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Category: Inclusion K12 reading resources

Texas AT Specialist Champions Large Scale District Accessible Book Initiative

You’ve heard it before… all it takes is one person to start a ball rolling. For equal access to reading and educational books for students with print disabilities, that person is Jessica McKay, an AT Specialist in Ysleta ISD, Texas. The Ysleta district will roll out their widespread initiative this fall (2012) across 60 campuses, to hundreds of K to 12th graders who are blind, have low vision, a physical disability, such as cerebral palsy or a severe reading disability, like dyslexia. Jessica, with the support of her supervisor, Leslie Armbruster, championed the initial cause.  “Jessica has this amazing ability…

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This Fall, Think about Students Who Would Qualify for Bookshare

A guest post by Stephanie Caceres, AT Specialist and Special Education Teacher, Maryland I’m a Special Education Teacher in Worcester County, Maryland, and I’m always on the lookout for new tools that will benefit students with learning disabilities. Recently, I had an 8th grader who is intelligent and quite verbal, and now attends the Alternative Education Program at our school due to failing grades and behavior issues.  This young man was frequently suspended for acting out in class. Why?  Because he couldn’t keep up with his reading assignments; since he couldn’t talk about a book, he made trouble for teachers…

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Are You Using Open Educational Resources (OER)?

Open Educational Resources (OER) are digital teaching materials that can be used freely by anyone.  They are published under creative commons licenses which allow uses of materials that would not be permitted with materials published under traditional copyrights. As free digital teaching resources, many schools, districts, community colleges, universities, and some states are beginning to use and adopt them instead of textbooks. However, just because OER are digital, they are not necessarily accessible. Several OER publishers including CK-12, Flat World Knowledge, Connexions and Curriki, recognize that their formats are not accessible to all students and contribute files to Bookshare for…

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What You Can Do During Inclusive Schools Week

This week, December 5 to 9, I recently learned is Inclusive Schools Week sponsored by Stetson & Associates, Inc., and this year marks the 11th anniversary of the event. The purpose of the week, to quote from their website, is “to highlight the progress schools have made in providing a supportive and quality education to students of diverse backgrounds and abilities and to provide an opportunity for educators, students, and families to ensure that schools continue to improve their ability to successfully educate all children.” Apparently, thousands of districts are planning to celebrate this week and participate in “Moving From…

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