Virtual Manipulatives!

“50 Best iPad Apps for Reading Disabilities” “50 Best iPad Apps for Reading Disabilities” Guest Blog by Rosa Ray Whether you’re the parent of a child with a reading disability or an educator that works with learning disabled students on a daily basis, you’re undoubtedly always looking for new tools to help these bright young kids meet their potential and work through their disability. While there are numerous technologies out there that can help, perhaps one of the richest is the iPad, which offers dozens of applications designed to meet the needs of learning disabled kids and beginning readers alike. Here, we highlight just a few of the amazing apps out there that can help students with a reading disability improve their skills not only in reading, writing, and spelling, but also get a boost in confidence and learn to see school as a fun, engaging activity, not a struggle.

One Place for Special Needs About Us Dawn Villarreal has two special needs children. When she learned of her children’s disabilities she found it difficult to find answers. “In many cases, physicians give parents the devastating news that their child has a lifelong disability and then send them on their way,” Villarreal said. “At a time when parents need the most support, they find they are on their own.” Equal Access: Universal Design of Libraries A checklist for making libraries welcoming, accessible, and usable Libraries play an important role in ensuring that everyone has access to information in printed and electronic forms. In making these resources accessible and useful to everyone, principles of universal design (UD) can be employed.

ADDitude Magazine Welcome to ADDitude, the leading destination for families and adults living with ADHD and learning disabilities. Founded in 1998 by Ellen Kingsley, an award-winning journalist with a unique ability to convey credible information with empathy and inspiration, ADDitude magazine has provided clear, accurate, user-friendly information and advice from the leading experts and practitioners in mental health and learning for almost 10 years. What will you find on ADDitude's site? There's so much:

Sibling's Voice - VOR It was a matinee showing of the Broadway play “The King and I” and the excited audience members took their seats. One mother that was attending, however, decided to bring her autistic son with her and hoped that he wouldn’t be a distraction to the other members of the audience. When the play started, however, things. didn’t go as expected.

Project ENABLE- professional online development for teachers, librarians Text size : Log In or Create Training Account Training Resources Below, we have highlighted resources created by the Project ENABLE team that are used throughout the training modules. These include templates, checklists, lesson plans, and Project ENABLE's Glossary and Bibliography. UDL in the ESSA Date: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 This past December, Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaces No Child Left Behind. And for the first time, the nation’s general K-12 education law defines and endorses Universal Design for Learning.

Libraries and Autism: We're Connected The LibrariesScotch Plains Public Library Fanwood Memorial Library Outside Links of Interest We try and keep the focus of the resources we provide here at librariesandautism.org primarily on libraries and service to those on the ASD spectrum and their families, and the areas and topics where the two cross paths, but from time to time we are made aware of other resources that may be of interest to some of our users.We are providing those links HERE. New Links of Interest Check out the San Jose Library's impressive Inclusive Services Training for Library Staff. It's a great series of videos and resources all librarians could benefit from. The Learning Styles of Children with ASD By Bethany McCabe, MS, OTR/L Both children on the autism spectrum and their neurotypical peers learn best when they are exposed to various learning styles and teaching methods. Studies have shown that uncovering and supporting children’s favored learning styles can improve performance in all areas. To understand how a child learns best, it helps to understand what type of learning environment a child responds to organically.

Collaboration Five Ways to Collaborate With Families of Students with Disabilities From the Marshall Memo #435 “Families’ involvement in their children’s education stands out as one of the greatest predictors of growth and well-being for students with disabilities,” say Caitlin Edwards (Nashville Public Schools) and Alexandra Da Fonte (Vanderbilt University) in this Teaching Exceptional Children article. “Not surprisingly, when teachers strive to build working partnerships with families of students with disabilities, home-school collaboration, and, in turn, student achievement increase.” Here is their five-point strategy: