Adaptive Technology Accessibility Features on Mac Computers Free AT Downloads And More…

Adaptive (Assistive) Technology  “Devices that will assist an individual with a physical, mental or emotional disability in performing a task or in performing it more efficiently.” nology.php

Adaptive Technology (AT):  Can be categorized into low tech, medium tech and high tech devices.

Adaptive Technology (AT): High Tech Very advanced incorporates computers Medium Tech Relatively complicated mechanical devices Low Tech Less sophisticated affordable tools No Tech Simple modification without technology

Adaptive Technology (AT):  Low tech (no tech): e.g. is as simple as a pencil grip, magnifying glass or coloured overlay etc.

Adaptive Technology (AT):  Medium tech: e.g. specialized software, switches, alternate keyboards/mice

Adaptive Technology (AT):  High tech: e.g. are things like software programs, and pacMates etc.

Four Main Areas of Impact  Mobility (physical)  Vision  Hearing (communication)  Learning/Literacy (cognitive)

AT on your computer:  “Every Mac comes equipped with dozens of assistive technologies — many of which you won’t find in other operating systems at any price. And with the development of universal access features for iPhone, iPad, and iPod, Apple is taking these technologies to a new level.”  These are accessibility options you can use with your students to decrease the barriers that they may face in the classroom. education/

Mobility  Keyboard and Mouse Options Keyboard and Mouse Options  Slow Keys – can avoid unintended multiple keystrokes, delays between key when key is pressed and action is accepted.  Sticky Keys – ability to enter key combinations in sequence instead of simultaneously.  Mouse Keys – use keys instead of a mouse to move pointer around. education/#motor-skills

Mobility (continued)  Keyboard shortcuts – use keyboard shortcuts (key combinations) instead of operating a mouse or opening menus. Can be personalized, made system wide or program specific. E.g. ^Command4 = save picture of selected area  Mouse Gestures – new way to navigate the screen, zoom text, flip through photos or fine- tune photos with fingertip gestures.

Vision  VoiceOver – screen reader, more than text to speech, reads everything onscreen and can control computer without a mouse.  Text to Speech (TTS) – talking alerts, clock, reads selected text aloud. Can also be used with Mail, iChat and TextEdit.  Screen Magnification – Zoom allows picture-in- picture magnification up to 20x in a separate window. Magnify text, graphics, and even video.

Vision (continued)  Display settings  Black on White  White on Black  Use Grayscale  Enhance contrast  For Accessibility functions for iPad, iPod and iPhones for each impact area click on link below  Trick: Control+scroll education/#vision

Hearing  iChat – using built in camera students can collaborate in real-time with teachers using video conferencing, texting, or even sign language, or interpreter. Multiple chats, group chats, share work and edit documents at same time.  GarageBand – used to improve auditory comprehension with deaf and hard-of- hearing students – teachers can create podcasts of speech, download to iPod or iPad and students learn inflections and to differentiate voices.

Hearing (continued)  Closed Captioning – in QuickTime and DVD Player is a click away. Can download CC movies, iTunes content on iPhones, iPods and even PC’s.  Creating accessible iTunes U content: accessible-itunes/id ?mt=10 accessible-itunes/id ?mt=10

Literacy/Learning  Many of the other accessibility functions for mobility, vision and communication can also be used for students with learning disabilities and other difficulties with cognition, e.g. text-to- speech.  Speech Recognition/Dictation – allows a person to dictate speech into programs and have it type what they say.

Literacy and Learning (cont’d)  Mission Control - lets user group applications and documents into separate areas for each subject, e.g. math, science…  Spelling and Grammar Check  Finder – assignments are always easy to find with Finder – displays documents as images, icons or text. Spotlight is searching feature finds all files related to the search term anywhere on the computer.  iCal - built-in calendar application, organize, track appointments, schedules, reminders, homework deadlines etc.  Grapher – full-featured graphing calculator

Accessibility Resources for Mac iOS   osx/vision.html osx/vision.html  l-education/ l-education/

Ready for Free Stuff? NOTE:  Potential problem may be downloading on school computers.  Double check with IT and they may be able to give you admin privileges or come up with a solution  Usually staff computers (or ones in classrooms) do not have as much locked down as lab computers.

Free AT Downloads from the Web  Many Free Software Downloads online  Usually are good and will work  May not be as good as the software you buy  Purchasable software usually has a 30 day free trial download.

Free AT (cont’d)  Text-to-Speech programs:  Adobe Reader OutLoud - ty/reader6/sec2.html ty/reader6/sec2.html  ReadPlease  Speech-to-text programs:  E-Speaking - speaking.com/download.htmhttp:// speaking.com/download.htm  Dictation - the speech-to-text that comes with word is a very good compromise to programs like Dragon Naturally Speaking and Speak Q, and again is free.

Free AT (cont’d)  Onscreen Keyboards:  Clickntype - this program also has a built in word prediction program.  Mind Mapping Software:  Free Mind – p/Main_Page (Many schools already have Kidspiration or Inspiration software which is better than this free download, but if you don’t have it this one does work well.) p/Main_Page

Free AT (cont’d)  Organizational Software:  Evernote –  Assignment Calculator -

Web Accessibility  Just load Google Chrome and do a search in the web store for text to speech, speech to text etc., load app to use.  Information about why web accessibility is important: lities/web/Pages/default.aspx lities/web/Pages/default.aspx  Some websites are not accessible for text to speech programs.

Accessibility Apps  Search…:  Graphing calculator  Inspiration and Kidspiration  Text to speech  Dictation  Firefly K3000  OR go to iTunes app store and search special education:  woa/wa/viewMultiRoom?fcId= &mt=8 woa/wa/viewMultiRoom?fcId= &mt=8

A Few AT Videos:  nFtbg18 nFtbg18  1FmXYUI&feature=related 1FmXYUI&feature=related  EYrhG8 EYrhG8  D2WDl8 D2WDl8  T96BzfGc T96BzfGc  1tATIM 1tATIM

Resources!!  Accessibility and AT Resource sites: Accessibility and AT Resource sites:  education/ education/  Technology/Pages/Assistive-Technology- Devices.aspx Technology/Pages/Assistive-Technology- Devices.aspx  ank.html ank.html      started-with-grapher-your-macs-built-in-graph-tool-- mac started-with-grapher-your-macs-built-in-graph-tool-- mac-48440

Resources cont’d….  Assistive Technology reps: Assistive Technology reps:   technology.aspx Rep: Claire MacLaren technology.aspx  Rep: Lisa Boone  Software websites: Software websites:     

More Resources:  More Software sites: More Software sites:  johnson.com/boardmaker-software johnson.com/boardmaker-software  s/fs/jaws-product-page.asp s/fs/jaws-product-page.asp   Assistive Reading or Writing Pens: Assistive Reading or Writing Pens:  /a/rp/ /a/rp/ 

And More Resources  Ipad/google chrome Apps: Ipad/google chrome Apps:  ipad-apps-for-students-with-reading- disabilities/ ipad-apps-for-students-with-reading- disabilities/  ch/text%20to%20speech?utm_campaign=e n&utm_source=en-et-na-us-oc- webstrhm&utm_medium=et ch/text%20to%20speech?utm_campaign=e n&utm_source=en-et-na-us-oc- webstrhm&utm_medium=et

O.K. one more…  Alternate Format: Alternate Format:  logy/atl/resources/digitalrepository.aspx logy/atl/resources/digitalrepository.aspx   Can request.pdf’s from any publisher (ask me how)

Contact Information Lana Caldwell LS/AT, M.Ed., CCC, Reg. Provisional Psychologist Educational Behaviour Consultant Westwind S.D. #74 (403)