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Welcome to Inclusive Technology 4 All. Each episode will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, inclusive technology has become more mainstream and available for everyone.

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Episodes

Episode 72 (Listen to Episode 72)

IT4All: Ep 72 (AT Town Hall 4/13/20: COVID-19, School Closures and AT)

Published on: April 13, 2020 at 4:19 PM

Recorded Monday, April 13, 2020 (Watch the video: https://youtu.be/D5TbUm1sLxE)

During these uncertain times, many schools are moving to remote instruction. What does that mean for students with disabilities? How do we ensure that remote instruction is accessible to all students? How can we continue to meet the needs of students who require assistive technology? What do we do about providing related services (OT, PT, SLP) to these students? This is an ever evolving situation and we certainly don’t have all the answers but let’s come together and brainstorm effective solutions. Check out (and add to!) the crowd sourced Google Document with ideas / strategies and questions regarding supporting students with disabilities in these challenging times. Go to: http://bit.ly/remoteaccess4all Facilitator: Mike Marotta, Director, The Richard West Assistive Technology Advocacy Center, NJ Panel Members: Chris Bugaj, AT Specialist, Loudoun County (VA) Public Schools, Karen Janowski, AT Consultant, EdTech Solutions; Luis Perez, Technical Assistance Specialist, CAST; Kelli Suding, AT Specialist, PATINS; Elisa Wern, OT/AT Specialist

Episode 71 (Listen to Episode 71)

IT4All: Ep 71 (AT Town Hall 4/6/20: COVID-19, School Closures and AT)

Published on: April 07, 2020 at 9:06 AM

Recorded Monday, April 6, 2020 (Watch the video: https://youtu.be/Rwdx7AMfKcM )

During these uncertain times, many schools are moving to remote instruction. What does that mean for students with disabilities? How do we ensure that remote instruction is accessible to all students? How can we continue to meet the needs of students who require assistive technology? What do we do about providing related services (OT, PT, SLP) to these students? This is an ever evolving situation and we certainly don’t have all the answers but let’s come together and brainstorm effective solutions. Check out (and add to!) the crowd sourced Google Document with ideas / strategies and questions regarding supporting students with disabilities in these challenging times. Go to: http://bit.ly/remoteaccess4all Facilitator: Mike Marotta, Director, The Richard West Assistive Technology Advocacy Center, NJ Panel Members: Karen Janowski, AT Consultant, EdTech Solutions; Jennifer Edge-Savage, AT Consultant, Saltillo, Professor Kelli Suding, AT Specialist, PATINS Elisa Wern, OT/AT Specialist

Episode 70 (Listen to Episode 70)

IT4All: Ep 70 (AT Town Hall 3/30/20: COVID-19, School Closures and AT)

Published on: March 30, 2020 at 4:35 PM

Recorded Monday, March 30, 2020 (Watch the video: https://youtu.be/ChsVJed2w-c )

During these uncertain times, many schools are moving to remote instruction. What does that mean for students with disabilities? How do we ensure that remote instruction is accessible to all students? How can we continue to meet the needs of students who require assistive technology? What do we do about providing related services (OT, PT, SLP) to these students? This is an ever evolving situation and we certainly don’t have all the answers but let’s come together and brainstorm effective solutions. Check out (and add to!) the crowd sourced Google Document with ideas / strategies and questions regarding supporting students with disabilities in these challenging times. Go to: http://bit.ly/remoteaccess4all Facilitator: Mike Marotta, Director, The Richard West Assistive Technology Advocacy Center, NJ Panel Members: Karen Janowski, AT Consultant, EdTech Solutions; Luis Perez, CAST Information Specialist, Jennifer Edge-Savage, AT Consultant, Saltillo, Professor Kelli Suding, AT Specialist, PATINS Elisa Wern, OT/AT Specialist

Episode 69 (Listen to Episode 69)

IT4All: Ep 69 (AT Town Hall 3/23/20: COVID-19, School Closures and AT)

Published on: March 23, 2020 at 2:47 PM

Recorded Monday, March 23, 2020 (Watch the video: https://youtu.be/dMiZtywEK_s)

During these uncertain times, many schools are moving to remote instruction. What does that mean for students with disabilities? How do we ensure that remote instruction is accessible to all students? How can we continue to meet the needs of students who require assistive technology? What do we do about providing related services (OT, PT, SLP) to these students? This is an ever evolving situation and we certainly don’t have all the answers but let’s come together and brainstorm effective solutions. Check out (and add to!) the crowd sourced Google Document with ideas / strategies and questions regarding supporting students with disabilities in these challenging times. Go to: http://bit.ly/remoteaccess4all Facilitator: Mike Marotta, Director, The Richard West Assistive Technology Advocacy Center, NJ Panel Members: Chris Bugaj, Assistive Technology Specialist, Loudoun County (VA) Public Schools Jennifer Edge-Savage, AT Consultant, Saltillo, Professor Kelli Suding, AT Specialist, PATINS Elisa Wern, OT/AT Specialist

Episode 68 (Listen)

IT4All: Ep 68 (AT Town Hall 3/16/20: COVID-19, School Closures and AT)

Published on: March 16, 2020 at 4:38 PM

This special episode of IT4All is a recording of an AT Town Hall that took place on 3/16/20

AT Town Hall: COVID-19, School Closures and AT: What Do We Do?

Facilitator:

Mike Marotta, Director, The Richard West Assistive Technology Advocacy Center, NJ

Panel Members:

Chris Bugaj, Assistive Technology Specialist, Loudoun County (VA) Public Schools

Jennifer Edge-Savage, AT Consultant, Saltillo, Professor

Karen Janowski, AT Consultant, EdTech Solutions

Luis Perez, Technical Assistance Specialist, CAST

Kelli Suding, AT Specialist, PATINS

Episode 67 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Microsoft AI for Accessibility Grants
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/ai-for-accessibility-grants?SilentAuth=1&activetab=pivot1:primaryr2
Tool Time: Makey Makey Instructables Contest
- https://www.instructables.com/contest/makeymakey/
The Coaching Habit: Say less, ask more and change the way you lead forever by Michael Bungay Stanier
- https://www.amazon.com/Coaching-Habit-Less-Change-Forever/dp/0978440749/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=the+coaching+habit&qid=1578000789&sr=8-2
#ATchat Update: The Future of #Atchat
#ATchat Archive for 2019-2020
- bit.ly/atchat19-20

Transcript

This is the intersection of assistive, educational and information technology. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, technology can promote independence and inclusive technology has become more available for everyone. Welcome to the Inclusive Technology 4 All Podcast with your host Mike Marotta.

Hello there! Welcome to Episode 67 which will be released on January 13, 2020.

I am coming to you this episode from Miami. I just arrived in town for the 2020 FETC conference. Looking forward to learning some innovative solutions and catching up with my PLN. Also hoping to gather some interviews to bring to you in future episodes.

This episode we will have the usual updates on inclusive tools and an Atchat update. And – we will continue our deep dive into the book The Coaching Habit: Say less, ask more and change the way you lead forever by Michael Bungay Stanier. This episode focuses on the second type of question: The Awe Question.

I want to hear from you! Leave your comments and ideas about topics for upcoming episodes. Visit speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast to leave your audio message. Also, don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review.

OK – let’s go!

Microsoft recently announced a series of grants available to promote developing technology for people with disabilities. AI for Accessibility grants are available for individuals or teams in the following areas:

According to the website, the AI for Accessibility program awards grants in areas that are vital for building a sustainable future:

Employment: The unemployment rate for people with disabilities is more than double that of people without. We see opportunities in using AI to help people develop more advanced skills in the workplace and evolve the culture around inclusive hiring.
Daily life: We see great opportunities in building modern solutions for people with disabilities by making software and devices smarter and more contextually relevant.
Communication and connection: Communication is fundamental to providing equal access to information and opportunities. Lack of options excludes some from employment and society. Technology can create new possibilities regardless of how a person listens, speaks, or writes.

The grant amounts range from $10,000 to $20,000 in Azure AI compute credits. There is no deadline for proposals and grants will be awarding quarterly on a rolling basis. Check out aka.ms/AIGrants for more details

Last episode, I shared some information about the website Instructables running as Assistive Technology Contest. Remember, Instructables is a community of makers provide project plans to build just about anything. Well now they are promoting a Makey Makey Contest. A Makey Makey is a simple keyboard access tool that enables makers to create alternative computer keyboards out of just about any everyday object. Want to learn more about these devices – go to makeymakey.com

I would love to see some projects related to accessibility and inclusive tech solutions. Maybe an alternative keyboard or cursor control tool for a person with limited mobility.

The contest runs through February so check out the website at https://www.instructables.com/contest/makeymakey/ for more details.

Now we are getting into the meat out our next coaching book The Coaching Habit. Say Less, Ask More and Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier. This book is broken down into 7 types of questions we should be asking to support coaching. The types of questions are: Kickstart, Awe, Focus, Foundation, Lazy, Strategic and Learning.

For this second episode – let’s talk about The Awe Question – which focuses on the power of three short words.

And those three short words are …..And What Else? Just asking this single question will lead do deeper discussions and will also allow you to gather more information. Our natural reaction is to solve problems. Asking this question can still be tricky and the author gives us 4 points to consider.

One, don’t become over reliant on this question. Don’t slip into a habit of just asking this question without being genuinely interested in the answer. Also, ask the question a second time. This will cause the other person to think a little deeper about the situation. The third point reminds us to STOP asking the question at some point! At some point, there IS nothing else! Recognizing that moment, and moving on, is the fourth point.

So know you have a Kickstart question – What’s on your mind? And the Awe question – And What else? With just these two questions, you can already see the power of this process. Getting to the heart of the issue and helping people help themselves.

Next episode we will discuss The Focus Question. The author shares this introduction of the Focus Question “ in which you find out how to stop spending so much time and effort solving the wrong problem.”

Want to find other people interested in inclusive and assistive technology? Join us on Twitter every Wednesday night at 8PM eastern for #ATchat. Each week, Karen Janowski and myself lead an hour long discussion about tools and strategies for inclusion and accessibility for individuals with disabilities.

This week we focused on ways to make ATchat even better in 2020. And what better way to do that – than ask the participants! We had a really great conversation about a range of topics including:

How do we ensure we respect our audience of AT/AAC professionals and AT/AAC users (some of whom are both) when our focus is K-12 education?
Should we continue the Open Forum on a monthly basis.
We discussed the possibility of switching #atchat to a 30 minute weekly chat?
Continuing our experiment with a Zoom video call #atchat instead of Twitter.
Should we continue the Atchat book club again this year?

Some of the responses included a very deep, fantastic discussion about being inclusive to AT/AAC users and we are already implementing some of the ideas that were given. The overwhelming response from the group was to stay with an hour long chat into 2020 and to have our Open Forum once a month. The response was a bit mixed on the Zoom video chat and the book club.

Do you have some thoughts about the direction of #Atchat for 2020? Send me a message on Twitter or shoot me an email at mike@mmatp.com Check out the Wakelet from last week at http://bit.ly/atchat010820

Don’t forget – check out the ATchat spreadsheet at bit.ly/atchat19-20 for the Wakelet archives from all the past chats.

Thanks for listening. If you enjoy the podcast, please subscribe and leave a review! Do you have an idea for a future episode? Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast with your suggestion. It may just appear on an upcoming episode.

To stay current on all things Inclusive and Assistive Technology, follow Mike on Twitter at mmatp and visit his website at mmatp.com for Inclusive Technology resources and all the previous podcast episodes.

Episode 66 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

2020 Presidential Candidates Platform related to People with Disabilities
- AAPD Presidential Elections 2020 Info
Tool Time: Instructables Assistive Technology Contest
- https://www.instructables.com/contest/assistivetech/
The Coaching Habit: Say less, ask more and change the way you lead forever by Michael Bungay Stanier
- https://www.amazon.com/Coaching-Habit-Less-Change-Forever/dp/0978440749/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=the+coaching+habit&qid=1578000789&sr=8-2
Free webinar: AT Today – The Role of Accommodations in Specially Designed Instruction
- https://learningtools.donjohnston.com/webinar/at-today-the-role-of-accommodations-in-specially-designed-instruction/
#ATchat Update: No chat this week!
#ATchat Archive for 2019-2020
- bit.ly/atchat19-20

Transcript

Hello there! Happy New Year! Welcome to Episode 66 which will be released on January 6, 2020.

This episode we will have the usual updates on inclusive tools and an Atchat update. And – we will start our next deep dive coaching book. The book is The Coaching Habit: Say less, ask more and change the way you lead forever by Michael Bungay Stanier. This episode focuses on the first type of question: The Kickstart Question.

OK – let’s go!

As the calendar rolls into 2020, the run up to the November presidential elections will kick into another gear. But with all this talk from the candidates, we hear surprisingly little about their stance on supporting people with disabilities.

In order to learn more about their policy positions, the American Association of People with Disabilities, the National Council on Independent Living and the Rev Up Campaign have developed a presidential candidate questionnaire. This questionnaire has been sent to all the major party candidates and to date has only been completed by the following candidates:

Pete Buttigieg
Bernie Sanders
Elizabeth Warren, and
Marianne Williamson

The questionnaire consists of an Executive Summary which highlights their top 2 or 3 policy policies and how they will advance the full community integration of people with disabilities and 9 sections covering their platform. The 9 sections are:

Leadership
ADVANCING THE CIVIL AND CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT OF AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES TO BE INTEGRATED IN SOCIETY.
Health Care.
REDUCING UNEMPLOYMENT AND ENSURING EMPLOYMENT AND ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE.
Education
AFFORDABLE, INTEGRATED, and ACCESSIBLE HOUSING
TRANSPORTATION
TECHNOLOGY – which touches on the area of assistive technology
CLIMATE CHANGE AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS

I will include the link to the questionnaire page in the show notes. Each candidate is represented on the page and there is a link to their responses (if they have responded!) Dig into this and make sure the share this information with all registered voters. Remember Knowledge is Power!

Over the past several weeks, the website Instructables has been running as Assistive Technology Contest. If you aren’t familiar with this website, stop the podcast right now and head over there. This community of makers provide project plans to build just about anything. Got some cardboard, PVS and duct tape – I am pretty sure you can make about 100 different things off the website!

The Assistive Technology Contest is designed to produce some simple AT solutions. As of this recording, the Contest has 65 entries. The ideas range from adapted utensils to a student schedule with auditory cues, designed around a Makey Makey device, to a custom foot mouse. Want to check out the entries – visit the website at https://www.instructables.com/contest/assistivetech/

I enjoyed digging into Everyday Instructional Coaching over the past 7 episodes. I enjoyed it so much – I am going to make this a thing for the podcast! Starting with this episode, we will be diving deep into a new book: The Coaching Habit. Say Less, Ask More and Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier. This book is broken down into 7 types of questions we should be asking to support coaching. The types of questions are: Kickstart, Awe, Focus, Foundation, Lazy, Strategic and Learning.

For this first episode – let’s talk about The Kickstart Question – an opening question that gets the conversation happening fast and deep.

When I think about coaching, or facilitating a professional development session, I think about asking questions. I like to think this is a dialog – each of us having an equal part in the interaction. So I really like the idea of the Kickstart Question which is “What’s on your mind?”

When I read this – I instantly thought about edcamps. I am sure most of you have participated in an edcamp but if you haven’t – visit the edcamp.org website to learn about these amazing, educator led, grassroots learning events. The idea of an edcamp is conversations where we ALL lead. Not presentations with a leader – but conversations where everybody shares and learns. Basically, we all share “what’s on our mind”

Unfortunately, I have been to many edcamps lately that have lost that spirit. I don’t give up my Saturday morning to stare at the front of the room while somebody speaks at me for 45 minutes. Instead I want to be an active participant in the conversation. In fact, I make it a point when I lead an edcamp session with the question “What do we want to talk about today?”

This is the philosophy behind the Kickstart Question. Draw people in – let them lead the conversation. As a coach, I want to support educators. By letting them drive the conversation will create a deeper connection and a sense of trust between all parties.

Another topic of conversation in this chapter was a discussion about the 3 Ps Model. When asking questions – this model helps provide focus for our coaching conversations.

The 3 Ps are:

Projects: This makes sense as a starting point. What are we working on? What needs to happen in order to complete these projects? Most of our coaching support directly relates to completing a project.
People: Isn’t working with people sometimes the most difficult aspect of our day! How do we connect, collaborate, and work effectively to solve our problems.
Patterns: We all have behavior patterns in the way we work. Are these helping us meet our goals OR are they causing us difficulties and producing barriers to success? Having a deep conversation about patterns might not be the starting point during our coaching sessions, but once trust has been established this are of focus can provide the deepest personal and professional change.

Do you have a Kickstart Question you use during your coaching sessions? Share your thoughts via Speakpipe at speakpipe.com/itspodcast and I will include them in the next episode.

Next episode we will discuss The Awe Question. The author shares this introduction of the Awe Question “ in which the best coaching question in the world is revealed and you marvel at the power of three small worlds.

I had the opportunity recently to present a webinar for Don Johnston titled AT Today: The Role of Accommodations in Specially Designed Instruction.

Today’s classroom has more technology than ever before. But how are we leveraging this technology to support specially designed instruction to support the unique needs of every student. Topics covered in this webinar include:

Tools built into Google Chrome and tools that go beyond Google
Ways to identify the right individualized reading accommodations
How to support students with reading and writing tasks, and
Tools that make instruction more effective for educators.

This free webinar is now available on demand via the Don Johnston website and I will add the link to the show notes.

There was no ATchat this past week as we took a break for the holidays. ATchat returns on January 8, 2020 and we are always looking for ideas for conversation topics. Do you have an idea for a chat topic? Or do you want to lead a conversation? Send me a message on Twitter or shoot me an email at mike@mmatp.com We will get you on the schedule! Don’t forget – check out the ATchat spreadsheet at bit.ly/atchat19-20 for the Wakelet archives from all the past chats.

Episode 65 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Obital: Eyetell eye tracking app
- https://eyetell.io/
Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness: #7 Influence
- Nathan Lang-Raad’s Everyday Instructional Coaching: Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness
#ATchat Update: A Few of Our Favorite Things Part 2
- http://bit.ly/atchat121819
#ATchat Archive for 2019-2020
- bit.ly/atchat19-20

Transcript

Hello there! Welcome to Episode 65 which will be released on December 23, 2019. Happy Festivus! This will be the last episode of 2019. I will be taking a break for a couple weeks and unplugging.

This episode features the final installment of our deep dive into the Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness where we discuss Influence. Also in this episode we will have the usual updates on inclusive tools and an Atchat update.

Eye tracking continues to be the next frontier for AT access. In fact a new app was recently unveiled by the Copenhagen based start up company Obital. Their new app called Eyetell transforms any mobile device into an eye tracking access tool to support communication for individuals with disabilities.

The app works on any tablet or smartphone and uses a combination of the camera sensors from the device, along with proprietary sensing technology developed by the company. The end result – simply look at the screen to type of letters which are then spoken aloud.

To see the beta version of the app in action, and request early access to the tool, visit the website at https://eyetell.io/

In this episode, we are continuing our discussion of being effective technology coaches in order to promote teacher effectiveness – using the book by Nathan Lang – Everyday Instructional Coaching: Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness. This week we will be discussing the 7th and final daily driver, Influence.

Nathan kicks off the Influence chapter with the following statement:

Coaches can use their influence to create demand for, inspire, and catalyze change.

How do we, as coaches, reframe the focus from ineffective teaching to effective student learning? How do we drive positive change? Using our influence, we can promote an environment that encourages divergent thinking where imagination and lateral thinking are welcomed and used to creatively solve problems.

There are 3 strategies mentioned in the book to achieve this goal: couching, repositioning and championing dissenters over cheerleaders.

The first aspect, couching, looks at ways we can insert our divergent ideas into the already accepted framework of existing practice. That way, the new idea doesn’t feel so radical or far fetched. Repositioning is all about coming at a situation from a different perspective in order to make a meaningful connection.

Finally, we explore the concept of championing and, hopefully, converting a dissenter. The easier strategy would be to focus our energy on the cheerleader. You know, that person who has totally bought into the coaching and will shout it from the rooftops for everyone to hear. But constantly relying on that cheerleader actually encourages Groupthink, which discourages creativity or individual responsibility.

If we can connect with a dissenter and win them over with our coaching, we may actually cause others to look deeply at our ideas and practices. Dissenters also ask lots of questions which makes us crystalize our process – and could help us formulate a better coaching plan in order to promote student success.

Now that we have worked our way through this book, it is time to announce the next book I will be breaking down. I have been doing lots of coaching with AT teams lately so that seems to be where my professional reading is too. The next book we will be diving deep into is The Coaching Habit. Say Less, Ask More and Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier. This book is broken down into 7 types of questions we should be asking to support coaching. The types of questions are: Kickstart, Awe, Focus, Foundation, Lazy, Strategic and Learning. Each episode will focus on one type of question and I will hopefully get some guests to share their insights too.

Look for the first installment where I discuss the Kickstart Question in Episode 66 – which will be released on Jan 6th 2020.

This past week’s ATchat was part 2 of our two part year end extravaganza hosted by friend of the podcast Chris Bugaj. Titled A Few of Our Favorite Things – this two week chat gave us an opportunity to share tools and strategies that have worked for us this past year.

For Part 2 of this discussion, we focused more on reflections from 2019. Questions included:

What was your greatest professional achievement?
What is one thing you wish you did differently?
What is 1 goal you set for yourself in 2020?
What are some action steps you can take to meet that goal?
What do you expect to be the potential outcome of this goal? What do you hope to change?
What is your favorite tool, strategy, or methodology you use to increase your knowledge of inclusive practices?
What underutilized tool, function, or strategy do you wish everyone would come to use, learn, or know more about in 2020?

This is a perfect way to end 2019. In fact, I would encourage you to take a few minutes after you are done listening to this episode and write down your own answers to some of these questions. We need to take moments to reflect on our past experiences in order to improve.

To catch up on all the resources shared last week and learn from all the amazing responses, check out the Wakelet archive at http://bit.ly/atchat121819

ATchat is taking a break for the holiday and will return on Wednesday Jan. 8th 2020 at 8PM eastern. Hope you can join us!

To stay current on all things Inclusive and Assistive Technology, follow Mike on Twitter at @mmatp and visit his website at mmatp.com for Inclusive Technology resources and all the previous podcast episodes.

Episode 64 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Comcast partners with nuEyes to support individuals with visual impairments
- https://corporate.comcast.com/press/releases/comcast-xfinity-stream-nueyes-visual-disabilities
Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness: #6 Sincerity
- Nathan Lang-Raad’s Everyday Instructional Coaching: Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness
Winners announced for CTA Foundation 2020 CES Eureka Park Accessibility Contest
- https://www.ces.tech/News/Press-Releases/CES-Press-Release.aspx?NodeID=A7AEF1A4-18D1-4983-8F4E-0E690E4835DC
#ATchat Update: A Few of Our Favorite Things Part 1
- http://bit.ly/atchat121119
#ATchat Archive for 2019-2020
- bit.ly/atchat19-20

Transcript

Hello there! Welcome to Episode 64 which will be released on December 16, 2019

This episode features part 6 of our deep dive into the Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness where we discuss Sincerity. Also in this episode we will have the usual updates on inclusive tools and an Atchat update.

OK – let’s do this!

Comcast announced a partnership with a company called NuEyes which will expand the accessibility of its video products, both live TV and on demand content, for individuals who are visually impaired. Now the Xfinity Stream app has been integrated with the NuEyes 2. This is a virtual reality headset that is designed to enhance the individuals usable vision through the use of electronic magnification technology.

According to NuEyes, the e2, a wireless, self-contained “smart glasses” device, supports a “3K” LCD display (with resolution of 1440×1660) at a 90Hz refresh rate, and a 101-degree field of view. The headset is controlled with a three-button remote — one for variable magnification, a second for a set of contrast settings and a third for Optical Character Recognition/text-to-speech.

This partnership continues the accessibility support Comcast has been applying to their video content platform to enhance the usability for individuals with disabilities.

Nathan kicks off the Sincerity chapter with the following statement:

“Sincerity drives coaches to become the best versions of themselves and encourage teachers to do the same by illuminating teacher voice and supporting teacher innovation and creativity.”

How do you demonstrate sincerity in your coaching and interactions with other educators? Plus, while we are demonstrating sincerity – how do we Illuminate teacher voice and support creativity and innovation. It starts with our ability to connect with the educators we support. How do you feel you do in this area? We need to start from a place of understanding their goals which may be VERY different than ours. That’s ok. Once we work together and share in a comfortable, open environment we can work together to find common ground. This is less about asking “How do we get teacher buy in?” and instead wondering “How can we connect to their intrinsic motivational flow?” Understand their perspective, their values, what drives them and we will be able to identify a coaching strategy that will be successful. Adults learn differently – we must respect that difference and use that to build a foundation for our coaching success.

So, We are in exciting times right now. I have been waiting for this moment for a long time. My chronic procrastination has not only been validated by this book, but it has been given a much better name. Let me introduce you to STRATEGIC WAITING!!!

Right, isn’t that the best! Well now Strategic Waiters of the world unite – the book shares information from Grant that discusses the fact that procrastination actually inspires innovation and creativity. He even shares some famous examples of procrastination – Martin Luther Kings “I have a dream” speech, Lincolns Gettysburg Address and Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. So rest easy – you are in good company.

The idea of Strategic Waiting means that you are intentionally not acting on a project, thus increasing creativity and innovation because you allow the ideas to develop in your mind while new experiences shape your thoughts. So how can Strategic Waiting help us as coaches?

Lang provides a guide you can use with educators to promote this concept of Strategic Waiting. Set into a table format – the guide can move an educator through the process by asking what is the original task? Then there are spaces for Stimulus. Points to consider – thoughts to shape your action. Then the guide asks the following questions

Change or changes in the following
Purpose of the task
Content of the task
Manifestation of the task
And
Measurement of task effectiveness

The final section of the guide is a section for Reflection. We need to incorporate this into more of our work. The specific guiding question here is: Did strategic waiting prove more successful?

We will finish our deep dive into this book in our next episode. Next episode we will discuss the 7th, and final, daily driver – Influence.

Want to join the conversation? Talk about strategies you use to reframe the conversation to focus on effective student learning AND promote creative, divergent solutions.

Visit speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast to leave your audio message and I will include it in the next episode.

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA)® Foundation announced the selection of five winners for its CES® 2020 Eureka Park Accessibility Contest. These winners are sparking innovation and supports the mission of the CTA Foundation – linking seniors and people with disabilities with technologies that enhance their lives.

The five startups selected are:

Access Explorer: Cavu, an application for both iOS and Android devices developed by Access Explorer, provides turn-by-turn navigation in indoor environments for people with disabilities and older adults with age-related disabilities, with the aim to alleviate the common accessibility gaps present in indoor navigation.
Intuition Robotics: The company’s first product, ElliQ, is a proactive social robot for older adults that uses motivation techniques and proactive suggestions to keep users active and engaged by connecting them to their families and the outside world.
Loro: A robotics startup, Loro is developing a smart assistive companion for wheelchair users, which empowers its users with increased independence and connectedness by enhancing their vision, communication and safety.
Mieron: MieronGO provides a library of VR neurotherapy exercises such as upper body mobility, core stability and gait training, based on the principles of locomotive training, physical therapy and occupational therapy for all levels of mobility.
TranslateLive: The Instant Language Assistant device allows older adults and those with disabilities to instantly communicate with anyone they meet, in person or at a distance.

Each company receives a booth in Eureka Park at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show and $2500. To learn more about the CTA Foundation, visit http://www.CTAFoundation.tech.

This past week’s ATchat was part 1 of our two part year end extravaganza hosted by friend of the podcast Chris Bugaj. Titled A Few of Our Favorite Things – this two week chat gives us a chance to share tools and strategies that have worked for us this past year. All this sharing will raise the expertise level of the entire group and we all end up learning something.

For Part 1 of this discussion, we focused on sharing a tool or strategy a person could use to:

help improve the skill of decoding text.
improve the skill of spelling.
improve the skill of composing thoughts
improve the skill of handwriting.
improve the skill of completing projects on time.
improve the skill of maintaining social emotional well-being.

And finally, name or describe a thing in the world that is a good example of something that is universally designed.

So many great ideas, I don’t even know where to start. For decoding text, people mentioned digital books, text to speech support and Karen reminded us that nothing can replace high-quality reading instruction combined with self-selected independent reading (to improve decoding skills)

Another Friend of the podcast, Elisa Wern said “strategy tip cards on the wall and at desks with reminders to “chunk the word” and “go letter by letter” I have awesome teachers who have mnemonics for these things.”

For composing thoughts, how about hearing from one more friend of the podcast, Hillary Goldthwaite Fowles, says “Writing for a PURPOSE. Not for COMPLIANCE. Connect what’s motivating to the skills being taught. Use word banks, graphic organizers, sentence starters. Write a play- a movie script- a song- think beyond the 5 paragraph essay”

That is just a taste of the wonderfullness that was this past week’s ATchat. Want to read it all? To catch up on all the resources shared last week, check out the Wakelet archive at http://bit.ly/atchat121119 and make sure to join us on December 18th 2019 at 8PM eastern for part 2 of A Few of Our Favorite Things.

Episode 63 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness: #4 Discourse
- Nathan Lang-Raad’s Everyday Instructional Coaching: Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness
- Book Recommendation: Thanks for the Feedback – The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well
Tool Time: Seeing AI now supports 5 new languages
#ATchat Update: NO Atchat this week!
#ATchat Archive for 2019-2020
- bit.ly/atchat19-20

Transcript

Hello there! Welcome to Episode 63 which is scheduled to be released on December 9, 2019 . This episode features part 5 of our deep dive into the Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness where we discuss Reverberation. Also in this episode we will have the usual updates on inclusive tools and an Atchat update.

OK – let’s do this!

Big news this past week coming out of Microsoft. It was announced that the free Seeing AI iOS app has been updated to support 5 new languages. We have discussed Seeing AI in a previous episode of the podcast but if you are unfamiliar, this app provides audio support for environmental information. I am hesitant to call this an app for people who are blind or visually impaired – if you have heard my previous soapbox moments on the podcast, I would prefer to not categorize apps for certain disabilities. Instead I would prefer to focus on the functions of that tool.

So with that in mind – Seeing AI uses the camera on your mobile device to enable the user to take pictures of items in the environment and then it provides audio support for the individual. This includes text, money, scenes, barcodes, the color of an item and descriptions of people. This is an app for anyone who needs audio support to independently navigate an environment.

This latest update now supports the following languages: Dutch, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. If you haven’t downloaded this app yet, now is a great time to check it out.

Nathan kicks off the Reverberation chapter with the following statement:

Reverberation allows coaches to create meaningful feedback and meta feedback processes characterized by consistent dialogue that fosters trusting relationships.

Such an important topic related to effective coaching. Our goal is to produce an environment of sharing and dialogue that promotes success for everyone (the student, the educator and the coach). We do that through the creation of a feedback loop – a kind of back and forth dialogue that ensures that feedback continually improves behavior or solves a problem.

Looking at the why – what – how model as the basis for our reverberation, we need to understand the purpose or the why – before we can address the problem, or the what. Only after we address these first two areas can we discuss a proactive solution – or the how. Throughout these phases, both coach and educator are providing feedback on the process in order to move it forward.

The author shares 9 key points for effective feedback, which are based on the work of Hattie and Yates.

The feedback process resides in what is received and interpreted by a teacher, rather than what a coach gives or believes has taken place.
Feedback can work best when criteria for success are known to the teacher in advance, and where the goal to achieve such success is shared by the teacher and coach alike.
Feedback can best cue attention onto a task, with a known goal or sub goal and away from self focus.
Feedback must engage a learner at, or just above, the current level of functioning (which is defined by the current level of teacher practice)
Feedback must challenge the teacher to invest effort in moving forwards, and assure the teacher that is perfectly natural to experience difficulties when mastering difficult tasks.
Feedback is powerful when the building climate is one of welcoming errors and seeing disconfirmation as a natural and positive part of developing and exercising new skills.
It is optimal when feedback matches the content of the instruction given earlier and is in accord with available social modeling stimuli identified as worthy of emulation.
Feedback thrives in an environment where errors are welcomed and error training may be a worthwhile adjunct to increase the power of feedback.
Feedback is received and used by teachers when coaches themselves are prepared to adapt and adjust their methods and priorities in response to the outcomes indexed through teachers’ success on various teacher measures.

This is a huge area for me as a coach. Feedback – both giving it and receiving it. As a coach, the way we provide feedback can be critical to our success. More importantly, we must look at how WE receive feedback and, as was mentioned in Point #9, reflect and adapt how we provide support to the educators. Our feedback must be effective and actionable. Praise is not feedback! Praise is good – who doesn’t like being told they did a good job! But as a coach we must strive to provide feedback that produces a dialog to move the educator forward. Sometimes it might be uncomfortable – but learning is sometimes uncomfortable! If you are interested in this area of feedback – specifically how to receive feedback – one of my favorite books on this subject is Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen. I will add the link in the show notes.

We are almost finished with our deep dive into this book. Next episode we will discuss the 6th daily driver – Sincerity.

Want to join the conversation? Share your experiences on how you have illuminated educator voice and supported creativity and innovation.

Visit speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast to leave your audio message and I will include it in the next episode.

So there was no ATchat again this week because both Karen and I were unavailable to lead the discussion. But even though there is nothing to review from last week, I wanted to share an exciting development coming up for the next 2 weeks for ATchat. We are happy to announce that Chris Bugaj will be leading a two week ATchat event to finish off 2019!

This two week ATchat event is titled “A Few of Our Favorite Things..” and will give participants an opportunity to share a philosophy, tool or strategy used to support an inclusive learning environment.

I expect this to be an exciting two week chat and I hope you can join us on Twitter on December 11th and 18th at 8PM Eastern to join the discussion. Want to participate but you aren’t on Twitter? No problem – leave a voice message on my Speakpipe page – at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast – and I will make sure to add your message into the chat.

Prequel to Episode 63 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness: #4 Discourse
- Nathan Lang-Raad’s Everyday Instructional Coaching: Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness
#ATchat Archive for 2019-2020
- bit.ly/atchat19-20

Transcript

Hello there! This will be a really short episode this week. I decided to take some time over the Thanksgiving break and do ZERO work so I wasn’t able to prep a full episode. After the crazy travel schedule in November – I needed to recharge. And now I am traveling to Michigan for some team training this week so I am going to take the week off this week and plan to come back strong for Episode 63!

Episode 63 will be out on December 9, 2019 and we will continue to dive deep into the Everyday Instructional Coaching: Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness from Nathan Lang-Raad.

Next episode we will discuss the 5th daily driver – Reverberation. This chapter focuses on building an environment of constant dialog that creates a feedback loop and leads to powerful relationships.

Want to join the conversation? Share your thoughts:

How do you provide opportunities in your coaching for productive reflection? This includes opportunities for educators to share how THEY think the coaching is going. Share your strategies so we can all get better.

Leave an audio message on speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will include them in the episode

There was no ATchat last week as people enjoyed Thanksgiving with their families. Consider joining us on an upcoming ATchat. Want to see what we have already discussed AND see what is coming. Check out the #ATchat Archive for 2019-2020 at bit.ly/atchat19-20 for the Wakelet archive of every chat.

Episode 62 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness: #4 Discourse
- Nathan Lang-Raad’s Everyday Instructional Coaching: Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness
#ATchat Update: User Perspectives
- Read the Wakelet – http://bit.ly/atchat112019
#ATchat Archive for 2019-2020
- bit.ly/atchat19-20

Transcript

Hello there! Welcome to Episode 62 which is scheduled to be released on November 25, 2019 very late in the day! Sorry about that. I am coming off a hectic, with a capital HECTIC, travel week that saw me up for 40+ hours straight traveling and delivering workshops in two different states. If you wonder how that happens, I have two words for you: Poor planning!!

Anyway, this episode features part 4 of our deep dive into the Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness where we discuss Discourse, and we have some special guests sharing their thoughts too. Also in this episode we will have the usual updates on inclusive tools and an Atchat wrap up.

OK – let’s get going!

Nathan kicks off the Discourse chapter with the following statement:

Coaches can purposely use language in a way that creates a discourse to convey to a teacher that they value him or her as a person and professional and value his or her ideas.

So as you can guess, since I am taking the time to dive into this book across 7 episodes of the podcast – I really like this book! However, this chapter brings up a topic that I am struggling a little bit with and that’s why we have some guests today.

As you can gather from the quote above, this chapter is all about valuing every member of the team and most importantly, their ideas. Now when I say I am struggling with this chapter – it isn’t because I don’t value all members of the team and their ideas!

In fact it is the direct opposite – why WOULDN’T I value their ideas and promote an environment of collaboration. If I could jump on my soapbox for a second – it is like all those tweets I read from educators and edu thought leaders (Air quotes applied!) that are a variation of the statement “ Just be nice to kids” Well, duh of course I am going to do that – why do I need somebody to tell me that. OK soapbox minute is over!

Back to the chapter – the main area I am having a hard time with is under the chapter section called Strategies for Creating a Culture of Healthy and Effective Discourse and focuses on the idea of Speaking Tentatively.

Based on the work of Adam Grant, these principles of tentative speech, or powerless communication, aim to build influence by displaying vulnerability through the use of hesitations and disclaimers. Intrigued? Let’s dive into it some more.

Examples of powerless speech include:

Hesitations: using words like Well, Um, and You Know
Hedges: using words like Sorta, maybe and probably
Disclaimers: using phrases like “This may be a bad idea but …”
Tag Questions: Using phrases like “That’s interesting, isn’t it?” and “That’s a good idea, right?”
And
Intensifiers: using words like Really, Very and Quite.

OK so before I share my thoughts about this topic, I was lucky enough to be at the PATINS conference last week in Indianapolis – which by the way, is one of the best conferences I attend every year, just saying!

While I was there, I asked some of my colleagues their thoughts on this topic. We discussed powerless speech and then I asked them: How do you practice powerless speech in your coaching and is it effective? Take a listen.

Beth Poss: Hey Mike this is Beth Poss. I’m a speech language pathologist, assistant principal and have been coaching teachers and other Educators for many years. When I consider powerless speech or speaking tentatively my initial response is I’m not so sure about that – did you just see how I got that hedge in there. With that I do have to say however that as a coach it is important that your coachee feels that their ideas are important and that you are not there to tell them what to do but to help them figure out how to do what they do more effectively and I do think that you can use some elements of speaking tentatively in order to encourage others thoughts and ideas and to not overpower someone with your own ideas. However I really prefer to use things like I think I hear what you’re saying is; wow that’s a fantastic idea have you considered this. Instead of saying something like this might be a bad idea because why would someone listen to something that their coach says this might be a bad idea. But I do think there’s some components of powerless speech or speaking tentatively that can help establish relationships between a coach and a coaching or a group of collaborators but I do think it’s critically important that you don’t let yourself come across sounding ineffective or that you don’t believe in yourself instead make sure you’re listening to what somebody else is saying and that you’re open to other people’s ideas

Hillary Goldthwaite-Fowles: Hi I’m Hillary Goldthwaite-Fowles and I am assistive technology specialist and special education consultant from the state of Maine. Mike’s question – it definitely gives one pause at first when I read it I don’t know maybe this is a crazy idea and disarming but in retrospect it actually does bring itself to some more acceptance I guess of ideas and allowing people to have that opportunity to think about what you’re saying and not feel that it’s being imposed upon which is more empowered. The power is this is the way we’re going to do it kind of thinking that my way or the highway this is inviting people to think about your idea and allowing them to collaborate a little bit more and maybe make your idea better in the long run. We are always collaborating in education you know the working of silos is antiquated and having techniques like the ones that are mentioned in the book are important because it does honor I think people centeredness I guess. Maybe crazy idea, I don’t know, I get it does take some time I guess to acquire it but I realize my superintendent does this so it does it is effective because there’s always asking behind it so yes definitely something to add to your coaching toolkit

Chris Bugaj: Hello well my name is Chris Bugaj and I um work in assistive technology and I like to think of myself as an inclusive design facilitator and sometimes I get to do stuff out there in the world between presentations and stuff. I kind of think it’s an it’s an okay idea maybe to do the hesitations and to do a tentative speaking. Maybe it sounds interesting, probably a good idea but I think maybe kind of what might be better is or maybe something you use in tandem with this strategy maybe is to ask a lot of questions and possibly pause and paraphrase what the person is saying. I find I think anyway I kind of sort of listen to the person that I’m talking to when I’m in some sort of coaching situation and then I might rephrase kinda sometimes rephrase what I heard the person say then I might pause giving them a chance to either agree with my my summary of what they said my I mean. I think it’s interesting. I think it might be a good idea to to pause after paraphrasing what they said but then follow that up with maybe some sort of no follow-up question of some sort but one that is done in a way that gets the person to sort of it I think this is a good idea so to reflect on yeah reflect on what they’re thinking and what they’re saying. So I think that’s a good idea it’s working for me I think it is I think if you have to ask them but I think the people that I coach at work with I think, I think that they would say that that’s working and I think they think it’s an interesting concept of coaching that way and I think you know some people may find that it comes more naturally than others which is I think, maybe, why the authors of the idea of speaking tentatively needed to be expressed is that I’m certain that there are I am not certain but maybe maybe there are people out there that it doesn’t come as natural to and so you interesting idea that that you would have to maybe write it explicitly so or express that explicitly or a sort of tell somebody or they might have to read it explicitly to know to you know do this. So that’s I think what works for me I don’t know that work for you?

Chris taking it to the extreme with powerless speech and I am here for it!

These are great points, right? What do you think?

Seriously, I appreciate Chris’s take, along with Beth and Hillary’s thoughts. Just talking last week about this topic with them put me in a better place with this concept. Powerless speech can be a way to engage educators and make them feel they are part of the solution. Seems like best practice and, like Chris said, maybe doesn’t need to be explicitly shared. But then again, maybe it does. I am all in with Tagging Questions to engage others or using Intensifiers to garner interest in a topic. I still struggle a bit with the Hedges and Hesitations. I work hard to make sure my coaching environment is a comfortable place where every member is valued and I think adding in all those hedges and hesitations conveys an aura of uncertainty that could adversely affect the environment and potentially shut people down to the coaching process.

Want to join the conversation?

Visit speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast to leave your audio message and I will include it in the next episode.

This week Alyssa led the conversation again and our topic was User Perspectives. Such an important topic. In fact, it is so important that we already have plans to revisit this topic again in the spring.

The chat kicked off with the question: Why would you want to include user perspectives? Why is this important?

User @TuttleTurtle42 sums it up perfectly:

So many reasons. If you don’t you miss so much. You don’t know what something is like by making it or by teaching it, you know what it’s like by using it and needing it. It’s a completely different experience that is a completely different set of knowledge

1000 times yes! Listening to the user is critical to ensure success with an AT solution. But unfortunately, how many times are user perspectives ignored or not even asked for when we are looking to provide AT support. We discussed ways to include the user in every aspect of the AT service delivery and ways to increase research opportunities to include user perspective. It was a great conversation and I am looking forward to repeating this topic soon.

To catch up and read the chat archive – visit http://bit.ly/atchat112019

Episode 61 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness: #3 Inquiry

Tool Time: Tool Time: Dyslexia Go Android App
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.roundtower.android.education.dyslexia&hl=en_US
- https://round-tower.ie
Dyslexia Mythbuster Wakelet
- https://wakelet.com/wake/3bb9cfb5-65f0-45cd-923f-f342f212526f
#ATchat Update: Enhancing Writing with AT Supports
- Read the Wakelet – http://bit.ly/atchat111319
#ATchat Archive for 2019-2020
- bit.ly/atchat19-20

Transcript

Hello there! Welcome to Episode 61 which is scheduled to be released on November 18, 2019. This episode features part 3 of our deep dive into the Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness where we discuss Inquiry, along with the usual updates on inclusive tools and an Atchat wrap up.

OK – go!

Nathan kicks off the Inquiry chapter with the following statement:

Coaches can help teachers learn and grow not by telling them what to do but by asking questions and promoting inquiry.

Asking questions. For a coach, this might just be the most powerful tool in our toolbox. My job as a coach is not to tell you what to do, but instead empower you to acquire the knowledge you need to solve the problem. The chapter starts by highlighting one of my favorite strategies for asking questions. It’s Warren Berger’s three part system to develop inquiry: the Why – What if – How Model. I have often said in my trainings, my favorite question might just by Why? You can ask it over and over – with your end goal of getting the individual to a point of deeper thinking about a situation. The Why question causes somebody to stop their current track of thinking. The What If part can lead to an innovative solution to the problem at hand. And finally the How portion allows them to take the creative solutions and determine their feasibility in the real world. I love this questioning strategy because it doesn’t rely on the coach to give all the answers but instead to work collaboratively with the individual to determine a course of action.

Effective questioning is critical when we work collaboratively to solve problems faced by educators we support. Using the QFT, the Question Formulation Technique, we can facilitate this process and create innovative thinkers. The seven steps of this process, developed by the Right Question Institute, are:

Identifying the question focus
Following the rules for producing questions
Producing questions
Improving questions
Prioritizing questions
Establishing next steps
Reflecting

The book shares an impressive worksheet, the QFT Process Example, to use to develop effective questions and I will include the link in the show notes.

Next episode we will discuss the 4th daily driver – Discourse. This is the chapter that I want to discuss with people. One of the key focus areas of this chapter is the concept of Speaking Tentatively and powerless speech. I am heading to the PATINS Access 2 Education conference this week in Indianapolis and I am going to ask some friends their thoughts. I will include some links in the show notes about Powerless Speech for your review.

Want to join the conversation? What are your thoughts on Powerless Speech?

Visit speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast to leave your audio message and I will include it in the next episode.

I know October was Dyslexia Awareness month and my timing is a bit off with this edition of Tool Time. But I wanted to share a couple new resources to support students.

First, there is a new Android app from Round Tower Software Studio called Dyslexia Go. The app has three games in it – Spelling, Reading and Guess the Vowel – with more to come. Move through the games earning points which are displayed to you using Augmented Reality. There is Voice Recognition embedded to test the individual’s reading ability and even a camera feature which allows you to take a picture of a document and have the text OCRed and read aloud using text to speech. I have been using that feature and it has been pretty accurate. As this is an initial release of this app, I am looking forward to see where it goes. I will put a link in the show notes to the Google Play Store page to download the app. If you want to learn more about the app, visit the company’s website at round-tower.ie

Second, for #DyslexiaAwarenessMonth 2019, Dr Nadine Gaab shared & debunked a dyslexia myth each day. This was an awesome learning experience and I gained many new resources throughout the month. In order to check back on this info, I created a Wakelet archive of each myth from the month. I will include the link in the show notes. For tweets that were part of a thread, click the tweet and a new window will open and bring you directly to Twitter. Make sure to share this important resource with anyone and everyone!

Another week, another guest moderator! And this week it was friend of the podcast Kelli Suding! Kelli led a discussion about Supporting Writing with AT Supports and it was an action packed discussion. We started the discussion talking about barriers that impact writing. Everything from the environment to the skills the student needs to master in order to write effectively. Karen shared a tweet that sums up the needs of students:

Skills needed for Writing- Generate ideas, working memory to hold onto ideas, organization, sequencing, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation/Capitalization, ability to revise & edit, pencil control, letter formation, size & spacing. The obstacles can be anywhere.

After we discussed barriers, we dove head first into areas of focus. First up, tools and strategies for organization of writing. Again it was Karen sharing a powerful resource. She pointed the group towards the graphic organizers page on her amazing UDL Tech Toolkit Google Site. So much great information here – check it out at https://sites.google.com/view/freeudltechtoolkit

As we know, not all AT needs to be high tech and one of the questions focused on low tech writing solutions. I shared one of my favorites that I learned from a teacher I worked with. She needed raised line paper for her classroom, but it was too expensive. So she created a low tech solution and used a fabric pattern wheel to trace the lines on the paper to raise them! Such a simple solution and she could make as much raised line paper as she needed. These pattern wheels can be purchased at any fabric store for under $10.

Some other questions during the chat focused on tools and strategies people are using to assist students throughout the writing process. All in all, another fast paced, resource packed hour. We had over 250 tweets for the hour and tons of info to learn about. To catch up and read the chat archive – visit http://bit.ly/atchat111319 Thanks Suding for leading the conversation!

Episode 60 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Tool Time: Use Immersive Reader on Websites(Unofficial) Chrome Extension
- https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/use-immersive-reader-on-w/fmidkjgknpkbmninbmklhcgaalfalbdh
Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness: #2 Transparency

Tool Time: YiNotes Chrome Extension
- https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/yinote/fhpgggnmdlmekfdpkdgeiccfkignhkdf
#ATchat Update: Interacting with Research
- Read the Wakelet – http://bit.ly/atchat110619
#ATchat Archive for 2019-2020
- bit.ly/atchat19-20

Transcript

Well hello there! Welcome to Episode 60 which is scheduled to be released on November 11, 2019. This episode features part 2 of our deep dive into the Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness where we discuss Transparency, along with the usual updates on inclusive tools and an Atchat wrap up.

OK – go!

Tool Time: Use Immersive Reader on Websites (Unofficial) Chrome Extension

Do you know about Immersive Reader from Microsoft? This impressive tool is embedded into many of the Microsoft products including OneNote, Word, Outlook and the Edge browser. Not to mention it is now available as an embedded accessibility feature on some web tools such as Wakelet and Flipgrid. Among the features of Immersive Reader are text to speech, with customization of voice and speed; there is also the ability to manipulate the text on the screen and change the visual representation of the information such as font style, size and background color. Additional visual supports include increased line spacing and a line focus tool which will mask out parts of the screen to focus the reader on 1, 3 or 5 lines of text. To help with vocabulary, there is a picture dictionary that will provide support for word recognition. Translation will enable you to convert the text to another language. And finally, there are settings to break words up into syllables and highlight parts of speech, such as nouns, verbs, etc, with different colors. All this sounds amazing right? But what’s that? You are using a Chromebook and not using Microsoft products. Well, don’t worry! There is now a free Chrome Extension called Use Immersive Reader on Websites (unofficial). As the name implies, this is not distributed by Microsoft but it does work exactly the same as Immersive Reader.

Once the extension is installed, go to the website you want to read. Select the text with the cursor and then right click on the highlight. This is slightly different than a traditional Chrome extension, there is no icon that is shown along your URL bar at the top of the screen.

Once you right click on the highlighted text, there will be an option in that menu that says “Help me read this” Once you click, the text is transformed into Immersive Reader and all the features I mentioned a minute ago are available to use. This is a very slick free extension that can really provide an impressive suite of features for a struggling reader. I added the link to the Chrome Webstore in the show notes. Download this and try it out!

Nathan kicks off the Transparency chapter with the following statement:

“Coaches are able to create trusting, positive, and sharing environments when they are transparent about their intentions, their goals, and even their own flaws and mistakes in teaching”

As a coach, are you transparent? My initial gut reaction was to say, of course I am. But am I? Is fear stopping me from being transparent? We have all heard of imposter syndrome, right? Are you afraid of being “found out”? Or feeling like you are a fraud? Fear can be a powerful factor keeping us from embracing transparency in our coaching and our interactions with team members.

When you visit a school, we need to gauge transparency to determine the most effective coaching course of action. I have included in the show notes for this episode a pdf of a Teacher Survey for Gauging Transparency. I have incorporated some of these questions into an initial survey I send out to teams prior to working with them. Some of the questions include:

I have the freedom to express my own ideas to school leadership.
School leadership freely expresses its ideas to me.
I rarely hold conversations with other teachers in the building that school leadership isn’t privy to.
There are rarely conversations held in the school building that I am not privy to.
I have a visible and safe process for providing feedback regarding how the school is led
School leadership shares feedback with me using visible and safe processes.

I hope you recognized a pattern in these questions. Getting to the core of whether a school culture promotes transparency from the perspective of the educator and across the whole building.

Some strategies discussed in the book to develop transparency include

Walkthroughs: As a coach, hopefully you visit the classroom to observe the instruction. What happens after that visit? What type of feedback is provided to the educator? Also, we should have some agreed upon factors we are observing. These would be collaboratively developed prior to the walk through AND more importantly, feedback should be share in some type of shared forum, Like a Google Doc, after the visit to promote transparency and conversation.
Weekly Pulse Checks: This proactive strategy can highlight successes with coaching and illustrate areas of focus by surveying educators weekly. Five simple questions – maybe provided via a Google Form with a 5 point Likert scale with 1 being strongly disagree and 5 being strongly agree.
1. Everyone in the building is included in communication and collaboration.
2. Your coach supports you in promoting creativity and innovation
3. Your coach supports you in promoting positivity and passion
4. Your coach supports you in ensuring your students’ needs are met
5. Your coach empowers you with freedom and autonomy.

By focusing on transparency in our coaching, we are creating an environment where all team members are valued and their opinions are heard. This can lead to a more successful outcome.

Next episode we will discuss the 3rd daily driver – Inquiry. Want to join the conversation? The focus of this section is effective questioning. What are YOUR five most important questions in your AT work? Think about your own work and answer these questions for yourself. Take it one more step if you want and describe how you can use these questions to support teacher inquiry.

Visit speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast to leave your audio message and I will include it in the next episode.

Tool Time: YiNote Chrome Extension

Are you looking for a way to take notes while watching a video? The free Chrome extension Turbo Notes, which is now known as YiNotes due to a copyright issue with another tool, allows you to insert time stamped notes directly on top of YouTube videos. Simply install the extension and then once you have the desired video up in your Chrome browser click the icon and start typing your note. The note is automatically time stamped to that moment in the video – making it easy to return to that moment in the video later. Now there is no need to have two separate windows open simultaneously in order to take notes. There are some additional features available – including exporting to Evernote. Check out this free tool and see how it could help you with notetaking. It works on many different video platforms beyond YouTube, including Khan Academy, Vimeo, Netflix, Coursera and more. I will add a link to download it from the Chrome Webstore in the show notes.

For ATchat this week, we were lucky enough to have another guest moderator. Karen and I are thrilled that so many members of our PLN are willing to lead a discussion and share their expertise. This week, Alyssa, led a discussion on interacting with research. Reviewing and implementing ideas from research are critical to us as practitioners to ensure we are using effective practices to meet the needs of the consumers we serve.

Alyssa shared many research resources throughout the chat and that alone gives me plenty of reading material for the next few weeks! We discussed topics including where do we find research and interact with research in order to improve our practices. Many participants commented on the time crunch that causes us to not always have the time to read all the research that is out there. This time crunch is real and that is what makes learning opportunities like ATchat so valuable. We can each share resources that ultimately help the entire group. One question focused on what type of research people would like to see more about. Ideas for research topics included: eyegaze and AAC; community supports for independent living; text to speech supports for building vocabulary in students with print disabilities, and more. This was a great topic – and I really liked it because it is not a topic we have done in the past. Like I mentioned before – so many resources shared throughout the chat – you are definitely going to want to read this Wakelet. To catch up and read the chat archive – visit http://bit.ly/atchat110619

Episode 59 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Tool Time: Intellikeys Reborn!
- Download the Windows 10 driver from AT Makers
- http://atmakers.org/2019/10/windows-10-updated-driver-now-available-for-intellikeys/
Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness: #1 Collaboration
- Nathan Lang-Raad’s Everyday Instructional Coaching: Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness
#ATchat Update: Trends in AAC
- Read the Wakelet – bit.ly/atchat103019
#ATchat Archive for 2019-2020
- bit.ly/atchat19-20

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Well hello there! Welcome to Episode 59 which is scheduled to be released on November 4, 2019. This episode features part 1 of our deep dive into the Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness where we discuss Collaboration, along with the usual updates on inclusive tools and an Atchat wrap up. Plus we have a special guest this episode who will be sharing some exciting news about a certain piece of AT equipment reborn for the 21st century!

OK – go!

How many of us have old AT devices squirreled away somewhere. Maybe it’s your basement, a storage closet or the attic. You know those devices you just can’t seem to throw away. I have a whole area of my basement packed with old AT stuff – you know, a handful of AlphaSmarts, some discontinued switches and adapted mice and keyboards that I don’t even think I can plug into a modern computer. Well our friend Elisa Wern is here to tell us some news that might just get you picking through your storage space to dig out some old AT. Welcome to the podcast Elisa Wern!

Elisa Wern: Hi Mike and the Inclusive Technology 4 All podcast listeners. Thanks for having me on. My name is Elisa Wern and I’m an occupational therapist and RESNA ATP and I work full time for school district in Florida supporting students and their teams with assistive technology needs. I also do some teletherapy based AAC and AT work and in my spare time, I volunteer doing some work with AT Makers which is Bill Binko of LessonPix charitable organization. My project with them has been the revitalization of the Intellikeys keyboard originally developed by Intellitools. It was open source and the code and software released by Ablenet to AT Makers in hopes that we could update drivers and software. Well after a lot of work and way too long including connecting with the right people, some of which were the original developers so many years ago, we are very happy to announce a set the updated drivers for the Intellikeys to run on Windows 10 are now available. You can access it at the AT Makers website www.atmakers.org And you can reach out to me via Twitter at @wernedat if you have any questions. Please download and use it. We’ve already heard from a bunch of users who are happy to have access again on Windows 10. What’s up next for the project is setting up Intellikeys USB to be available cross-platform so stay tuned. Thanks Mike

Mike: Thank you Elisa and thanks to everyone who contributed to this project! I have been waiting for this announcement for a while so I can get some of those Intellikeys out of my basement and back into action providing computer access to the students and adults I work with. There is a good life lesson in there about never throwing anything away. With a group of dedicated makers around – all tools can have value again!

As I mentioned last episode, we had an amazing response to last week’s ATchat where we discussed the book by Nathan Lang – Everyday Instructional Coaching: Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness. Instead of trying to cram all the info into last episode’s ATchat wrap up, I figured we would dive a little deeper into each Daily Driver across the next seven episodes of this podcast. This week we will be discussing Collaboration.

Nathan kicks off the Collaboration chapter with the following statement:

“Coaches can establish a diverse, inclusive, purposeful, and collaborative community when they take the temperature of the school climate and invite people who have differing views to the table.”

When he talks about diversity, he not only means race, gender and age. We also need to embrace a diversity of educational roles, ideas, perspectives and educational approaches.

Another aspect of the Collaboration chapter focuses on implicit bias and how we, as coaches, address and provide remedies to this. He highlights the PAUSE mnemonic from Howard Ross’s 2014 book Everyday Bias. PAUSE stands for:

P: Pay attention to what’s actually happening beneath the judgments and assessments.
A: Acknowledge your own reactions, interpretations and judgments.
U: Understand the other reaction, interpretations and judgments that may be possible.
S: Search for the most constructive, empowering or productive way to deal with a situation.
E: Execute your action plan

Lang discusses three actions coaches can take to address bias and engage diversity. These could provide coaches with an excellent opportunity to promote a culture of collaboration with team members.

Create a list of unstructured processes and structure them. What do your interactions with team members look like each day? Are you interacting with the same team members? Why is that? What does your feedback system look like? Explore ways to create a system that addresses the needs of all team members.
Engage with teachers that are different from you. This is more than race, gender and sexual orientation – think about educators with different personalities and style of thinking. How can you engage others?
Encourage others with opposing viewpoints to speak out. Embrace dissonance! Challenge the status quo. Bring in other voices. We all know that “devil’s advocate” – how can we bring this person into the process and incorporate these voices into the culture of our learning environments.

The final area of focus we need to discuss today is how to work to ensure balance in our coaching. How do we respect and include both introverts AND extroverts? It is often easy to engage extroverts due to their outgoing nature. But how can we bring in those quieter team members who have so much to add to our team but might be reluctant to speak up. How many of us have cringed during a PD event when the facilitator announces a group activity? Or maybe an ice breaker activity? Can we, as coaches, provide a balanced experience that brings opportunities for individual “quiet work”. Recently during a full day training – in addition to the traditional groups activities – I added in a silent reading activity related to our topic. Then people were able to add their thoughts into a Padlet which we then discussed as a group. I have been working harder on providing different types of activities during PD events.

Next episode we will discuss the 2nd daily driver – Transparency. Want to join the conversation? One area of focus talks about strategies to develop greater transparency. Ideas mentioned in the book include walkthroughs, 360-degree appraisals and weekly pulse checks. What type of things do you do to promote transparency? Visit speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast to leave your audio message and I will include it in the next episode.

This week’s #Atchat was focused on issues and trends in AAC and our guest moderator was Carole Zangari. These are great conversations for me – AAC is not one one of my strong areas – so I am always excited to learn from my PLN! Carole had an excellent set of questions set up to generate conversation. We spent part of the chat talking about collaboration across disciplines in order to provide effective AAC service and trends people are seeing in their practice. People mentioned PD as a big trend. Creating and delivering professional learning opportunities, follow up training and coaching for ALL members of the team (including family members and para-professionals) to support the AAC user.

One trend that Carole brought up – that I had no idea about – was the push from ASHA to develop an AAC certification. The group spent some time talking about how this could impact the field of AAC service – both in a positive and negative way. Carole mentioned a concern from the field that funding sources may impact the ability to obtain AAC devices because an evaluation must be completed by a professional with the AAC certification. What would happen to individuals living in rural areas without a certified practitioner in the area? This is a concern for sure and it is a topic that should be watched closely. Check out the AAC Special Interest Group 12 at ASHA for more info. Their website is https://www.asha.org/SIG/12/ Overall it was another winner of an ATchat with 235 tweets across the hour! To catch up and read the Wakelet archive – visit bit.ly/atchat103019

Episode 58 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Technology for Specific Learning Disabilities (TSLD) Conference interviews – Part 2!
- Bridgette mentioned 3 apps for multimedia
- See the handouts and crowd sourced notes: bit.ly/tsld19schedule
Tool Time: Google Slides auto captioning gets an upgrade!
#ATchat Update: Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness
- Nathan Lang-Raad’s Everyday Instructional Coaching: Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness
- Read the Wakelet – http://bit.ly/atchat102319
#ATchat Archive for 2019-2020
- bit.ly/atchat19-20

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Well hello there! Welcome to Episode 58 which is scheduled to be released on October 28, 2019. This episode features part 2 of my interviews from the TSLD conference, along with the usual updates on inclusive tools and an Atchat wrap up.

OK – go!

In episode 57, we heard from several of the TSLD conference presenters and I am thrilled to present an additional presenter in this episode. Check out this quick interview with Bridgette Nicholson as she discusses her session from the TSLD conference. Take it away Bridgette!

BN: Hi Mike and thank you for inviting me to do a summary of the session that I did at TSLD. Firstly, I have to say wonderful conference. You and Karen did a fantastic job of organizing a conference.

My name is Bridget Nicholson I’m an occupational therapist and assistive tech consultant. I have been an OT and an AT therapist for 32 years. I live currently in Illinois and do much of my practice and work in Illinois but also do conferences and presentations and training around the country. My session was the Power of Multimedia for Learning. When I talk about multimedia, especially coming from an occupational therapy background, it’s really important for us to not just look at multi-media. We really have to look at the whole child. We have to look at multi-modal learning multiple modalities, different methods of learning and also multi-sensory learning. We definitely cannot move directly to multimedia and look at the media on the screen for learning opportunity before we even look at those cool exciting programs and apps and all the different media that’s involved, we really have to look at the child. So in the handouts that I gave, which I believe you posted so anyone that wants them can get to them, I do have a pretty complex mind map on Mindomo online. So there’s a complex map to do with multimedia learning but also multi-sensory and multi-modal learning. We really have to consider the child’s physical availability for learning, the physical set up, their posture and positioning, different types of seating and positioning and flexible positioning in the classroom, kinesthetic learning, haptic learning and doing to learn. Then we really have to look at if that child to set up emotionally to learn and even though a multimedia and exciting and fun applications and programs might make a student feel more confident and feel able to better participate in learning, we really have to be looking at whether the children’s emotional ready and available for learning before we start introducing all kinds of multimedia titles which for some students might be overwhelming. Then we really have to look at Vision – visual skills and modifications and accommodations for vision. Also hearing, I really in the work that I’m doing, I’m just don’t see enough – I didn’t see students using text-to-speech or listening to content enough and then also talking and speech to text or speech recognition and also voice recording. So we really should be having our students using verbal input not only speech recognition even just a very very simple act of recording your voice can be highly effective for learning. I also shared with attendees a data collection website – typingtraining.com Your students can get onto typing training.com and use every method of writing. Handwriting, writing on a page, typing on a keyboard with or without accommodations voice recording and speech recognition and the website will compare and contrast all of those input methods including if a student is writing on a piece of paper. The site will perform OCR and then come up with a words per minute as well as the voice recording the website will transcribe that. So I am going to leave you with three essential multi media apps these are probably my most favorite multi media apps. Shadow puppet edu the absolute simplest way of getting pictures on pages and having students just talk about those pictures. Every single child even if they using an AAC device can talk about pictures and show what they know that way. Book Creator is really one of my all-time favorite true multimedia writing tools and then Explain Everything is an app that allows students to actually create live video very easily to show what they know.

So I’m hoping that summarized it quickly enough away for people. To connect with me my Twitter handle is @Bridgetteatech So my name is the spelling is b r i d g e t t e r a t e c h and my email address is BNicholson@powerofatech.Info power of a t e c h.info Okay hope it was quick enough and I hope it’s useful information. Again thanks so much Mike

Special thanks to Bridgette for that great wrap up of her session. I will add the links to the three apps Bridgette mentioned in the show notes. If you would like to see the handouts from all the sessions from this year’s conference – plus the crowd sourced notes from each session – check out bit.ly/tsld19schedule And make sure to follow the conference website at bit.ly/tsldconference and on Twitter @TSLDconference for updates on dates for 2020!

Have you been using the Closed Captioning feature of Google Slides to promote accessibility? Well that feature recently got an upgrade! For those who haven’t used it yet. Once you put your Google Slides in presentation mode, a toolbar appears along the bottom of the screen with a variety of buttons. These include the buttons to advance the slides and a CC button. Click that and you are now using the built in microphone to capture your speech and transcribe that into captions. The recent update to this feature saw a small arrow appear to the right of this CC button. This is where the new functions live. We now have the ability to move the captions from the bottom of the screen to the top. A handy feature I actually just used yesterday at a presentation. In certain training rooms the screen setup causes the bottom of the projection screen to be too low to effectively show the captions so I was able to flip that to the top of the screen. We also now have the option for Text Size. Everything from Small to Extra Large is represented. This is equally as helpful as you may want to adjust this to accommodate the size of a room.

The one feature we still don’t have yet – the ability to capture the entire transcript of a captioning session. Hopefully, Google is listening and we will see that soon.

This week’s ATchat may have been one of my favorite discussions so far. Elisa Wern and I led the discussion centered around the work done by Nathan Lang-Raad in his book Everyday Instructional Coaching: Seven Daily Drivers to Support Teacher Effectiveness We used the sections of the book to discuss how to be effective coaches to the people we support with Assistive Technology. This was a great discussion and we were really able to explore the different ways we can support educators to promote student success with technology. Elisa and I introduced this book during our ATchat summer book study but we didn’t have a ton of participation so we figured – hey, let’s bring it back again during a weekly ATchat! And it did not disappoint!

The 7 Daily Drivers discussed in the book are: Collaboration, Transparency, Inquiry, Discourse, Reverberation, Sincerity, and Influence.

Let me give you a quick description of each of the Seven Daily Drivers.

Collaboration focuses on How can we transform collaboration by promoting diversity, embracing dissonance, and ensuring balance.

Transparency focuses on how Coaches can create a trusting, positive, sharing environment when they are transparent about their intentions, goals, flaws, and mistakes.

Inquiry focuses on how Coaches can help educators learn and grow – not by telling them what to do but by asking questions and promoting inquiry

Discourse talks about how a Healthy discourse can be created by presenting your questions speaking tentatively in ways that empower teachers and students, reframing the problems to help them problem solve in their own ways, and comm in ways that motivate and not push them aside

Reverberation focuses on Moving beyond Feedback to the Reverberation Cycle. The coach invites educators to give feedback not only on their own progress, but on how the coach supported their learning & growth.

Sincerity is all about a coach being able to self-monitor their interactions so they can encourage teachers and others to find their voice, if we coach from a sincere place, those we work with can be more willing to take risks and share.

And finally Influence. Here, Coaches use their influence to create demand for, inspire, and catalyze change. Part of this includes reframing the focus from ineffective teaching to effective student learning

So much to unpack from this book – I feel like I could do a whole series of podcasts just on this book. Hmmm – not a bad idea. Maybe I will incorporate one daily driver into the next seven episodes and we will dive deep into that. OK looks like I have a plan!

If you want to read the entire Wakelet archive from this past chat – go to http://bit.ly/atchat102319

Episode 57 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Technology for Specific Learning Disabilities (TSLD) Conference interviews
- See the handouts and crowd sourced notes: bit.ly/tsld19schedule
NJCART Hot Topics Webinar: Getting School Staff Engaged with AAC
- To watch live: bit.ly/cart102319
- Visit NJCART at njcart.net
Action Blocks from Google
- https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/accessibility/action-blocks/
#ATchat Update: Let’s Reflect on the Start of the School Year
- Read the Wakelet: http://bit.ly/atchat101619
#ATchat Archive for 2019-2020
- bit.ly/atchat19-20

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey now! Welcome to Episode 57 which is scheduled to be released on October 21, 2019. We have some great stuff in this episode including a couple interviews from last week’s inaugural Technology for Specific Learning Disabilities conference.

Let your voice be heard and you might be included in an upcoming episode! Leave your comments and ideas about topics for upcoming episodes. Visit speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast to leave your audio message. Also, don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review.

OK – let’s get started!

This past week on October 16th, the inaugural Technology for Specific Learning Disabilities conference happened in Wakefield Mass. Karen Janowski and I created this event to fill a void in the field of AT. A full day focused on using technology tools to meet the educational needs of students with high incidence disabilities. The conference was attended by over 75 educators, who attended 7 different concurrent sessions that hit on a wide range of tools, strategies and solutions to ensure that every student has a chance to be successful. In fact, the conference day started with a student panel. These three students – two from high school and one from middle school – really set the tone for the day by sharing their successes and strategies. Want to hear about the day – well, check out the following quick interviews with the presenters sharing three takaways from their sessions.

Karen Janowski: Hey Mike thanks so much for the opportunity to talk about the Technology for Specific Learning Disabilities conference. What a great day it was so fun to co organize it with you. My name is Karen Janowski I’m from Reading Mass, North of Boston and we just had a blast talking about inclusive tools that reach all learners, especially those with specific learning disabilities. My session was focused on free inclusive tools from Microsoft and Microsoft is doing some really exciting things in this area of reaching all Learners. Really coming up with some accessible inclusive tools. The first one that we looked at was called Immersive Reader and it is available for free for students and teachers through Office 365 and specifically one of the area’s I recommend is to open up Office 365 Word and then you go under View and any text it’s in there – open it up in Immersive Reader and you have some amazing features that can really help students better understand text and use the text-to-speech features. Another tool we looked at is called Seeing AI and that has the ability to do immediate optical character recognition and text to speech of short text, documents, as well as some other really cool features that people have fun with. For example, you can hold the camera up to a room of people and it’ll describe what the scene is it’s really fun. And the final tool that we’d looked at is called Office Lens and again it’s another free app available on your iPhone or your iPad and what you can do is take a picture of text and it will again do, if you open it up in Immersive Reader which is one of your options, it will do optical character recognition and immediate text to speech. So again that can bypass the students who had the issues for students who have difficulty with decoding and automaticity and fluency and it just bypasses their reading challenges and equips and empowers them for success and independence. Can’t recommend those tools enough and thank you again.

