1. Joy Zabala, Ed.D., Director of Technical Assistance
Accessible Educational Materials in 2015: The BASICS for Educators and Families
Joy Zabala, Ed.D., Director of Technical Assistance
Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) and the National Center of Accessible Educational Materials for Learning

2. Purpose and Big Ideas of this Session
The purpose of this webinar is to provide foundational information related to the timely provision of AEM. Content will focus on the following main ideas:
Legal and pedagogical rationales for providing AEM
The changing language of AEM
Sources of AEM and who can use each source
Supportive tools and resources 1

3. AIM Center to AEM Center
The goal is to build the capacity of states, districts, postsecondary institutions, families, publishers, and other stakeholders to increase the availability and use of high-quality accessible educational materials (AEM) that support improved learning opportunities for students in K-12, Higher Education and workplace environments.

4. What do the IDEA regulations say about accessible materials?
Section

5. IDEA Fed. Reg. Section
Provisions require state and local education agencies to ensure that textbooks and related core instructional materials are provided to students with print disabilities in specialized formats in a timely manner. Legal requirement is placed on state and local education agencies. IDEA cannot place requirements on publishers

6. Print Disability
Language appears in IDEA and is not specifically defined.
In general usage, it refers to being unable to read or use standard print materials because of blindness or other disability

7. Joint Dear Colleague Letter June 29, 2010,
Department of Justice and Department of Education

8. What are Accessible Educational Materials?

9. Keeping Language Current
Accessible Instructional Materials 101: What SEAs, LEAs, and Families Need to Know about NIMAS and Beyond
Keeping Language Current
Language as a barrier
Changes over time
Acting from common misunderstandings
Language as a capacity-builder
Keeping up with change
Common vocabulary

10. Accessible Instructional Materials 101: What SEAs, LEAs, and Families Need to Know about NIMAS and Beyond
AEM as NIMAS
XML files the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) can be readily transformed into student-ready specialized formats.

11. Accessible Instructional Materials 101: What SEAs, LEAs, and Families Need to Know about NIMAS and Beyond
AEM as NIMAS
The national repository of NIMAS-compliant files that are created by publishers and deposited when required by SEA/LEA purchasers.

12. Language Change Over Time
Accessible Instructional Materials 101: What SEAs, LEAs, and Families Need to Know about NIMAS and Beyond
Language Change Over Time
Facilitator: purchasers, publishers and media producers
Barrier: decision-makers for individual students, educators, families
Common misunderstandings: eligibility, student-ready, is all that’s needed

13. AEM as Specialized Formats
Braille, large print, audio, and digital text
Exactly the same information as the printed materials
Only the presentation of the material is different
Review the bullets and continue to the next slide. 12

14. Language Change Over Time
Accessible Instructional Materials 101: What SEAs, LEAs, and Families Need to Know about NIMAS and Beyond
Language Change Over Time
AEM = Specialized Formats
Facilitator: broadens understanding beyond NIMAS as sole means of providing accessible materials
Barrier: applies only to print-based materials, limited to students meeting copyright criteria, equates need to specific disability categories
Common misunderstandings: need is equated to falling within specific disability categories, acquiring for one opens access to all, fair use
Zabala, J., Carl, D., Fonner, K., & Marfilius, S. (2008). Preconference at Closing the Gap. Minneapolis, MN. For more information visit aim.cast.org or

15. Lesson Learned… AEM is not just NIMAS
AEM is not just specialized formats

16. Materials are Materials
Instructional = Educational Learning

17. Accessible Educational Materials
“Accessible educational materials” means print- and technology-based educational materials, including printed and electronic textbooks and related core materials that are required by SEAs and LEAs for use by all students, produced or rendered in accessible media, written and published primarily for use in early learning programs, elementary, or secondary schools to support teaching and learning.” CFDA Z, Footnote #10

18. Accessible Educational Materials…
Are designed or enhanced in a way that makes them usable by the widest possible range of student variability regardless of format (print, digital, graphical, audio, video)
Content may be “designed to be used as print” and require retrofitting
Content may be “designed to be used digitally” and difficult to retrofit if not accessible from the start

19. Language Changes Over Time
Accessible Instructional Materials 101: What SEAs, LEAs, and Families Need to Know about NIMAS and Beyond
Language Changes Over Time
AEM = Materials designed to be highly usable across
full range of student variability
Facilitator: expands beyond printed materials, includes digital materials, increases importance of the market, extends thinking to non-text material
Barrier: lack of demand, limited availability in the market
Common misunderstandings: all digital materials are accessible to everyone
Zabala, J., Carl, D., Fonner, K., & Marfilius, S. (2008). Preconference at Closing the Gap. Minneapolis, MN. For more information visit aim.cast.org or

20. Lesson Learned…
When thinking about accessible digital materials, it is important to understand that the content and the delivery technology are two sides of the AEM coin and both require careful consideration and selection.

