Early Childhood Special Education and Assistive Technology Blog

By: Katie McCormack,  EC-SEAT project scholar The iPad offers several tools to help children who struggle in academic learning areas. In general, barriers that prevent children from fully accessing and participating in academic learning include vision and hearing loss, inability to attend and focus and difficulties with motor functioning. These barriers make it difficult for children to access academic content at the same level of their peers without special needs. The iPad is an equalizer, a tool that allows many children with special needs to access academic content that they otherwise could not. For example, several accessibility features on the iPad, including VoiceOver, Zoom, Speech, Larger and Bold Text, Reduce Motion and Guided Access can help children with vision impairments to access academic content. There are also several apps specifically intended to help individuals with vision loss that help enlarge content, utilize speech and accommodate visual needs. The iPad also i

By: Carrie Portrie, M.Ed, EC-SEAT project coordinator and doctoral student at the University of New Hampshire Transcribed using VoiceBase  and human verification (audio available) CP: I'm here with Beth Setear Preschool Coordinator for the Portsmouth School district, and she's going to talk to us about the referral process for preschool a special education... And much more. BS: So the process begins when anybody has a concern about the development of a young child. Ages between the ages of three and five. Doctors can make referrals parents can make referrals child care centers can make referrals. We encourage childcare centers to have parents make the referral. So we can talk to them on the phone and gather some information. Usually we gather information about the child's history. And if they're in a preschool or childcare center we also ask [the center] to fill out a checklist. And that helps us understand what the concerns are. CP: What is the differ

By: Erin Phillips , EC-SEAT project scholar Throughout my course work while in the EC-SEAT program, I have been introduced to a wonderful online resource called Bookshare , and to my amazement, this online resource is not nearly as well known as it should be, and deserves to be. Bookshare works to assure that individuals with print disabilities have access to the same materials as everyone else.                   Over the years, this organization has created the world’s largest online accessible library of copyrighted content for individuals with print disabilities, and they have been able to make it so this resource is free to all qualified U.S. students. Students who are unable to read “traditional” printed books due to a disability are given the opportunity to gain access to over 385,000 titles in a variety of accessible formats.                   Having access to the same text as everyone else is an important part of participating in the classroom curriculum and Booksha