Nanci Shepardson: I’m Nanci Shepardson and I’m from Wilson Language Training which is located in Oxford Massachusetts and I did two sessions today. One on what the research shows in regard to the effectiveness of assistive technology tools. The three big takeaways I would say are that when we’re implementing AT it really needs to be done with thoughtful integration and purposeful planning. Insist on a lot of professional development so as you as the instructor – we want you to be fluent in automatic with the technology so that you can fully support your learner’s and then make sure to teach kids how to use tools when there is no looming deadline. Make sure the student feels completely comfortable with the tool before there’s anything at stake.

The second session I did was on Executive Function and how Executive Function can impact the writing process. The three big takeaways there are the importance of visualizing. A lot of times kids that struggle with executive function they don’t know what done looks like and so we need to provide a model for that so the kids know what they’re shooting for. Also it’s really important to use what we call the gradual release model so that we scaffold kids very carefully so we provide a lot of support up front and then slowly but surely hand the whole process over to the student but only as he or she is ready.

You can reach me at @nkshep which is my Twitter handle or my email is nshepardson@WilsonLanguage.com

Hillary Goldthwaite-Fowles: Hi I’m Hillary Goldthwaite-Fowles and I’m in assistive technology specialist in Kennebunk, Maine. I had the honor to present the session Until Remediation Clicks AT Sticks, Apps to support learners of various reading challenges at the first TSLD conference. It was amazing. I wish we had more time to do some Hands-On with the apps and designing actual experiences and leveraging those apps. The other take away is that there are amazing apps in AI that are just empowering kids and all types of Learners and the third take away is to use AT with remediation to really provide that grade level access in a way that makes sense for that learner. Really empower your learner’s to have that access we need both. If you would like to stay in touch you can find me on Twitter I am at @HillaryGFPhDATP or you can also find me at HillaryHelpsYouLearn.Com or on LinkedIn under Hillary Goldthwait-Fowles. I hope that everyone enjoyed the conference and I’m looking forward to the next one.

Special thanks to Karen, Nanci and Hillary for their willingness to share! I will share some additional interviews in upcoming episodes. If you would like to see the handouts from all the sessions from this year’s conference – plus the crowd sourced notes from each session – check out bit.ly/tsld19schedule And make sure to follow the conference website at bit.ly/tsldconference and on Twitter @TSLDconference for updates on dates for 2020!

On October 23rd, NJCART, the New Jersey Coalition for the Advancement of Rehab and Assistive Technology, will be hosting their next Hot Topics webinar. These 30 minute webinars focus of quick implementation strategies about an area of AT. This webinar is titled GETTING PUBLIC SCHOOL STAFF ENGAGED WITH AAC.

According to the NJCART website, the webinar description reads:

“Providing AAC services within a Public School setting can be challenging. This webinar will discuss strategies and activities which have been successfully implemented within an Elementary Public School Setting. Participants will take away ideas on how to increase school staff engagement with AAC users.”

Want to sign up to watch this FREE webinar live? Go to bit.ly/cart102319

If you can’t join the webinar live, don’t worry. The recording will be archived on the NJCART website. Check it out at njcart.net

Have you ever used the Shortcuts app on iOS? Reduce the steps needed to complete a task by creating a short macro. Well, Google recently announced a similar tool called Action Blocks. One difference is that Google is looking at this tool as an accessibility feature for people with cognitive disabilities. Think about a task you may complete that requires you to access multiple apps, with multiple steps within each app. Action Blocks will assist an individual that may struggle with the steps needed to complete a variety of tasks. This is the type of inclusive tool that could make a smartphone accessible and usable for a person with a disability.

Action Blocks is a set of commands sent to the Google Assistant to complete a string of tasks. Once the Action Block is created, a shortcut, with a custom image, is placed on the screen. Action Blocks is not available to everyone yet, but you can get access to it through the Google Trusted Tester Program. I will add a link to the story in the show notes.

For this week’s abbreviated ATchat, we reflected on the start of the school year. Chatters discussed one new thing they have trialed or used this school year; how did it work and finally what is something new you are excited to try this month. People mentioned various tools they have tried like Presentation mode in Powerpoint to allow students to practice giving presentations without having an audience. Lots of discussion about translation apps and the power of technology supports for communication. We also discussed electronic books and the use of services like Overdrive. Allowing students to have access to the book but not always completely accessible to screen reader users. Just because it is electronic doesn’t mean it is accessible – it just means it is available! Added features make it accessible. To check out the full discussion visit the Wakelet archive at bit.ly/atchat101619

Episode 56 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

New book: Universal Access through Inclusive Instructional Design: International Perspectives on UDL
- Check out the book description from Routledge
Podcast PD Episode 57: Is Twitter (still) valuable for Educators?
- https://podcastpd.com/podcast/is-twitter-still-valuable-for-educators-ppd057
Tool Time: Symbol It with special guest Kelli Suding!
- App Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/symbol-it/id1441561034
- Follow Kelli on Twitter: @ksuding
#ATchat Update: iOS 13 / iPad OS Updates
- Read the Wakelet: http://bit.ly/atchat100919
#ATchat Archive for 2019-2020
- bit.ly/atchat19-20

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Well hello there! Welcome to Episode 56 which is scheduled to be released on October 14, 2019. We have some great stuff to get to in this episode including a special guest for the Tool Time segment. I am excited for the Technology for Specific Learning Disabilities conference coming up this week. Karen Janowski and I have created this exciting event to focus on tools and strategies to support students. We have a jam packed day of presentations scheduled, including a student success panel. I will work on collecting some interviews with the speakers and bring those to you in upcoming episodes.

Remember – I want to hear from you! Leave your comments and ideas about topics for upcoming episodes. Visit speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast to leave your audio message. Also, don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review.

OK – let’s get started!

There is a new book available that discusses Universal Design for Learning and I am one of the authors! The book is Universal Access through Inclusive Instructional Design: International Perspectives on UDL and I was honored to be asked to write a chapter about an innovative professional development course I designed with Jennifer Edge Savage. According to the publisher Routledge, the book

“explores the ways that educators around the world reduce barriers for students with disabilities and other challenges by planning and implementing accessible, equitable, high-quality curricula.”

This impressive book has contributions from over 80 authors from around the world and is divided into the following sections:

Foundations of Universal Design for Learning, Accessibility, and Curricular Quality

Policies and Structures for Reducing Learning Barriers

Inclusive Classroom Design and Instructional Strategies

Technology Innovations for Inclusive Learning

Issues in the Design of Accessible Instructional Materials

Current Research and Evaluation in Inclusive Learning Around the World

Inclusive Instructional Design Cases

Future Directions

The chapter that Jen and I wrote is included in the Inclusive Instructional Design Cases section. Our chapter, “Spreading the Word about Assistive Technology and Universal Design for Learning: A Model for Professional Teacher Learning” focuses on our year long hybrid learning experience we delivered to groups of educators across Massachusetts. Our goal was to increase awareness about effective AT service delivery and meeting the needs of all learners with UDL. The flexible learning opportunities included full day live hands on training, webinars, social media chats and project based learning.

So if you are looking for new ideas about ways to incorporate UDL into your instructional design, check it out. I will post a link to the book webpage in the show notes.

Are you on Twitter? If you are, is Twitter still a powerful learning tool for you as an educator? This was the topic of the latest episode of Podcast PD which is hosted by a trio of New Jersey educators, Chris Nesi, Stacy Lindes and AJ Bianco. This topic really resonated with me. I find Twitter to be a very powerful learning tool and I am constantly encouraging educators across the country to get on Twitter. I don’t know how many times I have said: Become a connected educator. Grow your PLN. Get on Twitter.

Chris, Stacey and AJ had a very honest, open conversation about the value of Twitter and do they still use Twitter in the same way. These are three seasoned educators who have been on Twitter for between 5 to 10 years. These are educators who have cultivated a PLN, made connections and use those connections to sometimes reach out directly to experts instead of going out to the Twitter-verse. I agree that I use Twitter differently now but still find value in the connections I have and the opportunities for conversation. They mentioned that they don’t participate in many Twitter chats anymore but I still feel this is one of the most powerful ways to cultivate your PLN and learn from others. Listeners of this podcast know how I feel about chats – I include a segment in every episode of this podcast to highlight the previous week’s ATchat.

So what do you think? I want to hear from you about this topic. Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast with your comment and I will include these messages in an upcoming episode.

And check out Podcast PD – available on all your favorite podcast platforms. I will include a link to the latest episode in the show notes, plus make sure to follow the hosts on Twitter. Chris is @mrnesi; Stacey is @iruntech; and, AJ is at @AJBianco

So for this episode’s Tool Time segment – we are going to do something a little different. We have a special guest! I was going to share an app I learned about on Twitter from my friend Kelli Suding and then thought Hey why not ask her to share the app. Kelli was a trooper and sent me something right away – so without further ado, welcome Kelli Suding from the PATINS Project to the podcast

Kelli: Hey Mike Marotta and podcast listeners I’m Kelly Suding from the PATINS project here in Indiana. I’m just popping in to talk about the free app for iOS that I stumbled upon on Twitter and it’s called Symbol It. So Symbol It is an app that translates your speech into symbols in real-time. Yes, that is correct it happens in real time. It was devised based on the idea of developing language with augmentative communication or better yet you may have heard it called The Duel symbol immersion. Within the app there are some videos available that dive deeper into that idea that you should check out. The one thing that I really appreciate about this app is that even if you’re not familiar or you’re not proficient with augmentative communication, the app is super easy and it’s much like using Speech-to-Text or dictation on your iPhone or iPad. The huge bonus of translating your speech into symbols within this app is that you can select the building symbol system needed for that communication such as LAMP Words for Life, Picture Communication Symbols from Boardmaker and Unity.

Then once you select that symbol system, it automatically sets up your real time translated speech into that system. Then there are some additional settings of the size of the symbol and there’s option to scroll the screen at the symbols are larger you can also set it up to display the non symbol words in your sentence and it uses that coloring coding system of Modified Fitzgerald which identifies the parts of speech. Then for more visual accessibility, there’s also the light and the dark mode option. So this is an app like no other that I have personally seen and it’s one for sure that I will keep handy for inclusive and accessible communication with students when needed or on the fly I can also see it being used to quickly grab a symbol if needed in various situations especially in a classroom setting. This is definitely a resource to check out and why not it’s free, and when I say free I certainly do not mean without value. So that’s the app Symbol It and thanks for having me Mike.

Thanks Suding! Appreciate you sharing this awesome tool. I will drop a link to the Symbol It app in the show notes. Make sure to follow Kelli on Twitter at @ksuding for more fantastic information. Do you have an inclusive tool you want to share? Leave an audio message on Speakpipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will include it in a future episode.

On this week’s ATchat, we took a deep dive into the new iOS 13 and iPad OS updates from Apple. Listeners of this podcast have been exposed to the new updates, as I dove into iOS 13 in Episode 54 and iPad OS in Episode 55. For the chat, one of the first things we discussed was whether schools were still using iPads for students. For our group, it seems like most of the iOS devices are specifically provided as AT solutions. This led to another conversation about whether the AT apps were still working with the new iOS update. Participants reported some issues with the update but it seems like most people have had a smooth transition to the new operating system.

Some of the features we discussed included Voice Control, Mouse Control and the Markup feature for Photos. These inclusive features will provide powerful features for student success and community independence. I have been playing a bit more with Voice Control and I am really liking it more and more as a solution for an individual who is unable to access the screen of the mobile device. Many resources were shared throughout the hour so make sure to check out the Wakelet at bit.ly/atchat100919 to catch up on everything that was shared.

Episode 55 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Closing the Gap 2019 Wakelet
- http://bit.ly/ctg19-twitter
Project Core
- http://www.project-core.com/
TSLD Conference: 10/16/19
- bit.lt/tsldconference
Tool Time: Capti Voice
- Captivoice.com
#ATchat Update: Cultural Proficiency, Equity and AT
Read the Wakelet: bit.ly/atchat100219
#ATchat Archive for 2019-2020
- bit.ly/atchat19-20

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Well hello there! Welcome to Episode 55 which is scheduled to be released on October 7, 2019. Last week was the Closing the Gap conference in Minnesota. I wasn’t able to attend Closing the Gap this year but through the magic of Twitter – I was able to follow all the excitement and information.Lots of good stuff was shared throughout the week. I have compiled all the tweets into a Wakelet. Check it out at bit.ly/ctg19-twitter

OK – let’s get into it!

I am always looking for ways to encourage STEAM programs and Makers to use their skills to support the AT community. I have shared Bill Binko’s group, AT Makers, before but if you haven’t explored the website – you are missing out. Go to atmakers.org to see all the great work being done and join their VERY active Facebook group. Bill and I have had many conversations about the idea that the AT field and the Maker community are a perfect fit. The AT field has very specific problems that need to be solved in order to increase independence for people with disabilities. The Maker community loves solving problems. Let’s work together!

For this episode, I wanted to share a resource from the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies at UNC Chapel Hill called Project Core.

According to the website:

The primary goals of Project Core are two-fold:

Empower teachers and classroom professionals to deliver access to a Universal Core vocabulary and communication instruction during the naturally occurring academic and daily routines of the school day.
Improve the academic achievement of students with significant cognitive disabilities as evidenced by gains in their communication and literacy skills, and ultimately in their end-of-year assessments.

As part of the Implementation Model developed by this group, a full set of 3 D project files are available free on their website to download. These files represent the The Universal Core vocabulary.

According to the website, the Universal Core Vocabulary is

“ …. a set of 36 highly useful single words that can be used alone or in combination to communicate for a range of purposes on countless topics with a wide variety of communication partners.”

These 3d printed symbols can be used in a variety of situations to support a range of student’s communication needs.

The project website is http://www.project-core.com/ – I will post the website address in the show notes. This could be a perfect opportunity to build community connections. Reach out to local school districts and see if the STEAM programs will print these core symbols for you. This could be the start of a beautiful relationship that would be beneficial for both groups.

Are you in the New England area? Well then make sure you plan to join us for the Technology for Specific Learning Disabilities Conference on October 16, 2019. This full day conference will be held in Wakefield, Mass and I am proud to be one of the organizers, along with Karen Janowski.

We have assembled an impressive list of speakers that will be sharing insights about the power of technology to support students in the K-12 learning environment. Concurrent session topics include Using Google Keep to Promote Student Organization, Apps and Extensions for Support Literacy, The Power of Multimedia for Learning, How to Support Students with Executive Function and What the Research Says About Which Technologies Support Learners with High-Incidence Disabilities.

This is sure to be a powerful day of learning and sharing. To learn more about the conference, and to register, visit the website at bit.ly/tsldconference

For this episode’s Tool Time, let’s talk about Capti Voice. This powerful tool is available in different formats – it is a web tool, a Chrome extension and an iOS app. Available as a free and premium product, Capti Voice provides text to speech reading support through a variety of innovative features. Users can create Playlists of materials – gathered from various sources. Some of the sources include Bookshare, Project Gutenberg, Google Drive, One Drive, Dropbox, Blackboard, Canvas and more. Users can also add articles from websites using the URL link.

Once the material is in Capti Voice, it can be read aloud – high quality voices are available in the premium plan. In the premium plan, users can also annotate the page with 5 different colored highlights, add a bookmark or a comment, get the definition of words and translate text into over 100 languages. The visual representation of the text can be modified with a wide range of settings for the margins, line spacing, color themes, font style and color highlight. With the premium plan, users can write directly on the files, utilize the graphic organizer feature to collect notes in a sidebar, and even use the Word Challenge feature to gamify learning new vocabulary words.

With the educator version, there are a range of Teacher Tools available. Teachers can share content via Capti including Playlists, documents, word lists and annotations. Teachers can also create quizzes and tests and review student progress.

Many of the features that have been highlighted here are available in the premium version. Costs for the premium pro version starts at $1.49 month and the educator version is as low as $.50 per student. Visit the website, at captivoice.com, for more details and to learn about the other features.

We had a special guest moderator this past week for ATchat. Beth Poss led a discussion about Cultural Proficiency, Equity and AT. This important topic brought out lots of conversation. Beth had us look inward with questions like “How do you see yourself as an advocate for equity in the work you do?” and “How does your own cultural identity influence your work?”

Then the chat shifted to a discussion about how AT can aid individuals with leveraging disability, culture and linguistic diversity as a strength. I personally enjoyed this chat because it touched on a topic we don’t discuss enough during the chat. I appreciated all the opinions and the resources shared to dig deeper into this topic. If you want to check out the Wakelet archive of the entire chat – go to bit.ly/atchat100219 I will also add the link to the show notes.

Episode 54 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

iPAD OS First Impressions
- New Features: https://www.apple.com/ipados/
TSLD Conference: 10/16/19
- bit.lt/tsldconference
Tool Time: Amazon Alexa Show and Tell feature
- Watch the video: https://youtu.be/NDYSXvsnl4Y
#ATchat Update: Open Forum!
Read the Wakelet: https://wakelet.com/wake/4018b8b1-7662-4585-b4e2-0c3cb31deaf8
#ATchat Archive for 2019-2020
- bit.ly/atchat19-20

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey there welcome to Episode 54. This episode is scheduled to be released on September 30, 2019. I am coming off a great week last week with a successful statewide AT conference! We had 175 people join us for a full day of learning and sharing. Check out the session resources on the digital schedule at bit.ly/njats19schedule

We have some good stuff to talk about in this episode. But what do you want to talk about? I want to hear from you – leave your comments and ideas about topics for upcoming episodes. Visit speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast to leave your audio message. Also, don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review.

OK – let’s jump in!

It’s been a busy couple weeks for Apple. Last week we discussed some first impressions of iOS 13 and this week let’s talk about iPadOS. Once you have explored the new operating systems, what are your first impressions? Did you find a new feature that you feel will be really powerful inclusive feature? Tell me about it, leave a voice message at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast. Leave your name, where you are from and your feature. I will play the messages during upcoming episodes

Just like iOS13 – the Accessibility features in iPadOS have also moved to the main settings menu. All the updated accessibility features in iOS 13 I discussed last episode also exist in iPadOS. Features like Spoken Content and Voice Control. Check out Episode 53 for a deep dive into these new, updated features.

This updated operating system seems to be Apple’s first step toward positioning the iPad as a laptop replacement. Is it there yet? Not sure. What do you think?

OK – let’s discuss some of the specific features of iPadOS!

The home screen of the iPad has changed and now has the ability to have widgets along the side. Also – the app icons are smaller to increase the amount of items shown on the screen. The Apple Pencil features have improved in this OS. there is a redesigned tool palette, new markup tools and the ability to take a screenshot by dragging the Apple Pencil from either bottom corner.

There is a new keyboard feature called Floating Keyboard. With the on screen keyboard open, pinch from top to bottom. The keyboard will shrink to approximately 2.5 by 1.5 inches. On the small keyboard is a bottom toolbar. Touch it and you can slide the keyboard around the screen to wherever you want. This is a nice feature for a couple reasons. First, the floating keyboard is small and allows you to see more of the app you are in. Also, with that small keyboard – individuals with physical impairments may have better access due to the limited reach needed to access all the keys.

Want to work in two apps simultaneously? No problem with iPadOS, just use Slide Over. With one app open, just slide an app from the Dock and it will open up alongside your current app. You can even open two windows from the same app. So if you are working in Notes and want to start a new document – you can open these next to each other. This is an interesting option – especially for individuals that struggle with the steps of moving between apps to complete tasks.

Perhaps the biggest accessibility update that was delivered with iPadOS was the addition of mouse control! Mouse control is kind of hidden and it’s not really called Mouse Control so let’s get into it. Under the Physical and Motor heading in Accessibility is the Touch option. This is the new home for AssistiveTouch – which is our existing feature to support physical access to the device. Select Assistive Touch to get into the menu. Scroll down and you will see a couple options that provide physical access to the device. Under Pointer Devices, the first choice is Device. Select that option and you will be able to pair just about any Bluetooth pointing device. I say just about any device because there are a couple devices that are not supported, namely the Magic Mouse and the Magic Trackpad. But connecting your Bluetooth mouse to your iPad produces small circles on the screen – which looks similar to the AssistiveTouch gesture feature. Moving your mouse around the work surface will move those small circles to the desired location. Works well – check it out.

Another hidden gem is Mouse Keys. Those of us that have been around built in accessibility for a while know Mouse Keys. Turn it on and now you can move the AssistiveTouch pointer around the iPad screen with the keyboard number pad. Another nice way to add some physical access support to a tablet device. There is also the setting to tap the Option key 5 times to activate this feature.

As I continue to explore both iOS 13 and iPadOS, I will post my thoughts in upcoming episodes. I also included a link in the show notes to an article from Apple that describes the full list of new features in iPad OS.

Don’t forget – I would love to hear what you think about these iOS updates. Leave a voice message at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast. Leave your name, where you are from and your feature. I will play the messages during upcoming episodes.

This is sure to be a powerful day of learning and sharing. To learn more about the conference, and to register, visit the website at bit.ly/tsldconference

Amazon announced a new accessibility feature this week called Show and Tell. This feature rolled out to the Alexa Show devices. Simply hold an object up in front of the device and say “Alexa, what am I holding?” Using object recognition technology, the device will try to identify the object for you. Amazon engineers worked with the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Santa Cruz, CA to refine the feature and bring it to the public. I have been exploring the feature and have had some mixed results. When you first hold the object in front of the Show, you will hear a tone that will get louder as you move the object into the “sweet spot” for the camera. The Show was able to recognize a water bottle but struggled to identify a large cooking spoon. I will continue to hold things up to the Show to see how this feature progresses. Have an Alexa Show? Give this a try! I included a video in the show notes showing the feature in action.

This past week was the first Open Forum of the year. There is no set topic – people are encouraged to bring their questions and the wisdom of the group will provide some answers! As with all the Open Forums – this one was a winding conversation that touched on many topics. People shared some initial thoughts about the iOS 13 update and we discussed some upcoming conferences people were excited about including ATIA. A couple topics of conversation even got us some guest moderators and topics for future chats! If you haven’t explored the chat spreadsheet yet – go to bit.ly/atchat19-20 and check it out. Some upcoming topics include: Beth Poss leading a discussion about cultural proficiency and equity in AT; Carole Zangari discussing AAC Issues and Trends; Kelli Suding talking about Enhancing Writing with AT Supports; Design Thinking with Chris Bugaj and Self Care for AT Professionals with Cassie Frost and Elisa Wern.

Tons of other resources were shared during this week’s chat and I will post the link to the Wakelet archive in the show notes.

Episode 53 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

NJ Assistive Technology Summit
- Follow on Twitter #AT4NJ
- Conference website: bit.ly/2019njats
iOS First Impressions
- New Features: https://www.apple.com/ios/ios-13/features/
TSLD Conference: 10/16/19
- bit.lt/tsldconference
#ATchat Update: AT Solutions for Behavior / Emotions
Read the Wakelet: https://wakelet.com/wake/979eb3ec-9f3e-4b4c-9562-aabbd2a3ff39
#ATchat Archive for 2019-2020
- bit.ly/atchat19-20

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey there welcome to Episode 53. This episode is scheduled to be released on September 23, 2019. It’s a hectic week with the NJ AT Summit happening on September 24th. I am really excited about the day – 20 concurrent sessions and a keynote by my friend Chris Bugaj. With 200 + people registered we have reached our capacity for the training center. With 50 people on the waiting list – I guess we have tapped into something here in NJ. Get ready for next year – we are coming back bigger and better for 2020! I am thinking larger space, 2 days, more sessions, longer sessions … I could go on and on! Even if you aren’t joining us – follow all the fun on twitter with the hashtag #AT4NJ and also check out the conference website at bit.ly/2019njats We have the session schedule posted with a shared Google doc for every session. Speakers will share resources and participants will crowd source session notes.

OK – let’s jump in!

So iOS 13 was finally released this week. Did you update? I did as soon as it came out. I wanted to get my hands on it to check out some of these new features. Here are some of my first impressions – I will post future updates as I dig in a little deeper. What are your first impressions? Did you find a new feature that you feel will be really powerful inclusive feature? Tell me about it, leave a voice message at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast. Leave your name, where you are from and your feature. I will play the messages during upcoming episodes.

The first thing I noticed – the Accessibility features have made the main settings menu! No longer embedded under General, Accessibility is right on the front page. Just this visibility alone may lead to more people clicking on it to check these features out – so I call that a win!

Once inside the Accessibility settings, the groupings have changed slightly – with features moving around and heading changing. The new section headings are: Vision, Physical and Motor (which used to be called Interaction), Hearing, and General. The headings Media and Learning are now gone and those features have been absorbed into the other sections.

I want to jump on my accessibility features soapbox for a second. I get why Apple (and other companies) would want to group features together. But I wish there was some short statement that says something like “Even though this feature is listed under Vision, consider how this feature could help others without a visual impairment” I just know that I work with many people without vision impairments that use Voice Over or Speech features because they need audio support for text on the screen. So before I jump back off the soapbox, I will ask you to make sure you encourage people to look broadly at these accessibility features. OK – let’s talk about a couple new iOS 13 features!

The Speech features are now called Spoken Content and still live under the Vision heading. GRRR…. do I need to drag out my soapbox again? Anyway, we still have Speak Selection and Speak Screen. But we now have something called Speech Controller. Turn this on and a small arrow appears on the screen. If you use Speak Screen, this is the same arrow you see when the toolbar collapses. When you expand this toolbar there are the familiar buttons to play, move forward, move back and speed control. We also get a button with a finger on it. This is the Speak on Touch feature. Click the Finger Button then tap or drag on the screen to hear that text spoken aloud. You can customize the reading feature by selecting what happens with a Long Press and a Double Tap. Choices are Speak on Touch, Read All Content and None. Try this feature out – I have been using it since I downloaded iOS 13 and I really like this as a Text to Speech option.

One of the biggest accessibility updates we have seen in a while is the addition of Voice Control. Turn it on and control your iPhone with your voice. Want to navigate around the device? No problem – use the voice commands like Open Control Center or Open App Switcher or Open Notification Center. Want to open an app? Sure no problem – just say Open and then the name of the app.

Have you used Dragon Naturally Speaking? Remember the screen grid? Well, it lives on your iphone with iOS 13! Say Show Grid and an overlay grid drops over the screen with numbers in each square. Say the number and the grid will be highlighted with 9 smaller squares with numbers. Keep saying numbers until you are on top of the item. Say Choose number and it will select the item under that square. Very cool for sure! So turn this feature on and give it a spin. Don’t worry too much about knowing all the commands – try it out. If your command is not correct – your phone will offer up a suggestion.

The Markup tools have expanded with this new iOS update. We still have the ability to draw on a picture. But now there is a ruler to help draw straight lines. Hit the plus sign to open up a new toolbar with added features. There is a spot magnifier to enlarge sections of a picture. Want to add shapes to a picture? No problem – there are some shape options including a speech bubble and an arrow. You can now add your electronic signature to any picture and probably the biggest addition for accessibility is the ability to add text. Are you working with someone who needs to take a picture of a paper document and type on it? Now you can do that right from the device camera – no need for another app.

As I continue to explore iOS 13, I will post my thoughts in upcoming episodes. I also included a link in the show notes to an article from Apple that describes the full list of new features in iOS 13. Don’t forget – I would love to hear what you think about this iOS update. Leave a voice message at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast. Leave your name, where you are from and your feature. I will play the messages during upcoming episodes. Next episode, I will give my first impressions of iPadOS which is scheduled to be released on September 24, 2019.

This is sure to be a powerful day of learning and sharing. To learn more about the conference, and to register, visit the website at bit.ly/tsldconference

This week we had a guest moderator for #ATchat. It was friend of the podcast, Cassie Frost. And in keeping with life taking your plans and throwing a monkey wrenching at you, Cassie did the first part of the chat from urgent care because her daughter Kaitlyn cut her hand while cutting an apple. She is fine – and we are even considering a go fund me to get her a safe apple cutter! But on to the chat – the topic was AT Supports for Behavior and Emotions.

The questions focused on the types of tech supports we could provide to students that struggle with behavior and managing emotions. Chatters shared some favorite tools for supports students including the Calm app, which is free for educators. We also discussed managing tasks and time management. I shared a story about a student I worked with who needed a cue 5 minutes before class ended in order to prepare. If the bell rang without being prepared, he would have an emotional outburst and it would take the staff several minutes to calm him down. The school had provided an aide – and her only job was to prompt him 5 minutes before end of class.

Parents were considering an Apple Watch. Spending hundreds of dollars for this solution didn’t seem like the best choice so the team did some research. We found the Ditto Wearable. It is a small clip on device about the size of a quarter that runs on a watch battery. We loaded the app onto his iPad, programmed items into his calendar 5 minutes before the end of every class. When a notification popped up on his iPad, the Ditto app sent a signal to the device, which he had clipped to his shirt, and it vibrated. As soon as he felt that, he knew class was almost over and he started preparing. This was a powerful simple solution that increase independence for this student and only cost around $40. Check it out at dittowearable.com

Tons of other resources were shared during the chat and I will post the link to the Wakelet archive in the show notes.

Episode 52 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Website Accessibility: Simple Steps to Improve Access
- Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, 2020 Presidential Candidate ADA Compliance Meter Report
- WebAIM Alt Text Document: https://webaim.org/techniques/alttext/
TSLD Conference: 10/16/19
- bit.lt/tsldconference
ChewIt – Intraoral input device
- http://www.ahlab.org/project/chewit
Tool Time: Habitica – Gamify your Life!
- https://habitica.com/static/home
#ATchat Update: Challenging Your Thinking About AT Service Delivery
- Read the Wakelet: https://wakelet.com/wake/ca1fc459-7d59-4827-8aba-74d199560aa3
#ATchat Archive for 2019-2020
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

This is the intersection of assistive, educational and information technology. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, technology can promote independence and inclusive technology has become more available for everyone. Welcome to the Inclusive Technology 4 All Podcast with your host Mike Marotta.

Hey there welcome to Episode 52. This episode is scheduled to be released on September 16, 2019. I am ready to go – I just returned from speaking at the Kentucky Occupational Therapy Association conference and it was a great time. I was honored to be the keynote speaker and talk about inclusive technology and future technology innovations. I got to speak for a full day on Chrome as Assistive Tech – always a favorite topic. Special thanks to Rhonda and everyone at KOTA for having me.

OK – let’s do this!

There was an article in Time recently that discussed the fact that none of the websites for the 2020 presidential candidates were fully accessible to people with disabilities . In this day and age, it is disheartening to learn that this could be possible. But really, is it shocking? The author interviewed Virginia Jacko, CEO of the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired. She and her team evaluated each website on 10 criteria to determine an overall score. Some of the criteria included the availability for Alt Text for pictures and logos and the ability to navigate through embedded forms via keyboard commands. They rated each area on a scale of 1 to 4. None of the websites scored a 4 in all categories. The highest average score of 3.0 went to Joe Biden’s website, with President Trump’s website scoring 2.67 and the lowest score of 2.0 scored by Elizabeth Warren.

I will include a link in the show notes to the full report, The 2020 Presidential Candidate ADA Compliance Meter Report, from the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired website.

So what are some simple steps you can take to improve the accessibility of your website? The Next Web.com website recently published an interview with Vint Cerf, an early Web pioneer who is often called a “Father of the Internet”. Vint, who is hearing impaired discussed the current state of web accessibility and identified 6 simple steps that could provide web accessibility.

Stop autoplay of video and gifs.
1. Beyond just being annoying to most users, these videos could be dangerous to an individual with epilepsy. These fast moving images could trigger an attack. Provide simple options to allow users to turn these web features on and off.
Make your videos accessible with transcripts and captions.
1. Provide text support for audio content to ensure all users can benefit from your audio content. While we are on the topic of captions, make sure they are GOOD Captions! And by good, I mean don’t rely on services to auto generate captions. Have you ever read some YouTube auto generated captions? To say they are bad is being kind. If you are interested in this topic, check out Nikki Poynter on Twitter and follow her hashtag #NoMoreCraptions It’s not just video on websites. Podcasts are all the rage now – look, you are listening to this one! But how many of your podcasts provide a transcript? I don’t know what you listen to but I can guess it isn’t many! Content creators need to be better with this.
Provide alt text for all visual elements on the page
1. Without alt text, some websites will be “invisible” to individuals who use a screen reader. They won’t be able to gather any information about that page. Make sure to add alt text to pictures, graphics, buttons and any other visual element on the screen. Not sure how to write good alt text? I included a link in the show notes to a document from WebAIM all about alt text.
Provide effective autocomplete
1. For individuals with physical impairments, auto complete may be the difference between being independent on the web or needed to ask for assistance. If you use web based forms, make sure you are providing options for form fields.
Make accessibility easy to find
1. Does your website have an accessibility page? You know, a page that describes available features and how to turn them on and off. Just as important – is the page easy to locate? This is an area to discuss with your web designers to ensure that accessibility is baked into the design of your site.
Increase the size of clickable areas
1. If you are using buttons or forms, make sure these screen elements are large enough for an individual with a physical impairment. Also, make sure that as the website elements are sized correctly on mobile devices for ease of access.

While this list isn’t meant to be exhaustive, it is a good jumping off point to approach website design with accessibility in mind from the beginning – not as an afterthought.

This is sure to be a powerful day of learning and sharing. To learn more about the conference, and to register, visit the website at bit.ly/tsldconference

A device created by a graduate student at the University of Auckland may provide an access alternative for individuals with motor impairments. ChewIt, which was designed by Pablo Gallego Caston, is a lozenge sized wireless device that the user places in their mouth. Simply manipulating the device inside their mouth can send different signals to their assistive technology. Biting down on the device will produce a switch click. The device is equipped with a gyroscope and accelerometer that can translate movement inside the mouth to pre-stored “gestures” that could be used to person actions on the assistive technology device, such as a wheelchair or smartphone. The team plans to start a pilot program with users within the year. I will include the website from the University of Auckland Augmented Human Lab in the show notes.

For this episode’s Tool Time, I want to share an app I just learned about this past weekend at the KOTA conference. I was leading a session on AT tools to Support Executive Function and one of the participants shared this. The app is called Habitica. It is available for both iOS and Android.

So, what is it? I will let the tagline tell you: Gamify your life! Users create an avatar and receive points for each task that is completed. Set tasks, goals and to-do items. Then complete them to receive points and other rewards within the game. I like the idea of using this app with some of the students I am working with. Checking something off a check list isn’t exactly motivating them! But, if they could receive in game bonuses and get points, they might want to complete that task. There is also a social network component of this app that lets you join forces with other avatars to fight monsters and go on campaigns. Overall sounds like a great way to engage students and promote task completion. I created an avatar this past weekend so I will start using the app and report back in a future episode.

This week we tried something a little different. The topics this week were less questions and more provocative statements designed to generate conversation. How did it go? I thought it went well. Our overall theme was AT Service Delivery. First we got the conversation flowing with the statement that every student with an IEP needs an AT evaluation. The crowd was in agreement that this was not true but several of us have experienced this belief while out providing services. We addressed AT consideration – which does need to be provided to each student with an IEP. Other topics included a conversation about the AT Expert Model and school based AT professionals needing some type of AT certification. Overall, there was some spirited conversation with lots of great resources shared. I have included links to both the Wakelet arhcive for this chat and the spreadsheet to all the 2019-2020 chats in the show notes.

To stay current on all things Inclusive and Assistive Technology, follow Mike on Twitter @mmatp and visit his website at mmatp.com for Inclusive Technology resources and all the previous podcast episodes.

