For help with accessibility to Virtual Meeting Platforms used in the district click here.
For help finding used technology to try or to turn in used technology so others can benefit - the KATS network has a wonderful AT Reuse program you can explore
Basic information about use of iPads, iPods, Chrome Books and PC computer functions that offer speech-to-text and text-to-speech are often requested. Updated information about tools supported by me will be posted on this page.
IPAD - Accessibility help.
- Set up Assistive Access - Simplify the user interface and set up focus features to allow students to use the iPad with greater ease and independence. User Guide
- Guided Access - temporarily locks student into an app to help them focus
- Voiceover - Can be used to read anything out loud on the iPod/iPad. It is primarily for students with vision impairments and does change the gestures used to operate the device. Please email a request for a short training
- Switch Accessibility - Switch use is unique to the needs of the individual student and usually requires an assessment. Often the occupational therapist and physical therapist work with the AT consultant on this assessment. Please email a request and I will set up an assessment.
- Speak Selection/Speak Screen - turn these on in Settings>General>Accessibility>Speech>toggle on speak selection and speak screen
- Voiceitt - this app-based subscription service for ios allows people with speech impairments to use voice-activated technology. It is particularly suited to use with smart-home devices and smart home-office devices. We are currently testing it with several students who are nearing graduation to help their families determine whether it would be a good fit for their transitioning young adult child.
BCPS Solutions to the most common accessiblity issues
- BCPS Universal Tech Tools - Graphic with embedded gifs tells you all you need to know to use 4 powerful free tools that offer text to speech, speech to text, dictation, and text simplification for comprehension
- Accessibility Tool Mini Lesson: this collaborative slide deck was created by BCPS high school digital learning coaches, the high school special education coach, high school instructional coaches, and the assistive technology consultant. It features all you need to know about the most frequently used accessibililty tools: how to get and use them.
- Accommodations in the Classroom!: A resource with practical examples that provide accommodations for extended time, reader, scribe, and use of technology. This great resource was written by special education coach, Jennifer Fletcher.
- Common Assignments...Tech Solutions! - A great graphic from the slidedeck below that pairs what you want the student to do with the easiest tech solution.
- Using Accessibility Tools in Reading Instruction: written by BCPS digital learning coaches, it includes a great graphic that pairs what you want the student to do with the easiest tech solution
Chrome Tools/Extensions/Sites
General Chrome tools
- Basic Chromebook switch accessibility
- Chromebook accessibility - We urge students to turn on two Chromebook Accessibility features: "Select to Speak", and "Enable Dictation". With them turned on, students will have much greater access to text to speech and speech to text when needed. This Chromebook accessibility guide will give you simple, clear explanations of each Chromebook accessibility feature and suggest ways that you can use them to help students overcome learning barriers.
- GoGuardian - provides Chrome management solutions that keep students safer online and make teaching easier. If you are interested in trying GoGuardian in your classroom contact your school Digital Learning Coach for more information
- Translate Almost Anything - very helpful Google product slides with links created by Amanda Sandoval of Roosevelt HS, and Carrie Smith
Curated Multi-topic Resources: Chrome for Struggling Learners and Special Needs
- Control Alt Achieve - dozens of Chrome web extensions, apps, other tools and features that can assist students in seven main categories: 🗣️ Text to Speech,🎙️ Speech to Text, 👓 Readability,📗 Reading Comprehension, 🔊 Audio Support , ☑️ Behavior, Focus, and Organization, and 🧭 Navigation
- Perkins School for the Blind - 21 Extensions for Struggling Students and Special Needs
Tools for Focusing
- Beeline Reader - adds a color gradient to text to help you read faster and more accurately. Also allows you to choose the popular Dyslexie font for online reading
- Best Reader View - Remove cluttered web pages full of commercials on websites. Best Reader View cleans all up and renders the only main article of the page!
- Bionify - Speed up your reading! Bionify converts any public website into Bionified format, which alters texts so that the most concise parts of words are highlighted. This guides the eye over the text and the brain remembers previously learned words more quickly.
- Postlight Reader - similar to Best Reader View, a chrome extension allows you to open a website and then click on Postlight Reader for a visually simplified reading experience
- OneTab - Too many tabs? Save them in a list and return to them later
- Pixie - accessibility reader for Google Chrome. Text to Speech, Screen Shader, Reading Ruler, Dyslexia fonts (OpenDyslexic), ePub Reader View, Dictionary + more productivity tools. See short tutorial video here. After adding the extension to a chromebook, you will need to restart the chromebook to complete the install.
- Rewordify - Copy difficult text and paste into the window on rewordify.com to see a simplified version. All words that are simplified are highlighted so the reader can click on the highlighting to see the original word and learn it's simplified meaning
Tools for Math
- EquatIO extension and MathType Add-on - allow students to type math problems. Both are going subscription however so as a free resource will be limited. EquatIO pricing; MathType pricing. Features included with EquatIO free version are listed here. A video tutorial for using basic EquatIO is here.
