Subject Guide: Assistive Technology & Literacy

Library resource guide from the Kornreich Technology Center

Find articles in journals or magazines using the following online databases:

EBSCOhost: Your gateway to thousands of citations, abstracts and full text journals all at one web site. The Professional Development Collection covers a variety of subjects and topics across multiple disciplines. The Kornreich librarian is available to provide assistance in search requests, or self-service access to the databases is available at terminals in the Kornreich Library.

National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC): NARIC’s 70,000+ resources are here at your fingertips! Explore the databases, browse the Calendar of Events, or sign up for current awareness bulletins. NARIC’s directories and databases cover a wide range of disability and rehabilitation issues. Each database is tailored to your information needs (www.naric.com).

Electronic literature awareness services:

Rehabdata-Connection: Fill in the subscription form at http://www.naric.com/search/rhab/connection/form.html and receive citations and abstracts in free monthly email updates that track disability and rehabilitation topics that you choose.

Find books in the Kornreich Library:

CREATING THE EARLY LITERACY CLASSROOM: Activities for using technology to empower elementary students / Casey, Jean M. — Englewood, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2000.
LB 1576 C38 2000

CURRICULUM EXPERIENCES: for Literacy, Learning , Living / Staugler, Kathy. — Solana Beach, CA: Mayer-Johnson, 1998.
RC 423 S11 1998

EAROBICS -STEP 1: Specialist/Clinician Resource / Cognitive Concepts. — Evanston IL: Cognitive Concepts, Inc. 1999.
LB 1525.1 1999

EAROBICS -STEP 1 FOR ADOLESCENTS & ADULTS: Specialist/Clinician Resource / Cognitive Concepts. — Evanston IL: Cognitive Concepts, Inc. 2000.
LB 1525.3 2000

EAROBICS -STEP 2: Specialist/Clinician Resource / Cognitive Concepts. — Evanston IL: Cognitive Concepts, Inc. 1999.
LB 1525.2 1999

ELOQUENCE: Emergent Literacy Overlays for Quick Easy Natural Communication Expression / Maro, Julia M. 1998.
RC423 .M10 1998

EMERGENT LITERACY SUCCESS: Merging technology and whole language for students with disabilities / Musslewhite, Caroline; King-DeBaum, Pati. — Park City UT: Creative Communicating & Southeast Augmentative Communication Conference, 1997.
LC4704 .M47 1997

JOURNAL OF SPECIAL EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY

LEARNING INDEPENDENCE THROUGH FUNCTIONAL EXPERIENCES (LIFE): Literacy Language Units for Adolescence / Staugler, Kathy; Leugers, Karen. — Solana Beach, CA: Mayer-Johnson, 1995.
RC 423 L11 1995

NURSERY RHYME TIME: ELOQUENCE: Emergent Literacy Overlays for Quick Easy Natural Communication Expression / Maro, Julia M. 1999.
RC423 .M11 1999

ROAD TO THE CODE: A phonological awareness program for young children / Blachman, Benita A. — Baltimore MD: Brookes Publishers, 2000.
LB 1139.L3 2000

SPECIAL EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY PRACTICE

STORYTIME: Stories, symbols and emergent literacy activities for young, special needs children / King-DeBaun, Pati. — Solana Beach CA: Creative Communicating, 1990.
RC 423 K25 1990

TEACHING EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN

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Software available in the Kornreich Library:

AWAY WE RIDE / Meyer, Jo; Bidabe, Linda. — Bakersfield, CA: SoftTouch/kidTECH, 1995.
SW20

BAILEY'S BOOK HOUSE: PreSchool to 2nd Grade — Redmond, WA: Edmark, 1995.
SW32

CO:WRITER 4000 — Volo, IL: Don Johnston Learning, 2003.
SW15

CONCEPTS ON THE MOVE : Advanced Preacademics / Meyer, Jo; Bidabe, Linda. — Bakersfield, CA: SoftTouch/kidTECH, 2002.
SW 117

CURIOUS GEORGE LEARNS THE ALPHABET / Rey, H.A. — Fairfield, CT: Queue, Inc. 1993.
SW 123

A DAY AT PLAY — Wauconda, IL: Don Johnston Learning, 1995.
SW18

KURZWEIL 3000 — Bedford, MA: Kurzweil Educational Systems, 2004.
SW 35

LIVING BOOKS FRAMEWORK: Volume I — Novato, CA: Random House/Broderbund, 1993.
SW31

QUICK TECH MAGIC: Music-Based Literacy Activities / Coleman, Kathleen; McNairn, Peggi; Shioleno, Cindy. — Solana Beach, CA: Mayer-Johnson, 2001.
SW 84

READ & WRITE GOLD — Ireland: textHELP, 2004.
SW 33

TEACHING READING WITH START-TO-FINISH BOOKS-GOLD LIBRARY: Essential Interventions Classroom Activities / Venable, Gail, Ed.; Tyack, Dorothy, Ed.; Stemach, Jerry, Ed. — Volo, IL: Don Johnston Learning, 2003.
SW22

TESTTALKER — Moffet Field, CA: Freedom Scientific.
SW8

WYNNWIZARD WITH SCANNING — Moffet Field, CA: Freedom Scientific, 2001.
SW7

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Web Sites

The following is a compilation of web sites regarding assistive technology and literacy that the Kornreich staff have found useful. The resources listed contain links to many other excellent sites.

  • Augmentative/Alternative Communication Intervention is an excellent site for AAC emergent literacy information and products. Offers monthly tips and “how-to” features, such as creating literature-based communication boards.
    www.aacintervention.com

  • The Barkley AAC Center and the Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation at the University of Nebraska website is designed to provide access to a wide range of information and resources related to the AAC effort. The literacy section has intervention resources including case studies with streaming video, product descriptions (not always the most current, but the “tried and true classics”), and literacy software tutorials.
    http://aac.unl.edu/csl/literacy.html

  • Get Ready to Read! is part of the National Center for Learning Disabilities’s Get Ready to Read! early literacy program. The program is designed to help teachers, parents and caregivers identify potential reading problems in the early stages of a child’s development, and ensure that all children will have the literacy skills they need to begin learning to read and write as they enter kindergarten.
    www.GetReadytoRead.org

  • The Math Matrix serves as a resource that matches technology tools with supporting literature on promising practices for the instruction of K-8 mathematics for students with disabilities.
    http://www.citeducation.org/mathmatrix/default.asp

  • The Reading Matrix is a searchable database that presents evidence and products for the use of technologies that support the instruction of reading for students with reading disabilities.
    http://www.nationaltechcenter.org/matrix/default.asp

  • The Washington Assistive Technology Alliance has good information on adaptive technology to assist with reading, writing and spelling.
    http://wata.org/resource/learning/index.htm

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Where to find E-texts

E-texts are the digital files of complete books. It is always preferable to download an e-text file rather than to scan an entire book into the computer. A few sources for locating e-texts:

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AT Devices

Assistive technology (AT) is defined as “devices and aids which can help a person with a disability perform activities that might otherwise be difficult or not be possible.” The following web sites are searchable databases of assistive technology products and resources.

Assistivetech.net
Assistivetech.net’s mission is to provide increased access to information on assistive technology devices and services as well as other community resources for people with disabilities and the general public.
http://www.assistivetech.net/
ABLEDATA
ABLEDATA is a federally funded project whose primary mission is to provide information on assistive technology and rehabilitation equipment available from domestic and international sources to consumers, organizations, professionals, and caregivers within the United States.
http://www.abledata.com/

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