The Top 10 Things I learned at Closing The Gap

1. I learned to make a Blog, which is fairly obvious since I’m posting this on my Blog. It’s pretty easy and I have some good information on - Blogs, Wiki’s, Podcasts, and Webcasts: New Tools for Students with Disabilities.

2. The Tango is a new Augmentative and Alternative Communication device that has changed how AAC looks and works. Designed for kids, it looks cool and prioritizes the focus of AAC to make social conversation quickly and easily accessible, while sentence construction (cleverly designed also) which takes more time and effort to generate takes a back seat.

3. Data collection – How to collect it, What to collect, How to analyze it, What to do with it.

4. Special Education Research – what does the research show? Check out this website
http://www.uwm.edu/~edyburn/what.html for a look at the top 12 research articles in 2004 and 2005.

5. For students who struggle with the process of writing: there are some simple, and easy ways to use record their answers on tests, writing ideas, and more using a microphone and Microsoft Word!

6. Students who cannot physically write or type might need more than voice recording; typing with voice (Speech Recognition or Voice Recognition) is more difficult to use, but is an option available for highly motivated students.

7. For students who struggle with reading there are many ways to access digital text that can be read on a computer screen. We have several options available in District 97.

8. Macros! Wow! This is a great tool to help students who need computer steps reduced because of physical needs, or because of memory or cognitive needs. Students can use one mouse click to automatically perform several functions in sequence, such as opening and logging into email.

9. For students with severe disabilities ask me about the “Early Literacy Engagement Progress Monitoring Checklist” (by Pati King-Debaun, M.S. CCC-SLP) as a way to collect data on literacy skills.

10. No time to make Augmentative and Alternative communication materials? Take a look at the ideas in Augmentative Resources http://www.augresources.com/

For information on any of these topics, contact me through email.