Assistive Technology- Some useful websites.

http://http://www.comp.dit.ie/dgordon/Courses/ResearchMethods/Exercises/E4/ATMildDisabilities.pdf

Assistive Technology and Mild Disabilities (2006)by Dave L. Edyburn is an excellent article that looks at how Assistive technology can help students who struggle with learning. Please pay attention to pages 24 and 25. Here Edyburn cites links that can help students who are riddled with reading, vocabulary and other issues. I find this extremely helpful. You can add sites that you have also found useful....

For those who may not click on the link, I quote:
 
Aligning Assistive Technology Resources, Strategies, and Tools with Common Instructional Challenges Experienced by Students with Mild Disabilities.
Instructional Challenge Assistive Technology Resources, Strategies, and Tools.

MEMORY
Difficulty remembering iPing http://www.iping.com to complete tasks (A service that sends reminders via email, pager, phone, or fax)

READING
Poor decoding/fluency ReadPlease http://www.readplease.com
interferes with comprehension (Free software; teach students to copy and paste text so they can listen)
Key to Access http://www.premier-programming.com (Accessibility software on a pocket-size USB drive goes everywhere)
Kurzweil 3000 http://www.kurzweiledu.com (A scan and read system that converts printed text into digital text)
Read and Write Gold http://www.texthelp.com (A software suite designed to support the struggling reader/writer)
Solo http://www.donjohnston.com (A software suite designed to support the struggling reader/writer)
Difficulty with the volume SparkNotes http://www.sparknotes.com of reading demands (A collection of notes, resources, summaries, and study aids)
Cognitive Rescaling http://www.uwm.edu/~edyburn/ Cognitiverescaling.pdf (A how-to document on making summaries with Microsoft Word)
Difficulty reading grade level Windows to the Universe http://www.windows.ucar.edu/ curriculum materials (Features multi-level reading material on space)
StarChild http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/StarChild.htm l (Features multi-level reading material and audio version of level 1)
Ben’s Guide to US Government http://bensguide.gpo.gov/ (Features multi-grade level reading material on government)
Poor vocabulary makes Visual Thesaurus http://www.visualthesaurus.com it difficult to access ideas (Software and web site to graphically display synonyms and more)
Voycabulary http://www.voycabulary.com (Converts any web page into clickable text to access definitions)
Merriam-Webster Toolbar http://www.m-w.com/tools/toolbar (Adds a dictionary to your web browser)

CURRENT EVENTS
Low reading level makes it difficult to access News 2 You http://www.news-2-you.com (A subscription service that provides a weekly newsletter with symbols)
current events 9 http://9.yahoo.com (A free 4 minute daily video of what’s new and noteworthy)
Newsmap http://www.marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm (Access news via a color coded map)
Ten by Ten http://www.tenbyten.org/ (Access news via a 10x10 grid of photos that represent the news story)

WRITING
Difficulty planning/organizing Assignment Calculator http://www.lib.umn.edu/help/calculator/
The tasks associated with a (An innovative tool to break a large project into manageable daily tasks) research project
So You Have to... http://www.ri.net/schools/East_Greenwich/research.html (A teacher created web site with step by step guidance and resources)
Difficulty getting ideas on Inspiration, Kidspiration http://www.inspiration.com
Paper to get started (Graphic orgnizers provide a great way to brainstorm and organize)
Graphic organizers http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/ (Ready to reproduce graphic organizers)
Difficulty in the process of PixWriter http://www.slatersoftware.com/pixwriter.htm l
Composing written work (A word processor designed for emerging readers and writers)
Scholastic Keys http://www.tomsnyder.com (Provides developmental and cognitive access to Microsoft Word)
Co:Writer http://www.donjohnston.com (A predictive word processor)
iDictate http://www.idictate.com (A dictation service; dictate over the phone, receive draft via email)

MATH
Difficulty with computations
WebMath http://www.webmath.com (Free calculating tool that supports math from grade to graduate school)
Difficulty with math Interactive Math http://matti.usu.edu/nlvm/nav/vlibrary.html
Concepts (Free online virtual math manipulatives, makes the abstract concrete)

(Edyburn, 2006, p.24-25)