Learning Disorder Simulations - See how they feel

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. First, there is visual style learning. 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.” Villarreal made it her mission to help families find the resources and services they need.

TeachMeetSEN In partnership with Leicester City Council TeachMeet SEN took place on 28 January 2012 with over 60 people attending in person from all over the UK. It will live on through a micro-site which will contain the resources shared on the day, including the best videos of the presentations and selected tweets, photos and blog posts. The site is in production, and will be linked here once ready, but if you can't wait, you can see photos on the flickr and read blog posts by Josie Fraser and Jo Badge for quick summaries of the day. What is TeachMeetSEN? TeachMeet SEN will focus on engaging, amazing and effective examples of practice from parents and carers, school leaders, teachers and learning support staff working with children and young people with Special Educational Needs (SEN).

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: • Be positive, proactive, and solution-oriented.

Are these the best 100 children's books ever written? To celebrate Children's Book Week, which runs throughout the UK until Friday 11 October, the reading charity Booktrust has drawn up its "definitive list" of the 100 best books to read "before you're 14". The list falls into four age groups – 0-5 years, 6-8 years, 9-11 years, and 12-14 years – and 25 titles have been voted into each. Many of the Booktrust picks, alas, were published long after my 14th birthday, although I have notched up many of the titles since. In my view, the list does what it ought to. Scanning it, I felt an overwhelming urge to tackle the books I've not yet read, and to speak up loudly for those I thought were missing, recommending them with wild-eyed zeal to any handily passing child.

Digital revolution changing lives of students with disabilities The Refreshabraille has a Braille keyboard that allows students to write as well as read. Kyle Beasley is a smart second-grader with an infectious grin. He’s also functionally blind. Autism Research Institute Written by Stephen M. Edelson, Ph.D. 'Learning styles' is a concept which attempts to describe the methods by which people gain information about their environment.

Getting Personal with Books How do we encourage teens to come back to reading for fun? For my high school library, getting personal with books has made all the difference. Part of the answer lies in knowing your specific patrons and collection and matching students to books that might draw them in. Special Education Apps for iPad Add In my classroom , I was blessed to have students from amazingly diverse backgrounds and with an array of skills and strengths. I worked relentlessly to build in supports and foster an inclusive community for all of my students. This meant cutting, laminating, velcro-ing, washing, re-making, and constructing what felt like a million supportive learning devices for my students with and without special needs.

What Is Autism? Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication. According to the Centers for Disease Control, autism affects an estimated 1 in 59 children in the United States today. We know that there is not one autism but many subtypes, most influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Because autism is a spectrum disorder, each person with autism has a distinct set of strengths and challenges. The ways in which people with autism learn, think and problem-solve can range from highly skilled to severely challenged.

How to Reach the Dormant Readers Can Books Compete with VR? Dormant vs. Reluctant Readers As with most things Donalyn Miller (a.k.a. 10 Websites to Find Special Needs Apps for the iPad & iPhone This post is part Five of the Special Needs iPad & App Series. In only one year the Apple iPad has revolutionized the tech industry. 15 Million iPads have been sold and estimates are that within the next 3 years over 115 million tablets will be shipped. Dozens if not hundreds of applications have been created that enhance the quality of life for individuals with all types of disabilities. This has lead Apple to create a special education section in the App Store. To try and make sense of all of this we have put together a nine part series on the iPad and useful applications.

“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. Here are “50 Best iPad Apps for Reading Disabilities:”