Episode 51 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Microsoft ElectionGuard
- https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2019/07/17/new-cyberthreats-require-new-ways-to-protect-democracy/
TSLD Conference: 10/16/19
- bit.lt/tsldconference
Microsoft Inclusive Classroom IT Deployment Guide
- https://support.office.com/en-us/article/inclusive-classroom-deployment-guide-for-it-8c722c1a-107c-4ba9-8d76-341afb364a98?storagetype=stage&ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US
Tool Time: Novel Effect app
- https://www.noveleffect.com/
#ATchat Update: Welcome Back!
- Read the Wakelet: https://wakelet.com/wake/26cc055c-c2c6-404d-9bca-43e7094cafc7
#ATchat Archive for 2019-2020
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey there welcome to Episode 51. We are back! And by we – I mean me and the podcast! And by back I mean I actually took some time off at the end of the summer. But Fall has arrived, schools are back in session, my schedule is back to its more familiar hectic pace and I am ready to jump back into the weekly format for the podcast.

I want to hear from you – leave your comments and ideas about topics for upcoming episodes. Visit speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast to leave your audio message. Also, don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review.

OK – let’s get into it!

Elections. Just that word evokes a host of emotions and spirited conversations that, frankly, we are not going to get into here since this isn’t Pod Save America! While I will leave the election talk to others much smarter than me, I do want to talk about voter accessibility. This issue should be at the forefront of the conversation: how do we ensure that our voting machines are accessible to citizens with disabilities. Enter Election Guard, a project from Microsoft. This is an open code standard that anyone can use to create secure digital voting machines that can remove barriers – making voting accessible to all.

By teaming up with a well known industrial designer, Tucker Viemeister, Microsoft was able to recently demonstrate a concept device made from mostly commercially available parts. The voting machine’s most striking feature is the inclusion of the Microsoft Adaptive Xbox Controller as the input method. With its two large access pads, a small directional keypad and access ports for many adaptive input devices, the machine will enable many individuals to use their personal access methods (such as switches, joysticks, etc). The device also has a QR code reader – so you could complete your ballot at home and simply scan your QR code at your voting location to have you vote cast.

When you look “under the hood” of this device, you really start to appreciate the focus on voting security. Using a new security standard, each vote is encrypted to ensure privacy. Due to the open source nature of the code, anyone could create apps to analyze the voting data in real time. Are you concerned that your vote was cast correctly? Don’t worry – each voter will receive a private key while voting that would allow you to go online after you vote and check your vote.

As we more towards the 2020 presidential election, hopefully we will hear more about voter accessibility. This system is scheduled to be piloted in limited unannounced locations next year, with Microsoft hopeful that the system can be rolled out by 2021. I will add the link to the project webpage in the show notes.

This is sure to be a powerful day of learning and sharing. To learn more about the conference, and to register, visit the website at bit.ly/tsldconference

When we discuss the needs of students in K-12 education and their need for customized technology solutions, professionals need to collaborate and work together. We won’t get anything done with an adversarial attitude towards each other (yep, I am looking at you AT and IT professionals!).

Microsoft recently released a document that could assist with supporting the deployment of inclusive technology features for student use. According to the website, The Microsoft Inclusive Classroom Deployment Guide for IT provides:

“Shows which features are available in which apps and which versions of Microsoft Office and Windows . This list will help IT Admins or Educators determine which inclusive features for reading, writing, math, and communication are available for deployment.”

Clicking a drop down menu provides you with the version of Office or Windows you are running. Then a table will highlight the list of inclusive features and the products they are available in.

The list of inclusive features is long and includes features such as Read aloud with simultaneous highlighting, adjustable text size and spacing, dictation, math solver, accessibility checker, automatic video captioning and much more.

Make sure to share this document with anyone at you school or organization that is in a position to manage computer supports for students. I will add a link to the document in the show notes.

For this week’s Tool Time, I want to share a pretty interesting reading app I learned about over the summer at TeachMeet NJ. The app is called Novel Effect and is available for both Android and iOS devices. Using this app could increase student engagement with reading by providing a unique soundtrack as the story is read aloud. First, choose a physical book you want to read. Then select that book in the Novel Effect app. As you are reading the book aloud, the app is listening to you and inserts a soundtrack at the appropriate spot to create a soundscape to accompany your reading. Whether it is adding sound effects or character voices – this app is sure to increase the student engagement as the book is read aloud. Using the microphone of your device to listen to you reading, these auditory cues are provided at the right time, every time. Even if you go back and re-read a page! I have been playing with this app and I really find that is adds another aspect to the reading experience. While some of the book selections require you to have the physical book on hand to read aloud, other books are provided as ebooks right in the app. Check this out and bring your read alouds to life!

Want to know one more thing that is back this week? Well, it’s #Atchat! We started the weekly chat this week with our traditional Welcome Back conversation. Meant to get us back into the flow of the chat, this chat is designed to make sure we, as AT professionals, start the school year right. Starting off right with regards to students and staff by discussing ways to make sure students have the technology they need to be successful and staff have the support they need in order to help the students achieve success.

The other aspect of this chat is to set ourselves up to have a successful year. That means reflecting on things that happened last year that maybe didn’t go as planned, and what we have learned from those experiences to improve this year. Chaters also shared resources that they have discovered over the summer to make them better professionals.

It was great to start up the chat again and I am looking forward to another outstanding year of learning, sharing and growing our professional learning network. I added the link to the Wakelet archive to the show notes, as well as the spreadsheet for all the chats for the 2019-2020 school year. While the only chat listed on the spreadsheet so far is this weeks, we are so excited to announce all the upcoming guest moderators and topics. Karen and I want to thank all the members of the ATchat family who have stepped up to offer to moderate a chat. Do you want to moderate ATchat? Shoot me a message on Twitter and we will get you on the schedule. We all have knowledge to share and I can’t wait to learn alongside all of you again this year.

Episode 50 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Google Nest, in partnership with the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation donating 10,000 Home Mini devices
- https://googlenest.reevefoundation.org/
2019 NJ Assistive Technology Summit
- bit.ly/2019njats
Tool Time: Book Creator AutoDraw
#ATchat Update: Summer Book Study
- Book: Everyday Instructional Coaching by Nathan Lang
- Voxer Group: https://web.voxer.com/chats/1453745589774_5231938335
- Resource Smackdown Padlet
- https://padlet.com/mmatp/altshiftwebinar6
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey there welcome to Inclusive Technology for All episode 50 scheduled to be released on July 29th, 2019. I’m Mike Marotta and this episode will bring you information about inclusive and assistive technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, inclusive technology has become more available for everyone.

Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review. Let me know how I’m doing and share topics you want to learn about. I’d be happy to add that to the podcast – leave your audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.comITSpodcast

OK – let’s dive in!

So who doesn’t like free stuff? Especially when that free stuff can help you be more independent. Google Nest announced that they are partnering with the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation to donate 10,000 Home Mini devices to individuals with paralysis. Voice Assistants are increasingly being used as Assistive Technology devices and when properly set up can provide a powerful environmental control system that can promote independence for many individuals with disabilities.

I will add a link to the program website in the show notes. You can only apply for one device and the offer is limited to the United States.

The eligibility requirements for the free device are:

You are living with a physical disability, mobility challenge, or paralysis you are eligible for a free Google Home Mini
You are a caregiver and providing care to an individual living with a physical disability, mobility challenge, or paralysis you are eligible for a free Google Home Mini

Then there are two questions to answer:

“How long have you or your loved one been living with paralysis” and
“How would you define your mobility level.”

Please share this information with anyone in your network who could benefit from one of these devices.

Big news for AT professionals in the NJ tri state area. Join us for the 3rd Annual NJ Assistive Technology Summit on September 24th 2019 at Mercer Community College in West Windsor NJ.

This year’s event is shaping up to be the best one yet. In addition to 20 concurrent sessions, we also have Chris Bugaj as our keynote speaker. The topic of Chris’ keynote will be Making Learning Awesome for All! Session topics focus on coding, AAC, environmental access, creating an inclusive classroom, AT consideration, building relationships with families and more. The sessions will be announced soon so keep checking our conference website for updates. Visit bit.ly/2019njats for the most current conference info and to get your FREE tickets. Yes that’s right – all this AT goodness is free. But act fast because there is a limit of 200 participants for this event.

Hope to see you on September 24th!

I have been providing lots of PD this summer to educators looking to expand their toolbox of tools and strategies to meet the needs of every learner. And the tool that has come up most often in these trainings is Book Creator. I could easily talk about Book Creator for roughly 10 hours but we don’t have that kind of time today!

For those unfamiliar, Book Creator is a content creation tool that provides a platform to create and share engaging, multimedia digital materials to meet the diverse needs of learners. You can create digital materials with text, pictures, audio, video, comic book layouts and more. Just a few weeks ago, during my two weeks working with educators in Lynn MA, I got to watch educators discover this tool and unleash their creativity to build engaging, accessible materials for their students. If you don’t have this tool already, pause the podcast and go buy it right now. The iOS app is $4.99 and I guarantee this will be the best $5 you spend all day today.

For this episode, I want to focus on the newest feature release – AutoDraw! How many of us have said – I can’t draw! With this AutoDraw feature – your artistic shortcomings are a thing of the past. Using Artificial Intelligence, start to draw an object to the best of your ability and let the app take over. The app will provide you with a range of suggestions for the item you are drawing – simply click this item and drop it into your book.

Other drawing features that have been added include Magic Ink – because who doesn’t want to draw with glitter! Also there are new pen styles like a paintbrush, a crayon and a highlighter. There is also an Emoji feature now. Have a favorite? Drop it into your book. There is also an Auto Fill feature. This will make it easier to create and finish drawings throughout the book.

Whether you use this tool as a teacher tool to create engaging, accessible digital materials – or your students use this tool to demonstrate their knowledge or unleash their creativity – Book Creator continues to be the go to tool for digital content creation.

Well #ATchat is on Hiatus for the summer but there is still an opportunity to collaborate with your PLN. We’re going to be doing a book club this summer. The book will be Everyday Instructional Coaching by Nathan Lang. I’ll put the link in the show notes.

We’re going to do this chat a little different this summer. The chat started July 17th 2019 and is going strong. Want to jump in? Go for it – we would love to have you participate. I will add the link to the Voxer chat in the show notes.

If you’ve never use Voxer it’s a walkie-talkie app. So it will be a little different from Twitter where we’ll actually be able to hear each other and share a little audio clips with each other as we have a conversation about this book. So hopefully you’ll join us.

The seven daily drivers that Nathan discusses in the book are: Collaboration, Transparency, Inquiry, Discourse, Reverberation, Sincerity and Influence.

Last week we focused on Chapters 1 and 2 of the book which focused on Collaboration and Transparency. One piece that jumps out to me from these chapters is the mnemonic PAUSE which is from Howard Ross’ book Everyday Bias. PAUSE stands for

P: Pay attention to What’s actually happening beneath the judgements and assessments
A: acknowledge your own reactions interpretations and judgements
U: understand the other reactions interpretations and judgments that may be possible
S: search for the most constructive empowering or productive way to deal with the situation
E: execute your action plan

I really like this and now I have another book to add to my TO Be Read pile!
If this conversation sounds interesting to you, jump into the ATchat Voxer chat. We would love to hear from you.

To stay current on all things Inclusive and Assistive Technology, follow me on Twitter @mmatp and visit my website at mmatp.com for Inclusive Technology resources and all the previous podcast episodes. Bye for now!

Episode 49 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Inclusive Interview: Hillary Goldthwait-Fowles & the Innovator’s Compass
- Innovatorscompass.org
- Connect with Hillary:
- Website: hillaryhelpsulearn.com
- Twitter: @hillarygfphdatp
- Email: hillary@hillaryhelpsulearn.com
#ATchat Update: Summer Book Study
- Book: Everyday Instructional Coaching by Nathan Lang
- Voxer Group: https://web.voxer.com/chats/1453745589774_5231938335
- Resource Smackdown Padlet
- https://padlet.com/mmatp/altshiftwebinar6
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey there welcome to Inclusive Technology for All episode 49 scheduled to be released on July 15th, 2019. I’m Mike Marotta and this episode will bring you information about inclusive and assistive technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, inclusive technology has become more available for everyone.

OK – let’s dive in!

I am so excited for this episode’s interview. I have been working with Karen Janowski for the past week conducting UDL training for a school district in Lynn, MA. This is our fourth summer conducting this training and introducing educators to the UDL principles and ways to provide flexible learning environments that promote success for every student.

Mike and Hillary presenting to educators in classroom

Mike and Hillary working with the educators in Lynn, MA

For one of the days this week, we had Hillary Goldthwait-Fowles join us and share her passion for providing effective learning experiences. Hillary and I have been talking about doing this interview since ATIA in January and it finally happened this week.

While the interview was a free flowing back and forth conversation – my new recording equipment didn’t quite cooperate! Hillary sounds great but my microphone wasn’t up to the challenge. So I have chopped up the audio and will introduce each clip with new recordings. Oh well, it is great to try new things and just like Karen and I have been saying all week to the Lynn educators – we model failure and we are always learning! Next time will be better for sure.

So Hillary – welcome to the podcast.

Hillary: Hey Mike I am so glad to be here today. We’ve had so much fun today with the folks in Lynn Massachusetts doing UDL. My name is Hillary Goldthwaite-Fowles. I’m an assistive technology specialist UDL lover and accessibility advocate and I teach in Maine but I love to travel and find new experiences and sharing the joy of udl interwoven with this wonderful framework of the Innovators Compass. The Innovators Compass is a framework that was developed by Ella Ben-Ur who’s also from Massachusetts and it’s rooted in design thinking principles but it’s a proactive process to help you get unstuck. It consists of five questions that you ask and the process can be messy it can be clean it can be whatever you want it to be but the end result of that is you actually have tangible action steps that you can build from as you are trying to get unstuck with everyday problems. Whether it be an issue in your classroom or how to use assistive technology or learning about the UDL guidelines it’s a very very powerful framework to use.

Mike: Hillary mentioned that we were in Lynn MA. We were able to run through the process with the group and it was exciting to watch them embrace it.

Hillary: It really really was. To see their mindset and to also give them this tool that really lets their own expertise shine. Educators come with such a variety of knowledge and expertise that as a trainer when you come into that I want to tap into that and the Innovators Compass is beautiful for doing that. It was nice to see people having choices of whether they wanted to work on their own or work in a group and find a guideline that made the most sense for them that inspired them. As something they really wanted to tackle and look at this through this lens of actually solving some problems around how do I implement this particular UDL guideline or how do I even big picture implement UDL or how do I find out what’s currently happening or wow I really want to dream big about something and I don’t have a vehicle to do that. This allows you to do all of that but it allows you to do it in a way that makes sense for you as a person and you can go back and revisit it because just like the guidelines they’re not static. It’s dynamic and it was great to see everybody just embrace it and really be uncomfortable with this kind of the flexibility, in the fluidity that we had going on. It was interesting to see that we don’t know what’s the time frame, what’s this, what’s that and we just said whenever you’re done let’s just make it rich and it wound up being a very powerful gallery of Compasses now that we have around the room that are living breathing artifacts that they can now refer to and actually use to inform practice and inform how the guidelines are being implemented in their setting and where they want to go from there. It’s very empowering.

Mike: So Hillary, walk us through the five steps of the Compass and I will make sure to add a link to the website in the show notes.

Hillary: There are five questions so you always focus on the it’s people as Ella always talks about POPIE – it’s a neat acronym. But it’s the people, the observation – so what’s currently happening, the principles which is what matters the most, the … people, observation, principles and then the dream big. This is where I get stuck this is a dream big part you kind of thinking without limit – that’s the ideas and then the E is experiment. So that’s something you’re willing to try and it comes kind of from that and it doesn’t always have to go in that order. You can mess around with that but it really helps you really bring yourself to a more compassionate, empathetic and heart centered place when you’re solving problems as opposed to – oh my gosh I got to get this put this fire out and I’m panicking. It allows you to pause and really get to the root of what’s going on and figure out okay I do have a solution this isn’t an intangible, this isn’t an impossible. I really can do this. It’s powerful to use with teachers, it’s powerful to use with students. I use it as part of the evaluation process when I do assistive technology evaluations.

Mike: In fact we talked about this during the group discussion, the idea of marrying this process to the AT evaluation process and with the SETT framework to help figure out what a student needs.

Hillary: Yeah, Joy Zabala I have to give a shout out here to Joy because as a new AT specialist 10 years ago, I had no idea. It was, I was literally, there was nobody in the state of Maine in the school district so I had no idea what I was doing and I went to our State Technology programs – by the way are amazing. I went to Maine site and Kathy Adams and John Brennan and Cynthia Curry were instrumental in making me, you know, kind of aware of what was going on, and Joy, and finding the SETT Framework gave me a compass for lack of a better word on how to do that. Then I met Ella and I was like it’s like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.

Mike: It is, it really is when you think about it. It is a yin and yang – they fit together so perfectly

Hillary: Yeah, It was great and so it’s almost like set your compass for lack of a better thing. But I float that over the SETT and what it does is it gives the people that are part of the team – because AT decisions, as you know, are team-based. It’s not just me telling you what to do, it basically gives a voice to every member of the team and it also give ownership. That’s a huge thing. We can make recommendations all day, but the people that are in the team, including the learner especially the learner, because it brings the learner to the center in a more powerful way. With that SETT mindset and they really explicitly connect it’s beautiful, and then you have the end action step that is the person that puts that on there that’s what they’re committed to doing. They’re going to try that and there’s also this it’s okay if it doesn’t work. It’s okay if it failed. We’ll try again when we run through it again. It makes it fluid I feel like it brings the SETT to life and I feel like it makes the Compass just so much more dynamic with the two together.

Mike: Yeah, that’s why I think about it as complementary because the Compass adds depth to the SETT and the SETT adds the framework on top of the Compass. And they kind of feed cyclically into each other.

Hillary: Yeah, absolutely. Joy talks about the re SETT – when you reset because it’s not just static. That’s where the Compass really makes that re SETT powerful because I can send that out to my team. I don’t have to meet face-to-face – I call be virtual – and Ella’s resources are all free just like Joy’s. You can go to innovatorscompass.org and download. All she asks is that you use the hashtag #InnovatorsCompass or tag Ella Ben-ur on Twitter, tag myself too. We share those, you know we just love to see how those stories unfold and how it’s being used to solve everyday problems. But it’s been a transformative in terms of providing training, meaningful learning experiences and an assistive tech evals.

Mike: Great stuff! If people want to reach out to you and connect – what’s the best way?

Hillary: The best way to reach out to me is on Twitter my handle is @hillarygfphdatp You can also check out my site www.hillaryhelpsUlearn.com or send me an email at hillary@hillaryhelpsulearn.com either way.

Mike: Thanks Hillary – I really appreciate you taking time to chat. Make sure to connect with Hillary and check out the Innovators Compass for a powerful tool for problem solving.

Well ATchat is on hiatus for the summer but there is still an opportunity to collaborate with your PLN. We’re going to be doing a book club this summer. The book will be Everyday Instructional Coaching by Nathan Lang. I’ll put the link in the show notes.

We’re going to do this chat a little different this summer. We will start in the middle of July. July 17th will start the slow chat so we’ll have one or two questions per week and we’re going to use Voxer as the platform. I’ll add the link to the Voxer chat group in the show notes also.

Episode 48 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Canetroller – accessibility for VR
- Research Article: Enabling People with Visual Impairments to Navigate with Virtual Reality with a Haptic and Auditory Cane Simulation
Tool Time: Voice Dream Scanner
- Voicedream.com
Tool Time: Soundtrap
- Soundtrap.com
Spreading the Word about AT/UDL for MA educators
- Eastern MA: https://t.co/cnZfCgoz4D?amp=1
- Western MA: https://t.co/dZiLC3HJE4?amp=1
#ATchat Update: Summer Book Study
- Book: Everyday Instructional Coaching by Nathan Lang
- Voxer Group: https://web.voxer.com/chats/1453745589774_5231938335
- Resource Smackdown Padlet
- https://padlet.com/mmatp/altshiftwebinar6
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey there welcome to Inclusive Technology for All episode 48 scheduled to be released on July 1st 2019. I’m Mike Marotta and this episode will bring you information about inclusive and assistive technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for Community success inclusive Tech has become available for everyone.

Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review. Let me know how I’m doing and share topics you want to learn about I’d be happy to add that to the podcast you can leave your audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.comITSpodcast

Virtual Reality is all the rage right now but what about in world accessibility for individuals who are blind? Researchers at Microsoft are working on a navigation tool, called Canetroller, which is a virtual white cane that provides the user with feedback as it moves through the virtual environment. This feedback mimics the feedback they receive in the real world when they touch and tap items to aid with navigation.

Since the user receives no audio or physical cues in the virtual environment, the Canetroller provides both audio and tactile cues as the user moves through the VR environment.

The system is comprised of three components. A VR headset, the Cantroller (which in real life is a small cane but can be modified in the virtual world to any length that works for the individual), and a belt. The belt includes a brake mechanism, a voice coil and a tracker. Three types of feedback are provided to the user via Canetroller:

Braking provides physical resistance and occurs when the user initiates contact with a virtual object with the Canetroller.
Audio feedback and audio cues are provided in the form of beeps when the user encounters an object. Tapping sounds are produced to mimic the sound a cane would create in the real world. Also ranges of sounds are produced to identify the size of objects encountered in the virtual world.
Tactile feedback is provided as the user swipes the cane around the virtual world. This feedback mimics the feel of a real world cane as it sweeps across different textures in the real world.

Hopefully the Cantroller will be integrated into VR environments that support Microsoft’s other tool, SeeingVR.

I will add a link in the show notes to learn more about the Canetroller.

I have been playing with the new app from Voice Dream called Scanner and it is quite impressive. For individuals who struggle with printed text, using text to speech is critical for understanding. The issue is finding a way to get that printed material into a digital format in order to utilize text to speech. Scanner uses the camera on your smartphone to take the pictures and then performs the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) of the picture to identify the text. Now the text can be read aloud. Other features include the ability to have the text read automatically after the image capture and a feature called ScanTone. With this feature activated, the app emits sounds that become louder as you capture more text. I have been using this feature in a transition program for young adults with cognitive disabilities. Now they can independently line up the text on the screen by listening to the tone, snap the picture and read the text instantly.

And just to make a great app a little better – if you purchase the app before July 6, 2019 it is 33% off! That is only $3.99 and it might just be the best 4 bucks you spend today.

Check out the entire family of Voice Dream apps in the app store or at the website, voicedream.com By the way, the other apps are on sale until July 6th also.

For educators in Massachusetts – do I have an opportunity for you! Jennifer Edge Savage and I have once again received a grant from the the MA Department of Education to run a year long hybrid, hands on learning course for educators across MA called Spreading the Word About AT / UDL.

This Professional Learning Institute will provide Educators with a thorough understanding of best practices in the fields of Assistive Technology (AT) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), as well as practical knowledge of the provision of Accessible Educational Materials (AIM/AEM). Working collaboratively through hands on activities, participants will leverage the power of available technologies and resources to enable all students, especially those with disabilities, to access the curriculum and improve their learning. Tools for considering and assessing an individual’s need for AT will be explored as will district wide processes for AT. The course is designed to provide ongoing online PLN support throughout the school year to facilitate practical classroom application of skills learned.

That sounds great right? Well it’s about to get better. This entire learning institute is FREE! Yep, free. While that is pretty great – I have one additional tidbit of info that will make it even better. All participants will also receive an iPad AND a Chromebook, along with additional apps and software supports to bring back to their district to implement the new information they gain throughout the year.

I know – it sounds amazing and we can’t wait to get started. I included the links to the flyers in the show notes. We will be hosting two cohorts – one in Eastern Mass. in Walpole and one in Western Mass in Springfield. So get those applications in today – the deadline is July 15, 2019.

If you are looking for an audio editing tool the works on multiple platforms, including Chromebooks, check out Soundtrap. I have used this audio tool in the past to promote UDL learning environments. Whether it is creating audio materials for students to read or a podcast platform for students to create, Soundtrap could be the answer. And now …. the free plan will allow users to create unlimited projects. This is huge! The free plan had been limited to 5 projects. To me, one of the most powerful features has been the ability to collaborate on projects in real time. Simply invite other users into the workspace and everyone can be adding to the audio project simultaneously. I have used this feature with students who will use this to create podcasts or interviews with each other for projects. So many uses – check out soundtrap.com for more details and to start creating!

Well AT chat is on Hiatus for the summer but there is still an opportunity to collaborate with your PLN. We’re going to be doing a book club this summer. The book will be Everyday Instructional Coaching by Nathan Lang. I’ll put the link in the show notes.

Episode 47 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

#ISTE 19
Xfinity X1 Eye Control
- Watch the video: https://youtu.be/N2Mit1iQ9Qw
TSLD Conference
- bit.ly/tsldconference
#ATchat Update: Summer Book Study
- Book: Everyday Instructional Coaching by Nathan Lang
- Voxer Group: https://web.voxer.com/chats/1453745589774_5231938335
- Resource Smackdown Padlet
- https://padlet.com/mmatp/altshiftwebinar6
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey there welcome to Inclusive Technology for All episode 47 scheduled to be released on June 18th 2019. I’m Mike Marotta and this on the road episode will bring you information about inclusive and assistive technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for Community success inclusive Tech has become available for everyone.

I mentioned at the top of this episode that this is a road episode of the podcast so I am in the middle of a couple weeks swing of a lot of road trips. In fact this is my second trip up to New Hampshire from New Jersey in the past 2 weeks. So I am doing this episode from rest stops as I go along my trip right now I am at a rest stop in Vermont. I’m heading up to New Hampshire to do some work for my grant with the State Department of Education looking at systems change and building capacity for teams working with students with significant disabilities.

Next week I’m really excited I’ll be at ISTE all week in Philadelphia so hopefully I’ll be able to run into some people for some of you will be there but really I’m going mostly to just be a participant for a change so I’m really excited to go there and learn find out some ways to look at the technology tools are out there for edtech and make them work for a variety of students in inclusive classroom setting. I’ll also be part of the Inclusive Learning Network playground on Tuesday so if you’re interested please come and check that we have a lot of Hands-On stations looking at ways the technology can be more inclusive for all learners. So make sure you follow the hashtag next week for ISTE which is hashtag #ISTE19 and you will gain tons of info I’m sure and if you’re around let’s connect somehow looked reach out on Twitter @mmatp let me down I’d love to sit and chat.

This week, Comcast announced an improved way to control your TV using assistive technology, including eye gaze! Xfinity X1 Eye Control is a web based remote that is compatible with a variety of alternative access methods from switches to eye gaze. This web control provides a software bridge between the assistive technology tools and the X1 cable boxes.

Once the system is configured, the user can control an array of functions including:

Changing the channel, launching the guide, search for content and set a recording. This bridge will also provide access to the X1’s accessibility menu which has controls for closed captioning, audio description and other settings. This looks impressive and I will add the link to the video in the show notes.

There’s an exciting conference coming up in August if you’re in the New England area. I’m proud to be partnering with Karen Janowski’s company Ed Tech solutions for the Technology for Specific Learning Disabilities conference on August 26th in Wakefield Massachusetts.

This one day conference focuses on technology supports for students with specific learning disabilities and will have a handful of speakers coming to join us for the day to share some insights in how technology can be used to effectively support all Learners in the classroom.

As of this recording, the confirmed sessions include: Keep your students organized; Until remediation clicks AT sticks: apps and extensions to support literacy; The power of multimedia learning; What the research says about which Technology support Learners with high incidence disabilities; and, What is executive function how do I support students with ef challenges and What technological tools support the EF challenge student in writing.

To check out the confirmed sessions and the speakers that will have joining us on that day for the tsld conference, check out the website at bit.ly/tsldconference all the information about registration, the sessions, the schedule and all the great stuff involved. So hope to see you there

Episode 46 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Apple WWDC – iPadOS Assistive Touch Mouse Control
PECS-AT NH AT Vendor Fair
- https://pecs-at.com/pecs-at-conference/
#ATchat Update: Moving from Reflection to Action!
- 4 Modes of Thinking. http://bit.ly/2VUQoaQ
- Six Keys To Turning Reflection into Action – http://bit.ly/2AWwBkL
- Read the Wakelet: http://bit.ly/atchat052919
- Resource Smackdown Padlet
- https://padlet.com/mmatp/altshiftwebinar6
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey there! Welcome to Inclusive Technology 4 All episode 46, scheduled to be released on June 3, 2019. I’m Mike Marotta and each episode will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, inclusive technology has become more mainstream and available for everyone.

Starting with this episode, I am going to move into my summer mode. What does that mean? It means that the podcast will be moving to an every other week format. Following the lead from this week’s ATchat – I will be taking some time to reflect and create some content that I can share after the summer. With the new schedule – the next episode of Inclusive Tech 4 All will be released on June 17, 2019.

Remember – If you are enjoying the podcast, please subscribe and leave a review! Let me know how I am doing and don’t forget – I want to hear from you! Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast Tell me what you are interested in hearing about and I will include your comments in an upcoming episode.

OK – Let’s go:

I am recording this episode on June 3rd and the big news today was coming from the Apple WorldWide Developers Conference. While there were announcements of new Apple hardware, what really excited me from an inclusive technology standpoint was the first official announcement of mouse support for the iPad. In fact, we got a whole new operating system called iPadOS. Check some of the articles on line that describe some of the iPad updates, including the redesign of the home screen with the availability of widgets.

Early reports from beta users indicate that the mouse function is working with USB and Bluetooth mice. In fact, this feature will be located in Accessibility settings, under AssistiveTouch. No word whether this feature will find its way into the Accessibility settings of the latest iOS update as well.

I will be keeping an eye on these developments and will share tidbits of info in future episodes.

For those in the New England area, join us on June 12, 2019 from 1pm – 7pm for the PECS-AT Vendor Fair.

Working under contract with the New Hampshire Department of Education, Jennifer Edge Savage and I are project managers for the PECS-AT project. PECS-AT stands for Plan, Explore, Create, Share Assistive Technology. Our two year project focuses on working with school based teams to provide effective, consistent Assistive Technology support for students with significant disabilities.

Many of the project activities are available only to the districts participating but this vendor fair is open to everyone!

We have lined up an array of vendors to share information about their AR products as well as National and Local AT experts to lead short presentation sessions. Finally, there will be scheduled edcamp style conversation slots available so anyone can lead a discussion on a topic of interest.

We expect to have a great day so why don’t you join us! The date is June 12, 2019 from 1pm to 7pm at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord, NH. No pre registration is required. I will post the link to the conference page in the show notes so you can check out the schedule of events and the confirmed vendors. See you there

As I mentioned in the intro, this week’s ATchat focused on Moving from Reflection to Action! As the school year winds down, it seems like a perfect time to reflect on accomplishments with an eye towards improvement.

Take a minute and pause this episode to get a pen and paper or open up a new word processing document. OK now that you’re back, I would encourage you to take some time to reflect on these questions.

Q1:Wikipedia states, “Reflective practice is the ability to reflect on one’s actions so as to engage in a process of continuous learning.” It is intentional and a conscious process. In our busy lives, how do you find time for reflection? How often do you reflect on your practice?

Q2: Explore the 4 Modes of Thinking – I added the link to the show notes. Which mode are you comfortable using? Which mode would you like to use more?

Q3: Review Six Keys To Turning Reflection into Action – I also added this link to the show notes. Are you able to envision a “next time,commit and do it?” What does that look like for you? What obstacles do you need to overcome?

Q4: How can you better foster relationships with colleagues, learners, administrators and parents?

Q5: Describe how you & your team utilize the QIAT Eval of Effectiveness to ensure successful AT implementation: Evaluation of Effectiveness of AT

Q6: What will your next steps be? What change do you want to implement this week after reflection?

Q7: How do you ensure a positive life/work balance?

Want to see what the participants said? Check out the Wakelet archive for the whole chat at bit.ly/atchat052919

Episode 45 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Accessibility with the Google Voice Assistant Video Playlist
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL590L5WQmH8fKuj1-29d9Ny2GGhYXEpL4
PECS-AT NH AT Vendor Fair
- https://pecs-at.com/pecs-at-conference/
Read My World app from Microsoft
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/garage/profiles/read-my-world/
#ATchat Update: Open Forum!
- Read the Wakelet: http://bit.ly/atchat052219
- PATINS Blog: “Helping Students Move Forward”
- https://www.patinsproject.org/patins-blog/helping-students-move-forward
- Resource Smackdown Padlet
- https://padlet.com/mmatp/altshiftwebinar6
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey there! Welcome to Inclusive Technology 4 All episode 45, scheduled to be released on May 28, 2019. I’m Mike Marotta and each episode will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, inclusive technology has become more mainstream and available for everyone.

If you are enjoying the podcast, please subscribe and leave a review! Let me know how I am doing and don’t forget – I want to hear from you! Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast Tell me what you are interested in hearing about and I will include your comments in an upcoming episode.

OK – Let’s go:

This week I stumbled across an amazing YouTube playlist. Google has created a playlist focused on Accessibility with the Google Assistant.

According to Google, the playlist is

“A series of videos designed to help the disability community get the most out of their Google Assistant and compatible smart home devices. “

The six video playlist includes:

Google Assistant Accessibility Story
Control your Smart Home with Google Assistant
How to use Google Assistant Verbose Mode with Chromecast
Google Home Audio Accessibility Features
Setting up a Google Home with a Screen Reader
Intro to Google Assistant Accessibility Videos

I will add a link to the You Tube playlist in the show notes.

For those in the New England area, join us on June 12, 2019 from 1pm – 7pm for the PECS-AT Vendor Fair.

Many of the project activities are available only to the districts participating but this vendor fair is open to everyone!

Microsoft announced a new Android app this week called Read My World. This tool was created as a Microsoft Garage Project and is designed to improve literacy skills, through building a deeper vocabulary. Simply take a picture of something in your environment and the Microsoft AI will identify the object, and announce the item aloud using text to speech. Words are also presented to support syllabification and spelling.

According to the website, other key features include:

Take a photo to identify an object from a library of over 1500 vocabulary words
Take a photo to identify vocab words in documents or other written mediums
See the spelling and hear the phonetic pronunciation of identified vocab words
Save photos with corresponding identified word to a personal dictionary for later reference
Practice saved words with any of three vocabulary games

This looks like a powerful tool for English Language Learners and individuals with emerging literacy skills. I will add a link to the website in the show notes.

This week was our monthly Open Forum. Lot’s of conversation on a whole host of topics. One topic dealt with how to reduce time when writing AT reports? Cassie Frost mentioned paying attention to the times of day you work best – without distractions. It was a tip she picked up from the book “When” by Daniel Pink. I added that to my To Be Read pile for sure!

Another topic of conversation was sharing how people are preparing students for summer break to make sure they continue to be successful and don’t suffer from a summer slide. Kelli Suding shared a blog post entitled “Helping Students Move Forward” I will make sure to add the link to the show notes.

Since the summer is coming and we hopefully have some time to recharge and learn, I shared a Padlet I had created for my #ATinMI group. I figured the more the merrier so why not get the ATchat folks to share too. This Padlet has columns for everyone to share a favorite web tool, app, book, podcast, article, TED Talk or other video, and blog. Please check out the link in the show notes. Lots of great stuff there already and make sure to add your favorite there too.

