Google makes ed-tech splash with apps marketplace

In response to a call I got yesterday, I started to evaluate a block of apps for education on the google market place. There are learning management system (LMS) software, web-based grade books, and other content that can be shared among an entire school district. And alot of it can be used with our special needs students. It is with a look by all of you... if you want to discuss the use of an application for your students, please email us.

Read more: http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/01/25/google-makes-ed-tech-splash-with-apps-marketplace/

The Google apps market place: http://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/search?categoryId=25&orderBy=RATING&maxReachedPage=3

Classmate Reader

Classmate reader is a portable and affordable digital audio book player helps individuals increase their reading speed, comprehension and vocabulary, wherever they go.

The ClassMate reads aloud and simultaneously displays and highlights text on its full color screen. Its simple, flexible interface can be configured to the user's specific needs.

It also includes helpful study tools to enhance learning such as bookmarks, voice recording, highlighting function and a speaking dictionary. With built-in text-to-speech, it works with e-text or NIMAS files.

Now we don't endorse products on this blog, but having been asked to evaluate this by parents, and having set it up for a number of students, we do think its worth a look.

Read more: http://www.humanware.com/en-usa/products/learning_disabilities/_details/id_107/classmate__reader.html

Inclusion Resources - National Service Inclusion Project

The NSIP website is a resource for information about the inclusion of people with disabilities as active participants in national service.
Inclusion: Creating an Inclusive Environment, a comprehensive handbook designed to assist service organizations fully include individuals with disabilities as active service members and volunteers.
http://serviceandinclusion.org/handbook/index.php

Read More: www.serviceandinclusion.org

Thanks for sharing: NSIP Inclusion Weekly

Athletes Of All Abilities Summit High school students share ideas about Unified Sports

When he heads to the lunchroom each day, Cheshire High School senior Greg Trifone sits with his friends, including athletes with intellectual disabilities who are members of the school's Unified Sports teams.

Trifone says his special needs friends are just that — friends. And by regularly sitting with them at lunch, walking to class or chatting in the halls, they become just another classmate or friend to the rest of the student body.

"The bond you make with a special athlete rubs off on your friends. You walk in the hallway and they become just another athlete," said Trifone.

Read more: http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-middletown-conference-1007-20110107,0,2257991.story

Thank you,
MELISSA PIONZIO,The Hartford Courant

Oregon District (Canby) says Ipod's fire up kids for reading

With a furrowed brow and a deep breath, 9-year-old Dallis Engel pressed down on the screen of her iPod touch.
Then, she began to read.
“My brother William is a fisherman,” she said, using a finger to trace words in Patricia MacLachlan’s book, Sarah, Plain and Tall.
The fourth-grader stumbled over pronunciations and skipped words as an application recorded her voice. When she finished the passage, she glanced over at her teacher, Kelly Turcotte, and explained her next step.
“I have to listen to it and make sure it’s perfect,” she said. “If you sound like a robot, you have to do it again.”

Read more: http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/01/05/ore-district-says-ipods-fire-up-kids-for-reading/

Thank you: eschoolnews

Note to parents, there is a section in the itunes store now dedicated to special education apps...it is really worth a look

Can eBooks help bridge achievement gaps?

A massive study published last spring confirmed what many educators already know: having books in the home is as significant as socioeconomic status or parents’ educational level in determining the level of education children ultimately will attain.

Now, as more traditional book content goes digital and smart phones act as electronic readers, educators are left wondering whether technology will make achievement gaps even wider—or whether electronic books might act as a bridge for students traditionally hamstrung by family circumstances and other issues neither they nor their teachers control.

Read more: http://www.eclassroomnews.com/2011/01/04/can-ebooks-help-bridge-achievement-gaps/

Thank you, eclassroomnews

I hear from special educators, how ebooks and audio books help our students every day

Characters With Disabilities Scarce In Top Children’s Books

Having recently shared with parents and educators about 11-year-old that created a new character for ‘Arthur’: Lydia, a bespectacled wheelchair-bound, basketball-playin’, t-shirt-creating fox . A character who shows that having a unique ability, character trait, or disability ... is okay. To me this is a model of inclusiveness.

Then this was submitted to the blog
Kids with disabilities remain woefully underrepresented in the most acclaimed children’s literature, a new study finds.
In an analysis of 131 winners of the Newbery Medal and Honor — considered the top prizes for children’s books — researchers found that just 31 included a main or supporting character with a disability between 1975 and 2009.
Read more: http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2011/01/04/disabilities-childrens-books/11830/

Thank you Disabilityscoop

Parents, Educators, and students...this is something we can help with.

Special Educators Look to Tie IEPs to Common Core

The widespread adoption of common-core academic standards is expected to accelerate a growing movement among educators to link individualized education programs for students with disabilities directly to grade-level standards.
“Standards-based” IEPs allow individualized instruction in pursuit of a common goal: helping students with disabilities move toward meeting the same grade-level academic standards that general education students are supposed to meet.

Read more: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/12/27/15iep_ep.h30.html?tkn=OOVFVAYdVtPLfd8Oq5j9GPEd0gfO9Lf7QVpU&cmp=clp-edweek&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Hootsuite&utm_campaign=LDOnLine.org

Thank you, Education Week

Rich Get Most From Special Education In Nation’s Largest District (NY)

Children from wealthy families draw more money and receive better services from New York City public schools than their less affluent peers, data indicates.
The school system, which is the nation’s largest, spent $140 million last year to send over 3,000 students in special education to private schools. However, the majority of those obtaining private placements hailed from wealthy neighborhoods, while kids from poorer sections of the city were more likely to languish in underfunded public schools.
To read more click here.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/12/15/2010-12-15_class_system_in_the_citys_schools_specialed_help_goes_mostly_to_the_rich.html

Report from the New York Daily News, and Thank you Disability Scoop