Adult Literacy and Learning Disabilities: Best Practices For

SECTION 8: ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

If LDs are identified, those with them are entitled by law to certain accommodations in school, university, and in the workplace.

Students with LDs struggle with academic achievement throughout school. By introducing assistive technology, students are empowered to build on their strengths, thus allowing them more opportunities to be successful.

The partial summary of current assistive technology found in this manual, including hardware and software, provides a good resource on what's available for LD students.

The technology can be tailor-made for a student's personal needs and is designed to assist in the learning process by reinforcing mastery of subject material by allowing a student to work efficiently and as independently as possible. The latest products are user-friendly, cheaper, faster, and increasingly more accurate.

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY CONTACTS

Technical Resource Center Kings Regional Rehabilitation Centre, Nova Scotia James Roy, Assistive Technology Consultant [email protected] www.nsnet.org/atc Phone: 902-538-3103 Fax: 902-538-7022]

Learning Disabilities Association of New Brunswick (LDANB) www.nald.ca/ldnb Phone: 506-459-7852 Fax: 506- 455-9300

NB Easter Seals March of Dimes (NBESMD) Andrew Lavigne Rehabilitation Technology Program Coordinator [email protected] Phone: 506-458-8739 Fax: 506-457-2863

Neil Squire Society 440 Wilsey Road, Suite 104, Fredericton NB E3B 7G5 [email protected] Phone: 506-450-7999 Fax: 506-453-9681 Charles Levasseur, Moncton [email protected] Phone: 866-851-9101 Fax: 506-854-7509

Stan Cassidy Center 180 Woodbridge St. Fredericton NB Assessment and recommendation of strategies and assistive technology for difficulties with spoken and written communication, including reading and writing.

Lise Bleau, OT [email protected] Phone: 506-452-5396 Fax: 506-44-4379 http://www.rivervalleyhealth.nb.ca/english/progserve/specialized-rehabilitation.htm 7

University of New Brunswick Andrew Daley Technical Advisor to Students with Disabilities Phone: 506- 477-3301 Fax: 506-453-3569 www.unb.ca

ADTI Consulting Andrew Daley, Assistive Technology Consultant 840 Main Street U-1 Woodstock, NB. E7M 2Gl Phone: 506-894-2415 Fax: 506-325-2243

Connect NB Branch (CNBB) Alan Norman, E-Learning Coordinator [email protected] www.cnbb.nb.ca Phone: 506-444-4283 Toll-Free: 877-444-0510 Fax: 506-444-4058

Assistive Technology Websites

List provided with permission of the Student Accessibility Centre, UNB, Fredericton NB. Phone (506) 453-3515 www.unbf.ca/studentaccessibility/ (Special thanks to Andrew Daley).

Portable Word Processors

AlphaSmart: http://www.alphasmart.com/pdf/struggling_student.pdf and http://www.alphasmart.com/pdf/writing_skills.pdf DreamWriter: http://www.dreamwriter.com/ Quickpad: http://www.quickpad.com/ The Writer: http://www.keyboardinstructor.com/ecm/Home.html

Spell Checkers

Franklin Electronic Publishers: http://www.franklin.com Free Dictionaries and Thesaurus online: http://www.cieverkeys.com/ck.html?p=home&os= Dictionary and Thesaurus: http://www.wordweb.co.uk/ YakYak T - Online spelling and writing tool: http://www.yak-yak.com/

Screen-Reading Software

eBook Reader - http://www.adobe.com/products/ebookreader/ Brousealoud - http://www.browsealoud.com/downloads.asp CAST eReader - http://www.cast.org/udl/index.cfm?i=2ll Co:Writer with Write:Outloud - www.mayer-johnson.com/software EMonocie Reader - http://www.ionsystems.com/emonocle Hal - http://www.dolphinuk.co.uk/products/hal.htm HELP Read - http://helpread.net JAWS - http://www.freedomsci.com/fs products/software jaws.asp Kurzweil - http://www.kurzweiledu.com/products klaaa.asp Microsoft Reader Software - www.microsoft.com/reader/default.asp OpenBook - www.freedomsci.com/fs_products/software open.asp Readplease - http://www.readplease.com TextHelp! Read and Write - http://www.texthelp.com/front.asp Text Talkster - http://www.webspeakster.com/texttalkster.htm Web Chatter - http://www.code-it.com/webchatter.htm WindowEyes - http://www.gwmicro.com WYNN - http://www.freedomscientific.com/WYNN/products.asp eBook Sites

Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library has an outstanding list of free e-book sites. http://www.stockton.lib.ca.us/ebooks.htm Galaxy Library (some free downloads) - http://www.galaxylibrary.com/ U of Adelaide - http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au The Internet Public Library - http://www.ipl.org/div/books/ Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, Inc. - http://www.rfbd.org American Printing House for the Blind - http://www.aph.org/ Library of Congress, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped - http://lcweb.loc.gov/nls

Word Prediction

CoWriter - http://www.donjohnston.com Word Q - http://www.wordq.com Read and Write Gold - http://www.texthelp.com Wordsmith - http://www.texthelp.com Soothsayer - http://www.ahf-net.com/sooth.htm WriteAway 2000 - http://www.is-inc.com/ Aurora - http://www.aurora-systems.com/