21. Two Sides of the AEM Coin…
The information is the content
Technology is the delivery system that the student uses to perceive and interact with the content

22. How are decisions made about AEM?

23. A Four-Step Process for Decision-Making
NOTE-TAKING GUIDE: Help is Just A Fingertip Away!
A Four-Step Process for Decision-Making
Establish need for instructional materials in accessible format(s)
Select format(s) and features needed by a student for educational participation and achievement
Commence steps to acquire needed format(s) in a timely manner
Determine supports needed for effective use for educational participation and achievement.
AEM Navigator at
Zabala, J.S. & Breslin-Larson, J. (2011). Help is Just a Fingertip Away!. Preconference aClosing the Gap Conference. Minneapolis, MN. For permission to use for educational purposes, contact Joy Zabala by to 22

24. Who needs AEM?

25. Who “qualifies” for AEM?
Need comes before qualification!

26. Reframing the Question “Who NEEDS accessible versions of educational materials for participation and achievement?

27. Who needs AEM?
Many students with disabilities are unable to read or use educational materials, because of”
Blindness or visual impairments
Physical impairments
Learning disabilities
Other disabilities that impact the ability to read standard print or use standard materials

28. Lesson Learned…
The need or preferences for educational materials in accessible formats goes well beyond print and well beyond students with identified disabilities.

29. Who Needs AEM?
Students with disabilities that prevent them from using “typical” instructional materials, such as print or “locked” digital materials, effectively
Students with sensory, physical, or learning-related disabilities
Students without identified disabilities who cannot make effective use of “typical” instructional materials
Struggling readers; students lacking English proficiency, etc.
Students who simply prefer options for different tasks or for use in different environments.

30. then the student MAY need AEM.
Who needs AEM?
If any student is unable to read or use grade level instructional materials
at a sufficient rate and with adequate comprehension to complete academic tasks with success, relative to same-age peers,
or cannot do this independently, or cannot do this across environments and tasks,
then the student MAY need AEM.
In the next section, we will examine a process that can be used to assist teams in determining if a student needs AEM?

31. What are the sources of AEM and who can use each source?

32. There are multiple sources for acquiring accessible versions of printed materials but most sources do not deal all types of AEM and some cannot be used to provide materials to for all students

33. Multiple Sources of Accessible Materials
NIMAS source files from the NIMAC
Accessible Media Producers
Locally Produced
Free Sources
Commercial Sources

34. Multiple Sources of Accessible Materials
The NIMAC
Students using materials created from NIMAS-source files stored in the NIMAC must:
meet copyright criteria (certified by a competent authority as unable to read printed materials because of blindness or other disability) AND
be served under IDEA.

35. Multiple Sources of AEM
There are varying Interpretations of
“Qualifying Disability” under copyright
The National Library Service - Library of Congress
Blind, Visual Impairment, Physical Limitations,
or a Reading Disability based on Organic Dysfunction

36. Multiple Sources of Accessible Materials
NIMAS source files from the NIMAC: Printed materials. Use constrained by copyright AND IDEA
Accessible Media Producers: Printed materials. Use constrained by copyright restrictions (Bookshare, Learning Ally, APH, etc.)
Locally Produced: May have constraints and certainly require significant human resources
Free Sources: No limitations, but may not be the same as used by others
Commercial Sources: Purchase for anyone, use with anyone!

37. Lesson Learned…
As the publishing industry “goes digital” the most promising sources of AEM for widespread use are:
Accessible digital learning materials developed by publishers and made available for purchase
Accessible open educational resources (OERs)

38. NOTE-TAKING GUIDE: Help is Just A Fingertip Away!
In a world going digital, accessibility does not seem to be a problem, right?
Zabala, J.S. & Breslin-Larson, J. (2011). Help is Just a Fingertip Away!. Preconference aClosing the Gap Conference. Minneapolis, MN. For permission to use for educational purposes, contact Joy Zabala by to 37

39. Wrong!!
Many of the digital educational materials and their delivery systems are not currently accessible!

40. Center for Online Learning and Students with Disabilities http://centerononlinelearning.org

41. The PALM Initiative
Purchase
Accessible
Learning
Materials

42. Lesson Learned…
Purchasing materials designed from the start with rich options that increase their accessibility and make them more widely usable is beneficial in many ways.

43. Benefits of Purchasing Accessible Materials
Supports inclusion
All students use same materials at the same time
Benefits all students’ learning
All have access to supportive features and scaffolds
Benefits teachers
Easier to plan and teach
Reduces complexity
Eliminates eligibility questions
Reduces costly accommodations
No need for different sets of materials or to provide accommodations for inaccessible materials
Benefits of purchasing digital materials that are accessible from the start:
Supports inclusion: Purchasing accessible materials provides students with disabilities access to the general curriculum using the same instructional materials, provided at the same time, for all students.
Benefits all students’ learning: Many of the supportive features and scaffolds available in accessible materials can be of benefit to a wide range of students.
Benefits teachers: It is easier to plan instruction and subsequently teach when all students use the same materials rather than having individual students using different materials.
Reduces complexity: When accessible materials are purchased, complex questions around copyright, timely delivery, and student eligibility are reduced.
Reduces costly accommodations: Schools don’t have to provide different sets of materials or provide accommodations for inaccessible materials, which can consume valuable fiscal, human, and infrastructural resources.

44. Where can I get help when I need it?

45. National Center for Accessible Educational Materials for Learning
October 2014 to
October 2019

47. Knowledge is power. Information is liberating
Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family. Kofi Anan

48. What can you do? Visit the AEM Center web site at: http://aem.cast.org
Use the information and tools on the AEM Center site to help identify need and then explore options to meet the need
Go to “AEM State Contacts ” to find out about state and local policies, procedures, and practices in your statehttp://aem.cast.org/policies/aem-state-contacts-and- sea-information.htm
Move beyond statutory obligations to excellent instructional practices
Push for AEM in the marketplace

49. See you in the Cafe!!
Joy Zabala