoiceThread is an interactive instructional resource that can be utilized to access visual and non-oral learners in the classroom. This digital, story-telling media is a useful tool to allow all students to engage, communicate, and collaborate about content being taught.
This website is a useful instructional tool that includes different online resources that encompass the following:
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Collaborative documents
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Collaborative spaces
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Collaborative video
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Collaborative sticky notes and walls
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Collaborative notepads and graphs
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Transferring files
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Blogs, wikis and social networks
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Templates for blogs
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Virtual meetings and chat rooms
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Collaborative tools
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Collaborative annotations and highlighters
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Collaborative drawing boards
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Multimedia posters and pages
The benefits are:
Teacher can use the SMARTboard to make lessons more engaging and hands-on, play videos and show images, etc.
Learning Needs this supports:
Helps visual, interactive, and kinesthetic learners be more involved during lessons.
It allows access to content for these students.
StudySync is a website and software. The learning needs that the site supports are:
It provides learning supports for all levels of learners, including reluctant and advanced readers, and English language learners.
The major benefits of the site are the following:
It provides multiple ways for teachers to differentiate instruction and meet the needs of a classroom with a mix of interests, learning styles, and skill levels.
Student reading and writing companions support differentiated instruction and low-tech environments.
Read&Write is a website software for Google Drive. The learning needs that the site supports are:
Useful for students who are struggling with reading and decoding.
It is also helpful with fluency.
The major benefits of the site are the following:
The software highlights sentences, reads the word that are typed out, has a picture dictionary and translator.
Assistive Technology (AT)
The AT Help website is an incredible resource that provides information, tools, etc. on the following:
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AT blogs and projects
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AT defined and general information
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AT for ipad/android
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AT for literacy
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AT for learning
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AT for communication
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AT for vision needs
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AT for hearing needs
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AT for physical access
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AT for game playing
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And MORE!
1. The Franklin Language Master 6000b (Lindsey-Glenn & Gentry, 2008)
inexpensive, hand-held speaking dictionary, thesaurus and grammar guide that allows the teacher and/or student to create an electronic vocabulary file complete with definitions and verbal pronunciation. Has a game feature that allow students to play games with their target words (p. 2)
Pros: low price, affordable, easy and convenient to use for reading and other literacy instruction
Cons: the speech quality of the voice of the device - the computerized speech is often hard to understand especially for multisyllabic words
AT for vision needs
Visual Support Systems
2. Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 (Lindsey-Glenn & Gentry, 2008) → digital storytelling; flexible to change in relation to instructional goals and individual learning characteristics (p. 3); creates instructional slide show presentations that are interactive and engaging; can do vocabulary games
Pros: readily available, user friendly, powerful tool for creating interactive games, digital stories, etc.
Cons: time consuming to create
3. Microsoft Photo Story 3 (Lindsey-Glenn & Gentry, 2008) → great venue for digital storytelling
AT Solutions for Math
Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM)
AIM are instructional materials (curricula, books, worksheets) modified so students can better access them. This includes Braille, larger print text, audio format, etc.
National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS):
This standard is a technical standard used by publishers to produce source files that may be used to develop multiple specialized formats (such as Braille or audio books) for students with print disabilities.
Useful Instructional Applications
Learning Needs it Supports:
Benefits of the App:
Helps students who have difficulty organizing their thoughts with reading and writing.
Helps with visualizing main ideas in a story. Can map out and use concept maps for previewing and reviewing text, and can be utilized as an organizational tool.
Benefits of the App:
Learning Needs it Supports:
Assists students who are visual learners, as it is an organizational tool for mapping out ideas.
Provides a cross-curricular visual workspace for elementary students. Students can combine pictures, text, numbers, and spoken words to develop vocabulary, word recognition, reading comprehension, writing and critical thinking skills.
Learning Needs it Supports:
Helps students who are struggling with reading, writing, grammar, etc., and putting their thoughts and ideas into writing.
Benefits of the App:
Provides spelling, grammar, speech, and general writing support to struggling literacy learners. It is a prediction software that predicts intended words as letters are typed with a selection of word suggestions using grammar-smart word prediction. There is a built-in text to speech that reads letters, words, and sentences, and the entire document.
Learning Needs it Supports:
Helps students identify and read high frequency words.
Benefits of the App:
Can be utilized with all students, not just students with autism.
Learning Needs it Supports:
Benefits of the App:
Helps students read texts through text-to-speech, useful for individuals struggling to read. A great way to access literacy. Comes in 20 different languages, so that app is also useful for English Language Learners (ELLs).
Can listen to web pages, documents, eBooks, Pocket, and Instapaper reading lists with great synthesized voices. It is the highest rated text-to-speech app in the App Store. The "lite” version reads approximately 300 characters at a time, which means it stops reading after a few sentences and you’ll have to press Play again. Otherwise it does everything the paid version can do. 55 voice options, 20 languages
One example of one of the videos from this cite that targets math learning and instruction.
Learning Needs it Supports:
Benefits of the App:
For visual learners, and it has videos on every topic and content covered in school.
All videos are free, and they encourage imagination, creativity, and learning.