Reading Supports:
Reading is an extremely important skill for all students to possess in
the classroom. It is known that in the early grades (K-3)
students are learning to read and in grades 4 and up they are reading to learn. When a student is reading to learn they must
use their content literacy skills in order to read content and acquire more
knowledge. There are many different
components to reading and they include:
o Phonemic Awareness- Understanding the sounds of the language
o Phonics- Related letters and their sounds together
o Fluency- Ability to read orally with accuracy, speed and proper expression
o Comprehension- Understanding the information you read
o Vocabulary- Understanding the meaning of the words in the text
Special needs students are the ones who have difficulties in all of the mentioned areas of reading. For those students that have an I.E.P or 504 Plan, the Chafee's Amendment allows teachers to alter the text for the student for educational purposes. Luckily, there are many reading support programs out there that can help special needs students to learn to read. In order to choose the correct one you must understand the child’s disability and what areas they specifically need help in.
Print impaired: A student who is print impaired has trouble reading texts and print for various reasons. Therefore, they need to gain the information from printed materials in a specialized format (large print, audio…etc). The definition states print impaired as, “A person who cannot effectively read print because of a visual, physical, perceptual, developmental, cognitive, or learning disability.” (http://www.readingrights.org/node/128). This is where your special needs students come into play.
o Phonemic Awareness- Understanding the sounds of the language
o Phonics- Related letters and their sounds together
o Fluency- Ability to read orally with accuracy, speed and proper expression
o Comprehension- Understanding the information you read
o Vocabulary- Understanding the meaning of the words in the text
Special needs students are the ones who have difficulties in all of the mentioned areas of reading. For those students that have an I.E.P or 504 Plan, the Chafee's Amendment allows teachers to alter the text for the student for educational purposes. Luckily, there are many reading support programs out there that can help special needs students to learn to read. In order to choose the correct one you must understand the child’s disability and what areas they specifically need help in.
Print impaired: A student who is print impaired has trouble reading texts and print for various reasons. Therefore, they need to gain the information from printed materials in a specialized format (large print, audio…etc). The definition states print impaired as, “A person who cannot effectively read print because of a visual, physical, perceptual, developmental, cognitive, or learning disability.” (http://www.readingrights.org/node/128). This is where your special needs students come into play.
Low Tech Tools:
Highlighter Pens and sticky notes: These tools can help guide a student in reading a text. Highlighters can help a student to focus on individual areas of what they are reading. This way they can highlight the important content of the text so they will remember it. The color of the highlighter will make the information stand out to the student. Furthermore, when special needs students read content sometimes it all gets jumbled up in their head and they forget what they just read. This way they will be able to remember the important content.
Also, sticky notes can help students to jot down on paper important facts they want to remember or words they do not knowing the meaning of. This way when they are done reading a text they can try to make sense of the information by looking over the sticky notes and figuring out what it all means.
Also, sticky notes can help students to jot down on paper important facts they want to remember or words they do not knowing the meaning of. This way when they are done reading a text they can try to make sense of the information by looking over the sticky notes and figuring out what it all means.
Colored reading rulers: This device will help special needs students because it shows them the text in a different color. This is because sometimes the black and white text can seem repetitive and not stand out to students with special needs. Therefore, having a colored reading ruler to place on the text can help the student to read the information and try to make sense of it. The colors especially help students with dyslexia and autism to focus better because it results in steadier eye control. It will help the text to seem steady and not so tiresome to the student’s eyes.
Here is a good website to purchase them from:
http://www.crossboweducation.us/visual-stress/reading-rulers/eye-level-reading-rulers-pack-of-ten.html
Here is a good website to purchase them from:
http://www.crossboweducation.us/visual-stress/reading-rulers/eye-level-reading-rulers-pack-of-ten.html
Mid Tech Tools:
KNFB Reader Mobile: This is a handheld device that allows the user to scan/read text and speak it back to them. All the student has to do is hold the digital camera on the device over the text and snap a picture of it. As a result, the text will appear on the device and will be spoke aloud to the student. This is a quick and easy way for students to hear the text spoken to them orally. This way they can scan any piece of text they are reading such as a worksheet or book and get the text spoken instantly to them. Therefore, they can come to understand what that part of the text means before reading on and losing comprehension.
kNFB Reader Mobile:
o works on a Nokia cell phone
o reads most printed documents
o provides an instant reading aloud of the text
o is easy and accessible to all students
o displays the text scanned and highlights each word being read
o can store thousands of pages of text
o adjusts reading speed to the student's preference
kNFB Reader Mobile:
o works on a Nokia cell phone
o reads most printed documents
o provides an instant reading aloud of the text
o is easy and accessible to all students
o displays the text scanned and highlights each word being read
o can store thousands of pages of text
o adjusts reading speed to the student's preference
iPod Touch Audio books: The iPod Touch has many
features that allow studnets to access audio books that can be read aloud to them. The iTunes store has the
application Audio Books which allows the student to download a book that they are
reading in class and listen to it orally.
This is a portable device which allows the student to hear the book no
matter where they are. All they have to
do is put their headphones into the iPod and access the book they want to hear.
Ipod Audio books:
Ipod Audio books:
- model good interpretive reading through audio
- teach critical listening
- model the character's expressions and feelings used in texts such as frustration, humor or excitement
- introduce new vocabulary to students
eBooks: EBooks are electronic versions of a traditional print book that can be read using a computer or an eBook reader. An eBook reader such as the Kindle can help the text to be modified to help special needs students. The Kindle allows users to adjust text sizes and font, add notes to the text, turn the pages easily, search Wikipedia and the web, look up meanings of words in a dictionary, translate text and read personal documents. However, there are free eBook websites out there for special needs students they are the following:
- BookYards – offers around 16,000 books, and other reading materials including web links, videos, eBook links and access to online libraries.
