April 2nd is Autism Awareness Day

Good morning,

Today is  world autism awareness day! Autism is a spectrum disorder that affects an individual's brain. It varies in severity depending upon the individual. This continuum includes disorders from ‘low functioning’ to ‘high functioning':  

• Autistic disorder
• Rett syndrome (more common in girls than boys)
• Childhood dis-integrative disorder
• Pervasive developmental disorder –not otherwise specified (pdd-nos)
• Asperger syndrome

According to the CDC autism affects 1 in 68 children, and is more prevalent in boys than girls.  In fact, according to the autism speaks website, autism affects more than two million individuals in the us alone.  To learn more about autism click here.  Some common behaviors of autism spectrum disorder include:  

• Difficulty with speech and communication skills
• Repetitive behaviors
• Intellectual disabilities
• Motor skill disorders
• Health issues (sleep and gastrointestinal)
• Attention disorders

Resources for students with Autism

• List of apps for Autism from Autism Speaks
• Toolkits from Autism Speaks
• Assistive Technology Resources 
• Apps for All - List of apps for many needs
• Free or Discounted Apps for Autism Awareness Day
• Zac Broswer - The first internet browser developed just for students with Autism! 

iPad adaptations for students who are deaf or hard of hearing

First thing is first, lets look at some ways to make our iPad more user friendly for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. The iPad has many adaptations that can be made to make it easier for students who are deaf and hard of hearing to access the device. 

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Face Time

FaceTime is a phone calling app that features video and works through Wi-Fi internet connection. It is very similar to Skype as it uses video to relay messages. FaceTime is ideal for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing because a user can easily observe facial expressions, gesture, and communicate using American Sign Language or lip reading.  FaceTime can also be used to make and receive video relay and text relay calls. Below is a tutorial on how to set up face time on your iPad.

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Volume adjustments

Users are able to adjust the volume  on an iPad. To do so follow the steps below:

1. Touch settings icon on Home screen
2. Click general settings tap sounds
3. Drag the slider bar to the right to increase the volume and to left to lower it 
4. Touch home button to close settings
5. 

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Notes

Notes is an app that comes standard on your iPad. It can be used to type and record notes in class. Create new notes, review notes previously created, search for notes, save notes, delete them, and email them! Teachers can use this app to document instructions or directs for students to complete. Click create new note and the on screen keyboard will pop up. Compose your note and save it! The video posted below is an app tutorial. 

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Closed Captioning - The iPad  supports the playback of open captions, closed captions, and subtitling. The captions appear onscreen, just like on TV. 

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Visual Alerts

Some apps such as mail, app store, and skype on the iPad have visual alerts for the user. Visual alerts are also appear with time, date, wi-fi function, and battery life.

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Mono Audio

To improve your listening experience when using headphones, turn on Mono Audio. When Mono Audio is turned on, iPad plays all sounds in both ears.

1. Click on the Settings icon
2. Navigate to  General settings
   Click Accessibility.
3. Click the Mono Audio On/Off button to turn on the feature.
   
   Mono Audio is turned on.
4.  Touch on  the Home button to close Settings.

John Lawrence - a message for teen drivers

For this  blog post I wanted to shed some light and bring awareness to teen driving. No one else can do this better than John Lawrence. John  was in a serious car accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury. He wants to share his story with the world and give advice to other teen drivers. John created the script for his video and I edited the video.  When the video was complete John traveled to several high schools where he presented his video to students, answered questions, and gave his life story in person. 


Below is his video:






John is  in need of an all terrain wheelchair to get around. To read more about these efforts to raise funds for John visit here


To learn more about John visit the following sites:


Pens' Cooke gives Unity teen boost in struggle to walk

Avid archer before crash stole 10 months, Unity man fights to recover

New to the special education process?

This one is for you parents, caregivers, or students who are new to the special education referral process. Here are some great links and resources for those of you who are brand new to the whole world of special education:

• CEC's tool of the week - Here are some free downloads available from the Council of Exceptional Children (CEC). These are all great downloads for any stage of special education. Some downloads include: driver's ed, understanding special education, and more.
• Special education news - Here is a great resource that has history of special education, and trending topics regarding special education.
• FAPE - Here is a great resource all about FAPE - Free and Appropriate Public Education 
• IDEA - Click here to learn about the IDEA  - Individual's with Disabilities Education Act.
• IEP - Here is a great site about the IEP process.
• NCLB - No child left behind - learn all about it here.

Have Twitter? Here are some special education related hash-tags:

• #sped
• #spedchat
• #specialneeds
• #spedtech
• #autism
• #adhd
• #asd

Weally Wonderful Websites V7.0 | The Spectronics Blog

Weally Wonderful Websites V7.0 | The Spectronics Blog

Check out this blog post to learn about a document you can download with many great sites and tools for students with special needs!

