Assistive+Technology

Assistive Technology, or AT, is, in simple terms, anything that can be used to make anything more accessible for individuals. We see AT used in a school settings quite often. To that end, locate one item considered to be AT. Describe how it supports a student who has a weakness in one or more of the ELA strands. Post your description, along with the name of the item, a link with more information about the AT item, and a photo of what it looks like in the chart below. Be sure that you identify the ELA strand it helps support.

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Is a word processing software that offers several uses for students. The first use is for students to compose a piece of writing that incorporates images to improve reading comprehension and helps students to clearly portray their thoughts. The software offers space for pre writing activities as well as audio notes space. Students can also write their own books and record themselves, which gives students positive creative experiences. This software can be used for those students who struggle with reading to improve their experiences in writing. Since reading and writing go hand in hand, if we can give students tools to help them write, their reading skills will improve. Students who do not write well, or have physical issues with putting pencil to paper can benefit from the audio notes and the use of a mouse click to help them organize thoughts before writing. This software would help students with the writing strand that encourages them to write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately though the effective selection, organization and analysis of content or write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective techniques, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences. || [] || ||
 * ==Name== || ==AT Device, Description, & ELA Strand== || ==AT Device Link== || ==AT Device Picture== ||
 * Melissa Comer || The 12 Hour Thin Voice Activated Recorder Pen allows students to record teachers and school-based conversations without drawing attention to the fact that recording is actually being done. Its "one-touch operation" makes it easy to use as does its voice activation and long battery life. For students who struggle with auditory processing issues (i.e. ELA strand listening) it allows them a chance to listen to lectures in private, without distractions, and as often as needed. || @http://goo.gl/2J84i6 || [[image:AT Recorder.JPG width="343" height="220"]] ||
 * Heather Nerren || The Intel Reader can greatly assist students with dyslexia and other similar reading disabilities . The Intel Reader gives students the ability to have any text read aloud to them (i.e. ELA listening strand). One key feature of the Intel Reader is that it features a high-resolution camera that scans printed text and converts it to a digital text; the digital text can then be read aloud to the student. Another feature it provides is text is highlighted as it is being read to the student (i.e. ELA reading strand). The student can also pause the playback at any time, and individual words can be spelled out (i.e. ELA language strand). || https://gizmodo.com/5453173/intel-reader-offers-high-tech-help-for-dyslexics-and-visually-impaired || [[image:https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--jd-Tiqgi--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_320/18mo9clr6rzkgjpg.jpg]] ||
 * Kim Luna || Sticky notes are a low-tech tools that are great assisted technology for children with several types of disorders. This tool can be used in all the ELA strands. The sticky note is great because it "blends in" to the classroom and the child with the disability doesn't stand out and is simply used by the student to communicate to the teacher. In Reading the note can be used in a book to chunk Reading into parts. The teacher can put guiding questions on the note and read only the parts of the story that relates to the question. In writing the teacher can have students break the writing into parts where the notes describe what is needed in each part. Sticky notes are also a tool on the computer that can be used for writing. Speaking and listening are the most difficult strands for students with disabilities. Those students don't want attention on them. The note placed on their desk can be used as a wiring surface for ideas the student wants to say aloud or if the student didn't understand something they can ask their question on the note. || https://goo.gl/Fzptya || [[image:post it.jpg width="232" height="207"]] ||
 * Macy Nokes || FrontRow Pro Digital by Phonic Ear amplifies the listening sound field in the classroom for students with hearing disabilities as well as students with auditory processing disorders. To provide students with better sound quality in the classroom, a hands free microphone for the teacher and a student microphone are linked to a receiver and four amplifiers placed among the classroom. When collaborative voices, such as involved in the ELA speaking and listening standards as well as oral comprehension, are projected, the microphones amplify the speaker's voice in the classroom to provide better acoustics. Not only is the better sound quality beneficial for students with disabilities, but helps to keep all students more attentive and involved, aiding in comprehension. Loud and clear articulation may also benefit ELLs when learning new vocabulary. || http://www.phonicear.com/~/link.aspx?_id=476ABAF456E547ACA9BBC6190338C229&_z=z || [[image:http://www.phonicear.com/~/~/media/Images/Product/SF/FrontRow_Pro_Digital_Group.ashx width="217" height="217"]] ||
 * Amanda Powell || Wizcom's Quicktionary Pen allows students to roll the pen over any word to have it translated to them by the pen. Whether trying to read a word in another language, such as a poem perhaps that has colloquial words or slang from an unfamiliar area, the pen can highlight the word, provide a translation, and read it aloud to find out how it is pronounced. For students with English as a second language, they could use the pen to aid understanding of their assignments and communications by translating their own words into English or changing English into their own understandable language. For students with reading disabilities such as dyslexia, the pen can be used to read aloud a word a student is having trouble deciphering. As students read silently at their desk, they can use the pen to hear how a particular word is pronounced (aiding in future read-alouds), find a definition for an unfamiliar word (aiding in comprehension of the text), and allow students to independently read with confidence without have to continuously skip words they have problems with or ask for help from a fellow student or teacher. This pen can provide autonomy, as well as an easily-used resource to aid in more fluid reading experiences. || https://www.wizcomtech.com/a-product?id=97&lang=en || [[image:pic_126_wide.jpg width="329" height="113"]] ||
 * Rachel Sparkman || Clicker 7