Check out the Wakelet archive for the whole chat at bit.ly/atchat052219

Episode 44 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

How to: Adding audio to Google Slides
Spedcamp NJ 2019 Session Board w/ Crowd Sourced notes
- tinyurl.com/spedcampnj2019
PECS-AT Vendor Fair 6/12/19
- https://pecs-at.com/pecs-at-conference/
InnerVoice App
- Innervoiceapp.com
- YouTube video
Microsoft AI for Accessibility Grants
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/ai-for-accessibility-grants?activetab=pivot1:primaryr2
#ATchat Update: Let’s Talk PD!
- Read the Wakelet: http://bit.ly/atchat051519
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey now! Welcome to Inclusive Technology 4 All episode 44, scheduled to be released on May 20, 2019. I’m Mike Marotta and each episode will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, inclusive technology has become more mainstream and available for everyone.

OK – Let’s go:

So this past weekend, we had Spedcamp NJ and I was lucky enough to facilitate two sessions with my friend Janet DeSenzo. One of our sessions focused on using audio and video to engage students in the classroom. We were excited to show a new feature in Google Slides that allows embedded audio clips.

If you haven’t tried it yet – open up Google Slides and let’s give it a go! Once you are in the editing view of Slides, go to Insert and then select Audio. Here is the important thing – you can’t record directly in Slides. You have to already have the audio clip. So what to do? Well, we were looking at a free voice recorder website called online-voice-recorder.com It is a simple tool that allows you to create audio clips, download them to your Drive and then insert them in the Slide. I will put the link to this audio tool in the show notes.

Now we can provide audio support to students in Slides or they can use this tool to leave their own audio in Slides. Like narrate a story or answer questions. So many possibilities. Explore this feature as a way to provide flexible supports to all learners.

I mentioned Spedcamp NJ before. If you want to see the amazing sessions that were presented, along with crowd sourced notes from each session – check out the digital schedule board at tinyurl.com/spedcampnj2019

For those in the New England area, join us on June 12, 2019 from 1pm – 7pm for the PECS-AT Vendor Fair.

Many of the project activities are available only to the districts participating but this vendor fair is open to everyone!

Last week, Microsoft announced the next round of grantees for the AI for Accessibility program. According to the website, “The program provides funding, support and collaboration to teams or individuals creating tools designed to empower people with disabilities. Grantees are awarded varying resources and credit for Microsoft services ranging in value from $10,000 to 20,000 depending on the project requirements.” The focus areas for the grants are Employment, Daily life and Communication. There is no due date for the grants, programs are funded on a rolling basis.

Included in the seven projects funded this year was the InnerVoice App. This app uses Microsoft AI to support people with autism read social cues and practice speech through the use of avatars and a chatbot. The user takes a picture with the InnerVoice app and that picture is converted to an avatar that uses the chatbot feature to carry on a conversation with the user. I added a link to the show notes that leads to the YouTube video showing the app in action.

For this week’s #ATchat, we discussed professional development. We approached this topic from two angles: you participating in PD events and you facilitating PD event. For the first series of questions we discussed the best PD you attended this year and what made it so great. Then we discussed what we changed about our practice as a result of a PD event we participated in. Finally for this section of the chat, we talked about a PD event we attended that was outside the area of AT and what made it so great.

The second half of the chat focused on providing quality, engaging professional learning experiences. We shared our tricks of the trade and what we do to ensure that we connect with learners and the information sticks. Karen mentioned making sure that the training is designed with UDL principles in mind. Give choice to engage your learners. Be active, allow other voices into the conversation. Training shouldn’t be a one way activity – it is a sharing of ideas, beliefs and information. I really enjoyed this chat – it might be my favorite topic we cover. Read the entire Wakelet archive at bit.ly/atchat051519 and get inspired!

Episode 43 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

The Inclusive Interview: Joan Green
- Visit Joan’s website: Innovativespeech.com
- Follow Joan on Twitter: @jgreenslp
- Get your free copy of Assistive Technology in Special Education
SpedCamp NJ
- 5/18/19: Long Branch, NJ
- Get your free tickets: spedcampnj.org
#ATchat Update: AAC Community Chat
- Read the Wakelet: http://bit.ly/atchat050819
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey now! Welcome to Inclusive Technology 4 All episode 43, scheduled to be released on May 13, 2019. I’m Mike Marotta and each episode will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, inclusive technology has become more mainstream and available for everyone.

If you are enjoying the podcast, please subscribe and leave a review! Let me know how I am doing and what types of information you are interested in hearing about. Also – Join the conversation and Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast I would love to hear from you and I will include your comments in an upcoming episode.

OK – Let’s go:

This super sized episode features our first Inclusive Interview. I was lucky to connect with Joan Green and she shared some of the impressive work she is doing to support individuals with disabilities and promote independence with the use of AT. Joan also gives us some exciting news about a resource giveaway. Enjoy this interview!

Mike: Well I am excited. Today is our official first interview on the podcast. So Joan has that excellent distinction. I am excited to talk to Joan Green today. Joan, how are you?

Joan: I am doing great, how are you?

Mike: I am very good, thank you. So Joan, tell us a little bit about yourself and your new book.

Joan: Thanks. So I am a Speech Language Pathologist with a special interest in using technology to help individuals and professionals learn more about how to get more out of all the devices that they are using to speed up progress towards whatever types of goals they might have. So I work a lot with individuals with communication problems, speaking, understanding, reading, writing and then also cognitive problems attention executive functioning productivity – anything within the scope of practice of a speech language pathologist. I received my Master’s at Northwestern and I worked in hospitals and rehab centers, home care and then as I started having my own kids – and I work mostly with adults who had strokes and head injuries for many years – and then as I started having my own children I started working more with my friends kids and now I’m pretty much I work half with adults half with kids. My kids are all little bit older my youngest one is 20 and my oldest one is 26 I have four kids and so I’ve kept up with technology also through them. And I just love what I do and my mission really is to help everybody out there you know families as well as professional to avoid being overwhelmed and try to figure out how to get the most out of their devices. I love the work that you just do I think we overlap a lot I’m not actually in the school system’s so I come at it from a parent perspective in the outside of the schools how to help how to help everybody just get more out of their technology.

Mike: I agree. We have very similar paths. While I do a fair amount in schools I also work with adults as well and kind of all disability types.

So tell us a little bit about your book. So I have in front of me hear you were kind enough to send me a copy I appreciate it. Assistive Technology in Special Education: resources to support literacy communication and learning differences

Joan: So what I did. This is actually the third edition of book, every few years I tend to write another because as we all know it it gets updated fast. In fact you know some of the information probably isn’t up to date right at the time of its initial publication but I think a lot of people like to hold a book in their hands when they’re looking at their iPad and when they’re looking at their computer to help them sort through all the different choices.

I also do lots of online training courses and webinars because I think it’s easier to stay up-to-date with technology use and Twitter and all these other things but a lot of people have told me they do appreciate an updated book and what I did is I tried to use my experience working with people with all kinds of challenges and ages I tried to think about what I tend to use the most and what my favorite apps are and accessibility features and online sites and I tried to organize the book so that it’s according to feature.

So you know really taking a look at, so first as we all know the SETT approach by Joy Zabala and so you have to think about the individual first and then what their strengths and weaknesses are and what features they might benefit and then what tasks they have to perform and then what tools might be best. And teaching explicitly how to use the tools but the problem is how do you know what you don’t know how can you really help somebody when you don’t even know what choices are available on these devices and so its- the big picture is – is that people don’t know what they don’t know and so I’m trying to just give a broad framework of options in the book.

Mike: I wrote myself a note because I wanted to make sure I compliment you on this. I loved the idea of your chapter headings mentioned technology and strategies for each area and I love that because it brings back exactly what you just mentioned. That idea of the feature matching and the range of low to high tech support we should be thinking about all the time. Let’s not go automatically to an app but let’s think about a strategy that may benefit that person right there and we don’t have to charge it or plug it in or download it but it just makes them successful.

Joan: Everybody’s different and I always go for the mainstream, more natural solution first. You know, so that’s why when it comes to tech using the features that are already built into all these systems the- you know -the speech to text or the dictation feature or recording somebody’s audio and having a sound file or all devices these days as you know can read out loud to us but a lot of people don’t realize that it is to me I’ve been doing this for so long and for many individuals that are really actively involved in this world of tech it seems obvious to try these things but I meet with people everyday and talk to people on the phone that just don’t even realize it exists.

Mike: Yes. I’m convinced we could go through the rest of our professional lives just teaching people the built in features of Technology.

Joan: Right, right. Things that used to cost hundreds of dollars are now free and included. They are not the best answer for everybody but they are a good place to start. Some people do need the more extensive, customized solutions but for the vast majority for a lot of people that these tools are just fine.

Mike: And the other part too is that I always find that the built in features of these tools that are built in – when they are great starting off points they’re great spots for us to start a trial to determine if we need to go forward. To have that background to say to a funding source I’ve already tried this and it felt like it would work but it’s lacking these extra features that the paid version has. That’s when it gets really powerful.

And so this is the exciting part of what you’re going to tell us. Share your info about the book and an opportunity for people out there.

Joan: I am pleased to announce that a generous man has donated 1500 copies of the book – that’s one thousand, five hundred copies to individuals who are professionals in the worlds of education, Healthcare, wellness and Rehabilitation. Basically a professional that spends their time helping children as well as adults that have have communication thinking literacy and productivity challenges. So anything within the scope of practice. He just knows how hard I worked on this book and he wants to have an impact of a really big impact because he thinks a lot of people just are not aware, as do I, of all of these available resources so this is his way of reaching out and trying to make a difference.

Mike: Tell us how people can connect to get a copy of the book.

Joan: So if you’re a professional or, if you are a family member I would say go to go to some professionals in and encourage them to sign up for this. On my website at InnovativeSpeech.com, there’s a pop up right now that says, that just has you tell you a little bit about the offer and you click on a link and then you go to a page and you just give me your email information and address and we will send you a book when it’s available. This is a special print run so it’ll take a few weeks. I know that the funding, the agreements that we worked out that he’s paying for including shipment within the United States. I’m getting a lot of people from all over the world so I’m not quite sure how we’re going to deal with that it will definitely be sent to you if you’re in the United States and I’ll see if I can find an alternate funding source to pay for shipments I mean really all over the world. I’ve gotten over 600 responses since Saturday , we still have books available and you know I also offer free 15-minute consultations with people all over the world and I offer free webinars at a website called TheyMayNotKnow.com

Next week I’m offering one on Wednesday about using AAC how to promote engagement with individuals with complex communication needs and I have a free Facebook page at isttechsavvysolutions.com I do a lot for free. I earn my living, I try to earn money with individual consultations and therapy and special training sessions but this is all about what I – I try to promote what I do for free so that money isn’t the obstacle.

Mike: I have been reading the book and I actually keep it right on the side of my desk drawer I’ve been I’ve been leaving through it and it’s it’s really very good so I would I would encourage anyone out there that is a professional working in the field definitely take advantage of this opportunity to build your expertise with this information and I’ll also make sure I put a link to all that information Joan in the show notes for this episode as well.

As we kind of wrap up, I had a couple questions I sent you – I warned you ahead of time I would send you a couple questions. I am going to pick one out of those couple. If you could change one thing about how technology is integrated into the lives of people with disabilities what would it be?

Joan: I saw that one and that was the hardest question I think. I mean like I think that how is integrated into the live so everybody has a different set of challenges and different definitions of success so I think that however so it means different things for different people in different circumstances at different times of their life. So I think that you know we really just have to use technology for the good so I’d like to see it used to present -to help people show what they know and to break down barriers to what they want to do but I don’t want it to be overused because it can lead to a lot of harm and bad things and so I think a lot of people are really turning away. Some people are turning away from technology altogether because they see the problems associated with it, which I do understand there are lots of problems. I think we just have to have a balance and be very thoughtful and mindful about how we use technology so that it does promote good and not lead to more problems.

One of those things I hate is when I go to a park and I’ll see a babysitter pushing a wheelchair and looking at her phone and not interacting with the kid and that the best part of my day is when I see kids out in nature playing and running around and doing all the things kids should be doing and not on tech. I would just like to see it used for good and to help people learn better and communicate better and be more organized so that they can spend the time doing what they want to do however they choose to define that. Does that make sense?

Mike: That makes perfect sense. Yes, excellent thank you. Joan, if people want to reach out to you, how can they connect with you?

Joan: My website again is www. Innovative speech.com and there’s a pop up that says do you want to chat. So I get a lot of – I probably chat with 4 or 5 people a , 15 minutes for free and I’m at @ jgreenSLP on Twitter I’m on LinkedIn

I am most often on Facebook have an Innovative speech therapy Facebook page and anyone wants to join the IST tech savvy Solutions and on that page everyday. I do have a membership site and some other things but to connect with me I are the best to start with.

Mike: that’s great Joan thank you so much for taking the time today I really appreciate it.

Joan: thank you and thanks for all the great work that you’re doing

For those members of my PLN who like in the NJ tri-state area – I want to invite you to an amazing event. SpEdcampNJ happens on Saturday May 18, 2019 at Long Branch Middle School in Long Branch NJ. Modeled after the edcamp unconference model, this event focused on special education topics including inclusion, accessibility and assistive technology. I am sure most of you have been to an edcamp already – and if you haven’t – what the heck are you waiting for! This is really the best kind of learning – participant driven, dedicated educators, tons of sharing and learning. It is the recipe for a perfect professional learning experience.

This is our 5th annual event and it is shaping up to be our best ever. To Get Your FREE Tickets, go to spedcampnj.org and click the registration link to secure your free tickets. I look forward to seeing you there.

This week we had a special guest moderator, Twitter user @endeverstar led a community conversation discussing AAC from the user perspective. Powerful stuff to say the least – and we had several AAC users participate in the chat and share their experiences with AAC, perspectives about community uses of communication devices, interactions with communication partners and more. Definitely check out the Wakelet to read all the comments. Go to bit.ly/atchat050819 to read everything

Episode 42 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

A&E TV Docuseries: The Employables
- https://www.aetv.com/shows/the-employables/about
Tool Time: Chrome extensions for reading
- ATIA Webinar: 5/23/19
- Chrome & Literacy Part 1: Reading Supports
- https://www.atia.org/webinar/chrome-literacy-part-1-reading/
SpedCamp NJ – May 18, 2019
- Spedcampnj.org
#ATchat Update: no chat!
- #Ditchbook chat: Creating an Accessible Classroom
- Blog Post
- Wakelet archive
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey now! Welcome to Inclusive Technology 4 All episode 42, scheduled to be released on May 6, 2019. I’m Mike Marotta and each episode will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, inclusive technology has become more mainstream and available for everyone.

If you are enjoying the podcast, please subscribe and leave a review! Let me know how I am doing and what types of information you are interested in hearing about. Also – Join the conversation and Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast I would love to hear from you and share your insights during a future episode. I will also be recording some interviews for future episodes so stay tuned for that.

OK – Let’s jump in:

Make sure to set your DVR – a new docuseries will be starting on May 15th on A&E called The Employables. This series will follow job seekers with disabilities, including autism and Tourette Syndrome, as they navigate obstacles to become employed. With guidance from professionals, they will work to identify strengths that can lead to employment success. Each episode follows two job seekers through the process of finding employment, including insights from friends and family members as they support the individuals. I will put a link to the series preview in the show notes.

I want to let everyone know about an upcoming Twitter chat focused on Inclusive Classrooms and Accessibility. The Microsoft EDU chat will take place on May 21st at 1PM eastern and I am proud to be one of the hosts for the chat. Make sure you mark it on your calendar and join us to share your knowledge and grow your PLN. This will be a global conversation all around the same topic. You don’t want to miss it! Follow the hashtag #MSFTEduChat for more info leading up to the chat and I will talk to you on May 21st.

Google chrome continues to be the platform of choice for education. It is critical for educators to consider the way they can use these tools to support students literacy needs. For this episode, let’s focus on tools to support reading. I always start with built in features. What is part of the suite of built in accessibility features that we can use to support reading? First, have you tried using Select to Speak? This powerful text to speech tool is now part of the accessibility suite of the Chrome OS. Turn on this feature and select text on the screen. Select to Speak will produce a box around your selection and begin reading back your selection, with word for word highlighting. Powerful solution for reading accessible text from the Chrome browser.

I have mentioned Chrome extensions like Read and Write for Google from Text Help and Snap and Read from Don Johnston in past episodes. For this episode I want to highlight an extension called Announcify. This free text to speech extension provides a slightly different reading support. Announcify changes the visual representation of the page by simplifying the page and removing unnecessary elements. Then once you select the speak button, instead of providing word by word highlighting, this tool will blur out the entire page except for the paragraph being read. It is a different kind of support but one that I have used successfully with several students. Other settings include the ability to change the voice and speed.

Want to learn more about this topic? Join me and Kelly Fonner for Part 1 of our 2 part Chrome and Literacy webinar series for ATIA. Part 1, which focuses on Reading, is on May 23, 2019 from 3:30 to 4:40 pm eastern. I will add the link to the webinar in the show notes.

On a future episode of this podcast, we will focus on Chrome and Literacy Writing supports which is part 2 of the ATIA webinar series and happens on June 5, 2019.

We had a night off this past week from #ATchat. But luckily there was a chat that focused on accessibility and inclusive classrooms. That was the focus of this week’s #Ditchbook chat hosted by Matt Miller.

The exciting part about this chat was exposing new educators to an array of inclusive tools to promote classroom accessibility. We talked about many ideas including the fact that accessibility supports are not just for students with disabilities but can benefit every student. Looking at ideas like UDL and built in accessibility features of technology, educators can effectively meet the needs of every student. The final question of the chat gave everyone an opportunity to share tools they use to make content more accessible.

I will add a link to Matt’s blog post about that chat, and the Wakelet archive, in the show notes.

Episode 41 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Center on Technology and Disability Career Centered Active Listening Game
- C-CAL
Tool Time: Customized 3D Printed Keyguards
- Volksswitch
#ATchat Update: 4/24/19
- http://bit.ly/atchat042419
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey now! Welcome to Inclusive Technology 4 All episode 41, scheduled to be released on April 29, 2019. I’m Mike Marotta and each episode will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, inclusive technology has become more mainstream and available for everyone.

If you are enjoying the podcast, please subscribe and leave a review! Let me know how I am doing and what types of information you are interested in hearing about. Also – Join the conversation and Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast I would love to hear from you and share your insights during a future episode. I will also be recording some interviews for future episodes so stay tuned for that.

OK – Let’s dive in:

The Center for Technology and Disability recently released a tool for job coaches that can help them support individuals preparing for the workforce. The Career Centered Active Listening Game, or C-CAL, is a web based module that prepares students with disabilities for employment through activities to increase auditory processing skills. Through a series of listening exercises, scenarios are presented that would highlight various steps of the employment process, including the interview and a range of on the job experiences. The web module is broken up into three focus areas:

Unit 1 focuses on the job interview. Areas of focus include “Looking your best for the interview and What to do with your cell phone? Scenarios focus on answering some common interview questions like: Tell me something about yourself, Why should we hire you, and Do you have any questions?

Unit 2 focuses on Getting Started. Topics include areas of preparation prior to starting the job like What do you wear to work? How do you make a good first impression? And Managing your earnings

Unit 3 is divided into two parts. The focus of Part 1 is on the job experiences like not getting along with a co-worker, you are uncertain about a task, you are asked to read long instructions and what do you do if you finish early?

Part 2 of Unit 3 looks at How to stand up for Yourself. Topics include Do you need assistive technology? Are you getting equal pay of equal work? And Were you Discriminated Against?

Settings are provided to customize the experience for each user including the use of text to speech, Audio Description, and adjustments for font size and contrast.

I will add the link to the C-CAL in the show notes. Check it out and let me know what you think by leaving an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will play your message during a future episode.

Do you have a 3D printer and want to start printing your own keyguards for tablet AAC devices? Well you are in luck. Ken Hackbarth at volksswitch.org has been working to create a library of 3D printed AT devices with plans that can be downloaded and printed right at your location. Devices include a single switch called the Volksswitch, various types of stylus, utensil holders, straw holders, bottle openers and more.

According to his website, He has created

“an OpenSCAD design that allows the user to identify their tablet, describe how the AAC app is laid out, describe their case, and choose a mounting method to mount the keyguard directly to the tablet or to the case. Once the keyguard is fully described you can generate and save an STL file that you can print on your 3D printer.”

Using this file and customizing it to meet the needs of the individual can produce a keyguard for as low as $1.00 in materials! Gone are the days of drilling tons of holes in a sheet of acrylic plastic to create a custom keyguard. I still have scars on my hands from run ins with a keyguard during fabrication so this is welcome news to me!!

Ken shows a variety of keyguards on his site including traditional grid style keyguards along with some custom layouts for more specific apps and button patterns.

I will put the link to the blog post in the show notes where Ken describes the process of visiting the Thingiverse page and accessing the keyguard designer file. Then, you just have to provide information about your device, button openings and attachment style. The custom .STL file will then be created for you to print your keyguard.

Happy printing! If you make one of the custom keyguards, tag me on Twitter so I can see the finished product.

This week was our monthly open forum which is a free wheeling potpourri of information sharing for sure! We discussed the AT process and using SETT and the Innovators Compass to ensure we effectively match student needs to features of tools. Participants also shared many resources about tech tools, articles and more. Catch up on the entire chat by visiting the Wakelet archive at bit.ly/042419

Episode 40 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Seeing VR Toolkit from Microsoft
- YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/tr4Ejq5fHMc
Tool Time: AbleNet Sidekick
- https://www.ablenetinc.com/sidekick-1#Downloads
- Quick Start Guide: https://www.ablenetinc.com/downloads/dl/file/id/790/product/636/sidekick_quick_start_guide.pdf
SpedCamp NJ – May 18, 2019
- Spedcampnj.org
#ATchat Update: 4/17/19
- http://bit.ly/atchat041719
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey there! Welcome to Inclusive Technology 4 All episode 40, scheduled to be released on April 22, 2019. I’m Mike Marotta and each episode will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, inclusive technology has become more mainstream and available for everyone.

Make sure to let your voice be heard! Join the conversation and Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will play your message during a future episode.

OK – Let’s go:

Microsoft has announced a toolkit for developers of Unity VR systems, which will provide 14 tools to support users with visual impairments while playing the VR games. Some of the features included in this toolkit include a bifocal lens, a magnifier, controls to adjust for brightness and contrast, and the ability to have objects in a scene described aloud. This toolkit is currently only available for Unity UR Developers but since the Unity system is so widely used, the toolkit is expected to be available everywhere before long.

I will include links in the show notes to a YouTube video that demonstrates the accessibility features in action.

Another device has arrived to provide alternative mouse access to the iPad and iPhone. The Sidekick from AbleNet will provide plug and play support for almost any USB mouse alternative. The device looks to be approximately 4 inches long and two inches wide with a lightning adapter on one side and a USB port on the other side to connect the external mouse device. The Sidekick is also equipped with a Lightning pass through port to facilitate device charging while connected. According to the Quick Start Guide on the website, the Sidekick is made for iPhone x, 8 and 8 Plus, iPad Pro 10.5, iPad Pro 12.9 (2nd Generation) and iPad (6th Generation)

The device is not expected to be released until the Fall of 2019 and the price listed on the AbleNet website for the Sidekick is $325. I will include a link to the product page and the Quick Start Guide in the episode show notes.

Are you excited about the possibility of alternative access to the iPad and iPhone? Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will share your thoughts in an upcoming episode.

The topic for this week’s ATchat was Breaking the Cycle of Dependency. Less focused on a specific type of AT, this conversation really broke down the ideas of facilitating independence for students with disabilities. There are many times that IEP accommodations actually promote dependence on adults which should not be our goal. Many chat participants shared experiences in their professional life where students weren’t given opportunities to be independent. We also discussed some short and long term consequences of becoming dependent on others. People discussed how small short term missed opportunities loom large for students over time. Little missed opportunities for independence leads to learned dependence and lack of initiative to be more independent. This was a really great conversation – definitely check out the Wakelet link to read the entire archive at bit.ly/atchat041719 You will not be disappointed.

Episode 39 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Superpower Glass: Google Glass for Children with Autism
- Journal Article: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2728462
Independence Drive: Eye Gaze Power Wheelchair Control
- https://youtu.be/t9HT9ihhAVs
#ATchat Update: 4/10/19 ATchat Video Chat!
- http://bit.ly/atchat041019
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey now! Welcome to Inclusive Technology 4 All episode 39, scheduled to be released on April 15, 2019. I’m Mike Marotta and each episode will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, inclusive technology has become more mainstream and available for everyone.

Make sure to let your voice be heard! Join the conversation and Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will play your message during a future episode.

OK – Let’s do it:

Superpower Glass is machine learning software designed for Google Glass. The software assists individuals with autism with social interactions through the use of emojis and audio. In order to assist with deciphering emotions, Superpower Glass displays an emoji that represents the emotion of the person they are looking at.

This software was used as part of a clinical trial at Stanford University. The study included 71 children with autism, which included 40 children who interacted with Superpower Glass in addition to their regular behavioral therapy sessions. These 40 children who used Superpower Glass demonstrated an increased ability to socialize versus the children who received standard therapy alone.

There were three activities included in the Superpower Glass software and the study participants completed three 20 minute sessions per week with their parents and one session per week with their therapist. The first activity cues the child to get a family member to show an emotion then review the results. Next, the family member acts out an emotion for the child to analyze and finally, the third activity is free play. The child interacts with someone in order to analyze their emotion.

One of the authors of the study, Dennis Wall, who is a professor of pediatrics and biomedical data science at Stanford, as well as the cofounder of Cognoa, described the next phase of the project. The company is planning to increase accessibility to the software by using it on a tablet or smartphone vs the Google Glass. The user would simply hold up the device to utilize the built in camera.

I will add a link to the journal article in the show notes for this episode.

Eye gaze continues to be in the news related to providing access to individuals with disabilities. This week saw the announcement of the Independence Drive, which enables users to drive their power wheelchair through tracking eye movement. Born out of a Microsoft Hackathon experiment by Microsoft employees back in 2014 who had been challenged by ex NFL player Steve Gleason to create an eye gaze wheelchair control system. Gleason has ALS and is a very vocal voice for inclusion and the use of assistive technology. The system incorporates a tablet and the user controls the wheelchair direction by looking at one of eight points on the screen. There is a safety feature built into the system that causes the wheelchair to stop if the user looks away.

The system was developed in partnership with Gleason’s nonprofit, Team Gleason and a tech startup called Evergreen Circuits and Livid Instruments. The system will be distributed by Numotion and will sell for $5000 I will include a link to the YouTube video in the show notes.

So this week saw another first for #Atchat. We took the Twitter chat off Twitter! We hosted our first video chat via Zoom Video Conferencing Tool. This provided us with an opportunity to have a free flowing face to face conversation about a wide range of topics. It felt more like an Open Forum but without the character limits of Twitter, people were free to provide more detailed comments. We even had a participant who explained she doesn’t participate in the conversation on Twitter but felt comfortable enough with the video chat to join the discussion. This went well and we plan to do this again. To view the recording – go to the link bit.ly/atchat041019

Watch for an upcoming video chat and make sure to participate!

Episode 38 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

HIPAA Compliant Amazon Alexa Skills
Tool Time: Synth podcasting tool (app / website)
- https://gosynth.com
Save the Date! 3rd Annual NJ Assistive Technology Summit

- bit.ly/NJATS19

#ATchat Update: 4/3/19 Making Great AT/AAC Recommentations
- http://bit.ly/atchat040319
#ATchat Zoom Video Meeting – 4/10/19
Topic: #ATchat Video Chat
- Time: Apr 10, 2019 8:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
- Join Zoom Meeting – https://zoom.us/j/949026625
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019

http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey now! Welcome to Inclusive Technology 4 All episode 38, scheduled to be released on April 8, 2019. I’m Mike Marotta and each episode will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, inclusive technology has become more mainstream and available for everyone. I am recording this episode from Richmond Virginia where I will be the keynote speaker for the TechKnowledgy 2019 conference. I am really excited to learn alongside hundreds of educators and you can too! Follow the conference hashtag at #TechK19

Make sure to let your voice be heard! Join the conversation and Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will play your message during a future episode.

OK – Let’s go:

I came across this interesting tidbit last week. Amazon announced the release of a set of 6 HIPAA compliant skills for the healthcare industry. Working with CIGNA and Boston’s Children Hospital, the new skills will assist with tasks such as setting up doctor appointments, checking on prescriptions and even checking on the status of recent blood sugar reports.

One of the big concerns that healthcare and education have regarding the use of voice assistants is the privacy issue. This is an exciting first step in moving towards a secure voice assistant environment.

I will be keeping an eye on these developments for sure and will make sure to bring them to you as soon as I hear. What are your thoughts about using Voice Assistants in various environments, such as schools and healthcare? Leave a message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/itspodcast I will include your thoughts in an upcoming episode

Thanks to Brian O’Neil from my Ramapo AT Masters class for sharing this tool with me. Synth is a podcasting platform that allows users to record 256 second clips of audio. Whether using the app or the website, users can follow an audio stream to listen to audio content. While a podcasting service is not necessarily new, the one feature that got me really excited was the automatic transcription of those audio clips. Now we can create audio clips that are accessible to all!

I have been playing with the app throughout this past week and I really like the simple interface. I am starting to think of all kinds of ways to use this tool. Now I can post an audio question in a class and have others respond via audio – with transcription! Very cool for sure. The service is still in Beta but check it out at gosynth.com or download the Synth app from the App Store or the Google Play Store.

Save the date! We have just locked in the date for the 2019 New Jersey Assistive Technology Summit. This will be our 3rd event and it is a fantastic opportunity to connect with your Assistive Technology PLN. For each of the past two years have had almost 200 participants each year – with over 20 concurrent sessions throughout the day. Plus breakfast and lunch – all for the unbelievable cost of $0! That’s right – the AT Summit is still a free event.

So if you are close to NJ – or can get here! – I hope to see you on 9/24/19.

Registration will open April 1, 2019 but we are currently accepting proposals for sessions. Have an idea you want to share at the AT Summit? Fill out our Call for Proposals form at bit.ly/ATSummit2019CFP I will also put the link in the show notes.

This past week we had an in depth conversation about a very important topic related to quality AT services – making great AT / AAC recommendations. People shared their tools they use to match a person’s needs to features of technology. Some of the tools mentioned included the SETT Framework, the Innovator’s Compass, and more. We also discussed topics related to trial periods and what happens when your recommendations don’t align with a school and/or organization’s technology initiative. Powerful stuff from outstanding AT integrators. Check out the Wakelet to read the entire archive at bit.ly/atchat040319

Episode 37 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Minnesota’s Guide to Assistive Technology
- https://mn.gov/admin/at/
AZTAP’s Can You Hear Me Now? Understanding Hearing Loss
- http://aztap.org/at-education/hearing-loss-lessons/
Tool Time: Using AR to translate sign language
- https://youtu.be/v9MytUiJv_Q
National AT Awareness Day Twitter Roundup
- http://bit.ly/atawarenessday19
#ATchat Update: 3/27/19 Open Forum
- http://bit.ly/atchat032719
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey now! Welcome to Inclusive Technology 4 All episode 37, scheduled to be released on April 1, 2019. I’m Mike Marotta and each episode will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, inclusive technology has become more mainstream and available for everyone.

I would love to hear from you. Join the conversation and Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will play your message during a future episode.

Are you ready? Let’s go:

Last week I attended the AT Act Directors Leadership Symposium in Washington DC. Many of the topics of conversation focused on ways we could work more effectively at a state level to ensure access to assistive technology for anyone who needs it. One of my favorite parts of the Symposium is the One Good Thing sharing session. Each state gets an opportunity to share one exciting innovative thing they are doing in their state to promote AT use. While they were all great, I want to highlight two programs this week. Both MN and AZ worked to develop web modules to support a deeper community understanding of AT and disability.

The Minnesota STAR program developed this web based Guide to Assistive Technology to provide a deeper understanding of AT devices and services. The guide is divided into sections focused on AT for Learning, Working and Living. Then there is a module on Funding Strategies along with a directory of AT. This is an amazing free resource so make sure to share it with everyone. I will add the link to this Guide to Assistive Technology in the show notes.

The second resource I want to share this week is from Arizona’s AT Act Program, AZTAP. They developed a web based resource titled Can You Hear Me Now? Understanding Hearing Loss. Divided into 3 lessons, this web based tool walks a user through Hearing Loss 101; AT for Hearing Loss; and, strategies to effectively communicate with an individual with a hearing loss. There are additional resources provided to support individuals with hearing loss. Another really important resource – make sure to share this far and wide. I will add the link in the show notes.

While there are many types of translation apps / services for languages, we are still waiting for a reliable system to translate sign language into text. This week I saw a YouTube video from the Connected Futures Prototyping and Talent Development program which is run by Verizon and NYU. One team has developed a prototype app that uses Augmented Reality to translate spoken language into sign language in real time. Simply speak into your smartphone and the user will see an image of a body producing the sign language superimposed directly over your body. The app will also translate sign language into text. Simply point your smartphone at the person producing the sign language and the text will appear on your screen above the person. While this app is still a prototype, it is a good indicator on the future of technology applications to remove barriers for all. I will include the link to the YouTube video in the show notes.

Last week was National AT Awareness Day and if you were on social media – you saw tons of resources shared. In fact, I compiled every AT Awareness Day tweet into a Wakelet. Check it out at http://bit.ly/atawarenessday19 Don’t wait for next March to raise awareness about AT – Keep sharing stories about the power of AT.

This week was our monthly Open Forum. Always a favorite of mine, this type of chat has no structure, no pre planned questions or topic – just a free flowing sharing of ideas, resources and strategies. There is always a fear at the beginning of one of these Open Forums that nobody will share and then – the flood gates open and everyone starts sharing at once! So many topics were covered in the hour. We spoke about AT supports for higher ed, resources for classroom accommodations and we had a really interesting discussion about the use of monitoring tools for people with disabilities. I really appreciated the insights discussed during the chat from several AT users who shared their feelings about this type of tool. Check out the Wakelet archive at bit.ly/032719

Episode 36 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

March 27, 2019 is National Assistive Technology Awareness Day
- S.Res. 103
- CTD Institute AT 101
Tool Time: AMAneo BTI Assistive Mouse Controller
- CSS Micro Systems
- Watch the YouTube video
#ATchat Update: 3/20/19 Our 1st International Chat focused on AAC
- bit.ly/atchat032019
- Padlet: https://padlet.com/mmatp/atchat032019
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey now! Welcome to Inclusive Technology 4 All episode 36, scheduled to be released on March 25, 2019. I’m Mike Marotta and each episode will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, inclusive technology has become more mainstream and available for everyone.

I would love to hear from you. Join the conversation and Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will play your message during a future episode.

Are you ready? Let’s go:

I am recording this episode in Washington DC as I attend the Assistive Technology Act Directors Leadership Symposium this week. Capital Hill is the perfect location to share our first topic

Mark it on your calendar – March 27, 2019 is National Assistive Technology Awareness Day. The senate passed resolution 103 which commends

(A) assistive technology specialists and program coordinators for their hard work and dedication to serving people with disabilities who are in need of finding the proper assistive technology to meet their individual needs; and

(B) professional organizations and researchers who are dedicated to facilitating the access and acquisition of assistive technology for people with disabilities and older adults in need of assistive technology devices.

How are you going to raise awareness of the benefits of assistive technology? How about sharing some resources on your social media. Want a great place to start? Check out the Center on Technology and Disability AT 101 page. There are recorded webinars, fact sheets and more that could be useful for introducing the power of assistive technology. I added the link to the page in the show notes for this episode.

Another way to share the benefits of AT could be through consumers telling their stories. Nothing is more powerful than hearing first hand accounts of the power of technology to promote independence.

In a previous episode we discussed the use of eye gaze with iOS devices. Another one of those wishlist inclusive technology dreams has been to have the ability to plug an alternative pointing device into an iOS device and select items on the screen with a pointer. It looks like that device has finally arrived from a company called CSS Micro Systems. The AMAneo BTi is a bluetooth interface that connects to an iPhone 5s or higher, an iPad 4 or higher and the iPad Mini. Once connected via bluetooth, the touch pointer appears on the screen! Now plug any USB alternative pointing device into the device and you have mouse control on your iOS device.

