GLEAN START Coaches Newsletter
December 2018
Assistive Technology
Assistive Technology
What is assistive technology?
Any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of a child with a disability.
What does the word "Any" really mean?
Any service that directly assists a child with a disability in the selection, acquisition or use of an assistive technology device. This can include:
Evaluation, purchasing, leasing, or acquiring devices
Selecting, designing, fitting, customizing, adapting, applying, maintaining, repairing or replacing devices
Coordinating with other therapies, interventions, or services with devices
Training or technical assistance for the child and professionals
Assistive Technology in Everyday Classrooms
Using High Tech Tools: Computers
Google Extensions
Add extensions by going to the Chrome Web Store
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/extensions?utm_source=chrome-ntp-icon
Need help writing on a worksheet?
- Works with Google Drive and Google Classroom
- With Kami tools, you can annotate, markup, and collaborate on your PDF, document, or image files.
- Works with: • Google Drive • Google Classroom Files Supported: • PDF • Documents (Microsoft Word, Google Docs, RTF) • Powerpoint (Microsoft Powerpoint, Google Slides) • Sheets (Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets) • Image Files (.jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif)
- https://youtu.be/UjdGPB475xM
Declutter Webpages to help focus
- Clear away the clutter from all of your articles. Instantly.
- Removes ads and distractions, leaving only text and images for a clean and consistent reading view on every site.
- Features: - Send To Kindle functionality - Adjust typeface and text size, and toggle between light or dark themes - Quick keyboard shortcut (Cmd + Esc for Mac users, Alt + ` for Windows users) to switch to Reader on any article page - Printing optimization - Sharing through Facebook, Twitter and Email
- https://youtu.be/LOOmap_dUUc
Read Aloud
- Select and Speak uses iSpeech's human-quality text-to-speech (TTS) to read any selected text in the browser.
- https://youtu.be/tiFhnfs0Ebg
Example of Mercury
Before
After
Webpages
Natural Readers
Natural Reader is a professional text to speech program that converts any written text into spoken words. (pdf, txt, doc(x), epub, ods, odt, pages, ppt(x), png, jpeg)
Wizer.me
Differentiate instructions like a pro!
Simply let your builder do the hard work for you:
- Quickly define classroom profiles
- Easily create differentiated instructions
- Simply assign differentiated instructions to specific profiles
Coaches Corner
Peer to Peer
Don't Miss Out!
Countywide START Professional Development
Please see the course catalog for details, course descriptions and registration at www.geneseeisd.org.
Classroom Environment & Teacher Assessment (CETA) for students with ASD
January 8, 2019
Working with Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder for Para-Educators
January 29, 2019
Peer to Peer supports for Students with ASD
February 21, 2019
Additional START Professional Development Opportunities
Fall Events: https://www.gvsu.edu/autismcenter/fall-events-301.htm
Winter Events: https://www.gvsu.edu/autismcenter/winter-rcn-events-306.htm
Genesee ISD Teacher Consultants
If you have changed buildings or districts, please let your TC know so we can update our records. We will be in touch soon to establish bi-monthly coaches meetings for the year.
Barb Olszewski
Angie Grindel
Laura Henry
Kelli Pierscinski
GISD's Regional Collaborative Network (RCN) has partnered with Livingston ESA to strengthen our resources and collaborate to bring your MORE amazing things from START. We were previously known as CAN4GCA but will now be GLEAN (Genesee-Livingston Educational Autism Network).