Assistive Technology Newsletter Southern Region Sub heading title / description text March 2014 | ISSUE# 85 Introduction Tena koutou, talofa lava, malo e lelei, kiaorana kotou katoatoa, fakalofa lahi atu, greetings to you all. Welcome to the March/ Māehe 2014 assistive technology (AT) newsletter. Students struggling with ‘literacy’ Student’s primary learning need identified – When considering support for a student who is struggling with “literacy’ it is larger than just reading & writing. Literacy in the 21st century is a little different than when I went to school. Computers are frequently and consistently necessary in classrooms today and there is greater recognition of varying learning styles among students. Reading = early reading/ phonics, talking or e-books, text to speech, working with PDFs, scanning text Writing = letter formation not always with a pencil, word predictors, audio notes, word processing, speech recognition Access to technology alone does not always help a student who is struggling with literacy. When considering word processing and word prediction to support writing there is a need to consider software/ apps. Some reduce the number of keystrokes necessary for typing words (for students with physical needs) e.g. iWordQ app and some provide extra spelling, reading, editing and grammar support e.g. iReadWrite. AT Moderation outcomes For March moderation, the team were asked to consider applications from across the southern region – NMW, Canterbury, Otago and Southland. The majority of the applications eligibility were from ORS verified students (37%) with the moderate Physical Disabilities (27%) coming a close second. The RTLB applications totalled almost ¼ of the applications approved. When considering the school decile, those from decile 5 – 10 seem to be the majority of the applications, with less than 15% coming from decile 1-4 schools (NMW & Otago). Budget spend Currently the budget expenditure is: Expenditure v budget by District year to date - March 2014 200000 150000 100000 50000 0 District Marl/Nelson/West Canterbury A variety of software and apps are already available in schools to support students with reading and writing difficulties. For more information got to: http://www.elearning.tki.org.nz/Technologies/Software-forlearning Centre for assistive technology (CAT) has been investigating iTunes apps and results will be out in the next CAT newsletter. Please consider your students current learning need to ensure the best match for supportive software/apps. For more guidance contact your district technology coordinator. Ministry of Education | Newsletter title Budget to date Expenditure to date Monthly Budget March 2014 Under/ Over 7103 7,401 -298 21437 7,415 14,022 Otago 7414 2,614 4,800 Southland 4310 3,870 440 43,765 21,299 22,466 TOTALS March was a smaller moderation round with only 22 applications submitted for funding consideration. 86% were approved or partially approved for funding. 58% of the applications were for written communication, with just over ¼ of them being for Apple iPad 16GB. 73% were for 13” laptop and tablet devices. 1 2 1 4 Personal Care 2 1 1 1 5 Written Comm. 7401 7415 2614 3870 21,300 Vision NMW Canterbury Otago Southland TOTAL Physical Access Costs Hearing Summary 3 8 1 1 13 - - Nationally all applications approved and partially approved were funded for the March 2014 round. Helpful hints & new resources 3 APPs for the students to create their own stories Book Creator ($6.49) The student is able to create their own iBooks, on the iPad. They can read them in iBooks, share them with friends and family, or submit them to the iBooks store. The books can be at any level e.g. children’s picture books, photo books, art books, cook books, manuals etc... My Story ($5.29) Another application which can create and share ebooks and stories. The student can record their voice on every page and share their story with friends, family and classmates. My Story combines drawing, stickers, photos, voice, and text to promote literacy and creativity in ebook format. Story Maker (Free) One more application where the student can create their own story. Create a story of their own with Avatars from over 200 free items, offering many combinations. APPs to support reading & writing iWordQ – easy to use reading & writing application to assist struggling writers and readers. In writing mode, a simple text editor is used for writing with the support of word prediction, abbreviation-expansion and speech feedback features. Spell check and dictionary access is included. In reading mode, text is shown in a more visually pleasing manner to improve readability. This can be used to support proof-reading/editing. iReadWrite – reading and writing app includes support features (e.g. text-to-speech, word prediction, phonetic spell checker, homophone and confusables checker) that benefit struggling readers and writers of all ages with learning difficulties, especially those with dyslexia or dysgraphia. Runs directly on the iPad with no WiFi or 3G access necessary. Inclusive Learning Technologies ILT2014 Conference - Spectronics ILT2014 Conference focuses specifically on inclusive learning technologies. Those technologies designed to advance independent achievement for people with disabilities and/or students with learning difficulties. Participate remotely; the Inclusive Learning Technologies is offering you the chance to sign up for a virtual registration to the ILT2014 Conference that gives you access to the 25 most popular presentations at the ILT2014 Conference. Each registration allows one concurrent user to be viewing at the one time, but doesn't limit how many you can assemble in a room to view the presentations! To view a mock-up sample of Virtual Registration videos go to: http://stagingconnections.org/spectronics/default.html For more information Contact person District Technology Coordinators Justine Simpson Regional Assistive Technology (Southern) NMW - Jo Dowell, Deana Quissy, Anna Lovell Phone 03 3787377 Email [email protected] Otago – Mary Gibb Ministry of Education | SR AT Newsletter Canterbury – Fiona Cook Southland – Patricia Tytler Page 2