Want to plug a head mouse into your iPad? No problem. How about an ergonomic mouse or joystick Sure go ahead that will work too. Combine the AMAneo BTi with the use of Assistive Touch via the Accessibility settings, and you can also now control the physical buttons on your iOS device.

According to the website, the device will provide 20 hours of operation on a single charge and also has a built in anti tremor filter, click delay and auto click. The website mentions that the device should be available for purchase in March 2019 but as of this recording the device is not available for purchase. When available, the expected price for the AMAneo BTi will be $350.00. I will be keeping my eye on this device for sure and hopefully will be able to get my hands on it for a trial. When I get to try it – I will share with you for sure. Check the show notes from this episode for the link to the website and the YouTube video that shows the device in action.

This week saw two firsts for #ATchat. We had our first international chat and we held two chats in one day! We partnered with two guest moderators, Charlie Danger in the UK and Chris Bugaj in the US to deliver #ATchat at 8PM local time in each location. We had the same topic which was AAC and also the same questions. We continued the trend we started a few weeks back and we posted the chat questions on a Padlet prior to the chat so anyone could participate. I will drop the link to the Padlet in the show notes.

It was really exciting to participate in both chats and see how practitioners in the two countries view AAC supports and services. While some questions provided an opportunity to explore best practices for AAC implementation, such as What are the Most Important Factors to Consider when Determining how a User Might Access AAC?, other questions were designed to promote a deeper conversation. Charlie and Chris really shook up the chat with the question – Is Facilitated Communication a Viable Access Method for AAC? Lots of conversation there for sure! Finally we wrapped up the chat with a nod to the future and discussed How close are we to controlling speech generating devices with thought and what does the future of access look and sound like.

Almost 400 tweets across two different hours with many different countries represented. To read the entire archive of this #ATchat, and gather all the shared resources, visit bit.ly/atchat032019.

Episode 35 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Robot to Provide Personal Care
- https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0212904
Tool Time: Google Accessibility Scanner for iOS
- https://opensource.googleblog.com/2019/03/ios-accessibility-scanner-framework.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+GoogleOpenSourceBlog+(Google+Open+Source+Blog)&m=1

Save the Date! 3rd Annual NJ Assistive Technology Summit

- bit.ly/NJATS19
#ATchat Update: 3/13/19 – The Innovators Compass
- InnovatorsCompass.org
- http://bit.ly/atchat031319
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey now! Welcome to Inclusive Technology 4 All episode 35, scheduled to be released on March 18, 2019. I’m Mike Marotta and each episode will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, inclusive technology has become more mainstream and available for everyone.

I would love to hear from you. Join the conversation and Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will play your message during a future episode.

Let’s dive in:

How many times have we heard a story about robots coming to take your job or how advances in AI will be the downfall of humanity? While those things could be bad and still may happen – this week brought an exciting, positive development in the use of robots to support individuals with disabilities.

A research group at Georgia Tech developed a robot to assist individuals with significant motor impairments. The wheeled robot can manipulate many daily living aids such as washcloths, electric shavers, water bottles and hairbrush. The robot can be controlled by eye gaze and head tracking. Henry Evans worked with the research team throughout the process and used the robot to provide personal care for a week. He said, “The system was very liberating to me, in that it enabled me to independently manipulate my environment for the first time since my stroke,”

Phillip Grice, a PhD graduate and member of the team said: “Our results suggest that people with profound motor deficits can improve their quality of life using robotic body surrogates. We have taken the first step toward making it possible for someone to purchase an appropriate type of robot, have it in their home and derive real benefit from it.”

The findings of the research were published in the scientific journal PLOS One. I will add a link to the journal abstract in the show notes.

Google announced this week the launch of a tool to promote great app accessibility. The open source project is called Accessibility Scanner for iOS. The tool is designed to promote greater accessibility within apps for individuals with hearing and visual impairments. The tool helps discover, debug and fix common accessibility issues in iOS codebases. The scanner’s user interface is overlaid on the app and can be moved around the screen – which allows you to perform normal app functions and trigger the scan only when necessary.

I will put a link in the show notes to the Google Open Source Blog post.

So if you are close to NJ – or can get here! – I hope to see you on 9/24/19.

For this week’s #ATchat, we had a guest moderator. Hillary Goldthwait-Fowles walked us through the Innovators’ Compass. I had participated in a session Hillary facilitated at Closing the Gap 2018 about the Innovators’ Compass. This is a powerful tool to assist us with many of the tasks we perform in our professional lives. Whether we use it to frame a conversation around an AT evaluation or to develop a strategy for delivering professional learning experiences, the questions of the Innovators’ Compass can help us get unstuck. Developed by Ela Ben-Ur, the Innovators’ Compass poses questions within an area of focus we can use to start a conversation. The question include:

People: Who’s Involved?
Observations: What’s happening and why?
Principles: What matters most?
Ideas: What ways are there?
Experiments: What’s a step to try?

Visit the website at innovatorscompass.org to read more about this process. Special thanks to Hillary for bringing this to the group and helping us change the way we think about problem solving

To read the entire archive of this #ATchat, and gather all the shared resources, visit bit.ly/atchat031319.

Episode 34 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Assistive Device Academy Lesson Plans for Makers
- https://classroom.weareprintlab.com/p/assistive-device-academy
EdcampAccess NJ: 3/16/19
- edcampaccessnj.org
Tool Time: AT Makers on Thingiverse
- https://www.thingiverse.com/atmakers/designs
#ATchat Update: 3/6/19 Inspirations
- http://bit.ly/atchat030619
- Padlet: https://padlet.com/karen_janowski/imiwmjyucg8f
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey now! Welcome to Inclusive Technology 4 All episode 34, scheduled to be released on March 11, 2019. I’m Mike Marotta and each episode will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, inclusive technology has become more mainstream and available for everyone.

I would love to hear from you. Join the conversation and Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will play your message during a future episode.

For this episode we are going to be talking about Makers and Assistive Technology.

First up, the Assistive Device Lesson Plan Project was released this week. Developed by PrintLab, in conjunction with Makers Making Change. The lesson plans walk students through the creation of several 3-d printed assistive devices that could be beneficial to individuals with disabilities.

PrintLab is a UK-based 3D printing curriculum developer and global distributor and Makers Making Change is run by the Research and Development Group of the Neil Squire Society. This initiative connects makers to people with disabilities to develop and create inexpensive open source AT solutions.

There are 5 lessons in the curriculum:

An introduction to 3D printed assistive devices through a series a case study videos
A skill-building session where students follow CAD tutorial videos to design a range of example devices
A hands-on activity where students test and analyse a range of example devices, which are created by the teacher prior to the lesson using STL files included in the lesson pack
A human-centred team activity where students identify a user and brainstorm the day-to-day challenges this type of person will face
Unique concept designs are then developed in response to the challenges and a 3D printed prototype is manufactured and tested
Students prepare and present their devices to the rest of the class and peer feedback is given

The assistive devices that are manufactured throughout the curriculum include: an assistive bag carrier, a bottle opener, a button assist, a soda can opener and a key turner.

Jason Yeung, Co-Founder at PrintLab said about the project, “… The Assistive Device Academy is particularly special because we are taking that extra step to encourage schools to connect with real people who have disabilities. There’s no better way to bridge the skills gap than by asking students to solve real-world problems and we couldn’t be more excited to do this in partnership with the Makers Making Change community.”

For more info and a link to the project website, visit the show notes at mmatp.com/it4all

It’s almost here – edcampAccess NJ!

EdCampAccess NJ is an unconference devoted to K -12 special education issues and ideas with a focus on assistive technology and reaching all struggling learners. This free event is not limited to special educators – all are welcome!

EdcampAccess NJ will take place on March 16, 2019 at the College of St Elizabeth in Morristown NJ. Session topics from previous years have included adapted art and gaming, tools for struggling readers and writers, Augmentative communication supports and more. Follow us on Twitter @EdcampAccessNJ or visit our website at www.edcampaccessnj.org to get your free tickets today.

We expect to have some fantastic conversations around assistive and inclusive technology. Plus, we have some really great prizes to give away – including an adaptive Xbox controller donated by Microsoft! Hope you can join us on March 16, 2019.

In keeping with this week’s focus of makers and AT, this week’s Tool Time will highlight some of the creative 3-d printed solutions available on Thingiverse from our friend Bill Binko over at AT Makers.org

Included on the Thingiverse page are 24 designs that you can print to provide access to AT tools and supports. Some examples of the designs include a keyguard for an iPad mini to use in conjunction with AAC apps and several different kinds of switch mounts for existing AT switches such as the Jelly Bean, Big Mack, Micro Light and Candy Corn. If you want to take on a more involved project, there are designs to build your own AT switch and even electronics projects like a sip and puff interface. The AT Makers Thingiverse page link is in the show notes for this episode. Check it out and start printing your own AT today!

For this week’s ATchat we tried something a little different. Our goal is to engage as many people in the conversation as possible. We realize not everyone is on Twitter, or feels comfortable participating in the live Twitter chat. In order to facilitate sharing and conversation, we posted the ATchat questions to a Padlet prior to the live chat and asked people to add their thoughts at any time. We then went deeper on the topics during the live Twitter chat. Our topic this week was Inspirations. We asked a series of questions including:

What inspired you to do what you currently do?
What books inspired you to take your practice further and why?
What books have caused you to rethink assumptions you held in the past?
Are there particular who have inspired you professionally?
What do you actually do each day that matters?

I have said it before and I will say it again: these are my favorite types of chats. Not focused on tools at all but instead having conversations about the Why. Why do we do what we do and what influenced everyone to be better every day. A special thanks to everyone who participated – either in the Padlet prior to the chat or live during the Twitter chat.

To read the entire archive of this #ATchat, and gather all the shared resources, visit bit.ly/atchat030619. I will also add the link to the Padlet to the show notes for this episode.

Episode 33 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Microsoft Web Course: Dyslexia Awareness
- https://education.microsoft.com/courses-and-resources/courses/dyslexia-awareness-in-partnership-with-made-by-dyslexia?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral
Tool Time: Slido
- Slido.com
EdcampAccess NJ: 3/16/19
- edcampaccessnj.org
ATAC YouTube Channel
- bit.ly/watchatacnj
#ATchat Update: 2/27/19 Virtual App Smackdown
- http://bit.ly/atchat022719
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey now! Welcome to Inclusive Technology 4 All episode 33, scheduled to be released on March 4, 2019. I’m Mike Marotta and each episode will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, inclusive technology has become more mainstream and available for everyone.

I would love to hear from you. Join the conversation and Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will play your message during a future episode.

Let’s dive in:

Microsoft recently released a self paced web course called Dyslexia Awareness. This course, which was created in partnership with Made by Dyslexia, is designed to provide important insights into dyslexia. According to the website, the objectives for the modules are:

To empower teachers and parents to understand dyslexia, both it’s strengths and challenges
To gain essential knowledge in how to recognize and support dyslexia
How to create a dyslexia-inclusive classroom
To know when and where to seek further help

The modules included in this web course are:

Module 1: What is Dyslexia
Module 2: Dyslexic Thinking Skills
Module 3: Indicators of Dyslexia
Module 4: Dyslexia Inclusive Classroom
Module 5: Importance of Identification

The course is available on the Microsoft website and should take approximately 1 hour to complete. I will add the course link in the show notes for this episode.

I tried out a new backchannel tool this week during a virtual presentation and I am happy to report that the tool was a success. I have been searching for a replacement to Today’s Meet since that tool disappeared last year. While presenting, I always like to provide the participants with a space to add their thoughts, resources and insights. We all have something to share and back channel tools give everyone a voice.

The tool I explored this week is called Slido. This web based tool actually provides not only a back channel questions panel, but the speaker can also create polls. Create your Slido page and you will be given a four digit code. Simply go to slido.com and enter the 4 digit code and you are ready to participate!

Participants can post questions throughout the presentation and even give thumbs up to other comments. The polls worked really well too. Ask a question during the presentation and give people a place to leave their vote. I am using the Basic (free) account which allows audience members to ask questions and I can create 3 polls per event. Each event can have up to 1000 people log in simultaneously. The Teacher account costs $75 per year and allows you to create unlimited Polls and Brainstorming topics. In addition, you can create unlimited surveys, collect data, moderate questions and more. Go to the website at slido.com to learn more about this powerful tool for audience engagement.

We expect to have some fantastic conversations around assistive and inclusive technology. Plus, we have some really great prizes to give away! Hope you can join us on March 16, 2019. We look forward to learning with you.

As the Director of the Assistive Technology Advocacy Center, NJ’s Assistive Technology Act Project, part of our mission is to share resources to expand consumers knowledge about AT. One way we are doing that is through our YouTube Channel. On this channel, you will find recordings of our Learning @ Lunch webinar series. We hosted a variety of speakers on a wide range of AT topics including Smart Home Technology, Robotics for Students with Disabilities and more. In addition, the YouTube Channel is now the home of the NJCART Hot Topics webinars. NJCART is the New Jersey Coalition for the Advancement of Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology. There have been three Hot Topics webinars, including the most recent webinar discussing AAC tools and implementation strategies. Check out the videos at bit.ly/watchatacnj

Do you have an idea for a future NJCART Hot Topics webinar or ATAC Learning @ Lunch Webinar? Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and stay tuned for updates on future events.

This week’s #ATchat was our first ever Virtual App Smackdown. For the uninitiated, during an app smackdown each person is given two minutes to share a tool they use and describe the features to the group. For our Virtual App Smackdown, we provided categories and people shared features of the tool and ways they have implemented the tool to support students. The categories were AT tools to support struggling readers, and writers, emergent readers and writers, tools for self regulation, content creation and tools to support students with cognitive challenges. This chat was even busier than recent conversations and we had almost 300 tweets for the hour!

Some tools that were mentioned included Seeing AI and Office Lens for on the fly OCR and TEXT TO SPEECH ; Immersive Reader for reading support; Clicker Connect for emergent readers and writers; Book Creator and so many more.

To read the entire archive of this #ATchat, and gather all the shared resources, visit bit.ly/atchat022719

Episode 32 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Tool Time: The Vitals App
- Thevitalsapp.com
EdcampAccess NJ: 3/16/19
- Free tickets: edcampaccessnj.org
NJCART Hot Topics Webinar
- Topic AAC. Sign Up: bit.ly/aac022819
#ATchat Update: 2/20/19
- Topic: Supports for Executive Function
- http://bit.ly/atchat022019
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Hey now! Welcome to Inclusive Technology 4 All. I’m Mike Marotta and each episode will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence. Whether it’s technology for inclusive classroom learning or tools for community success, inclusive technology has become more mainstream and available for everyone.

Let’s dive in:

At the ATIA 2-19 App smackdown, I learned about the Vitals app. This app works to provide a communication platform between individuals with disabilities and first responders. The user creates an individualized profile that includes all the important information necessary for community interactions, including personal information and de-escalation techniques, which can include audio and video supports to facilitate successful interactions within the community. The goal of this free tool is to promote effective communication and reduce potentially dangerous situations in the community. To learn more about this important service, visit the website at thevitalsapp.com

Do you want to grow your PLN by connecting with like minded educators and participate in an organic participant led professional learning opportunity? If you are in the NJ area – Join us for the 6th annual EdcampAccess NJ! EdCampAccess NJ is an unconference devoted to K -12 special education issues and ideas with a focus on assistive technology and reaching all struggling learners. This free event is not limited to special educators – all are welcome!

Hope you can join us on March 16, 2019. We look forward to learning with you.

NJCART – the Coalition for the Advancement of Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology is hosting another Hot Topics webinar on 2/28/19. The focus of this webinar is AAC and will feature several AAC practitioners each sharing one tool and discussing how they have implemented this tool to effectively support an individual with a disability. Space for this live webinar is limited to the first 50 participants. Get your tickets at bit.ly/aac022819 If you are listening to this episode after February 28, 2019, go to the Assistive Technology Advocacy Center’s YouTube channel at bit.ly/watchatacnj for the webinar recording.

Have an idea for a future NJCART Hot Topics webinar or ATAC Learning @ Lunch Webinar? Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and stay tuned for updates on future events.

This week’s #ATchat focused on supports for executive function. We started the conversation by asking everyone who are your influences in this area. The group shared some books that are the foundation for their approach in this area – including Executive Function and Child Development, Smart and Scattered Teens, The WATI AT Chapter on Executive Function, and a powerful Executive Skills Questionnaire by Peg Dawson.

We broke the conversation down into supports for different age groups (lower elementary, upper elementary, middle school and high school) – then we discussed areas of concern for each age group and possible solutions for support. This support was across the continuum – no tech strategies, low tech supports and high tech supports. We even had a discussion about tools for transition and providing supports and strategies that become accommodations for living independently.

To read the entire archive of this #ATchat, and gather all the shared resources, visit bit.ly/atchat022019

Episode 31 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Tool Time: Interpreter Mode on Google Assistant
Tool Time: Hawkeye Access app (eye tracking for iOS)
#ATchat Update: 2/6/19
- Topic: ATIA 2019 Reflections
- #ATIA19 Wakelet: bit.ly/atia19
- http://bit.ly/atchat021319
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19
Save the Date! 3rd Annual NJ Assistive Technology Summit
- 9/24/19
- Registration opens 4/1/19!
- Call for Proposals: bit.ly/ATSummit2019CFP

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

This week Google announced a Interpreter mode for the Google Assistant. This feature will translate conversations in real time in 26 different languages. To activate this feature on your Google Home, simply say: “Hey Google, be my Spanish interpreter.” or “Hey Google, help me speak Spanish” Google has been refining this feature by using interpreter mode at busy hotels and attractions around the world where translation services are critical to provide quality guest services.

Have you tried this interpreter mode – or any other Translator apps – to provide an inclusive environment for all? Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will play your message during a future episode.

With the introduction of the True Depth camera on the latest iPhone, it was just a matter of time before we started to see applications that leverage this feature to provide alternative access for individuals with disabilities. I learned about one such application during the App Smackdown at ATIA 2019. Hawkeye Access provides eye control for web browsing. After completing the calibration, simply look at the desired location on the screen. Users can either smile, blink or dwell to select items. Scrolling is accomplished by looking at the side of the screen in the direction you want to scroll. To learn more about this app visit the website at usehawkeye.com

So if you are close to NJ – or can get here! – I hope to see you on 9/24/19.

Keeping with the trend from the last couple episodes, this week’s #ATchat was all about ATIA 2019 reflections. We shared portions of the conference that really resonated with us: from interesting sessions, new / interesting items in the exhibit hall, and poster sessions. We also discussed – what is my personal favorite part of the conference – the extended activities which are EdcampAccess International on Friday night and AT Makers Day on Saturday morning. Both of these events give us an opportunity to apply the great information we learn throughout the week and solve problems. EdcampAccess gives us a chance to have conversations with others about HOW we are going to go back and use the information we gathered throughout the week to make change in our organizations. The AT Maker Day gives us a glimpse of problem solving and partnerships that we can foster in our communities to provide effective AT solutions for All.

To read the entire archive of this #ATchat, and gather all the shared resources, visit bit.ly/atchat021319

Episode 30 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Tool Time: The TalkTablet Speechwatch by Gus Communication Devices, Inc.
- Website
- Video
#ATIA19 Reflections
- Share your experience: http://bit.ly/atia19reflections
- App Smackdown: bit.ly/appsmack19
- PD Smackdown: bit.ly/pdsmackdown19responses
- #ATIA19 Wakelet: bit.ly/atia19
#ATchat Update: 2/6/19
- Topic: Accessible Math Instruction
- Guest Moderators:
  - Beth Poss: @possbeth
  - Tiffanie Zaugg: @TiffanieZaugg
- http://bit.ly/atchat020619
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Music: The Main Monkey Business by Rush

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

Wearables could be the next big thing in inclusive technology and recently GUS Communication Devices announced the first stand alone AAC smartwatch called the TalkTablet Speechwatch. This wearable communication device has a 2.2 inch touchscreen and does not need to be teathered to a smartphone in order to function. The TalkTablet AAC app comes pre configured with the device, but the communication boards can be customized via the TalkTablet app on a tablet. Simply make the changes to the communication board and wirelessly transfer the pages to the Speechwatch. The Speechwatch can be equipped with a SIM card to function like a smartphone, has access to the Google Play store to download apps, can be used for GPS navigation, email access, streaming music and more. Very impressive looking device and I hope to be able to get one to trial so I can report back on the functionality. The Speechwatch is currently being offered for an introductory price of $299.99. I will add the link to the website, along with a video demonstrating the Speechwatch in action.

Tiring and Inspiring. My two word summary of ATIA 2019! In this episode, I will share a couple resources from the week AND we will hear from two more friends who attended ATIA and left their reflections on the Flipgrid.

Two of the biggest sessions I participate in during the ATIA conference are the Smackdowns! The idea of a Smackdown is simple: audience members come up and are given a short time to share a tool strategy or resource. These are my favorite types of sessions: participant driven, tons of ideas are shared and everyone learns at least ONE new thing during the hour. There are two Smackdowns at the conference: the App Smackdown and the PD Smackdown.

This year’s App Smackdown was bigger than ever. We were in one of the larger rooms and people were packed in. Some people were even in the hall trying to listen! Tons of ideas were shared and there is no way I can go through them all here. Instead, go check out the spreadsheet we compiled during the session. The link is bit.ly/appsmack19 Included in the spreadsheet are the names of tools, a short description, cost and a link to learn more.

The other Smackdown is the PD Smackdown – which might be my favorite session of the whole conference. The setup is the same: audience members sharing ideas for delivering effective professional development. We organize the session around the Four Phases of Learning described by Dave Meier in his fantastic book The Accelerated Learning Handbook. The four phases of learning are the Preparation Phase, the Presentation Phase, the Practice Phase and the Performance Phase. So many great ideas were shared via a Google Form and you can check out the responses at bit.ly/pdsmackdown19responses

OK – Enough from me, let’s hear from Rachel and Charlie.

Thanks guys! Appreciate you sharing your thoughts about this amazing event. Want to share your conference reflection? Go to bit.ly/atia19reflections , leave a video and I will include the audio of your thoughts in an upcoming episode.

There was so much information at ATIA 19 that I think this will be a regular feature of the podcast for the next few episodes. Stay Tuned for more!

This week’s #ATchat had not one but two guest moderators. Our topic was Accessible Math Instruction and our guest moderators were Beth Poss and Tiffanie Zaugg. The group shared challenges with providing math instruction to students with disabilities and then shared tools, strategies and apps to make math accessible.

In addition, another topic of conversation was how communication plays a vital role in this process for ELL students as well as students with complex communication needs.

This week’s chat did not disappoint, another example of powerful sharing among dedicated educators working tirelessly to meet the needs of students with disabilities. To read the entire archive of this #ATchat, and gather all the shared resources, visit bit.ly/atchat020619

#ATIA19 Transition Town Hall Bonus Episode – released 1/5/19 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

#ATIA19 Transition Town Hall Session
Panel Members
- Sayard Bass – M.S. CCC-SLP/L – ATP, High School & Transition Assistive Technology Consultant; sayardbass@gmail.com
- Janet Peters – Project Coordinator Assistive and Educational Technology, Great Lakes ADA Center; jpete@uic.edu ; @JanetLPeters
- Dr. Ben Satterfield – Research Associate, Georgia Tools for Life/ Center for Inclusive Design & Innovation, Georgia Tech; rsatterfield8@gatech.edu

Transcript Coming Soon!

Episode 29 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

#ATIA19 Reflections
- Share your experience: http://bit.ly/atia19reflections
#ATchat Update: 1/30/19
- bit.ly/atchat013019

Transcript

Coming Soon!

Episode 27 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Share your ideas – ATIA session
- iPad Vs. Chromebook: The 10 Round Main Event
- bit.ly/atia19mainevent
Resources: CALL Scotland Posters
- iPad Apps for Learners with Complex Additional Support Needs
- Chromebook Accessibility and Learning Tools
Instagram A11Y Update
Save the Date! 3rd Annual NJ Assistive Technology Summit
- 9/24/19
- Registration opens 4/1/19!
- Call for Proposals: bit.ly/ATSummit2019CFP
#ATchat Update: 1/16/19
- Topic: Promoting Independence
- http://bit.ly/atchat011619
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

There is still time to have your voice heard while helping to shape my ATIA 19 session. The session is called iPad vs. Chromebook: The 10 Round Main Event We are going to take these two platforms – and we are going to battle it out with a whole list of educational tasks that need to be accomplished. Then, the audience will help decide which platform may be best suited to that task. So we need your help- What sorts of activities or tasks would you like us to demonstrate in terms of their completion using either of the platforms.

We set up a Flipgrid for you to leave your ideas – it’s bit.ly/atia19mainevent Thanks for your support and I hope to connect with you at ATIA 2019 in Orlando.

CALL Scotland has a wealth of free resources related to technology integration. Recently they released two new resources to support the implementation of effective selection of tools for individuals with disabilities.

First, the latest app wheel poster, iPad Apps for Learners with Complex Additional Support Needs

Categories of apps represented on the wheel include Cognition, Emergent Literacy, Communication, Self Regulation, Creativity and more.

The second new resource is the Chromebook Accessibility and Learning Tools. This PDF Poster is an excellent companion to their Chrome App Wall which I collaborated on. This new resource highlights the updates to the built in Chrome OS accessibility features.

I will put the link to both of these resources in the show notes.

Instagram announced two new accessibility updates recently that will increase usability for individuals with visual impairments. The first feature is automatic alternative text. By using automatic object recognition technology, alt text is generated so the user can hear via a screen reader.

The second feature is custom alternative text. Users can now go into the post itself and customize the alt text that is presented. This feature is located at the bottom of the screen, under Advanced Settings, as you create a New Post. This will bring up the field where you can type in your customized alt text.

So if you are close to NJ – or can get here! – I hope to see you on 9/24/19.

The topic of this week’s #ATchat was Promoting Independence. Topics focused on student’s dependence on paraprofessionals & prompts – and more importantly strategies to break this dependence! We also discussed strategies for developing self advocacy skills and promoting student voice.

This was one of those topics I love – not necessarily focused directly on tech, instead focused on strategies and solutions to ensure student success.

To read the entire archive of this #ATchat, and gather all the shared resources, visit bit.ly/atchat011619

Episode 26 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Share your ideas – ATIA session
- iPad Vs. Chromebook: The 10 Round Main Event
- bit.ly/atia19mainevent
#ATchat Update: 1/9/19
- Topic: AT supports for writing
- WATI Assessing Student’s Needs for AT: Chapter 5 The Motor Aspects of Writing
- WATI Assessing Student’s Needs for AT: Chapter 6 AT for Composition of Written Work
- http://bit.ly/atchat010919
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

Hey everybody, thanks for checking out our video. My name is Mike Marotta and I am an Assistive Technology Specialist and I have my own consulting company called Inclusive Technology Solutions. and I am Bob Cunningham and I am an Occupational Therapist and Program Director of the Occupational Therapy Programat Maryville University. I am also an ATP and I do Assistive Technology consulting.

Today we are going to tell you about a session we are doing at ATIA called iPad vs. Chromebook: The 10 Round Main Event We are really excited about this session-as you can tell. So, what are we going to do? We are going to take these two platforms, two devices – and we are going to battle it out with a whole list of educational tasks that need to be accomplished and to do that effectively, we need your help. Mike and I would like to know What sorts of activities or tasks would you like us to demonstrate in terms of their completion using either of the platforms.

Don’t be constricted by the idea of devices and their native apps and extensions and the pieces that come with those. We’ll be broad in our approach to this. We will look at the pieces that are part of the operating system We will look at apps and extensions that go beyond and add some flexibility to it. So really, the thing we are asking from you is just the task. What are things that students need to accomplish and you are not sure what device might be “best” I am going to “air quote” things a lot because “best” is all relative I think what we are going to find-if I could be someone that sees into the the future a little bit-is that we can do these tasks on both platforms. It’s just the way they get done might be a little different. So that is going to be kind of exciting as we talk about it.

I think an important part to remember about that is that doing it one way might be better for somebody and So the idea is that we can share a variety of ways that the task might be accomplished and help you then make determinations about what platform you may want to get for people with whom you work.

Exactly! So, share your ideas. We want to hear them. We would love to find out things that are important to you. We set up a Flipgrid. You can reach out to that through the website I will give you a bit.ly – it’s bit.ly/atia19mainevent We will put that in the show notes or the video notes as well. so you can reach out to that. Leave your idea Even if you aren’t going to be at ATIA. Don’t worry about it! We will find some way to share this information out after the conference so people that can’t get to the conference. can experience what we looked at. That’s it. That sounds great. That’s what we are looking for. So help us make this session excellent by sharing your ideas with us. Thanks very much. Hope to see you at ATIA. See you there!

The topic of this week’s #ATchat was AT supports for writing. We started the conversation discussing characteristics of struggling writers and the types of writing tasks we ask students to complete. Want to see the results of this brainstorming? Check out the Padlet at padlet.com/mmatp/atchat010919

We discussed assessment supports for writing and two resources were shared from WATI – the Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative. From the Assessing Students Needs for AT Manual – we shared Chapter 5-AT for Writing, Including Motor Aspects and Chapter 6 AT for Composition of Written Work. I will include the link to both of these PDFs in the show notes.

As we discussed AT supports – we moved from low tech to high tech solutions for writing. Simple supports like writing checklists and personal white boards – all the way to complex writing solutions like speech to text. Our conversation about speech to text focused less on the technology and more on the implementation – specifically, how do we provide needed training to reduce abandonment of this tool.

It was another jam packed ATchat with tons of resources shared along with powerful strategies to promote student success.

To read the entire archive of this #ATchat visit bit.ly/atchat010919

Episode 25 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Tech Tool Spotlight x 2:
- Aida Reminder app
- Tab Resize Chrome Extension
Check out:
- Explore AT from AT3 Center
- AbleNet University
#ATchat Update: 12/19/18
Topic: The New Assistive Technology with special guest Chris Bugaj
- Follow Chris on Twitter at @attipscast
- http://bit.ly/atchat121918
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

Before we start this episode I just want to share a quick thanks. This is the last episode of 2018 and I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who listens. I appreciate the messages on Twitter and the kind words when I am out presenting. I am glad that this information is helping to connect individuals with the technology tools they need to be successful. If you enjoy the podcast, please subscribe and leave a review!

And with that ….. on to Episode 25 of Inclusive Technology 4 All.

For this episode’s Tech Tool Spotlight, I have two tools I recently used to support individuals.

First up is the Aida Reminder app. I know what you are thinking – another reminder app, there must be thousands of them. What makes this one different? Well it’s all in the features!

The Aida Reminder app allows you to schedule an array of reminders, including recurring reminders, snooze reminders, even Auto Snooze reminders where the app will automatically repeat an alarm at regular intervals. The features that sold me on this tool for the person I was working with allowed us to attach pictures to reminders. This individual is a non reader so when a notification pops up on his phone, he sometimes doesn’t know what the reminder is for. Now he gets a visual cue along with the reminder. The second feature we really found powerful was the ability to connect audio to the reminders. Now we can record a voice and connect that audio file to a reminder for added support. The app is currently only available for iOS devices and costs $.99. I will put the link to the website in the Episode 25 show notes.

This past week, I was working with a school based team helping identify Chrome supports that the student could use on a Chromebook to help with research activities. Part of their research involved watching a video and then adding notes to a shared Google Doc. This student was struggling with moving between two open tabs in the browser. I introduced the team to Tab Resize as a solution!

The Tab Resize extension lets a user split the screen in a variety of formats and have multiple pages visible simultaneously. While the student I was working with needed two screens side by side, other formats include two screens stacked on top of each other and a four screen split. This free extension was exactly what we were looking for and the student is now using it successfully to complete his research project. I will put the link to Tab Resize in the show notes.

For this episode I have two resources to share in order to learn more about Assistive and Inclusive Technology.

First up is the new Explore AT website from the AT3 Center. The purpose of the AT3 Center, according to the website, is: to provide training and technical assistance for all AT Act Section 4 State and Territory AT Programs to support quality implementation of state level and state leadership activities and to support a national assistive technology internet site that makes general AT information available to the public and other stakeholders.

The Explore AT website is a clearinghouse for an array of resources in the following categories: Computer Access, Daily Living, Environmental Adaptations and Controls, Hearing, Recreation, Seating, Positioning and Mobility, Speech Communication, Vehicle Modifications, Vision, Reading, Writing, Math and Organization. This website will continue to evolve as more resources are added. Visit exploreat.net to learn more.

For professional learning about Assistive and Inclusive Technology, AbleNet offers an amazing free resource called AbleNet University. This resource consists of live and recorded webinars on an array of topics, presented by leaders in the field. New live webinars happen almost every week and by creating a login on the AbleNet website, you will have access to the whole catalog of recorded webinars. Learning about topics that matter to you – on your schedule! I will put the link to the AbleNet University website in the show notes.

The topic of this week’s #ATchat was The New Assistive Technology. We were thrilled to have a special guest Chris Bugaj. We had a Flipgrid for people to leave questions for Chris prior to the chat and #Atchat co-moderator Karen Janowski left this message for Chris.

Chris well thank you for being willing tomorrow at our chat tonight. I have a couple of questions you are the expert when it comes to District level AT implementation you have written two awesome books so I can put the technology what have you seen that the change for the positive over the years that you’ve been in the field what are what are some of the things that you’ve seen that you’re disappointed in or your wish that they used some of the things that you wish to change up until this point what trends do you see for our future and of course I always love to hear what would you change what would you change about if you could wave the magic wand at the national level how you would change how a tea is written in IDEA and I know that you are dying to change the name of our field so I’d love to hear what you have to say about any of these things and I’ll see you online

Great questions from Karen and Chris shared some thoughts about this including posing one of Karen’s questions back to the group. What are some positive changes you have seen in the last 20 years in our field?

Many answers came in – including my answer: We have seen a trend towards built in accessibility features in all our devices. That has been a catalyst for more inclusive opportunities for all.

Judie Schoonover said: I think the most positive thing that resonates with me is that the lines are blurred between assistive and technology, and we’re just looking at solutions and bridges to circumvent barriers for all learners. A lot of demystifying has occurred

And finally Shawn Pearson said:

Now I haven’t been around for 20 years (I am not THAT old) but in the last 5 or 6 years there is definitely a greater awareness for what AT can do and its benefits in education!

We appreciate Chris spending some time with us to answer questions from the #ATchat community. Check out his podcast Talking with Tech wherever you listen to podcasts!

To read the entire archive of this #ATchat visit bit.ly/atchat121918

Episode 24 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Tech Tool Spotlight: Google for Education Updates
- Program a Progress Bar in Google Slide presentations
- Locked Google Forms
- Visit the link to sign up for this Beta Testing Program
Watch: Children’s Screen Time Action Network Webinar – Are Apps Manipulating Kids
- https://youtu.be/1USMLQfxDp4
#ATchat Update: 12/12/18
Topic: AAC Issues and Trends w/ special guest Carole Zangari
- Follow Carloe on Twitter at @PrAACticalAAC
- http://bit.ly/atchat121218
#ATchat: Leave a Question for Chris Bugaj via Flipgrid
- 12/19/18 #ATchat Topic: The New Assistive Technology-Making Learning Awesome for All
- Flipgrid: https://flipgrid.com/41e041b0
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

The latest edition of the Google for Education newsletter had some interesting pieces of info that can support all learners. One piece that caught my eye was the ability to lock students into a Google Form so they are unable to navigate away on a Chromebook. Similar to the Guided Access feature on iOS devices, we can use this to focus students on the task at hand. This feature is currently in Beta testing phase AND only available on managed Chrome accounts. I have included the link to sign up for this Beta testing program in the show notes. This beta test also includes a Gradebook feature for Google Classroom.

