Assistive Technology
Hanover County Public Schools - January 2016
Check our HCPS SMARTboard Exchange on GOOGLE Drive!!!!
Please email Jdickerson@hcps.us for access!! Please be sure to upload your activities for others to see and to check periodically for new activities being added!!!
Accessible Instructional Materials- Help Your Students Access Their Reading Materials
Please remember that our focus for students with reading challenges needs to be on helping them to access their educational materials without the use of an adult reader. Almost all benchmark and SOL testing is now done with online audio. We need to be providing our students with this type of accommodation during everyday instruction. Below are two easy tools you can be using in your class. If you have trouble accessing these tools or need a tutorial, contact your building AT ambassador or one of our AT Squad team members.
Read OutLoud 6
Read OutLoud has gotten much easier to use and will read several types of files (opf, txt, rtf, pdf, xml, html). This software tool is available on all school computers and families can also download this for free at home (the VDOE has purchased this for use in the state of VA). You can open Bookshare files by using the "Add e-text" button.
Speak Tool for Microsoft
Speak is a built-in feature of Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and OneNote, in Microsoft Office. This tool is easy to add to the Quick Access Toolbar. Here is a quick tutorial to help is you haven't already added this great tool: https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/Using-the-Speak-text-to-speech-feature-459e7704-a76d-4fe2-ab48-189d6b83333c
Google Read and Write
Hear words, passages, or whole documents read aloud with easy-to-follow dual color highlighting. Google is a great tool for use with Google docs, Bookshare and more. Students can add this extension to their Google accounts. Teachers are able to get access to the full suite of tools.
Q: Who can help you with your AT questions in your building?
A: Your AT ambassador! Your ambassador will be our helping hands, serving as liaisons between the AT squad and school teams. They will help teams fill out consideration guides, distribute newletters and other important info, and help teams find equipment in our new fantastic AT library!
Learning to Speak AACtion plan
Here is an awesome way to learn to use AAC and to become a better model for your students! Check out this blog from the creator to the Speak for Yourself app for a universal way to increase your comfort and knowledge of your student's AAC program! http://www.speakforyourself.org/2016/01/10/learning-to-speak-aac/
TechKnowledgy Conference
Access through AT, AIM, and AAC
April 12, 2016
Doubletree Koger Center Conference Center
Richmond, VA
AT Squad
Mary Leffler-Lead OT (mleffler@hcps.us)
Becky Conti-OT (bconti@hcps.us)
Jennifer Dickerson-OT (jdickerson@hcps.us)
Lauren Whitlock-SLP (lwhitlock@hcps.us)
Phone: