Literacy and Significant Disabilities:Websites, Blogs, Wikis, and Nings

AAC Interventionwww.aacinterventionThis website is developed and maintained by Julie Maro and Caroline Musselwhite. The most important feature is the Tip of the Month. Many tips feature ideas for supporting literacy learning for students with significant disabilities (e.g., Accessible Book Launcher, Phoneme Isolation, 12 Texts a Day).

AllTogetherhttp://alltogether.wordpress.com/Sam Sennott’s blog is a fantastic source for information about: Augmentative and Alternative Communication, Assistive Technology, Inclusion, Literacy Instruction, Specialized Instruction, and Universal Design for Learning. His posts are always succinct, innovative, and thought-provoking. For example . . . a talking word wall with Apple OS . . . a very fun Hannah Montana book to download . . . and the power of connecting video to reading and writing.

Assistive Tech Social Networking Sitehttp://assistivetech.ning.comThis ‘ning’ (social networking site) is host to several groups in the area of assistive technology, including Literacy in AAC. This is a great place to post a question about literacy and disabilities, and get some amazing and insightful ideas.

Center for Literacy and Disability Studieswww.med.unc.edu/ahs/clds/This site is home to up-to-date research on the area of literacy for students with significant disabilities. The ‘Projects’ link leads to videos and downloads for exemplary projects such as Demonstration Classrooms for Students with Deaf-Blindness, Route 66, and Project Converge. Be sure to check out the resources for white papers and additional materials.

First 1000 Wordshttp://www.duboislc.org/EducationWatch/First100Words.htmlPresents the first 1000 words in reading, 100 at a time.

Free Resources from the Net for (Special) Educationhttp://paulhami.edublogs.org This blog by Paul Hamilton offers great nuggets for supporting literacy. For example, recent posts include: MyClusta, a start page that allows the teacher to set icon-based links to frequently visited software; and Pic-Lits, a site that offers great photos and a place for an instant word bank (or freewriting). And those are just December ideas!

Maryland Assistive Technology Network Onlinehttp://matnonline.pbwiki.com/The goal of this wiki is to provide educators in Maryland (and beyond!) with resources to support the education of all students in a Universally Designed for Learning Classroom and to support students with disabilities with the use of Assistive Technology.’ Sample wiki sections include: Augmentative and Alternative Communication, Assistive Technology, and Learning Fun for Students.

Maximizing the Literacy Skills of Individuals who Require AACMaximizing the Literacy Skills of Individuals who Require AACThis link will take you directly to a webcast by Dr. Janice Light. From this page, you can also link to a number of other research projects, all part of the AAC RERC, collaborative research group supporting people who use AAC.

Caroline Musselwhite, 2009, with ideas from Sam Sennott

Tar Heel Readerhttp://tarheelreader.org/This site presents an ever-growing list of books that have been written for (and sometimes with or by) students with significant disabilities. Books are free and can be accessed online (with speech enabled), or downloaded as slide shows in PowerPoint, Impress, or Flash format. Books can be searched by topic (alphabet, history, sports), audience rating, or type (conventional, transitional, other).

Teaching All Studentshttp://teachingall.blogspot.com/This blog by Patrick Black provides a nice synthesis of blogs and websites, some techie references, as well as Patrick’s insights. The blog also inspires some spirited and interesting conversations between bloggers.

Teaching Every Studenthttp://teachingeverystudent.blogspot.comThis blog by Karen Janowski is a lovely combination of theoretical discussions and resource listings, with smart ideas of WHY we would take the time to download and use high tech supports. While the blog favorite is ‘Free Technology Toolkit for UDL in All Classrooms’ my personal favorite is ‘What Did You Do Over the Weekend’ with innovative ways to support students in journaling.

Teaching Learners with Multiple Needshttp://teachinglearnerswithmultipleneeds.blogspot.com/While this blog isn’t dedicated to literacy needs, it IS dedicated to the needs of students with ‘severe, profound, intensive, significant, complex or multiple special needs.’ Kate Ahern does a fantastic job of sharing information about no tech, light tech, and high tech supports for students. Many of these supports will scaffold literacy learning. She also provides links to scores of other sites, so her blog becomes a great ‘jumping-off point.’

Caroline Musselwhite, 2009, with ideas from Sam Sennott