The other piece is a programming lesson you can use to insert a progress bar on Google Slide presentations. This could be a powerful support for individuals to provide cues to determining completion of an activity. This programming lesson is designed for Middle and High School students and should take approximately 45-90 minutes to complete and teaches the skills of coding, using the script editor and code scripting. I will post the link to the lesson in the show notes. I can’t wait to try this out!

If you sign up for the beta program, or try this progress bar trick, let me know how it goes. Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will include your message in an upcoming episode.

I have to recommend a webinar recording I watched this week that was sent to me by Nancy Shepardson. The webinar, titled Are Apps Manipulating Kids, was hosted by the Children’s Screen Time Action Network. The speakers were from the Institute for Public Representation at Georgetown University. The focus of the webinar was ways that app developers manipulate young children into watching ads and making purchases. The webinar also included some discussion about privacy policies, COPPA compliance and ways practitioners can protect children from these practices. I will post this link to the YouTube recording of the webinar in this episode’s show notes.

The topic of this week’s #ATchat was AAC Issues and Trends. We were thrilled to have a special guest Carole Zangari. We had a Flipgrid for people to leave questions for Carole prior to the chat and friend of the podcast, Cassie Frost, left this question for Carole.

Carole had two suggestions in response to Cassie’s question. One involves using goals and the other involves recognizing what it takes for people to actually change their behavior.

Another suggestion from Carole was: One idea is to embed the supportive strategies (like ready access to AAC devices & strategies like aided language input) directly into the IEP goals. Some ppl like to do that in the Accommodations section. I also embed them into goals.

From Twitter use @endeverstar came this response:

“my suggestion on that first q is to make sure teachers have a chance to listen to actual aac users talk about what it feels like to have our device/picture cards/etc taken away or inaccessible

they need to understand the importance of having comm supports at all times”

This was an amazing hour long conversation with tons of great resources. Check out the full archive at bit.ly/atchat121218

Next week’s #ATchat will be another Ask the AT Thought Leader discussion. For 12/19/18 we have Chris Bugaj joining us to discuss ideas from his new book The New Assistive Technology: Making Learning Awesome for All. In order to maximize our learning, we will be asking you to submit questions you would like to ask and Chris will answer during #ATchat. So start thinking!

Check the show notes for the link to the Flipgrid and make sure to join us for the chat on 12/19/18!

Episode 23 (Listen)

In this episode:

Tech Tool Spotlight: Story Speaker Google Docs Add on
- Story Speaker Help Document
Tech Tool Spotlight:
#ATchat Update: 12/5/18
Topic: Moving Beyond Technology for Reward and Reinforcement
- http://bit.ly/atchat120518
#ATchat: Leave a Question for Carole Zangari via Flipgrid
- 12/12/18 #ATchat Topic: AAC Issues & Trends
- Flipgrid: https://flipgrid.com/9fc9106b
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

This past week I have been in Laredo TX working with educators to use Google Chrome as Assistive & Inclusive Technology in the classroom in order to support all learners. As we were exploring Google Docs Add Ons we came across Story Speaker.

This Google Docs Add On allows you to create interactive, talking stories that can be read aloud with a Google Home device or any device with Google Assistant!

Following the formatting described in the help document, you can create a story that can take listeners down different paths. By using commands like “If you say right” , you can program audio responses from the Google Home device. These responses will provide different audio cues depending on what you say. You can basically create your own Choose Your Own Adventure stories that can be read aloud!

I have included the link to the Help Document in the show notes. Install the Add On today and start creating. If you make a story and publish it, let me know so I can promote your stories to other users.

A research team at Boston Children’s Hospital Labs of Cognitive Neuroscience have developed an app that is designed to identify students at risk for reading disabilities. The team hopes this app will reduce the amount of lost time that students experience before being diagnosed with a reading disability, which leads to delays in receiving effective reading intervention strategies. Led through a virtual theme park, children are faced with a variety of challenges designed to assess skills related to six early literacy milestones:

Phonological awareness (the ability to manipulate the sounds of language)
Phonological short-term memory
Rapid automatized naming
Knowledge of letter names and the sounds they make
Vocabulary
Oral listening comprehension

The app moves beyond a screener by providing additional “evidence based responses to screening” that can aid students in areas of reading weakness. The app will be piloted in schools starting in Fall of 2019 and is expected to be released to all the following year. A link to the article is provided in the show notes.

This weeks #ATchat topic was Moving Beyond Technology for Reward and Reinforcement. We discussed issues surrounding using iPads, for example, as a reward for earning points on a behavior chart. While these devices can be motivating for students, are we sending the wrong message about technology. Is this causing students to see the technology only as a device for play versus a tool for independence? We had alot of conversation about classroom management and how educators approach the use of these tech tools. We also discussed the barriers we face when trying to support educators who are supporting students with technology. All in all – another important conversation about technology implementation. To catch up on the whole conversation, read the archive at bit.ly/atchat120518

For the next two weeks, we are going to try something a little different with #ATchat. We have lined up two thought leaders in the field of AT, Carole Zangari and Chris Bugaj. In order to maximize our learning, we will be asking you to submit questions you would like to ask and Carole and Chris will answer during #ATchat. So start thinking! Carole is scheduled for 12/12/18 and Chris is scheduled for 12/19/18.

Watch the #ATchat hashtag in the coming weeks for a link to leave your questions. Then make sure to join us for the chats!

Episode 22 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Tech Tool Spotlight: The Write AT & Apps for Notetaking
- bit.ly/thewriteat
#ATchat Update: 11/28/18
Topic: Open Forum!
- bit.ly/atchat112818
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

This week I traveled to Indianapolis to participate in the PATINS Access 2 Education conference. This two day event is attended by hundreds of educators from throughout Indiana and they learn together how to best meet the unique needs of all students in the classroom.

I presented four sessions throughout the conference, but I want to focus on the session I presented with Beth Poss and Mystie Rail. It was titled The Write AT & Apps for Notetaking.

We discussed some of the struggles individuals face with notetaking. From the mechanics of writing to organizing information in order to effectively retrieve the info. We also discussed how processing speed can dramatically impact a persons ability to listen to information, recognize the importance, and then write it down in a timely manner. So what can we do to help people? We looked at 3 main areas of focus: Chrome Extensions, Apps and Creative Tools. A couple of the Chrome tools included Google Keep (of course! I can’t do a session and NOT mention Keep!) We also discussed creative ways to use Google Slides as a Note taking tool. Another powerful Chrome notetaking tool is Mic Note. This Chrome app provides a platform for classroom audio to be synced to typed notes. Now I can go back and review specific sections of notes AND hear the audio from that moment of the class.

Some of the apps we explrored included Notability and Good Notes 4. We tried to highlight apps that would provide an array of features that would provide support to all unique learners. For example, using the text to speech feature in Notability or creating sketchnotes using an Apple Pencil. Notetaking apps have really evolved into powerful supports for all learners.

Our last focus area was what we called Creative Tools. This includes tools like the Livescribe Pen and the Rockebook. For those not familiar with the Rocketbook, it consists of a notebook and a special pen. After writing notes on the paper, there is a QR code on the page. Taking a picture of this page will automatically store the page in your selected location – whether that is Google Drive or One Drive or any other supported application. Once the pages are stored digitally, I can erase the book and start again. The Rocketbook Wave erases by heating it in a microwave and the Rocketbook Everlast erases with water.

Do you have a favorite tool you use for notetaking? Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast with your tool and how you have used it to support individuals. It may just appear on an upcoming episode.

This week was our monthly Open Forum. I always enjoy this free flowing conversation about all types of topics related to AT and inclusive technology. This week some of the topics included using eye gaze for AAC, tools for reading support, and more. Check out the archive at bit.ly/atchat112818

Coming up in the next couple weeks, we are going to try something a little different with #ATchat. We have lined up two thought leaders in the field of AT, Carole Zangari and Chris Bugaj. In order to maximize our learning, we will be asking you to submit questions you would like to ask and Carole and Chris will answer during #ATchat. So start thinking! Carole is scheduled for 12/12/18 and Chris is scheduled for 12/19/18.

Watch the #ATchat hashtag in the coming weeks for a link to leave your questions. Then make sure to join us for the chats!

Episode 21 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this super sized episode:

Tech Tool Spotlight: eBook Conversion Guide
- Make Use Of website
Resources You Can Use: Edcamp NJ 2018:
- North Location Session Board
- South Location Session Board
Let’s Hear From You: PD, Tools & Thanks!
- Special Guests: Maureen Tumenas, Chris Bugaj, Beth Poss, Michael Roush and Hillary Goldthwait-Fowles
#ATchat Update: 11/21/18
- Topic: No Chat – Happy Thanksgiving 2018!
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

Working with digital materials for students and adults with disabilities sometimes involves using different file formats. Depending on the person’s needs and the tools they are using, a certain file format may be necessary. But where to turn to find out about tools that can help with formatting materials? I found a really nice resource on the Make Use Of website. I will make sure to add the link in the show notes.

The eBook Conversion Guide includes desktop tools, apps and web services that can be used to provide supports with materials. One tool mentioned in the guide is Calibre. This free tool is extremely helpful when looking to change a file format. The tool supports many different file formats and can be used as an effective tool for ebook file management too.

I will often work with teams to create ePub documents from PDFs and websites. ePub is a flexible accessible file format that can support various user needs, including multimedia embedded supports. Many times I am creating ePub files that consumers can use on an iOS device and specifically use in iBooks.

Do you have a favorite tool you use for eBook conversion? Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast with your tool and how you have used it to support individuals. It may just appear on an upcoming episode.

This past weekend was a big one here in NJ for professional learning – it was Edcamp NJ. For people who have never attended an edcamp – pause the episode right now and visit the Edcamp Foundation website at edcamp.org to find one near you. I promise you will not be disappointed. This participant led, organic learning experience will revitalize you and remind you why you do this. A crowd sourced session board filled with engaging conversations on a wide array of topics. Not “sit and get” presentations but conversations involving everyone – what’s not to love about that!

Back to Edcamp NJ. With over 800 educators registered for the event, this has to be one of the biggest edcamps and this year it got even bigger – two locations to better meet the needs of educators. The New Brunswick Edcamp consisted of 14 simultaneous conversations across 6 sessions. The Egg Harbor Edcamp had 7 simultaneous conversations across 4 session times. With this many session times, there was for sure something for everyone. I attended the South Edcamp in Egg Harbor and it was a fantastic event. Special thanks to all the organizers – you guys did an amazing job.

One of the things I love about edcamps is how freely resources are shared. Edcamp NJ does a nice job of posting their session boards on line with a shared notetaking document for every session. Now I can review the conversation even if I didn’t make the session. I put the links to both session boards in the show notes so you can check out the resources.

Well there was no ATchat this week but in keeping with the theme of this episode, I thought I would share last year’s Thanksgiving chat archive. To read the entire archive from last year’s Thanksgiving ATchat – go to http://bit.ly/atchat112217

Last year’s shortened Let’s Give Thanks chat consisted of 3 questions:

Who is one person you would like to thank for being a mentor? Who was an inspiration to you? Recognize them here.

What are you MOST proud of doing/accomplishing so far this year? Personal or professional.

What was the best training, PD, workshop, or other new “thing” you discovered this year, and who would you like to thank for it?

I asked you to share your best “thing” and who you would like to thank via Speakpipe and you did not disappoint. Let’s hear from you!

[Interview Transcription Coming Soon]

When I think about what I am most thankful for – you just heard 5 examples of it. I am most thankful for my PLN. People like Maureen, Chris, Beth, Michael and Hillary – people who make me better every day. Thanks guys!

Episode 20 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

PD on the Go: The Power of Podcasts
- LOMAH Ep 57: Pep Talks & Twitter Chats!
- Assitive Technology Update Ep 389
- PD on to Go Crowdsourced Doc: http://bit.ly/pdonthego
Tech Tool Spotlight:
- PRC-Saltillo Explore AAC website – https://exploreaac.com/
Tech Tool Spotlight: Wonderscope AR iOS App
- Watch: https://youtu.be/vqN3Rjv6nlk
- Check out the website: http://wonderscope.com/
#ATchat Update: 11/14/18
- Topic: Tech for Students with Intellectual Disabilities
- #ATchat Archive 11/14/18 – http://bit.ly/atchat111418
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

Even though we are all busy, we still need to carve out some time to learn. For PD on the Go, I have become immersed in the world of podcasts – both as a creator and consumer. I have really enjoyed creating this podcast each week and I hope that you are finding the information valuable. As I develop my plan for each week – I work to explore all areas related to inclusive technology. I have been very deliberate in my strategy to focus on both tools AND implementation. We all know it isn’t all about “stuff” but also how we use the “stuff” to meet the unique needs of each individual.

I would love the opportunity to interview practitioners about your expertise. Reach out either via email at mike@mmatp.com or Share your story of inclusive technology via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will feature you on an upcoming episode.

I recently had the honor of being interviewed on two different podcasts related to assistive technology and people with disabilities.

First I was a guest on the Assistive Technology Update podcast from the Indata Project. Led by Josh Anderson, this podcast focuses on all areas of AT. We spent our time discussing AT service delivery and a new project I am working on with a local school district and Raspberry Pi.

Next, I was a guest on the LOMAH Podcast. I spoke with Kim Albrecht about opportunities to learn and grow in this ever changing world of AT. Kim titled the episode Pep Talks and Twitter Chats – and I feel very happy about that description of our conversation.

I added the links to both these episodes in the show notes. If you haven’t listened to these podcasts, I can’t recommend them enough. Speaking of listening to podcasts …

What are you listening to? I recently started a collaborative Google Doc with a list of the podcasts I listen to related to disability, technology, and education. Well – what do you say – let’s crowdsource this list! Go to http://bit.ly/pdonthego and add to the list.

Want to learn more about AAC? Check out the new website from PRC-Saltillo Explore AAC. In addition to walking you through a roadmap towards AAC Implementation, including a section where you can download some low tech AAC boards and explore AAC through an interactive web based module. Check it out at exploreaac.com

There has been lots of talking recently about Augmented Reality and now we have the Wonderscope AR app for iOS. This interactive story book app unfolds with characters coming to life in front of you. While this alone would make this a pretty engaging tool, the company also announced that they are planning to release a development tool called Storymaker. This tool, when released, will allow anyone to create their own Augmented Reality stories. This is the really exciting part for me – giving anyone the opportunity to create and tell stories with AR components.

The app is free and comes with one book, A Brief History. A second book is available now called Little Red and costs $4.99. Other titles will be released in December. Check out the show notes for a link to the website and a video showing the augmented reality portions of the book.

This week’s #ATchat topic was Tech for Students with Intellectual Disabilities. Some of the topics we discussed included tools we use to cognitively rescale materials and strategies people use to modify/develop and create flexible curriculum to support all learners. As with every chat – tons of info was shared. Both suggestions for tech tools to support learners and resources to learn more information.

Want to read the archive of this week’s #ATchat – go to: bit.ly/atchat111418

To read all the #ATchat archives from this entire school year, go to bit.ly/atchat18-19 or Check out the show notes for the link to the spreadsheet.

Do you have an idea for an #ATchat topic, or do you want to moderate the chat? Drop me a line and let me know. We love learning from each other and are always excited to have new voices in the chat.

Episode 19 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

WeVideo Digital Storytelling Toolkit
Tech Tool Spotlight: Slice Planner
- Sliceplanner.com
- You Tube Video: https://youtu.be/EPh7jqektgs
#ATchat Update: 11/7/18
- Topic: The AT + Maker Connection!
- Read: AT Makers Switch Interface
- Watch: AT Makers Switch Interface
- #ATchat Archive 11/7/18 – http://bit.ly/atchat110718
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

Are you using video to promote digital storytelling? Have you tried We Video? This web based video editor is perfect for use with a Chromebook and has plenty of features to help your vision become a video reality! This tool is really powerful – in fact, it has become my video tool of choice for creating and editing accessible video projects.

We Video has just announced a new digital storytelling toolkit to help promote creativity in the classroom. According to the WeVideo website, the toolkit includes:

A guide with best practices for jumpstarting digital storytelling in all classrooms
Rubrics to support project evaluations and provide feedback
Reflection prompts to engage students in deeper learning
Graphic organizers to help students design their ideas and content
Example projects to spark new ideas

The toolkit is free and I will include the link to sign up in the show notes.

Have you used digital storytelling to promote inclusion and accessibility? Share your story via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will feature you on an upcoming episode.

Time management. Just the thought of it can make people start to sweat! How can we best manage our time effectively and provide flexible supports that are helpful for all – whether it is a paper or digital calendar. Enter the Slice Planner. This schedule planner offers the best of both worlds. This paper planner allows you to visually organize your schedule in a paper notebook and then sync that information with your digital calendar app.

The analog component of this package is a small notebook that is approximately 8” x 6”. Open the book up, write your appointments on the left page, and add additional notes on the right page. The Slice Planner app with sync that information directly into your calendar app for you and set reminders or alerts. Check this tool out at sliceplanner.com or visit the show notes for links to the webpage and a YouTube video showing the Slice Planner in action.

This week’s #ATchat topic was the AT + Maker Connection. We discussed ways AT professionals can get back to our roots as Makers! Tweeters shared creative solutions they recently created to meet a unique need – such as keyguards for tablets, 3d printed pencil holders, battery interrupters and much more.

Bill Binko from AT Makers shared some of their recent updates including a 3d printed, Adafruit interface for using AT switches on the computer. The best part about this solution – it only costs $12 to make! I will include a link to the directions and a YouTube video in the show notes.

We also had a great conversation about strategies to connect with High School STEM / Robotics clubs to create AT Solutions. Partner with these creative students who are searching for problems to solve. Sounds like a perfect partnership between Makers and AT professionals. Want to read the archive of this week’s #ATchat – go to: bit.ly/atchat110718

To read all the #ATchat archives from this entire school year, go to bit.ly/atchat18-19 or Check out the show notes for the link to the spreadsheet.

Do you have an idea for an #ATchat topic, or do you want to moderate the chat? Drop me a line and let me know. We love learning from each other and are always excited to have new voices in the chat.

Episode 18 (Listen)

Episode 17 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Tech Tool Spotlight: Shortcuts App for iOS
Tech Tool Spotlight: Touch Blocker for Android
#ATchat Update: 10/24/18
- Topic: Live from the International Dyslexia Association Conference #DyslexiaCon18
- #ATchat Archive 10/24/18 – http://bit.ly/atchat102418
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

Let’s talk about the Shortcuts app from Apple. This app, while not marketed as an accessibility tool, really fits nicely into our world of inclusive technology.

This app is designed to be a productivity support by automating certain actions in iOS. Think about the series of actions you need to string together to perform certain tasks on your iOS device. Now you can complete these tasks with one single tap instead of multiple steps. A big plus in our world of inclusive technology – this app is fully VoiceOver compatible!

The app comes with a Gallery of pre-made shortcuts such as Email Schedule to Yourself or Remaining Reminders. How about listening to a playlist? Simple, just activate the shortcut. Another powerful feature is the ability to run shortcuts in other apps.

Download this app today and start playing around with shortcuts. Did you find a solution to promote accessibility? Leave me a message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will feature you on an upcoming episode.

I was working with a school based team this week and was asked a familiar question. Is there an Android version of iOS Guided Access? We were working with a student using an Android tablet and we needed to lock him into a screen so he would complete his task. After some research, and some trial and error downloading of many apps! – I found one that worked for us.

Touch Blocker is a free app that will prevent unwanted touches on the screen. Open the desired app, swipe down to access the notifications panel and activate Touch Blocker. Now the user will be unable to exit the app until you unlock the app. This solution will really be helpful in this classroom because there are only 2 ipads with Guided Access. Now, the teacher can use the other 3 Android tablets and provide the same level of support to students.

Check out the Episode 17 show notes for a link to the Google Play Store to download this app. Do you have another Android app you use for this function? Leave me a message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast

This week’s #ATchat was live from the International Dyslexia Association Conference which was held at Foxwoods Resort in CT. Karen and I, along with Jamie Martin and Jackie Hersh, presented a full day workshop on AT tools for students with dyslexia. We also participated in an AT Lab set up in the exhibit hall to give conference attendees a chance to get their hands on AT.

With that as our backdrop, the topic of the chat this week was highlights from the conference, along with a conversation about tools and strategies people have used to support individuals with dyslexia. Part of the chat focused on educating professionals on the power of AT and dispelling the myth that AT is somehow cheating or would reduce student’s desire to learn to read. These statements continue to pop up and we need to be strong in our message that AT is not cheating! AT does not make students lazy! In fact, during the chat Hillary came up with what I think will be our AT chat slogan: Until Remediation Clicks, AT Sticks. Love it! The second part of the chat focused on some examples of tools that people use to support students with dyslexia.

To read the archive of this week’s #ATchat, go to: http://bit.ly/atchat102418

To read all the #ATchat archives from this entire school year, go to bit.ly/atchat18-19 or Check out the show notes for the link to the spreadsheet.

Do you have an idea for an #ATchat topic, or do you want to moderate the chat? Drop me a line and let me know. We love learning from each other and are always excited to have new voices in the chat.

Thanks for listening. If you enjoy the podcast, please subscribe and leave a review! Do you have an idea for a future episode? Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast with your suggestion. It may just appear on an upcoming episode.To stay current on all things Inclusive and Assistive Technology, follow me on Twitter @mmatp and visit my website at mmatp.com for Inclusive Technology resources and all the previous podcast episodes. Bye for now!

Episode 16 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Tech Tool Spotlight: Voice Access Android App
- Read the article from the Google Keyword Blog
- Voice Access App Commands
Accessibility at a Glance video series from Microsoft
- YouTube Playlist
#ATchat Update: 10/17/18
- Topic: Designing for Accessibility with POUR
- Watch: https://youtu.be/dzzlJQXmJIw
- #ATchat Archive 10/17/18 – http://bit.ly/atchat101718
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

Released last week from the Google Accessibility team, Voice Access is a new Android app that provides hands free access to your Android smartphone and tablet. Users can navigate through apps, enter and edit text, and much more. Voice commands let you achieve greater control over apps and functions – like scrolling through app screens and access to app control buttons – all hands free. For access to apps with multiple text fields, the app will display numbers next to each text field. Simply announce that number and start dictating text directly into that text field.

Check out the Episode 16 show notes for a link to the Google Keyword Blog article about the Voice Access app as well as a link to the list of commands available within the app.

Accessibility at a Glance is a series of videos produced by Microsoft that promote the creation of inclusive, accessible digital experiences for people with disabilities.

Check out the Episode 16 show notes for a link to the YouTube Playlist of all the Accessibility at a Glance videos. Each short video focuses on another aspect of accessible, inclusive digital design. From captioning, to text alternatives, to a 4-part series on User Interface Automation – this video series offers powerful information in a short, easily digestible format.

One video I really enjoyed was the Inclusive Presentation Skills video. It started with the essential question: Is my presentation accessible to everyone? Several tips included: providing audio cues to support visual items, and the effective use of accessible multimedia within a presentation. We must ensure that our presentations are inclusive to all participants and this is a great place to start.

The topic for this week’s #ATchat was Designing for Accessibility with POUR. Our special guest moderator for the chat was Luis Perez from the National AEM Center.

Think about all those educator created materials – how do we ensure that they are accessible. That’s where POUR comes in! POUR is an acronym for Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust. Let’s dig into each area a bit.

Perceivable focuses on making content accessible visually and or auditorily for all. Fonts sizes and styles, colors, audio cues, captions for videos all fall into this area.

Operable focuses on the ways learners interact with the content and does it provide structure / support throughout the learning experience.

Understandable focuses on providing cues and supports to ensure that all learners can move through the materials successfully through directions and learning models.

Finally, we have Robust which focuses on the ability of your content to be used with current, and future, technologies that the learners may employ during the learning experience.

We had a lively conversations about tools and strategies related to POUR and providing an inclusive learning experience to all students. To read the archive of this week’s #ATchat, go to: bit.ly/atchat101718

To read all the #ATchat archives from this entire school year, go to bit.ly/atchat18-19 or Check out the Episode 16 show notes for the link to the spreadsheet.

Do you have an idea for an #ATchat topic, or do you want to moderate the chat? Drop me a line and let me know. We love learning from each other and are always excited to have new voices in the chat.

Thanks for listening to this episode. If you enjoy the podcast, please subscribe and leave a review! Do you have an idea for a future episode? Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at https://www.speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast with your suggestion. It may just appear on an upcoming episode.

Episode 15 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Tech Tool Spotlight: Presentation Translator for Powerpoint
- https://translator.microsoft.com/help/presentation-translator/
Explore Built in Accessibility Features
- Watch the video by the Cerebral Palsy Foundation
#ATchat Update: 10/10/18
- Topic: Curriculum, Modifications and Accommodations
- The Difference Between Accommodations and Modifications from Understood.org
- #ATchat Archive 10/10/18 – http://bit.ly/atchat101018
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

A couple episodes back I mentioned that auto captioning feature for Google Slides that is coming in an upcoming Chrome OS update.

For this episode, let’s talk about Presentation Translator for Powerpoint from Microsoft. This add in provides real time captions which are displayed directly on your slides. As a presenter – you can speak in any of the 10 supported languages – Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish – and provide subtitles in any one of over 60 text translation languages.

If you share the QR code or 5 letter conversation code with the audience – they can follow along using the Microsoft Translator app on their own personal device. Up to 500 participants can follow the conversation, in their chosen language, using the Translator app or on the web at http://translate.it

I will add a link to the information in the Episode 15 show notes. Once you try it out, let me know what you think. Let’s talk about ways you could use this. Share your ideas via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will include them in an upcoming episode.

When we think about inclusive technology tools, look no further than your smartphone! So many features are already embedded into your phone to provide accessibility and promote inclusion. For this episode, I thought I would share the audio from a video I created with the Cerebral Palsy Foundation to encourage everyone to use what they already have to promote accessibility. Enjoy!

The topic for this week’s #ATchat was Curriculum, Modifications and Accommodations. What made this conversation so powerful was the fact that many of the ideas shared were not about tools but instead about strategies which will lead to student success. We also had a conversation about the important difference between Modifications and Accommodations. These two terms are not interchangeable. I will share a link to the show notes to a post from Understood.org that talks about the differences. Some of the tools mentioned included Readtopia from Don Johnston, News 2 You, and MeVille to WeVille from AbleNet.

To read the archive of this week’s #ATchat, go to: bit.ly/atchat101018

To read all the #ATchat archives from this entire school year, go to bit.ly/atchat18-19 or Check out the Episode 15 show notes for the link to the spreadsheet.

Do you have an idea for an #ATchat topic, or do you want to moderate the chat? Drop me a line and let me know. We love learning from each other and are always excited to have new voices in the chat.

Episode 14 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

2018 New Jersey Assistive Technology Summit
- Keynote Spotlight: Nick Foley
#ATchat Update: 10/3/18
- Topic: If I Could Change One Thing About …
- #ATchat Archive 10/3/18 – bit.ly/atchat100318
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

I am excited to share today’s podcast episode with you. This was part of a keynote panel that was presented at the 2018 New Jersey Assistive Technology Summit. Just a little background – in addition to the consulting I do with my company, Inclusive Tech Solutions, I am also the Director of the New Jersey Assistive Technology Act Project. Under that position, we created and deliver an annual assistive technology conference. So at this year’s conference, we has three users of assistive technology share their story as part of our keynote. So today I am going to present to you one of those stories. I am going to share with you the story from Nick Foley. Nick is an 11th grade high school student with dyslexia and he was able to share some really great information about how he uses assistive technology to be successful. I especially like the questions the audience asks at the end and how Nick steps up and gives some fantastic answers about AT. Enjoy!

Hi, I’m Nick. I’m 16 years old and I’m a junior. I am a Learning Ally YES Ambassador. YES stands for Youth Example for Self Advocacy.

I knew I was different when I was in third grade because I always needed extra help. In 5th grade, I never read any of my library book. I would always put them in my backpack and pretend to read them. I would always try to find books with audio to them. I found out I was dyslexic in the third grade. When I found out I was dyslexic I was confused. I didn’t know what dyslexia was. So my parents and my teacher explained dyslexia to me.

Dyslexia doesn’t mean that you’re dumb or stupid. It means that it takes longer for you to process information. You might need a little extra help. But but you can do what everyone else can do. The easiest way for me to learn is by doing things hands on. That is why I really like science.

I learn how to take better notes a couple years ago and now I use those notes to study in class. I use Quizlet which is an app with digital flashcards. So it’s easier for me to go over my notes. I have to find ways to make the information stick and I need extra time to have the information click in my head. Instead of having it go right through.

The accommodations I use on my iPhone and my laptop. My Learning Ally audiobooks. I get extra time on tests and assignments if I need it and I have questions read out loud to me if I need it. Assistive Technology I use on my laptop and iPhone apps are Learning Ally Audiobooks and my Google Classroom and Google Extensions. The assistive technology I use are Quizlet, Grammarly and sticky notes. Other apps are used by other students are Mic Note and the Livescribe Pen. I hope to use these this year in school. I hope to use them in college.

Being a dyslexic is like going to Cape May. Most people take the Garden State Parkway which is a pretty easy and free way to get there. There might be few traffic jams during the busy times this summer. But it is a pretty easy and free way to get there. That’s how most kids learn. In school they might have a couple bumps in the road along the way but it is a pretty easy. It’s pretty easy in school.

Being a dyslexic is like going to Cape May with my grandparents. Instead of taking the Garden State Parkway which is an easy way to get there, we take a lot of stops and it takes us twice as long. I get really frustrated because I just want to get the Cape May. But we go to new places and learn new things. That’s just like being dyslexic. I don’t get the same place as everyone else because it takes me a little longer. But I make new stops and pick new things up other people probably don’t know. For example, I know a lot more about assistive technology and what works best for me. In the end I get to Cape May and I have a great time. So it doesn’t matter how long it takes me to get there. I feel the same way about how I learn. It might take me a little longer and I might not get to the same place as everyone else at the same time. But in the end I get there and I have a great time.

Thank you.

Does anybody have any questions for Nick?

Thanks Nick. A question about your Learning Ally Audiobooks. Do you use a synthesizer or do you use human read Audiobooks and does it make a difference?

Learning Ally has the biggest selection of human read books, over 80,000. I use for my school work, my required reading and my textbooks. So it is all human read and you can change the voice and the speed and everything if you want. It helps me better instead of sounding like a robot or automated. You have a real human reading it out loud. Honestly, it works better for me. I am not sure about other people but it’s more real so you understand it. Not like a robot reading it to you. It’s fluent and you can understand the information easier.

Hi Nick. That was really great. My grandparents took me to Cape May that way too. I really like that. You mentioned a couple of apps I heard you mention a pen. Could you describe them a little bit more?

So the Livescribe Pen works with special paper that has really small dots on it. You can use that pen to, say you are in a class in his lecture. You can use up his record your teacher and write down whatever your teacher is writing down. You can write key words that your teacher wrote down. Then you can go back and click on that word and it will go back to the exact part where your teacher was talking. My teacher was talking about a homework assignment and we had to do 3 paragraphs. He was telling us to write down a bunch of notes on the screen. So I can just sum it up in a couple words and sentences and have the teacher be recorded by what they are saying when explaining it. Then I can go back later and listen to what the teacher was saying so I can listen to the teacher in real time and then later go back and listen to my notes. Instead of only focusing on my notes. So it works with special paper that has small dots on it and then the pen records the teacher.

So I have a question in relation to that. When my son was in school, we had difficulty with our school district because the teachers didn’t want to be recorded. I am wondering if that is something you had to deal with and how you dealt with that.

So far I haven’t used the Livescribe Pen in High School or in Middle School because I have things on the laptop like Google Classroom. So I can go back home and it is all there. I did email my case manage and my teachers about a policy if I am allowed to record them in class. I have other friends in different schools that have used the Liverscribe Pen, the other Ambassadors, and they have signed a contract. It is a non- disclosure contract about they only use that information for school work. So they can’t share that with anyone else. So it is strictly just for school. If they are recording a teacher, they are the only ones who are allowed to use that recording and it is not spread to anyone else.

So Nick. This is great. Can you share with us how you learned about all these different tools? How were you able to get these tools that are helping you. Have you ever needed the purchase any of these on your own?

Luckily, I have a great support team and a great family who is able to, and willing to, help me any way they can. It started – my grandma she had a little reader. I am not sure what they call it. They go through the paper and read it out loud to you. My mom and dad looked at Learning Ally and she downloaded that for me in third or fourth grade. Then I finally started to listen to books, read books and understand them. From there, my mom and dad found different tools that would help me in areas of school. I use Quizlet now which is a digital flash cards I get on my laptop or iPhone and you can ear read and eye read at the same time. So you can look at the flashcards and it reads them out loud to you. That is one I really like and I was able to use that.

Others I use are sticky notes just like any application on the laptop that you can get. I use those for reminding and. I use a bunch of other ones. I know other Ambassadors use different ones like the Livescribe Pen. Some use the Mic Note. So I just had to find one that fit me – and we have gone through a lot that I haven’t used, I have used. Like Dragon Dictation – we had that, we tried it out and it didn’t really work. But then we found, when I have to type up essays I just use the microphone on my iPhone and I just say whatever I want. That’s like a free one on your iPhone. I say whatever I want and it types out for me. Then I can go back and edit it.

My mom and dad also got me an iPad and a laptop. So I can use my laptop in class, or my Learning Ally, for typing up essays. My iPad I used a long time ago for Learning Ally and different stuff. So my parents didn’t have to buy that stuff themselves. Some schools do give out laptops, depending on what school district you are in. My school didn’t do that so we got our own but I guess if I asked I would have been able to.

This week’s #ATchat was called If I Could Change One Thing About. Participants shared their thoughts about making changes to: school,

IDEA, AT Consideration, your role in schools, how educators integrate technology into the classroom, and changes to delivery of professional development. Finally, we discussed if you could change the term Assistive Technology, what would it be?

Such an interesting conversation. To read the archive of this week’s #ATchat, go to: bit.ly/atchat100318

To read all the #ATchat archives from this entire school year, go to bit.ly/atchat18-19 or Check out the Episode 14 show notes for the link to the spreadsheet.

Do you have an idea for an #ATchat topic, or do you want to moderate the chat? Drop me a line and let me know. We love learning from each other and are always excited to have new voices in the chat.

Episode 12 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Accessible Educational Materials (AEM)
- National Center on Accessible Educational Materials
  - Designing for Accessibility with POUR
    - http://aem.cast.org/creating/designing-for-accessibility-pour.html#.W6UJ4WhKiEs
- Guide to Quality Instructional Materials from The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA)
  - https://qualitycontent.setda.org/
- Mixtape your Curriculum, guest post from Stephanie DeMichele from Matt Miller’s Ditch That Textbook website
  - http://ditchthattextbook.com/2018/09/17/mixtape-your-curriculum-using-open-educational-resources-to-customize-your-teaching-and-their-learning/
- University of Pittsburgh; OER: Big List of Resources
  - https://pitt.libguides.com/openeducation/biglist
- Want to share an idea/strategy? Leave a message via www.speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast
#ATchat Update: 9/19/18
- Topic: Open Forum!
- #ATchat Archive 9/19/18 – bit.ly/atchat091918
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

With the school year underway, it is a good time to discuss accessible educational materials.

According to the National Center on Accessible Educational Materials, “Accessible educational materials, or AEM, are materials and technologies usable for learning across the widest range of individual variability, regardless of format or features. Whether a material or technology is designed from the start to be accessible for all learners or is made accessible for learners with disabilities, it is considered AEM”

AEM includes instructional materials provided in specialized formats and accessible digital materials and technologies.

