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Category: DAISY audio

Winter Olympics 2014—Let the Games Begin!

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, start on February 6! To help inaugurate this amazing international competition, the Bookshare Collections Development team has put together a wonderful list of books for all ages. Do you want to know how and when the first games started? Do you want to learn more about specific events like hockey or skiing? Do you want to read about Winter Olympic athletes, like speed skater Apolo Ohno? Get ready for the winter games with these great books, add them to your Reading List, and share with others! Books for Children and Adolescents Tacky and…

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The Sharjah International Book Fair: Towards Accessibility without Borders

Have you ever wondered how Bookshare builds such a rich and varied collection of titles so quickly in the library? Each month, we add more than 3000 titles to engage the hearts and minds of members of all ages. We currently have 223,000+ (and counting) titles in the collection. Educational and general interest trade titles in English comprise the majority of our collection, but our goal is to bring Bookshare services to many more people with print disabilities in more geographies and languages. To that end, we’re working hard to expand partnerships with the international publishing community. That’s where Robin Seaman,…

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Teacher-Recommended Titles for Black History Month

Earlier, we wrote about Black History Month. In this blog, we want to share some great reading recommendations from one of our amazing sponsor members, Donna Schneider.  Donna is an Assistive Technology Specialist and Bookshare Mentor Teacher.  She gave us her list of teacher-recommended books to read and learn about  black history.  Some titles meet Common Core Standards, so please share them with other teachers and students. Here’s a tip! Use Reading Lists to save, organize, and share these books with students who have Individual Memberships.  View this tutorial for educators or this tutorial for Individual Members. * * *…

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Two FREE “Bookshare for Educators” Workshops during ATIA 2014 Conference in Orlando

Educators near or close to Orlando, Florida, and those who will attend the ATIA 2014 conference, reserve your seat now for FREE Bookshare training workshops on Friday, January 31. This is your chance to get hands-on training and answers to questions directly from our Bookshare trainers. You do not have to register for ATIA to participate.  The events will take place at the Caribe Royal Hotel in conjunction with ATIA 2014. Once we reserve your spot, we’ll send you details in a confirmation email.  Space is limited, so please sign up on the waiting list for these in-depth training sessions:…

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Praise for Accessible Books and Reading Technologies by Bookshare Mentor Teacher

As 2013 comes to an end, we want to send our heartfelt thanks to all educators, sponsors and Bookshare Mentor Teachers who continue to partner with us to provide accessible educational opportunities to their students.  With that sentiment, we’d like to share this letter from  Theresa Brousseau, a teacher of the visually impaired, who wrote us this letter. “Thanks to Bookshare, I feel good that I’m able to help more students with print disabilities achieve their goals, make progress and be successful!  As a VI teacher, the students I work with require reading assignments in accessible formats to access the…

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Bookshare Listed Among World’s 100 Most Inspiring Applications of Digital Technology for Social Innovation

This post is reposted from the Benetech Blog. The Nominet Trust, a United Kingdom leading social tech funder, included Bookshare, a Benetech Global Literacy initiative, on its list of 100 global ventures using digital technology to solve some of the world’s biggest social problems. Through its innovative technologies, Bookshare is raising the floor for people with print disabilities (such as visual impairments, physical disabilities, or severe learning disabilities) by providing them with the world’s largest collection of accessible copyrighted content and reading tools. Bookshare currently has over 250,000 members and a collection of more than 220,000 titles, which are delivered…

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Happy Holidays and to All Good Cheer!

Whether you’ve just celebrated Hanukkah or are getting ready for Christmas, Kwanzaa, or many other wonderful holiday traditions, we are sending much good cheer from our family to yours! December is a great time to wrap up important events—like wrapping up a handmade gift or wrapping up with a cozy blanket to read a good book with a child or loved one.  Here at our offices, we’re wrapping up the year with more than 200,000 titles for our Members to enjoy! We thank our Bookshare collections team for putting together this joyous list of winter holiday titles for all ages.…

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Journey with Dyslexia – Guest Blog by Robbi Cooper, a Bookshare Parent Member

Special thanks to Robbi, Andrew and Ben Cooper for their story and to the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) for showcasing the Cooper Family.  Our October blog recognizes National Learning Disabilities Month. ************************************ My husband and my son are dyslexic. My husband, Andrew, did not understand that he was dyslexic until adulthood, long after reading difficulties in school left him frustrated – a fate that we did not want for our son. My son, Ben came into the world a bright and vibrant child, but when he entered kindergarten we were told that he was not learning the way…

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Fifth Grader Builds Independence with Bookshare’s Individual Membership and Reading Tools

Kevin Leong is a bright fifth grader in Palo Alto, CA, the heart of Silicon Valley. He is an avid Apple computer fan, and on a typical day he may use several technology devices at home, school, or on the go.  As you watch Kevin adeptly use these devices, you would never guess that this voracious learner with impeccable social skills is visually impaired. Kevin has optic atrophy, which makes reading time very slow and frustrating for him. “It takes me much longer to read than other students,” he says. “By the time I look up a page in the…

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Guest Blog: “Dyslexia Should Be About Strengths, Not Shame,” by Ben Foss

Experts in dyslexia have for many years focused on teaching children to read in the conventional way. But there are hidden costs that impact many children who have a hard time in a mainstream classroom: shame and bullying. I’m dyslexic. When I was a kid, my mom read aloud to me. When I went away to college, I used to fax my term papers home to her in New Hampshire and have her read them to me over the phone so I could find my own spelling mistakes.  I went on to become the Director of Access Technology at Intel…

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