The good news is that, with the technology available today, there is a plethora of tools available to provide numerous options for every learner. Because most of the emerging tools are free of monetary cost, because they are readily available to anyone with a computer and an internet connection, and because they are easy to use, there is no excuse for teachers who do not use these tools or make them available to the learners they support.

Flypaper is a versatile presentation tool with an infinite range of potential uses by learners and teachers–to engage, represent, and express. Flypaper is easy to learn and use. It is a downloadable program for the PC, so it can be used off line when an internet connection is unavailable. Still, you can easily share your work online in the Flypaper “community”, or embed it wherever else you want to. Flypaper has made it easy to turn your presentation into a flash file, and you can even upload it directly to Youtube from within the application.

In a Flypaper presentation, you can include virtually anything you choose–text, graphics, audio, video, action buttons, hyperlinks, etc. I particularly like the fact that it is convenient for the presenter to add voice narration. A presentation may be a single page, or it may contain multiple “chapters” with as many pages as you want.

Flypaper encourages you to download “models” created by other users, and to use these models as templates for your own work. Flypaper offers tutorials for new users, as well as user forums. There is also a well organized 114 page user manual in pdf format.

I’ve embedded an example of a Flypaper presentation here that merely hints at the potential of the application.

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.

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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.)

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Here’s a very helpful resource for those who need visual supports as they learn to read and write. This one is filed on the Content & Curriculum Page.

SymbolWorld.org (online resource) This is a website that has been created to offer free content for users of Widget Rebus Symbols. The entire site has been constructed using Writing With Symbols 2000 (2.6) and Communicate: In Print 2. SymbolWorld includes a variety of curriculum-based learning activities organized under the following headings: Science & Nature; Life Skills; Cooking; Interactive; Humanities; Literacy; Different Languages; Current Affairs. There are separate sections for stories and personal contributions. SymbolWorld also hosts a monthly online magazine called eLive. eLive offers a collection of current event news articles as well as film reviews, puzzles, recipes, jokes, etc. A pdf version of eLive is available for download, and eLive is archived with access to editions dating back to 2002. The entire site is easy to navigate with large easily accessible buttons.

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Here’s a practical resource for anyone who lives or works with children with autism, ADHD, or delayed speech. The activities can be used as soon as they are downloaded, but they may also inspire you to create activities in a similar vein. I’ve put this on my Content & Curriculum page.

Hiyah.net (downloadable programs) Hiyah fills a significant need by offering a growing set of downloadable activities designed to help develop basic language and communication skills in children with autism, ADHD, or delayed speech. Each activity is built around a nursery rhyme, a specific holiday/celebration, or other activity that might be stressful for a child. The activities are visually appealing, and it is evident that they are the result of careful thought and planning.

Since the activities have been created in PowerPoint, they can all be accessed by having the child simply hit the space bar. Alternatively, a switch may be used via an adapted mouse.

Each activity comes bundled with its own PowerPoint viewer. This means that when you double click on a shortcut for the activity, the activity will open in PowerPoint. Image and sound quality is high. Because of the rich media content, some of the files are rather large. This means that downloading can take some time even with a high speed connection.

For more information, and to download the activities, go to Hihah.net.

These activities run in Windows and Mac.

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Today’s highlighted listing is a great little free program that has been designed to help teach and re-enforce an essential skill for day to day life in the community. If you teach life skills, and you haven’t run across this program, you’ll definitely want to check it out.

Community Signs (downloadable program) Here is a simple and completely free downloadable program that has been designed to help individuals learn to recognize signs that they encounter in the community. 63 different signs are included, and the activities can be customized in several ways to suit the user. For example, any or all of the signs may be selected for an activity, depending on the needs of the learner. There can be as few as 3 signs to choose from, or as many as 8. The user hears the name of a sign and is asked to click on the associated picture. The speech is clear, and the interface is clean and uncluttered. Animated rewards are available for correct responses. This is an excellent resource for anyone teaching essential life skills to individuals of all ages. The author of this program is Bill Straub, and it can be downloaded, along with several other basic skills programs, at Resources for Teachers of Basic Skills.

This program runs in Windows only.

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The online resource I’ve added to the Content & Curriculum page today is really a repository of hundreds of links to helpful resources for educators. If you were not already aware of this site, I’m certain you will be happy to make the discovery.

Internet4Classrooms This website offers a veritable catalogue of links to internet resources for educators, many of them of outstanding quality. The site is well organized and easy to navigate so that you can browse easily through the literally hundreds of suggested resources. Main categories include Links for K-12 Teachers, Assessment Assistance, On-Line Practice Modules (for learning computer applications), Daily Dose of the Web, and In-School Integration Support. Each category is also well organized for convenient browsing. In the Resources section, under Links for K-12 Teachers, there is a helpful page of Assistive Technology links.

Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff.

The program I’m highlighting here is simple but effective if you need to practice your keyboarding (typing) skills. You can either download this as a stand alone program, or do the keyboard practice as an online activity.

SenseLang Typing Tutor (downloadable program and online resource) This is a free typing tutor program that you can download to your computer. Actually, you can either download the program or practice online at http://www.senselang.com/ It is easy to add your own text for practice keyboard exercises with this program. If you need to learn to type on a Hebrew keyboard, that is also an option with this program.

This program runs in Windows.

Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff.

pictureSET from SET-BC (online resource) A collection of downloadable visual supports that can be used by students for both receptive and expressive communication. Most of these resources have been created in Boardmaker, with some in other programs such as Writing With Symbols. Files can be downloaded in their original format (eg. as Boardmaker files) or as pdf files. This searchable database allows you to find a wide range of useful visual supports for different curriculum areas, activities, and events–life skills, social skills, basic concepts, literacy, numeracy, art, music, physical education, French language, science, social studies, holidays/seasons, etc.