For specialized formats, many educators will utilize Bookshare or Learning Ally for qualified students. Each of these services is available to individuals with a print disability. What about students that don’t qualify? Check out other available services like Project Gutenberg (for digital text to use with text to speech tools) and Librivox (for human narrated audio books).

With the explosion of digital creation tools, educators are making more of their own materials than ever before. When creating these materials, we need to make a conscious effort to ensure that the materials are accessible to everyone. The National Center on Accessible Educational Materials recently released “Designing for Accessibility with POUR”.

The acronym POUR highlights the accessibility of a learning experience.

Perceivable focuses on making content accessible visually and or auditorily for all. Fonts sizes and styles, colors, audio cues, captions for videos all fall into this area.

Operable focuses on the ways learners interact with the content and does it provide structure / support throughout the learning experience.

Understandable focuses on providing cues and supports to ensure that all learners can move through the materials successfully through directions and learning models.

Finally, we have Robust which focuses on the ability of your content to be used with current, and future, technologies that the learners may employ during the learning experience.

Check the show notes for a link to the POUR information on the National Center for AEM website.

Do you have an idea, strategy or tool you want to share? Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at https://www.speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will play it in an upcoming episode.

The State Educational Technology Directors Association recently released a web based technical assistance manual called Guide to Quality Instructional Materials. According to the website,

“This guide provides guidance to state, district, and school level leaders in the selection of high quality instructional materials that are aligned to standards, address education goals and are accessible for all students.”

The topic areas with in the guide include:

Under the Considerations section, there are some resources shared related to accessibility of digital materials.

For more information, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 12 show notes and a link to the guide.

Want a resource for integrating Open Educational Resources into your teaching AND want to relive the glory of the 80s? Check out the guest post on Matt Miller’s Ditch that Textbook website written by Stephanie DeMichele.

The post is titled, Mixtape Your Curriculum: Using Open Education Resources to Customize Your Teaching and Their Learning. The idea of a mixtape fits nicely when we consider our approach using UDL and providing options for learners. A mixtape can be a very personal solution, providing customized learning experiences focused on meeting that student’s specific learning need. Stephanie breaks this process down into three steps.

Curate your tunes. This is where we explore online resource repositories to find materials. For OER materials, check out oercommons.org. Want more? Check out the show notes for a reference site from the University of Pittsburgh titled the OER: Big List of Resources. Remember accessibility during this discovery phase. Make sure that the materials you select will work with any specialized technology tools the student uses to aid in their learning process.
Record your music. In this phase we deliver the content to the student. What tools do you use to deliver content? Google Classroom, Schoology, Pear Deck are just a few of the options.
Get Your Listener’s Reaction. What strategies do you use to give and get feedback? Utilize something like Google Forms or Flipgrid to provide options to amplify student voice.

The link to the full post is included in the Episode 12 Show Notes. Follow Stephanie on Twitter @sdemichele or on her website stephaniedemichele.org.

This week’s #ATchat was monthly Open Forum! It was a wide ranging conversation covering many different topics – including updates to Bookshare, developing AT Implementation plans with district teams, using Raspberry Pi as an AT support and more.

People shared many resources and strategies. To read the archive of this week’s #ATchat, go to: bit.ly/atchat091218

To read all the #ATchat archives from this entire school year, go to bit.ly/atchat18-19 or Check out the Episode 12 show notes for the link to the spreadsheet.

Do you have an idea for an #ATchat topic, or do you want to moderate the chat? Drop me a line and let me know. We love learning from each other and are always excited to have new voices in the chat.

Episode 11 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

IEP in the Workplace (that’s Inclusive Employment Practices!)
- My presentation slides: bit.ly/ude-az18
- AZ Dept of Ed, Exceptional Student Services 2018 Transition Conference
  - http://www.azed.gov/transitionconference/
- Want to share an idea/strategy? Leave a message via www.speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast
#ATchat Update: 9/12/18
- Topic: Siblings and Peer Support for AT
- #ATchat Archive 9/12/18 – bit.ly/atchat091218
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

Two weeks ago, I had the privilege, for the 3rd straight year, of participating in the Arizona Dept of Ed, Exceptional Student Services Transition Conference. This annual event, which has over 700 participants, focuses on strategies and tools to promote successful transition. The theme for this year’s event was Ignite the Future! Transition Resources to Spark Engagement.

I presented two sessions focused on integrating technology supports into transition services. One on those sessions focused on IEP in the Workplace. I know what you are thinking, IEPs don’t apply to employment. And you would be right! I was speaking about Inclusive Employment Practices in the Workplace.

The focus of the session was design – specifically inclusive design – both architecturally and with the addition of assistive technology tools. Using the 7 principles of Universal Design from Ron Mace as a jumping off point, we discussed tech solutions (both low tech and high tech) that can make the workplace more accessible to individuals with disabilities. Let’s explore the 7 principles and some quick examples.

Principle 1: Equitable Use. The design is useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities.

While there are many examples of this from a physical access perspective, with tools such as standing desks, I shared the example of Google Chrome meeting this principle. With the development of browser extensions, we no longer have to be tied to a specific computer to access tools we may need to be successful. Now we can log in to any computer and our specialized tools come to us. This makes EVERY computer our computer.

Principle 2: Flexibility of Use. The design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities.

This principle is showing up in classrooms all the time in the form of flexible seating. Providing different options for workstations for task completion – find the one that works for you! I shared an example of a worksite accommodation I created for a young lady working at a fast food restaurant. She uses a manual wheelchair for mobility and was not able to reach the tabletop. A sliding shelf was built and installed to provide her an appropriate height work surface. Well, guess what happened. It became a favorite workstation for many employees who could not comfortably use the existing table! So much so that the restaurant built sliding shelves for every table to provide flexibility

Principle 3: Simple and Intuitive Use. Use of the design is easy to understand.

Think about it – you get a new phone. Did it come with directions? Probably not. Thanks to intuitive design you were able to get up and running in no time at all because the designer eliminated unnecessary complexity. How about the built in accessibility features available in every device we use today? Whether it’s voice input for dictation, Siri to answer questions, or listening to text read aloud – our technology tools have become easier to use and more flexible to meet the unique needs of each individual.

Principle 4: Perceptible Information. The design communicates necessary information effectively to the user, regardless of ambient conditions or the user’s sensory abilities.

We see this principle represented in multiple modes of relaying information through design. Picture, audio, text – provide options to ensure that information is conveyed to each individual. Now we have apps, like Seeing AI from Microsoft, that allow us to take pictures in our environment and the app will relay information back to the user. This free app can read text, identify money and colors and also describe a person to you.

Principle 5: Tolerance for Error. The design minimizes hazards & the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions.

For individuals with disabilities, this is where bad design can become dangerous. Make sure that any potential hazards are removed in order to provide access. This could be an area where Virtual Reality crosses into the world of AT. Think about offering a virtual training experience to an individual with a disability so they can move through an environment and navigate hazards without the risk of being hurt. This type of training tool could better prepare individuals for the workplace and potentially reduce the need for job coaching, making them more independent quicker.

Principle 6. Low Physical Effort. The design can be used efficiently and comfortably, and with a minimum of fatigue.

For this principle, I showed a job accommodation I created for a lady working in an office environment as an Information & Referral Specialist. She takes phone calls all day and provides callers with information to assist them. She is very petite and uses a wheeled walker for mobility. She needs to have a reclining chair to support her while using the phone and computer. Her employer purchased a VERY nice electric reclining office chair – and the matching power desk. This allowed her to position herself in a comfortable spot to complete her work. The issue was that her chair was very heavy and did not have a rotating base so once she was positioned in the chair, she was unable to independently move the chair to get out!

The solution was to take a non-rotating chair and make it rotate! An industrial size lazy susan was purchased and attached to a plywood base that was customized to support the chair. Now, by released a lever, the chair would rotate 90 degrees and lock in place to enable her to get up and move around the office. Once she returned to the chair, the lever was released again and the chair would rotate back under the desk. A simple solution to provide a workable job accommodation.

Principle 7: Size and Space for Approach and Use. Appropriate size and space is provided for approach, reach, manipulation, and use regardless of user’s body size, posture, or mobility

This principle brings me back to the concept of flexible seating and workstations. Providing options allows everyone to find a spot that works for them. Think about providing adjustable shelves and worktables. Employ an open concept workspace to accommodate mobility devices. Look at alternative computer access tools like adaptive keyboards and mice. Different sizes, shapes can provide equal access to everyone.

This was just a sampling of the tools and strategies we discussed during the session. For more information about this session including a link to the presentation slides, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 11 show notes.

Do you have an inclusive employment practice you want to share? Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at https://www.speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast and I will play it in an upcoming episode.

This week’s #ATchat focused on Siblings and Peer Support and our guest moderator was Alys Stets. When talking about the importance of involving siblings or peers in the implementation of AT, Geri Schaffer said “Absolutely YES. Like with any language, Ss learn what they see and hear in their environment. I actually think a sibling has more influence on language development than just about anyone else. “ And Vicki Haddix said, “one of my clients is more likely to imitate his younger sibling’s model on his AAC than he is mine.”

Such a powerful conversation about support for our AT users, with so many amazing strategies and suggestions. To read the archive of this week’s #ATchat, go to: bit.ly/atchat091218

To read all the #ATchat archives from this entire school year, go to bit.ly/atchat18-19 or Check out the Episode 10 show notes for the link to the spreadsheet.

Do you have an idea for an #ATchat topic, or do you want to moderate the chat? Drop me a line and let me know. We love learning from each other and are always excited to have new voices in the chat.

Thanks for listening to this super sized episode. If you enjoy the podcast, please subscribe and leave a review! Do you have an idea for a future episode? Leave an audio message via SpeakPipe at https://www.speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast with your suggestion. It may just appear on an upcoming episode.

Episode 10 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Tech Tool Highlight: Yo Teach! From Palm
- https://palms.polyu.edu.hk:8448/
Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology Services
- qiat.org
- Want to share an idea/strategy? Leave a message via www.speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast
#ATchat Update: 9/5/18
- #ATchat Archive 9/5/18 – bit.ly/atchat090518
- QIAT 504 Indicators – available from natenetwork.org
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

Are you still looking for a replacement to Today’s Meet? That replacement tool may have arrived. Yo Teach! From Palm provides a backchannel location to share resources or ask questions. With Today’s Meet, we could only insert 140 characters of text, with Yo Teach! that limit has increased dramatically. Not sure how much text you can insert in a note, but I was able to copy/paste the entire transcript of this episode into one note!

In addition to text, we can also insert pictures and drawings into notes. After creating a room, add a password to activate the Admin controls. You can manage notes by muting the speaker or removing the posts, download the entire chat to a PDF, and delete the room.

This looks like a powerful tool and I am excited about trying this in my next training. Want to try it out? Visit the link in the show notes to access the room I created for the podcast. Leave a comment and share an idea of how you might use this tool in your practice.

For more information about Yo Teach! and a link to create your own rooms , visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 10 show notes.

With the start of another school year upon us, it is a good time to review our procedures to make sure that we are providing quality Assistive Technology services for all students with disabilities. A powerful resource available to teams is the Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology Services.

For those not familiar with QIAT, the Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology Services is a grassroots organization comprised of hundreds of professionals who continually develop a set of Indicators that school based staff can use to provide effective AT services to students with disabilities. These indicators, available on the QIAT website at qiat.org, provide guidance throughout the entire process to ensure that quality services are being delivered to students with disabilities.

The indicators available include:

Consideration of AT Needs; Assessment of AT Needs; AT in the IEP; AT Implementation; Evaluation of Effectiveness of AT; AT in Transition; Administrative Support for AT; and, AT Professional Development.

These best practices indicators can help guide teams throughout the process, plus there is a matrix for each indicator area that allows teams to evaluate where they are in the process.

If you haven’t explored the indicators, take them for a test drive with your team and see how you can improve AT service delivery for students in your school.

For more information and a link to the QIAT Indicators, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 10 show notes

This week’s #ATchat focused on AT supports for students who have a 504 plan. Keeping with the theme of this episode, we framed the conversation around the recently released QIAT Indicators for 504 Plan AT Services. The areas of focus for the 504 Indicators include:

Awareness of Reasonable 504 AT Accommodations; Determination of AT Needs as an Accommodation; Plan and Implementation; Evaluation of Effectiveness; Administrative Support; Professional Development and Training; Student Instruction about AT

The link to the Indicators is included in the show notes for this episode.

To read the archive of this week’s #ATchat, go to: bit.ly/atchat090518

To read all the #ATchat archives from this entire school year, go to bit.ly/atchat18-19 or Check out the Episode 10 show notes for the link to the spreadsheet.

Do you have an idea for an #ATchat topic, or do you want to moderate the chat? Drop me a line and let me know. We love learning from each other and are always excited to have new voices in the chat.

Thanks for listening. Make sure to follow me on Twitter @mmatp to stay current on all things Inclusive and Assistive Technology and visit my website at mmatp.com/it4all for all episodes of Inclusive Technology 4 All. Bye for now!

Episode 9 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Start the School Year by Thinking Inclusive
- Read my Edsurge.com article: Tips, Tricks and Tools To Build Your Inclusive Classroom Through UDL
- Want to share an idea/strategy? Leave a message via www.speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast
Tech Tool Highlight: The CTD AT Keyring
- https://www.ctdinstitute.org/content/ctd-keyring
#ATchat Update: 8/29/18
- http://bit.ly/atchat082918
#ATchat Archive for 2018-2019
- http://bit.ly/atchat18-19

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

The podcast is back after a summer break and I am looking forward to diving into new episodes. The focus of this episode is Back to School & starting the year off right with inclusive practices.

In fact, I recently wrote an article for edsurge.com titled “Tips, Tricks and Tools to Build Your Inclusive Classroom Through UDL” In the article, I shared some practical ideas for promoting an inclusive environment via the UDL principles of Multiple Means of Engagement, Representation, and Action & Expression. I will add the link to the article in the show notes for this episode.

One area of focus in the article was the fact that building an inclusive classroom for all learners doesn’t have to be a daunting task. There are simple steps we can take to promote learning, both with and without technology. Provide text to speech support for all students to promote reading via audio. Encourage students to use Voice Typing in Google Docs to complete a writing assignment. Provide opportunities for students to engage in conversations about learning and empower them through self advocacy to learn in ways that work for them.

While I will discuss this week’s #ATchat coming up in a later segment of this episode, one of the exchanges relates to this topic. We discussed the idea of Accessible instruction and the fact that people sometimes mean different things when they say accessible. When discussing accessible, some people really mean available. As in, electronic copies of materials are available. We need to continue to remind all educators: Digital makes it available; Usable by ALL makes it accessible.

I wrapped up the article talking about immediate steps you can take to promote an inclusive learning environment: Be intentional as you design learning experiences. Ask yourself: Am I providing options during this learning experience? You won’t be able to infuse all areas of UDL into every lesson. That’s OK. Start small. Find ways to infuse UDL into learning activities. Build on your successes. And keep moving in a positive direction and watch your students succeed.

Do you have an inclusive strategy you want to share? Share your expertise via Speakpipe. This web based tool allows you to record audio I can use in future episodes. Go to speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast to leave your ideas.

The Center on Technology and Disability recently announced the availability of the AT Keyring. Share these with co-workers, parents, and employers to demonstrate the range of assistive technology, from no tech to low tech to high tech, that is available to support people with disabilities. The AT Keyring is free and available by completing the form on the CTD website.

For more information and a link to the form, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 9 show notes

This week was the first #ATchat of the new school year and the topic was Welcome back! We had a spirited conversation about summer learning and plans for starting the year in a positive direction. There were many powerful ideas about ways to start the school year and this thought was from co-moderator Karen Janowski. “Embed UDL principles. Make the technology available to all. Build students’ metacognitive skills so they can identify what they need for independence and success.”

Other topics of conversation included: How do you plan to increase staff AT knowledge and build capacity? How will you support / mentor educators who are reluctant to implement AT? And How will you remain current about AT in the school? Lots of great information to unpack from #ATchat. To read the archive of this week’s #ATchat, go to: bit.ly/atchat082918

To read all the #ATchat archives from this entire school year, go to bit.ly/atchat18-19 or Check out the Episode 9 show notes for the link to the spreadsheet.

Do you have an idea for an #ATchat topic, or do you want to moderate the chat? Drop me a line and let me know. We love learning from each other and are always excited to have new voices in the chat.

Episode 8 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Tech Tool Highlight: Anchor Podcast App – updated for iPad!
- https://medium.com/anchor/introducing-anchor-for-ipad-a-bigger-better-way-to-make-your-podcast-56e09326e8e1
Microsoft continues to support ALL learners
- Flipgrid: flipgrid.com
- Inclusive Classroom Community
#ATchat Summer Book Study x 2!
- The New Assistive Tech: Making Learning Awesome for All by Chris Bugaj
- Dive into UDL: Immersive Practices to Develop Expert Learners by Luis Perez and Kendra Grant
2018 New Jersey Assistive Technology Summit
Coming next episode: #picademy
- The Raspberry Pi Foundation

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

Looking for a way to engage learners with audio? Have you wanted to create your own podcast? Join me and use Anchor to create podcasts on the fly. It is a simple tool that allows users to record sections, upload audio, add transitions and, most importantly, distribute your podcast across multiple platforms. This simple, free tool got even better this week with updates for the iPad app.

Some of the new features include new audio editing tools. Trim and split audio files to customize clips. Split view allows users to keep recording notes visible on screen while recording. But the most powerful new feature is the ability to drag and drop audio files from any app that supports split view on the iPad.

We all have something to share-take the plunge and start your podcast today. Anchor makes the whole process so simple. If you create your own podcast, let me know so I can highlight it here. Leave an audio comment via SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast

For more information about Anchor, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 8 show notes

Microsoft made big news this week on two fronts. First, they acquired Flipgrid and promptly made the service FREE! If you haven’t heard of Flipgrid, you must not be on Twitter! This student video response tool has been been all the rage this past year with educators catching “Flipgrid Fever”. I have used this tool throughout the past year from two perspectives. I really like this as an option for learners who struggle with writing. Now they can respond via video and demonstrate their knowledge of a subject. I have also found Flipgrid to be a simple tool to use for reflection and group activities during educator professional learning experiences. For more info, check out flipgrid.com

The second bit of news this week from Microsoft is their continued commitment to the inclusive technology field with the creation of the Inclusive Classroom Microsoft Community. This community aims to connect educators with Microsoft engineers and product managers to foster conversation about strategies to meet the needs of all learners. Join the conversation and work collaboratively to effectively meet the needs of all learners.

For more information, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 8 show notes

Big news! This summer we are proud to announce that the #ATchat crew will be leading not one but two Book Chats. We will change our traditional chat schedule for the summer and move to a Twitter Slow Chat. Instead of meeting every Wednesday night at 8PM eastern, we will post one question per week on a Monday morning and people can share responses throughout the week.

So what are we reading? For the month of July, we will be reading The New Assistive Tech: Making Learning Awesome for All by Chris Bugaj. For August, we will be reading Dive into UDL: Immersive Practices to Develop Expert Learners by Luis Perez and Kendra Grant.

We have also heard from the authors and are happy to report that they have all agreed to participate in the chats! We are really excited about this opportunity to learn with our ATchat family throughout the summer. Hope you will join us.

For more information about the books and how to order them, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the show notes

Are you in the NJ tri-state area? Do you want to increase your knowledge about AT and network with other professionals? Well do I have the event for you! I am happy to announce tickets are now available for the 2nd Annual New Jersey Assistive Technology Summit on September 20, 2018. Sponsored by The Richard West Assistive Technology Advocacy Center, this FREE event will offer over 20 concurrent sessions and an opportunity to connect with almost 200 AT professionals from the tri-state region.

For more information and a link to get your FREE tickets, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the show notes

Finally, a quick preview of next week’s episode. I was fortunate enough to participate in #picademy this week in Jersey City, NJ. Sponsored by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, this experience brought together dozens of educators for two days of hands on learning about physical computing and the use of the inexpensive Raspberry Pi computer to teach computer science. Next week we will dive into Raspberry Pi and more importantly, hear from some of my colleagues who have completed the course and are now Raspberry Pi Certified Educators.

Episode 7 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Tech Tool Highlight: Apple Pages iOS app
- Apple Support Page: https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht207242?linkId=53024036
- App Store Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pages/id361309726?mt=8
Making Sense of Open Education Course
- http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=3237
#ATchat Update: 6/13/18 bit.ly/atchat061318
- AT Supports, Student Privacy and Notes: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CS5XE4f_NnO96OLtcOFOCLAmt4eaIbB8BXOI-M2AGH8/edit#gid=1522760732
#ATchat Summer Book Study x 2!
- The New Assistive Tech: Making Learning Awesome for All by Chris Bugaj
- Dive into UDL: Immersive Practices to Develop Expert Learners by Luis Perez and Kendra Grant
2018 New Jersey Assistive Technology Summit

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

Apple introduced some updates to the Pages iOS app this week that could be beneficial for creating engaging materials for all learners.

Users can utilize pre-made templates to create interactive ePub books. Similar to iBooks Author, this app now gives users some powerful features for engaging their learners. Now users can record, edit and play audio directly in the book. This feature can support struggling students by providing additional support for text. Pair this audio with the built in iOS Speak Selection or Speak Screen feature, and learners now have auditory access for the entire book. New annotation features, along with Apple Pencil support, gives users another way to infuse creativity into their books. If you haven’t tried free this app yet, download it today from the app store.

For more information, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 7 show notes

Want to learn about Open Educational Resources and how you could create a open course? Check out the Making Sense of Open Education course. This course is available on the Open Learn Create platform and consists of 15 learning modules covering everything from Types of OER, How To Search for OER, Inclusive Design and Anatomy of an Open Educator. This course was developed as part of a research project and had a synchronous component, which unfortunately has concluded. However, participants can still access the course materials.

For more information and a link to the course, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 7 show notes

This week was the last #ATChat of the school year. We typically take the summers off to recharge and regroup! This chat focused on a really important topic: AT tools and Student Data Privacy. Our guest moderator this week was Kelly Fonner and she led the group through a series of questions related to using apps and browser extensions that safely manage student’s data. Other questions focused on the system that schools put in place to protect data. Many participants commented that they didn’t really have a system in place and they were searching for guidance on how to build that system. Tons of resources were shared and more importantly, thanks to Elisa Wern, we started a collaborative Google Sheet to document AT tools that are in compliance with COPPA and FERPA. This real time collaboration showed the true power of Twitter. Check out the Episode 7 show notes for the link to the spreadsheet. To read the archive of the entire chat, go to: bit.ly/atchat061318

To read all the #ATchat archives from this entire school year, go to bit.ly/atchat17-18

For more information about the books and how to order them, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the show notes

Episode 6 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Intel announces Compute Stick CS125 portable computer
Tech Tool Highlight: LipSurf Chrome Extension
- Reddit post
- Chrome Webstore extension
Tech Tool Highlight: Dotstorming
#ATchat Update: 6/6/18
#ATchat Summer Book Study x 2!
- The New Assistive Tech: Making Learning Awesome for All by Chris Bugaj
- Dive into UDL: Immersive Practices to Develop Expert Learners by Luis Perez and Kendra Grant
2018 New Jersey Assistive Technology Summit

Transcript

Episode 6

Let’s dive in:

Intel announced this week a new flash drive based Windows 10 computer. Similar to the Chromebit from Asus, this device is an entire computer that lives in the body of a flash drive! Priced at $125 on Amazon, The Intel Compute Stick CS125 Computer plugs into an HDMI port on the back of any monitor or TV – and voila you have a Windows 10 computer. Some of the specs include: Windows 10 32 bit, 2 GB of memory, wireless, bluetooth, one USB 3 and one USB 2 port. I have a Chromebit and I have to say I really like the device. Carry the Chromebit with a wireless keyboard w/trackpad and suddenly I can turn any display into a Chromebook. The Intel Compute Stick gives me a chance to do the same with a Windows 10 computer!

For more information, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 6 show notes

I just installed a powerful new Chrome Extension called Lip Surf. Once activated, users can now navigate around the browser window through voice commands. Offering similar support to Dragon Naturally Speaking Mouse Mode, this extension can provide a hands free browsing experience. There are currently 3 plugins: Reddit, Google, and Browser. With over 50 voice commands, users can open a tab, scroll up and down the page, click links, play video and more. But the most valuable voice command is Annotate. Say that command and instantly, every clickable item on the page is highlighted with a two letter code. Now just say the code and that item will be activated. Wow. Hands free access to the Chrome browser. The LipSurf Pro extension is currently a Beta version. After the 1 month trial of the Pro version there will be a free version, but not sure which features will remain free. Stay tuned for updates!

For more information and a link to download the extension from the Chrome store, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 6 show notes

Now for a PD tool! I have been searching for a replacement to Today’s Meet for some time and I explored the use of Dotstorming with several groups this week and had great success! With Today’s Meet closing down on June 16, 2018 – this search was becoming critical. I needed a tool that was easy to use, provided a forum for back channel discussion and was FREE. Dotstorming checked all the boxes and more! Simply sign in using a valid email address and you can start creating boards. Not only is there a back channel chat feature, you can also create cards to post information to a wall, similar to padlet. Participants can comment on each card, which is a nice way to engage participants while organizing the conversation threads.

I used this tool twice this week and the reviews were all positive. The chat feature, along with the ability to provide discussion prompts via cards makes this tool a big win. Check it out for your next PD event.

For more information, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 6 show notes

This week’s chat focused on Inclusive Strategies for Year End Reflections. Questions focused on tools and strategies professionals use to enable all students to reflect on their learning AND for their own professional reflection. Other questions focused on moving from reflection to action and providing feedback to administration on your own progress throughout the year. Want to catch up? Check out the link bit.ly/atchat060618 For the archive. To read all the #ATchat archives from this entire school year, go to bit.ly/atchat17-18

For more information about the books and how to order them, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the show notes

Episode 5 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

Show Notes: In this episode:

Researchers develop technique to turn any item into a touchscreen
US Dept of Education new Website Accessibility Initiative
Spreading the Word About AT and UDL Hybrid Course 2018/2019
Tech Tool Highlight: Flippity.net and Touch and Learn Emotions.
#ATchat Update: 5/30/18
#ATchat Summer Book Study x 2!
- The New Assistive Tech: Making Learning Awesome for All by Chris Bugaj
- Dive into UDL: Immersive Practices to Develop Expert Learners by Luis Perez and Kendra Grant
2018 New Jersey Assistive Technology Summit

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

Researchers at Carnegie Melon University demonstrated a process called Electrick which turns any item into a touchscreen. By applying Conductive spray paint to any surface and then connecting electrodes to the item – researchers were able to sense a finger touch on the surface. This technique is called electric field tomography. At this point, they have gotten the accuracy to within one centimeter which is accurate enough to activate buttons or slider control. This technique could have positive applications for individuals with disabilities as an alternative access solution.

For more information, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 5 show notes and a link to learn more about this research project.

The Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education announced a new technical assistance initiative to assist schools, districts, state education agencies, libraries, colleges and universities aimed at making their websites and online programs accessible to individuals with disabilities. Through a series of webinars, information will be shared about website accessibility, including accessibility tips for online programs.

For more information about signing up for these webinars, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 5 show notes

This week, I finished teaching a yearlong hybrid learning experience called Spreading the Word about AT and UDL with Jennifer Edge-Savage. We worked with 30 educators from Massachusetts and New Hampshire to expand their knowledge about AT devices and services, UDL and Accessible Educational Materials. This course consists of 3 full day in person training experiences, synchronous webinars throughout the year, application projects customized to meet the needs of each participant and personalized coaching to cement the learning.

In future episodes, I will highlight some of the exit reflections from course participants. But for this episode, I wanted to quickly share a couple tools I learned about during our final class meeting.

First up is Flippity. Flippity is a tool that takes any Google Spreadsheet and turns it into a set of online flashcards. Some of the templates available on the website include a trivia game show, a random name picker, a memory game and mad libs. There is also an add-on for Google Sheets. Check out flippity.net for more info.

Touch and Learn Emotions is an app to support students with learning about emotions. Several faces are shown and the person must identify the emotion listed on the screen. While the app comes with over 100 pictures of various emotions, users can insert their own pictures in order to provide concrete examples for students to use. This app works on iPhones or iPad and costs $1.99
For more information about the tools described above and to see the flyer to sign up for the 2018/2019 Spreading the Word About AT and UDL course, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 5 show notes

This week’s chat was led by our guest moderator, Chris Bugaj. Our topic was Designing Educational Experiences to Make Learning Awesome for All. So many great ideas were shared throughout the hour – check out the chat archive at bit.ly/atchat053018

Want to catch up on all the chats from this year? Check out the link bit.ly/atchat17-18 For the archive

For more information about the books and how to order them, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the show notes

For more information and a link to get your FREE tickets, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the show notes

Episode 4 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Virtual training opportunity from The National Center on Accessible Educational Materials
New apps from Google to support individuals with disabilities
#ATchat update
Announcing the 2nd Annual New Jersey Assistive Technology Summit

Show Notes

Transcript

Let’s dive in:

The National Center on Accessible Educational Materials is offering a five module virtual training opportunity, titled Making Your Everyday Curriculum Materials More Accessible for All Learners. This course is designed to improve your knowledge and skills for increasing curriculum access for all learners, including students with disabilities.

The modules include:

Module 1, Introduction to Accessible Educational Materials and Technologies

Module 2, How to Make Your Documents Accessible

Module 3, How to Locate Captioned Videos and Make Your Own

Module 4, How to Find Specialized Formats of Print Materials

Module 5, How to Select Accessible Digital Materials

Registration is open from 5/1/18 to 2/5/19

For more information, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 4 show notes

At the recent Google i/o event, several products were announced focused on providing support to individuals with disabilities.

Lookout is an Android app designed to provide auditory cues about objects, people and even text. By using the camera on a Pixel device, the user can independently move through a space using auditory announcements. The app uses AI to bridge the virtual and physical world. One important feature of the app is that the core experience is processed on the device, which means the app can be used without an internet connection.

Another highlighted tool was the addition of Morse code access to the GBoard virtual keyboard. Developed in partnership with AT user Tania Finlayson, who has been using Morse code as a computer input method, this feature provides a unique access solution for individuals with alternative access needs. This feature works in conjunction with the Android built in accessibility features Switch Access and Point Scan.

One other announcement at Google i/o was increased features available for developers to produce accessible experiences via You Tube Live Automatic Captions.
For more information and links to these tools, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 4 show notes
Want to find other people interested in inclusive and assistive technology? Join us on Twitter every Wednesday night at 8PM eastern for #ATchat. Each week, Karen Janowski and myself lead an hour long discussion about tools and strategies for inclusion and accessibility for individuals with disabilities.

This past week’s chat was titled: If You Could Change One Thing. Questions included- If you could change one thing about IDEA, what would it be? This question brought out lots of conversation! Participants were very interested in changing the term and / or definition of Assistive Technology and finding a way to be more inclusive with the term.

Another question was If You Could Change One Thing About Built in Accessibility Features, what would it be? Many ideas were shared about adding additional features and settings, but the one response that really struck a nerve with me. Make these features ON by default! Wouldn’t it be nice to have these features providing support right out of the box.

Read the whole conversation at: bit.ly/atchat051618

Want to catch up with other #ATchat conversations? Check out the link bit.ly/atchat17-18 For the entire archive

For more information and a link to get your FREE tickets, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the show notes

Episode 3 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:

Global Accessibility Awareness Day
Bookshare introduces Word format downloads
Tobii leads way for plug and play eye tracker hardware

Show Notes:

Transcript:

Let’s dive in:

May 17th 2018 is Global Accessibility Awareness Day and there are many opportunities for learning about digital accessibility. Some highlights include:

The Great Lakes ADA Center is hosting a free webinar on Using WordPress for Accessible Web Development May 17th at 2PM Eastern.

The ISTE Inclusive Learning Network is hosting a free webinar featuring an international panel of inclusive technology experts on Handmade Learning Materials For Students with Disabilities on Thursday, 5/17/18 at 8PM ET.

Also on Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Microsoft will release a short film titled Empowering Every Person: Reimagining Accessibility. The film highlights ways to ensure productivity for your diverse workforce or to increase your organization’s reach and provide services to customers with disabilities

For registration links to these events, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 3 show notes and make sure to follow the #GAAD hashtag on May 17th for all things digital accessibility.

Bookshare is a repository of digital books available for students with print disabilities. This week it was announced that members can now download books in Word format. Now students can open their book directly into Word and use the built in Learning Tools to provide accessibility support. From changing the visual display of text to using text to speech support for reading, this new format provides another option to provide accessible text to students with print disabilities.

To learn more about Bookshare visit bookshare.org

Once an expensive alternative access method, Eye tracking is moving towards the mainstream. Tobii is leading the way, along with support from Microsoft, Intel and Eyetech DS, and eye trackers have been approved for a USB Human Interface Device standard. This is the same standard used for modern gaming mice. This will lead to simple plug and play hardware that doesn’t rely on specific vendor supplied software drivers.

For more information, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 3 show notes

Want to catch up? Check out the link bit.ly/atchat17-18 For the archive

Episode 2 (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:
Microsoft introduces AI for Accessibility
Google Docs add-on Kaizena
#Atchat update

Show Notes:

Transcript:

Let’s dive in:

Microsoft announced this week a $25 million investment in a program called AI for Accessibility. The goal of the initiative, according to the website, is

Amplifying human capability

AI can empower people with disabilities with tools that support independence and productivity, as technology rapidly changes the way we live, learn, and work.

The Program aims to provide seed grants to developers, universities, inventors and NGOs. The focus of their projects needs to be on “creating solutions that will create new opportunities and assist people with disabilities with work, life, and human connections.”

For more info, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 2 Show Notes

Next up, a slick add-on for Google Docs. We all love the collaborative features of the G Suite tools, especially the ability to add comments into documents. Now there is an add-on that allows us to leave Audio Comments in Google docs. Check out Kaizena, available in the add-ons store for Google Docs. Activate this add-on and a side panel will appear to let you record audio and leave comments directly into the doc. A really simple way to leave feedback and engage all learners in the writing task.

For more info, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 2 Show Notes

This past week, our topic was professional development. We explored both sides of the issue – quality events we attended and strategies we use, as technology consultants, to deliver quality PD. Want to read the archive, visit bit.ly/atchat050918

Episode 1: Introduction (Listen)

Each episode of Inclusive Technology 4 All will bring you information about Inclusive and Assistive Technology to increase independence.

In this episode:
What to expect with this podcast
#Atchat update

Show Notes:

Let your voice be heard! Speakpipe
#ATchat Archive

Transcript:

Let’s dive in:

My goal with this podcast is to create short 3-4 minute episodes that keep you up to date with the ever changing world of inclusive technology. Each episode will highlight 2-3 resources to provide support for individuals with disabilities. From education to work to community living – technology tools and strategies can benefit everyone!

I want you to be part of each episode! I am using Speakpipe to provide you a platform to ask questions and leave comments. Go to https://www.speakpipe.com/ITSpodcast to leave your comment.

Each podcast episode will highlight the past week’s chat. Want to read the archive from the whole year? visit bit.ly/atchat17-18

Mike Marotta, ATP

Inclusive Technology Solutions, LLC

Inclusive Technology 4 All Podcast

Be part of the episode!

Available on all your favorite podcast channels

Want to listen on your Smart Speaker?

Episodes

Registration is open from 5/1/18 to 2/5/19

For more information, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 4 show notes

For more information and a link to get your FREE tickets, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the show notes

Be part of the episode!

Available on all your favorite podcast channels

Want to listen on your Smart Speaker?

Episodes

Registration is open from 5/1/18 to 2/5/19

For more information, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the Episode 4 show notes

For more information and a link to get your FREE tickets, visit mmatp.com/it4all for the show notes

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