If you are a teacher or a parent, assistive technology is something you should learn about right away. I believe that most children benefit from having information presented to them through a variety of modalities (i.e. auditory, visual, kinesthetic, tactile). Different kinds of technology can do this. But lets just start with the computer and the variety of software and websites that are out there. Once you begin to look, you will see that the possibilities are endless.
Let me show you an example of one of my favorite teaching tools. Because Declan has an auditory processing disorder, and we know that he learns best with visuals, we are constantly looking for different visually appealing ways to represent the information we are trying to teach him. Comic Life is an application that is available for both Mac and PC, and is incredibly easy to use. Using comics (speech bubbles and thought bubbles) is not new to the special education world. In fact, two incredible educators have been using them for some time. Carol Grey, author of Comic Strip Conversations, and Jed Baker, author of The Social Skills Picture Book, have done some incredible work using comics to teach social skills to children who have trouble reading and understanding social cues. If you have not already seen their work, I highly recommend taking a look!
We use comic strips for teaching so many different things. Among them are social skills, house rules, how to get packed in the morning, and what good readers do. Below is an example:
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