I've always loved to find ways to use materials/ resources in a variety of ways! I've recently started printing my Google Slides™, center materials and worksheets into mini work books! We use the work books during morning work/ independent work and during direct instruction. It's been a fun way to save paper, velcro and lamination sheets and to present the materials in a different way for students. It's super simple to do, so I'm sharing a little tutorial.
We live in a digital world... technology is all around us! Our kiddos with disabilities should have the same opportunity to learn to use technology as students who are "typically developing." As special education teachers, it can be difficult to find ways that our kiddos can access technology. I've always loved switch activated cause and effect toys and games, but switch toys are expensive and my kids get bored of them after a few weeks of playing with them. When it comes to technology, I often prefer using a computer over an iPad because the computer screen is larger and I have many kiddos with vision impairments. So I've been on the hunt lately for FREE websites that my students can use with switches for simple games and cause and effect activities.
A lot of the teachers at my school are teaching students typing/ keyboarding skills... I loved the idea of having my students type because it's such an important life skill and some of my students struggle with the fine motor skills involved with using a pen/pencil... but I had NO idea how I was going to teach my students with moderate to severe disabilities how to type when some of them don't know all of the letters yet. So, I did a good ole internet search and ended up finding some color-coded keyboards like this one. The color-coded keyboards already out there are okay, but they definitely aren't going to give my students the visual prompts they really need to type... so I decided to just make my own adapted keyboard.
Technology is HUGE in most classrooms and most students love any tech time. I've found a few life-saving tips for making iPad time more meaningful for my students and less stressful for staff.
Everyone in education knows that technology is an amazing way to get students engaged in class activities. Although many classrooms already have SmartBoards or some other interactive white board, there are still so many teachers who don't have the luxury of having fancy technology in their classrooms. The good news is that there is a very cheap alternative if you already have an iPad, computer and a basic projector. It's an app called Splashtop and it's AMAZING.