Switch software and sites

Good Sunday morning! This morning I am going to introduce you very quickly to some super switch software and sites. Some are free and some are software to buy.

• Switch it maker 2
• Choose and tell stories
• Help Kidz Learn
• Let's go series
• Choose it maker 2
• Switch it extras

Apps for all

Today I decided to post some of my favorite app resources.This is a list comprised of websites and wikis who have scoured the internet, iPod, and iPad to find some great educational apps to use in the classroom.

• Ipad Resources for Educators - a livebinder that I created with Ipad apps and resources. 
• Ipod Resources for Educators - a livebinder that I created with Ipod apps and resources. 
• Bloom's apps - a list of apps for all of the Bloom's taxonomy levels. 
• Special education apps - list of many different apps organized in alphabetical order. 
• SLP apps 2 - another list of apps for speech therapists.  
• Apps for note taking - here is a comprehensive list of many apps used to take notes. 
• Speech and language apps - a  great list of apps to use in the speech classroom. 
• Apps for spled - more apps for students with special needs 
• ipad apps for ESL - A list of apps to use in the ESL classroom.
•  ipads in the classroom  - Lists many educational apps to use in the classroom.
• Math apps - A comprehensive list of math apps

 For more apps visit my Diigo bookmarks here

Apps, apps, apps, and more apps!

I would like to take some time to share some of my favorite app resources and sites with you. Here they are in no particular order:

• Intelliapp
• Study by app
• Voice thread - Yep you read it right, voice thread has an app!
• There's an app for that - List of great apps all reviewed by respected panelist
• 10 apps for the visually impaired
• App Maker
• Fun educational apps
• Special ed apps
• 20 must have educational apps
• Apps for Autism 
• Apps for those with significant disabilities

Enabling Devices Freebies!

Special thanks goes out to Enabling Devices @EnablingDevices for tweeting out a link to some great freebies!

Enabling devices has a free downloadable resource that gives some great ideas about using the following types of communicators:

- Single Message
- Two Message
- Multiple Message
- Sequencing

Here is the link for this great and handy resource! The resource can be found in the website's scrolling updates. Be sure to click download now. You will be linked to a site with 4 pdfs, then pick which type of communicator you would like to review. Each pdf is jam packed full of great ideas for inside and outside the classroom.

Have some great ideas for single, double, multiple, or sequencing communicators? Share!

CEC's Tool of the Week

Thank you to Alecia R. from Twitter (@aleciarrb)for this great site. Alecia is a mom of two boys, and a teacher in Iowa. She is also a RtI implementer. The site that Alecia tweeted was CEC's Tool of the Week.

This site is updated every Monday with free tools for special educators. This week's tool is a downloadable text all about ADA Amendments in plain English! This is a nice resource to have by your side, and best of all it's free! You can also view past tools of the week in the archived section. The site also has a convenient link to CEC's homepage.

If you enjoy this site and what it has to offer be sure to subscribe to it by adding your email address. I can't wait to see what this site has in store!

Thanks for the find @aleciarrb. Don't forget to mark your calendar for CEC's annual conference April 11-14 in Denver!

Educational Conferences 2012

While I am sitting here drinking my cup of tea I can't stop thinking about all the great upcoming conferences. I want to spend some time this morning checking out conferences that may interest educators in the technology field and also special educators. Here we go... in no particular order:

Conference Title: Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo and Conference (PETE&C)
Date: February 12 - 15, 2010
Where: Hershey, PA
Call for presentations? The submission deadline for general session proposals is midnight OCTOBER 10, 2011! General Session Sign Up
Web Site: http://www.peteandc.org/

Conference Title: ISTE
Dates: June 24-27, 2012
Where: San Diego, CA
Call for presentations?: Here is a link to ISTE's proposal information
Website: http://www.isteconference.org/ISTE/2012/

Conference Title: E-Learn 2012 - World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education
Dates: October 8 - 12, 2012
Where: Montreal, Canada
Call for Presentations: CLOSED
http://www.aace.org/conf/">Website

Conference Title: SITE 2012 - Teaching in Exponential Times!
Dates: March 5 - 9, 2012
Where: Austin, TX
Call for Presentations: Site for their call for presentations
Website

Conference Title: 2011 AECT International Convention
Dates: Nov. 8-12 , 2011
Where: Jacksonville, FL
Call for Presentations: CLOSED
Website

Conference Title: Annual International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference
Dates: February 27 to March 3, 2012
Where: Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel
San Diego, CA
Website


Conference Title: CEC 2012 Convention & Expo
Dates: April 11-14
Where: Denver, CO
Call for presentations: CLOSED
Website