Technology Resources for Education's Assistive Technology Solutions

Weekly Resources for the Assistive Technology Service Provider Community

Volume 5, Issue #31 for Week of 8/2/04

Compiled by David Grapka (email: David@Trecenter.org)

Technology Resources for Education (T.R.E.) Center http://www.TRECenter.org

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Note: Some links are time-sensitive.  Access to some may require registration or free subscriptions.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts.” (Albert Einstein)

UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING WEBSITES OF THE WEEK:

• http://www.ap.buffalo.edu/idea/publications/free_pubs/pubs_cud.html Here is your intro to “The Concept of Universal Design.” For those of you just beginning to explore this topic and its subtle nuances with accessible design, read on . . .
• http://www.ced.appstate.edu/projects/udl/web/resources.htm A collection of UDL links from Appalachin State University. The site has been up since February and I was visitor # 294 – come on people!
• http://www.nsdl.org/collections/ataglance/browseBySubject.html. On a related note, I just wanted to bring to the list's attention, if not already known, the At A Glance site of the National Science Digital Library.

ADMINISTRATIVE SOLUTIONS:

• http://www.ataccess.org/resources/atk12/training.html Looking for Training solutions for that special someone in your district who can become the AT Resource Person? Look no further.
• http://www.ihep.com/Publications.php?parm=Pubs/Abstract?72 Click here for a free copy of the report entitled: “Higher Education Opportunities for Students with Disabilities: A Primer for Policymaker.” The report provides information on barriers to equal opportunity at the high school preparation level, during the transition phase, and throughout the college admissions and accommodations phase. The report also addresses three additional topics which specifically relate to postsecondary education: architectural barriers, student financial aid, and students with learning disabilities.

ASSESSMENT SOLUTIONS

· http://www.ael.org/page.htm?&pd=abo6721&pc=5 National Symposia on Technology-Supported Assessment. IAETE at AEL is holding a series of national symposia/workshops to address technology’s role in generating and supporting more-intelligent assessment systems. The series is designed to facilitate a dialogue between and among key stakeholder groups—practitioners, policymakers, and researchers—and generate a research agenda to guide the creation and use of such systems.

BILINGUAL SOLUTIONS:

• http://www.ToLearnEnglish.com/ Welcome to ToLearnEnglish.com- the site to learn English. 300,000 users a month. The quality and quantity of resources here is amazing. You won’t be disappointed.

COMMUNICATION SOLUTIONS:

• http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/7/prweb145080.htm Special Kids Speech & Skill Development relaunches web site. They are a creator of video modeling programs specifically for pre-schoolers to teens with developmental, cognitive and learning disabilities. Check out their new website at www.special-kids.com.

CONSULTING SOLUTIONS:

• http://www.zhaba.cz/materials/materials.html#tools Materials available from ZHABA include: Literature on facilitation, Literature on organizing, Worksheets and lists of ideas and methods, Workshop tools and methods, Thematic Worksheets and Brochures, On ZHABA.
• http://www.ngf.org.uk/map/map.html You will be pleaqsntly surprised at this useful website.
• Map of It's a very cool Flash animation connected to a database of 400+ ICT initiatives around the world. When you visit the Flash site, it displays a circle made up of little dots, each representing a project. They're arranged around the circle by region; for example, Middle Eastern projects are in one part of the circle, South American projects another part. You can glide your cursor over the dots, which will magnify them and allow you to click on them for more information about the individual project.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SOLUTIONS:

• http://www.disabilitystudiesforteachers.org/ "Disability Studies for Teachers" offers lesson plans & essays on "disability studies" – the examination of disability as a social, cultural, & political phenomenon. Among the topics: a history of deaf education, efforts to reform poorhouses in the 1840s & 1850s, P.T. Barnum & "freak shows," & conscientious objectors during World War II who exposed horrific conditions at state institutions, & an introduction to disability studies.

FUNDING SOLUTIONS:

• http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/funding/currentapps.htm Click here for the Request for Proposal Infor for the NCLB, Title IIB - Mathematics and Science Partnership (MSP) competitive grant program. It is intended to increase academic achievement of students in mathematics and science by enhancing the content knowledge and teaching skills of classroom teachers. Partnerships between high-need school districts and the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty in institutions of higher education are at the core of these improvement efforts.

MATH SOLUTIONS:

* http://www.mathtalk.com Math Is Accessible With Mathtalk. MathTalk allows students to use speech recognition to study pre-algebra, algebra,  trig, calculus, statistics, graphing and more.  Students can study math and never need the keyboard or mouse. For online demo’s, click there.

REHAB SOLUTIONS:

• http://www.techconnections.org/index.cfm Welcome to your one-stop resource for information on Assistive Technology (AT) designed to accommodate people with disabilities in the workplace and in everyday life activities.

TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS:

· Sending large files electronically -- Dave Paradi (dave@daveparadi.com). In my consulting practice many times we have to exchange large files electronically. Many email systems will not allow you to send a file larger than 3 to 5 MB in size, which causes a problem for video files, audio recordings and PowerPoint files with large graphics. I have discovered a great service called. DropLoad.com (http://www.dropload.com). You sign up for a free account and it allows you to place a file on their servers of up to 100MB in size. It then emails a link to the person you want to send it to and they can download it.

VENDOR PARTNER WEBSITES AND NEWS:

         http://www.accessiblebookcollection.org    Accessible Books

         http://www.aacconnections.com        AAC connections

         http://www.ablenetinc.com               Ablenet

         http:://www.alphasmart.com Announces the Neo.”

* http://www.closingthegap.com           Closing The Gap

* http://www.colligo.us/                    Where your handwriting is read back to you!

* http://www.cricksoft.com Crick Software

* http://www.ea-software.com Educational Activities Software

* http://www.enkidu.net/ Enkidu joins Dynavox.

* http://www.infogrip.com Home of the “BIGtrack”

* http://www.inspiration.com/ Inspiration

* http://www.intellitools.com                IntelliTools, Inc.,

* http://www.laureatelearning.com         Laureate Learning Systems

* http://www.magictouch.com/ The Leader in Touchscreen Technology.

* www.madentec.com Madentec

* http://www.nasdse.com                      RIATT at NASDSE

* http://www.rjcooper.com/2+2 R. J. Cooper

* http://www.sunburst-store.com Sunburst Software

* http://www.texthelp.com                   Makers of Read and Write Gold

* http://words-plus.com                       Words Plus

Please forward T.R.E.A.T.S. to your friends and colleagues who want to learn Assistive Technology Issues and Solutions. Thanks!

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

This weekly email newsletter is free and provides information useful to the community of people interested in the use of technology as a tool to help "level the playing field" for students with disabilities. 

If you have information to share that would be of value to members of our learning community, including job notices, please write and let us know. We'll be happy to share it here or at our web site. Contact, reprint, and subscription information is at the end of this document.

As always, thank you for your interest in the TRE Center and our work.  We look forward to having you share your wisdom with the people on this list and with those you serve.

Sincerely,

David Grapka, ATP, ATS,

Project Coordinator, T.R.E. Center

NASDSE Certified Assistive Technology Specialist,

RESNA Certified Assistive Technology Practitioner

Maywood School, 1979 Central Avenue, Albany, NY 12205

Phone: 518-456-9290.

Fax: 518-456-9289.  

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