SEN Teacher “…provides cost-free teaching & learning resources for students with special needs and learning disabilities.” That’s how this major repository of special ed resources sums itself up. (SEN is the acronym from the UK that stands for Special Education Needs.)

SEN Teacher offers a substantial collection of “printable” downloads. There are links to websites that provide information about a wide range of disabilities. There is also significant list of websites that offer free online resources. Jane especially appreciated finding links to Tinsnips and Ispeek here.

Finally, there are numerous links to freeware download sites. The free software listed here includes programs to help develop basic mouse and other computer skills, programs to practice switch use, programs that support curriculum, and much more. There are even a few programs by SEN Teacher itself (eg. 1-5 Counting, 3D Shape Venn, Buried 3D Shape, Girl Face Matching)

The screenshots below show the free programs listed by SEN Teacher and the helpful way in which these are organized on the site.

Childtopia is a website from Spain that offers a collection of online early learning and primary activities that can be accessed in English, French, Spanish, Catalan and Basque. Chiltopia accurately claims to be a “safe place to play and learn”, with countless online activities and printable worksheets. The screenshot below shows the range of available activities. Helpfully, the name of each category is spoken as you mouse over its button.

I believe that the “Listen and Reading Comprehension” section is especially impressive. Beautifully illustrated stories are read aloud, with each word highlighted as it is read. Each story is accompanied by a set of comprehension questions that are also read aloud. Independent readers, however, have the option of reading the stories and questions to themselves. The “Tales” section offers 7 traditional fairy tales. These are illustrated and read aloud with the text onscreen, but text is not highlighted as it is read.

Apart from having the opportunity to purchase Childtopia’s activities on CD for use when you cannot be online, there is no advertising on this site.  All activities on the CD’s can be used free of charge online.

do2Learn is a website that offers an extensive set of resources designed specifically to support the learning of fundamental skills by individuals with special needs. This site offers products for sale, but it also provides a significant number of helpful teaching and learning resources that can be downloaded free of charge. There are also some free online activities that support learning.

Resources available for download include symbol sets to help learn and communicate about daily living skills, pictures and symbols for creating social stories, visual maps, practice guides for learning to print and write, a variety of step-by-step art activities, as well as sing-along songs and interactive games to help learn basic skills.

Do2Learn provides resources about disabilities for teachers and families. Of special note is the “FASD Toolbox for Teachers”. This is a collection of effective classroom strategies for supporting learners with fetal alcohol syndrome disorder.

Papunet Games is a website with an engaging set of activities designed specifically to work well for individuals who use switches to access a computer, including those who use two switches for step-scanning. The range of activities is extensive, and there are varying levels of challenge within many of the activities.

Among the numerous high quality puzzles and games on the site, what I found especially exciting was the set of “drawing activities”. These activities offer an opportunity for children who cannot hold a crayon or paint brush to paint or colour with their switches. The art work created on the computer can then be printed out, perhaps for Mom to put up on the kitchen wall.

The site is uncluttered and ad-free. It is also worth noting that the activities on Papunet are great for kids who can use a computer mouse. The site can therefore be used to facilitate inclusion.

I’ve recently discovered a couple of other sites with worthwhile online activities designed for switch-users. I’m not sure when I’ll get a chance to blog specifically about them, so I’ll just include links here: HelpKidzLearn from Inclusive Technologies and CBeebies from the BBC.

The Most Commonly Used Words (downloadable program) This simple program is designed to extend and practice basic sight vocabulary. The learner is offered the opportunity to hear, see and write the 300 most commonly used words in contemporary American English. The user interface is simple and uncluttered. The interface can also be customized to meet the specific needs of individual users. Features that can be adjusted include: background colour; font; selection of specific words to be practiced; choice of upper/lower case.

Four levels of challenge are available:

1) user sees and hears each word;

2) user hears and then sees each word;

3) the computer spells each word aloud and visually;

4) user spells each word after seeing and hearing it.

]]> http://paulhami.edublogs.org/2007/05/15/the-most-commonly-used-words-downloadable-program/feed/ 2 http://paulhami.edublogs.org/2007/03/01/childsplay-donwnloadable-program/ http://paulhami.edublogs.org/2007/03/01/childsplay-donwnloadable-program/#comments Thu, 01 Mar 2007 18:15:36 +0000 Paul Hamilton http://paulhami.edublogs.org/2007/03/01/childsplay-donwnloadable-program/ Continue reading →]]>

Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff.

Here is yet another set of free but very worthwhile educational activities that have been put together with early learners in mind.

Childsplay (downloadable program) This is a suite of 14 high quality educational games designed for young children. The games have been carefully crafted and have considerable kid-appeal. The user interface is simple, uncluttered and attractive. At least three levels of challenge are available for most games.