- The Online Books Page – provides access to books that are freely readable over the Internet. Includes a list of 35,000 free books available online.
- SnipFiles – offers free software and book downloads in PDF or Word format.
- Free ebooks.info – covers various subjects including arts and photography, memoirs, business and investing, children’s books, and more.
- Wowio – lets you legally access high-quality copyrighted ebooks from leading publishers for free. It covers a wide range of offerings, including works of classic literature, college textbooks, comic books, and popular fiction and non-fiction titles.
- Scribd – offers free downloads of e-books in PDF format. These e-books were submitted/uploaded by users, so they are freely available for download.
High Tech Tools:
Read OutLoud 6: This is a text to speech program that requires access to electronic books. It helps special needs students to hear the text spoken out loud so they can better understand it. Sometimes when the student can hear the text spoken orally they can better process it. This software includes many different features that can assist special needs students with comprehension and organizing the information they read.
Key features- Read OutLoud 6:
o has improved PDF support and Bookshare access
o includes a built in accessible web browser
o is compatible with all accessible book formats and is NIMAS ready (opens NIMAS and DAISY 3 files)
o has many voices to choose from
o supports Mac and Windows
o includes a tutorial
o has reading templates and eHighlighters
o includes software to guide students to write a bibliography and an outline
Key features- Read OutLoud 6:
o has improved PDF support and Bookshare access
o includes a built in accessible web browser
o is compatible with all accessible book formats and is NIMAS ready (opens NIMAS and DAISY 3 files)
o has many voices to choose from
o supports Mac and Windows
o includes a tutorial
o has reading templates and eHighlighters
o includes software to guide students to write a bibliography and an outline
Thinking Reader: Thinking Reader is a software program that helps to improve the reading comprehension strategies for students reading below grade level. It reads the text aloud to the student and provides additional support to help with their comprehension. Also, it focuses on the areas of summarizing, clarifying, visualizing, reflecting, questioning, predicting and feeling. It has an extensive library that includes popular books that are used in classrooms today. This program can help those struggling students to improve their understanding of the text and develop skills to learn the elements involved in a text.
Key Features- Thinking Reader:
Here is a video of Thinking Reader:
Key Features- Thinking Reader:
- has human voice narration with highlighting
- includes a glossary for vocabulary development
- has adjustable font size, keyboard navigation, text-captioning and screen reader compatibility
- provides visual displays of the story and its characters
- models reading comprehension strategies
- tracks students progress to monitor improvements
Here is a video of Thinking Reader:
Bookshare: Bookshare is an online library of digital books for people with print disabilities. It is aligned with copyright laws and the Chafee Amendment to provide these books. Members of Bookshare are allowed to download books, textbooks and newspapers in encrypted files and then use a text to speech format to make sense of them.
It can help students with the following disabilities to better access the text.
It can help students with the following disabilities to better access the text.
- Students with Visual Impairments: Allows the student to hear the text and access the material in large print. It also reads books in Braille.
- Students with Physical Disabilities: Allows students to read books on a variety of portable devices. They can read these materials visually or have them orally read to them.
- Students with Learning Disabilities: Some of its key features include highlighting the text, setting custom background and print colors, and adjusting margins, words, paragraphs and line spacing.
Resources:
Apple Inc. (2013). "iTunes Audiobooks". Retrieved February 17, 2013 from https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/audiobooks/id521227008?mt=8
Bookshare (2002-2013). "Accessible Online Library". Retrieved February 18, 2013 from
https://www.bookshare.org/
Crossbow Education (2011). "Reading Rulers". Retrieved February 17, 2013 from
http://www.crossboweducation.us/visual-stress/reading-rulers/eye-level-reading-rulers-pack-of-ten.html
Dell, A.G., Newton, D.A., & Petroff, J.G. (2012). Assistive technology in the classroom: Enhancing the school experiences of students with disabilities (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Don Johnston Incorporated (2013). "Read OutLoud 6." Retrieved February 17, 2013 from http://www.donjohnston.com/products/read_outloud/index.html
Ebooks (2013). "Ebooks". Retrieved February 17, 2013 from http://www.ebooks.com/
EDUC150Reviews (October 8, 2008). "Thinking Reader Review". Retrieved February 18, 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v48iQvLEsTo
Knfb Reading Technology Inc. (2010). "knfbReader Mobile". Retrieved February 17, 2013 from
Ihttp://www.knfbreader.com/products-mobile.php
OfficeMax. "Highlighter Pens and Sticky Notes". Retrieved February 17, 2013 from http://www.officemax.com/office-supplies/sticky-notes-flags/post-it-notes-flags
Tom Synder Productions (2013). “Thinking Reader”. Retrieved February 17, 2013 from http://www.tomsnyder.com/products/product.asp?sku=THITHI#
Other Resources:
Dyslexia Support Services:
http://dyslexiasupportservices.com.au/shopping/coloured_reading_rulers.html
Reading Rockets:
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/64/
Print Disability:
http://www.learningthroughlistening.org/About-Learning-Ally/Understanding-Learning-Ally/The-Population-Learning-Ally-Serves/What-is-a-Print-Disability/63/
Ebook Sites:
http://socialtimes.com/top-25-free-e-books-sites-the-definitive-list_b7595
Dyslexia Support Services:
http://dyslexiasupportservices.com.au/shopping/coloured_reading_rulers.html
Reading Rockets:
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/64/
Print Disability:
http://www.learningthroughlistening.org/About-Learning-Ally/Understanding-Learning-Ally/The-Population-Learning-Ally-Serves/What-is-a-Print-Disability/63/
Ebook Sites:
http://socialtimes.com/top-25-free-e-books-sites-the-definitive-list_b7595