- Hypatia Create - a fast and easy way to include math equations in Google Docs, Slides, and Forms! Free for teachers and individual students. This is the preferred chrome extension used in BCPS high schools. A video tutorial for Hypatia can be found here.
- Virtual manipulative Math Apps for Chrome - free math manipulative Chrome apps offered by the Math Learning Center. Separate free apps include: fractions, geoboard, clocks, money, math vocabulary, number chart, number frames, number line, number pieces, number rack, partial product finder, pattern shapes and whiteboard app. Work done on these apps can be shared to the teacher for feedback.
- Virtual math manipulatives that include algebra are here at Didax
Tools for Reading
- Beeline Reader - adds a color gradient to text to help you read faster and more accurately. Also allows you to choose the popular Dyslexie font for online reading
- Bionify - Speed up your reading! Bionify converts any public website into Bionified format, which alters texts so that the most concise parts of words are highlighted. This guides the eye over the text and the brain remembers previously learned words more quickly.
- Bookshare - Students who have a documented vision or reading disability can qualify for a Bookshare account. This gives them free access to eBooks with read aloud capability. The Bookshare library currently has 1,129,498 titles including textbooks and is the most extensive collection of accessible ebooks in the world. If you have a student who qualifies, please email me at [email protected]. I need the following information to create an account: Student name, birthdate, grade,school, and type of disability. I will create an account and provide training on use.
- Bookshare - Switch Access: How to make read aloud books switch accessible for page turning
Dolphin Easy Reader is available in an app or can be downloaded on a Windows PC or used on a Chromebook.
EasyConverter-Express Training | Dolphin Computer Access (yourdolphin.com)
This link shows how to connect Dolphin Easy Reader to Bookshare so you have access to a variety of books. Chromebooks have an accessibility feature that is titled Use Switch Access - Turn on Chromebook accessibility features - Chromebook Help (google.com)
Digitiziing Worksheets - See directions for Easy Worksheet Digitizing posted near the bottom of this page - Kami PDF and document annotation - the best choice for students who need help reading and writing on worksheets. Download the Kami extension from the chrome store. Use chromebook tools (select to speak and dictation) to read and complete the PDF worksheet
- Postlight Reader- chrome extension allows you to open a website and then click on Postlight Reader for a visually simplified reading experience
- OCR Image Reader Chrome extension - great for questions added as images in Google Forms tests such as the ACT practice tests. Add the extension and pin to toolbar. To use, click on the OCR Image Reader icon in toolbar; Click EXPAND on the pop-up in the bottom right corner of screen; then HIGHLIGHT the text it extracts and RIGHT CLICK to get a menu of reader choices; a Chrome extension called: Read Aloud - a text to speech voice reader works well with OCR Image Reader. Read&Write for Chrome (free version) does not.
- OpenDyslexic - free digital font download. Please note that research shows that while fonts do matter for people with Dyslexia, it is only because they matter for everyone- an important distinction to make. It has everything to do with readability and nothing to do with Dyslexia, per se. Many students with reading issues prefer using a san serif font like Arial, Verdana, Comic Sans, or Calibri.
- Pixie - accessibility reader for Google Chrome. Text to Speech, Screen Shader, Reading Ruler, Dyslexia fonts (OpenDyslexic), ePub Reader View, Dictionary + more productivity tools. See short tutorial video here. After adding the extension to a chromebook, you will need to restart the chromebook to complete the install.
- Read Aloud: A Text to Speech Voice Reader - Install this chrome extension from the chrome web store. Click on this extension and it reads most digital content. Often it will read PDFs that Read&Write will not.
- Read&Write for Chrome - Reads most online text. All BCPS students have the free extension version on their chromebooks. See full description further below. Click here for a short video tutorial. Extensions needed from the Chrome store are: TextHelp OrbitDoc and TextHelp Screenshot Reader. Teachers sign up for a Premium account here. For directions in completing the sign-up form, click here.
- Rewordify - Copy difficult text and paste into the window on rewordify.com to see a simplified version. All words that are simplified are highlighted so the reader can click on the highlighting to see the original word and learn it's simplified meaning
- Screenshot Reader by TextHelp - may become a premium (pay) tool; For online text that is not digitally readable such as scanned worksheets or online map labels. Just click the Screen Reader icon and use the cross hairs to click and drag a box over the text to be read. Give it time to digitize. When a play button appears at the bottom of the screenshot rectangle, it is ready to play!
- Select to speak (follow link and scroll down to "listen to part of a page"- Accessibility feature built in to chromebooks. This works in many situations that other tools will not!. After enabling this feature, close out the chrome web browser and restart so chrome recognizes the change :-) . Find a concise tutorial here. Directions on how to use begin at 1:48 in the video.