Some games re-enforce the learning of letters or numbers. There are several types of memory games. More than one game provides practice in locating the keys on a computer keyboard. It impressed me that some of the games provide excellent practice in using a computer mouse. Childsplay also makes good instructional use of specific sounds in its activities.

Do not be alarmed if your screen resolution changes when you open Childsplay. This change is automatically reversed when you exit.

Childsplay is available for Windows, Linux and Mac. Don’t be confused when the website talks about the individual games operating as “modules” within Childsplay. At least for the Windows version, you can download a bundled installation file that includes everything.

The screenshots below give some idea of what to expect with Childsplay. You can click on a thumbnail to enlarge it, and use your browser’s back arrow to return.

Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff.

The free downloadable program I am featuring today comes from Tux’s friends in the open source Linux community. It offers numerous well designed early learning activities for young children. Some of the activites are available for Windows as well as for Linux users.

Gcompris (downloadable program) This is a free suite of attractive interactive learning activities. Each activity is brightly coloured and accompanied by gentle music. The user interface is simple and uncluttered, and and all activities come with a set of basic instructions for teachers and parents. Gcompris comes to us from France, but it is available in numerous languages.

The games, puzzles and mental challenges of Gcompris are organized under the following headings: Discover the Computer; Discovery Activities (colours, sounds, memory); Experiential Activities (based on physical movement); Mathematics; Puzzles; Reading; Strategy Games.

All activities are available at multiple levels of difficulty. The developers say they have targeted Gcompris for children aged 2 to 10. As I tried the activities, however, I wondered if many children under the age of 5 would be able to use Gcompris independently. Perhaps this says more about me than about Gcompris, but I was stretched just a little in completing one of the puzzles at the higher levels of difficulty.

Gcompris has been developed primarily for Linux operating systems, but it is also available for Windows. There are approximately 100 activities in the free Linux version and about 25 free activities for Windows. I tested the Windows version, and found that there was considerable variety and plenty to work with. Windows users must pay €20 to activate the full suite.

Click on the thumbnails below to enlarge, and use your browser’s back arrow to return to this website.

Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff.

We sometimes have incredibly helpful software to use with our students, but finding time to create activities for use with the computer programs is often a huge obstacle. Today’s resource has the potential to help with this challenge. curriculumSET is filed under Content & Curriculum.

curriculumSET (online resource) This is a new and emerging database of downloadable activities designed for students who use assistive technology to access the curriculum. At present, most activities are for Clicker 4, Clicker 5, or Classroom Suite. There are a handful of activities for Boardmaker, Kurzweil 3000 and Solo. The collection is searchable and well organized by subject area and school level, but there are presently some gaps in what is available.

The potential for using curriculumSET to share resources is tremendous. Too many people are wasting precious time as they repeat the efforts of others. In many instances, it works well to use an activity that has been created by someone else as a template for a new activity in another situation with modified or alternative content.

curriculumSET is offered by SET-BC, which happens to be where I hold down a day-job. If, after having a look at curriculumSET, you think we might like to add some of your activities, I would be interested in hearing from you at info4free.resources@gmail.com.

The screenshots below show how curriculumSET has been organized. (Click on a thumbnail to enlarge, and use your browser’s back button to return to this blog.)

Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff.

Here’s an online library of helpful resources for educators and for students of any age. I’ve listed this on Content & Curriculum.

Utah Education Network (online resource) This is a well organized repository of resource links for educators and students–from Kindergarten to post-secondary. The site is comprehensive in its scope. The main categories: K-12 Educators; K-12 students; Higher Ed. Faculty; College Students; Adult Education. Resources are searchable, and the content is organized intuitively. Material can be searched by both grade level and subject area.

Most helpful of all, from my perspective, is the collection of free online interactive student activities (“Student Interactives” under “K-12 Students” ). There is much here to enrich and re-enforce virtually every area of the curriculum. Most linked online activities are created in either Flash or Shockwave. The activities have been chosen carefully and they are all of high quality. Take a look at the following screen shots to get a better idea of some of the content and how it is organized and presented. (Click on thumbnail to enlarge.)

Today’s featured resource is truly free–free of charge, ad-free, and free of distracting clutter. The Literacy Center, however, depends on donations from users. Although I promote free resources, I have no hesitation in recommending donations to this site if you find it of value and are able to help. For obvious reasons, this one is on the Content & Curriculum page.

Literacy Center (online resource) This is a high quality interactive online resource designed to facilitate development of basic literacy and numeracy skills. Learning modules consist of carefully designed and research-based flash activities. The developers of this site indicate they have used a modified Montessori approach to the teaching of reading. Not only is this site free of charge for users, it is ad-free and completely free of distracting clutter. All activities are available in English, French, Spanish and German.

Screenshots (click to enlarge)