Reading Pens

Quicktionary Reading - http://www.wizcomtech.com/index.php3 Dr. Paul Gerber at Virginia Commonwealth University did a study on the use of these pens with students and adults at a metropolitan literacy center, found at http://www.aelweb.vcu.edu/word/gpen.doc

Concept Mapping

Inspiration and Kidspiration - http://www.inspiration.com/ eGems Collector Pro - http://www.egems.com/ DraftBuilder - http://www.donjohnston.com/catalog/draftbuilderd.htm Conceptdray MindMap - http://www.conceptdraw.com/en/products/mindmap/main.php SmartDraw - www.smartdraw.com/specials/mindmapping.asp?type=13054&id=13054 Smart Ideas - http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Ideas/MindManager - www.iaresearch.com/store/Products/MindManager6/MindManager6.htm

Speech Recognition

ViaVoice - http://www-4.ibm.com/software/speech Dragon Naturally Speaking - http://www.dragonsys.com iListen - http://www.macspeech.com Microsoft Office XP provides speech recognition software, which can be installed through the tools menu - http://www.microsoft.com

Math Software

"10 Tips for Software Selection for Math Instruction" by Dr. Beatrice Babbitt gives guidelines for choosing software. Online at: www.ldonline.org/ldindepth/technology/babbittmathtips.html

Some Good Web-Sites for LD and Assistive Technology (AT) http://www.nationaltechcenter.org/matrix/default.asp National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI). www.ed.sc.edu/caw/toolboxvendors.htmI Web Toolboxes for Educators. www.landmarkcollege.org/natlinst/assistivetechnology/writing/tech.htm Landmark College. http://www.gatfl.org/ldguide/default.htm Georgia's Assistive Technology Project: Learning Disabilities and Assistive Technologies. http://www.ldonline.org/ LD Online. http://www.frostig.org/pdf/ATguide.pdf Schwab Foundation for Learning. http://www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/Technology/atpwld.html University of Washington. www.ldonline.org/ldindepth/technology/customizingtechnology.html Customizing Technology Solutions for College Students with Learning Disabilities by Joan M. Bisagno and Rachael M. Haven. http://www.ataccess.org/resources/lowcostnocost/lcncdemos.html The Alliance for Technology Access

WEB RESOURCES: www.ccrw.org/en/iancana.htm Accommodations in the Workplace. (CA)

Deshler D., Schumaker, J. Making Learning Easier: Connecting To What Students Already Know. Teaching Exceptional Students.Vol 33, No 4. 82-85. www.dldcec.org/teachinghow-tos/content/default.htm

Effective Instruction for Adults With Learning Disabilities. Pennsylvania: PENN State University, OTAN Resource Library. www.otan.us

Gross, Jo-Anne. Multi-Sensory Program. www.remediationplus.com

Ross-Kidder K.(2002). The GED and Students With LD and / or ADHD www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/adult/transitions_ged.html

Section VIII Readings- Assistive Technology

Barouch Chars Workshop Outline and Power Point presentation

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

Computer Solutions for Special Needs

Barouch Chai

MICROCOMPUTER

MICROCOMPUTER Science Centre Inc. #26 -5155 Spectrum Way, Mississauga ON. Canada L4W 5A1 Tel (905) 629-1654 TDD 905 629 4369 Fax (905) 629-2321 Toll Free: 800 290 6363 WEB http://www.microscience.on.ca Email:[email protected]

Biography

Barouch Chai

President and CEO of MICROCOMPUTER Science Centre, Inc.

Since 1980, MICROCOMPUTER Science Centre Inc. has been providing Special Needs users with necessary adaptive technology to gain "Independence through Technology". Our "Complete Solutions" approach, a combination of State of the Art Adaptive Technology with Training Support helps Special Needs to achieve their goals and better their lives.

Our goal is to put a computer solution on the desk of every Special Needs user in the country.

As President and CEO of MSC. Barouch has spent much of his time working with nonprofit organizations supporting the special needs community.

1975 - Masters degree in Computer Science from University of Toronto (M.A.Sc.)

 1971- Engineering degree from the Technion Institute of Technology in Israel (B.Sc.)

Kurzweil- Curriculum Integration Workshop

• Intro o About MSC (full solutions, training, service, system) • About K3000 o Origin-Klaaa o Installation in Colleges and Universities o Meant for all ages • Main Toolbar o Saving formats Cloze docs o Print Doc. Highlights Notes

o Definitions vs. Synonyms.(recollection) go to new doc. and type "Recollection" Get def. and syn,- what do you notice?

o Spell-spelling tests

• Reading Toolbar o Mode (continuous, self paced, word-by-word) o Unit (sentence, paragraph, line-when to use) o WPM 170 too fast

• Study Skills o Highlights (legend for colours) o Important notes -> Extract -> manipulate -> study notes read back to you o Also used for mulitiple choice, true/false,circle/underline

• Footnotes o hidden notes, review questions at end of chapter

• Sticky Notes o can be customized (font, size, colour) o Teacher can make notes ie. main character o Student can make notes

• Text Notes o Fill in the Blanks and short answer o Show "Fill in The Blanks" and explain how it works

*BRING UP TIME TRAVEL QUIZ

• Voice Notes o No grammar or spelling to worry about

• Bubble Notes (BRING UP TIME TRAVEL BUBBLE NOTES) o New to the program o Can put in questions (multiple choice, short answer, true/false)

• Reading Language • Read The Web • Magnify Spoken Word