- TarHeel Reader - an online, open-source library of free, easy-to-read, accessible books
- Text-to-speech tools in Mastery Connect - CASE testing in BCPS schools is accessed through Mastery Connect. Find out how to assign text-to-speech access to students receiving this accommodation ( must be on their IEP) here.
- Using Accessibility Tools in Reading Instruction - Succinct and powerful slide deck developed by our Read&Write pilot DLCs covering all you need to know with links to the tools and when to use them
Tools for Writing
- Dictation for students with moderate to severe articulation deficits is an area where a lot of new research and app development is being focused. A closed beta project I am watching closely is called Google Project Relate. To sign up and request a chance to be a beta tester go to: g.co/ProjectRelate
- Dictation - tips for mastering this skill - these tips help students train themselves to increase their dictation success. Students with mild to moderate articulation deficits can often increase their dictation success as well, or use the strategies to practice articulation in new and interesting ways.
- Dictation - extended tips if the above isn't enough for success. See: Speech Recognition as AT for Writing by Daniel Cochrane and Kelly Key
- Enable Chromebook Dictation - Accessibility feature built in to chromebooks
- Grammarly - free extension that helps correct grammar mistakes
- Holt Interactive Graphic Organizers - Click on a graphic organizer to download a PDF of it. Once you’ve downloaded an organizer, type in your comments and save to Drive to share or print it out.
- SnapType for Chrome - an easy way to photograph any worksheet and type answers onto it. This is a Chromebook app download from Google Play. It allows you to snap a photo of any worksheet using the chromebook camera. Then click anywhere you want a textbox and type your answer! The completed worksheet can be shared to the student's teacher.
- Taking class notes - Class notes can be extremely difficult for students who have delays in spelling and writing. We recommend opening a google doc and turning on chromebook dictation so it can capture the teacher's explanations in a doc for you. Turn the mic off when the teacher pauses or talks of things unneeded in the notes. Hit enter after each pause, or add punctuation as you go to separate thoughts.
- Translating in Docs - Open a doc and go to Tools/Translate document. Enter a name and select a language. A translated copy will open in a new window. Students can also type in their native language in docs, and follow the same procedure to translate to english for their teacher while they are transitioning from another culture.
- Voice In Voice typing - Allows you to voice type in places such as Google quiz and form
- Here are some options for typing programs (most include one-handed typing as well):
Accessibility for Graduating Students
- Accessibility choiceboard - everything laptop, phone, and tablet in one place :-)
- Mac laptop tools
- Dictation - https://youtu.be/4xFVVgFZL2U
- Text to speech
- Speechify
- Voice Dream Reader
- Built-in Mac tts - Have your Mac speak text on the screen. On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Accessibility in the sidebar. ...
- Click Spoken Content on the right. ...
- Turn on “Speak selection.”
- On your Mac, highlight text to be read and press the specified keyboard shortcut (the default key combination is Option-Esc).
- PC laptop tools
- Text to speech - don’t use Narrator. This is for the blind and will read too much. Try using the Chrome web browser with an extension called "Read Aloud" available in the chrome web store.
- Dictate - How to start voice typing in Windows 10
- Press Windows logo key + H on a hardware keyboard.
- Press the microphone key next to the Spacebar on the touch keyboard.
Lesson Pix
Software for creating images for visual schedules, directions, communication boards, and adapted lesson materials. Primarily used by our SLPs, OTs and MSD teachers. Email me if you are in need of this subscription.
News2You/Unique Learning Switch Access - Please email me for a consult at [email protected] as I have this tech info saved in Notes/Work/Switch Access For Unique Learning and News2You
Switch Access - please email me for a consult at [email protected]. After the consult, the switch progression road map linked below will provide excellent information and a reference point as we continue to work together with the student's ARC team.
Switch Progression Road Map - written by Ian Bean of Inclusive technology limited. Thorough step-by-step switch implementation plan includes IEP communication goals for each step. Excellent resource for SLPs, teachers of students with moderate to severe disabilities, and ARC teams.
Online Switch Accessible Sites - list of websites that were designed for or work well with switches.
Worksheet and text digitizing - We waited a long time for this wonderful tool!First from the Chrome web store add Read&Write for Chrome and Texthelp PDF Reader
- Use a smartphone to take a photo of the worksheet or text or scan the worksheet at the copier
- share it to your google drive and to student drives or Google Classroom
- Now students can use the texthelp Screenshot Reader chrome extension to read the text...OR:
- have students find the image and right click on the image without opening it. From the menu choose "open in docs".
- It will process and open a doc with the image at the top and the text below the image
- Students can now use text to speech to read it aloud and speech to text for typing in their worksheet answers
- Video tutorial for students!