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Special Education

I am fortunate to have had blind young man working for me in the media center. His positive attitude and spirit lift me daily, and he never ceases to amaze me with his ability to navigate the computer lab and library. There are so many things that the sighted world takes for granted, and Matt reminds me of these things every day. Today I learned about Bookshare®(2012 Reader's Choice Award winner from eSchool Media) a site which is an online library of digital books for people with print disabilities. It operates under an exception to U.S. copyright law which allows copyrighted digital books to be made available to people with qualifying disabilities. I can't wait to share the site with Matt, as well as our special education teachers, as I know our students will find it invaluable. As described on their site, "members with visual impairments can listen to books with using a text-to-speech synthesized voice, read books in Braille, or access the material in large print. Members can read books on a computer or a variety of portable devices, either visually and with text-to-speech as desired. Members with severe dyslexia typically benefit from access to the full text of books in digital format, for multi-modal reading with both visual and audio.(through synthetic text to speech)."

UPDATED 6/29/17


Here's a video of blind student Steffon Middleton using a portable Braille device to read digital books on Bookshare® :



Currently there are about 127,000 digital books, textbooks, teacher-recommended reading, periodicals and assistive technology tools.

Bookshare® has a long list of major donors, including Adobe Corporation, Mozilla Foundation, (their browser is FireFox) Microsoft Corporation and the U.S. Department of Education - Office of Special Education Programs.


Famous People with Disabilities

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
President George Bush (both)
Tom Cruise
Bill Gates
Steven Spielberg
Sylvester Stallone
Ted Turner
Jules Verne

Asperger's Syndrome Characteristics (Autism)
Leonardo DaVinci
Peter the Great
Vincent Van Gogh
Socrates
George Washington

Asthma

Charles Dickens
Che Guevara
Bob Hope
John F. Kennedy
Elizabeth Taylor

Cerebral Palsy

Christy Brown
Stephen Hawking
Geri Jewell

Diabetes

Halle Berry
Aretha Franklin
Bret Michaels
Mary Tyler Moore
Sugar Ray Robinson
Mia Sorvino
Sonya Sotomayer

Club Foot/Feet

Gary Burghoff
Mia Hamm
Dudley Moore
Kristi Yamaguchi
Daymon Wayans

Dyslexia

Cher
Agatha Christie
Tom Cruise
Albert Einstein
Whoopi Goldberg
Bruce Jenner
Magic Johnson

Epilepsy

Richard Burton
Agatha Christie
Edgar Allen Poe
Theodore Roosevelt
Peter Tchaikovsky
Neil Young

Mood Disorders

Jim Carrey
Winston Churchill
Carrie Fisher
Billy Joel
Ben Stiller

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (O.C.D.)

Jessica Alba
David Beckham
Penelope Cruz
Cameron Diaz
Harrison Ford
Howard Hughes
Howie Mandell
Roseanne
Justin Timberlake

Fonts for Students with Dyslexia


1. Dyslexie












iPad Apps for Autistic Children



10 Great iPad Apps for Autistic Children- from the blog, Vitamin B12 Patch

10 Revolutionary Apps to Help Autistic Children

40 amazing iPad Apps for the Learning Disabled

60 Minutes Episode on the iPad:


Autism Apps- from Autism Speaks

Best iPad Apps for Autism- 5 apps reviewed

Dr. Gary Brown's Autism Apps
- colors, numbers, shapes, letters

How the iPad Works with Academics for Autism:

iPad Apps and Resources for People with Autism- spreadsheet created by Shannon Rosa, (parent of a child with autism) Corina Becker, (an Autistic adult with a BA in English) and Jordan Sadler. (speech-language pathologist) Very extensive listing!

iPad Educational Apps- all under $10.00 each

iTaalk's Top 30 Starter Apps for Special Education- all 30 for under $50.00!!

SNApps4Kids
 (Special Needs Apps for Kids)- click here to view apps for the iPad


Top iPad Apps for Children with Autism
- from the blog Autism Key; list of 8 apps 



Resources for Special Education Teachers
Ability Hub-assistive technology solutions

Academic Accommodations for Students with Learning Disabilities- from The University of Washington

ADD/ADHD Basics

ADD in School- resources for teachers of ADHD students

Are Learning Disabilities Preventable?

Art Therapy and Autism

Auditory Processing Disorders in Children

Autism4Teachers

Autism Classroom

Autism Resources From Sesame Street- new character Julia has autism

Autism Resources Links

Classroom Adaptations for Students with Cerebral Palsy

ADD Resources -sites for Attention Deficit Disorder

Free Text-to-Speech Sites

General Resources for Special Education Needs

Inclusion in the Classroom: The Teaching Methods
Internet Special Education Resources

LD Online -Learning Disabilities

Mark's Special Education Page- lesson plans, educational resources; very extensive

Muscular Dystrophy Facts and Teaching Strategies-special ed wiki

National Center to Improve Practice in Special Education Through Technology, Media and Materials (NCIP)

National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHY)

An Open Special Education Contract

Reading Resources for Special Needs

Special Education Chatboard- from Teachers.net; share thoughts, lesson plans and more with other special ed. teachers.

Special Education and Smartboards

Special Education Resources on the Internet (SERI)

Strategies for Teaching Students with Motor/Orthopedic Impairments

Teaching Children with Attention Deficit Disorder

Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs
Tips for Setting Up a Classroom for a Child with Autism

Tips for Teaching Students with Down Syndrome

What is ADHD?- video explanation