ACTEM - Maine Cite

This is the location of information and files, speakers’ notes and handouts associated with the Annual Fall Conference of ACTEM.

October 2019

Trends and Innovations in Special Education

New technologies appear every day and innovative Assistive Technologies (AT) for people with disabilities are also being developed all the time. In this session we discuss some new trends and new types of AT (including “everyday” technologies) that may be used by special education students and teacher. Resources for how to review new technology will also be shared.

Participants will learn

Learn about Maine’s Assistive Technology (AT) Program
Trends in Special Education
Trends in Assistive Technology
New changes, innovations and trends & “Everyday” tech.
Lots of resources

Presenters

John E. Brandt, MS.Ed. is the Training and Operations Coordinator for Maine CITE.
Hillary Goldthwait-Fowles, Ph.D. ATP is the Assistive Technology Specialist for RSU 21 in Kennebunk, Maine.

Resources

Handout – MS-Word

See Beneath – Social Skills
Teach Town – Social skills services – teachtown.com/
Scene Speak – app that provides a framework to create interactive visual scene displays and social stories. – com/scene-speak1.html
Social Stories Creator – Touch Autism – com/app/social-stories-creator-library/
AT for Self-Control and Calming
- Daniel Tiger’s Grr-ific Feelings – org/apps/daniel-tigers-grr-ific-feelings.html
- Breathe, Think, Do With Sesame – apple.com/us/app/breathe-think-do-with-sesame/id721853597?mt=8
- Zones of Regulation – com/index.html
- Tico Timer – apple.com/us/app/tico-timer-your-fun-timer-for-children/id792953890?mt=8
- Apps for Independence (MS-Word) – Apps list by Christine Martin, OTR/L – from SMACT Meeting 2/1/2019. – org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/TransitionApps.docx
- 7 Apps to Help Younger Kids With Self-Control – org/en/school-learning/assistive-technology/finding-an-assistive-technology/7-apps-to-help-younger-kids-with-self-control
- 5 fun fidgets for children with special needs – com/2016/02/10/5-fun-fidgets-for-children-with-special-needs/
- AT For Independence
  - Microsoft HoloLens – Augmented Reality – com/en-us/hololens
  - Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits – s/w that detects emotions – Research only
  - Social Stories Creator (app)
- Scheduling/Reminders/Organizers
  - Task Management
  - Time Management (timers)
  - Planning
  - Pictello – Task Management – com/products/pictello
  - CanPlan – Task Sequencing – ca/EN/main/programs/technologies-and-devices/at-home/canplan.html
  - Do – to do list – any.do/
  - See also Apps as AT on Maine CITE org/apps-as-assistive-technology-at/
- - Academic Skills
    - Reading
      - Bookshare,
      - Learning Ally
      - Text to Speech
    - Writing and Written Expression
      - Dictation
      - Book Creator /bookcreator.com/
      - Flipgrid flipgrid.com
      - Word Prediction
    - Arithmetic and Mathematics
    - Language Development
    - Sciences
    - Hillary Helps U Learn: Apps and Extensions to support Dyslexia and other Reading Challenges.

October 2018

Making Podcasts and Videos into Accessible Educational Materials

Closed Captioning logo Teachers at all levels increasingly use audio and video content as part of their instruction practice. Unfortunately, many of these materials are inaccessible to learners with disabilities.

In this session, we discuss the importance of making all education materials accessible, how to make your audio and video accessible and various free tools and resources.

Participants will learn about:

Legal requirements.
How to create audio transcripts.
How to create captioning files.
Methods for creating video descriptions.
Where to find free tools and resources.

Presenter

John E. Brandt, Training Coordinator, Maine CITE and Maine AEM Program – jbrandt@mainecite.org

Resources

Handout for “Making Podcasts and Videos into Accessible Educational Materials” –
Maine AEM Program website –
Examples of Accessible Podcasts
- This American Life –
- Freakonomics –
Examples of Audio Description – University of Minnesota –
CADET – Open Source caption editing tool –
- YouTube Video demonstrating CADET –

Recording of this presentation in webinar format – April 2018

Appendix:

The YouTube video – “Leave the gun – take the cannoli” from The Godfather (1972)

Audio Description of the scene from The Godfather:

Audio Description A black car in a secluded, swampy area with a view of the Statue of Liberty in the background. Two men appear in to be in the car.

[Sound effect: 3 gunshots]

The man in the back seat (Rocco) shoots the man (Paulie) in the front seat of the car in the back of the head.

Clemenza turns his head and reacts to the sound of the gun shots. He walks back to the car.

Paulie is slumped over the steering wheel, blood on his face. Bullet holes are in the windshield

[Dialog: Leave the gun take the cannolis]

Rocco reaches into the front seat of the car and retrieves a white box (the canolis). Rocco walks away quickly, Clemenza looking at the dead body, closed the car door.

[Sound effect: car door slams]

October 2017

Making PDFs Into Accessible Educational Materials (AEM)

Teachers at all levels make frequent use of digital materials including documents saved in Portable Document Format (PDF). Unfortunately, many of these materials are not Accessible Educational Materials (AEM) and are inaccessible to learners with disabilities.

In this session, we will discuss the importance of making all education materials accessible, how to ensure your PDFs “make the grade,” and various tools and techniques that can be used to help fix and rescue some documents.

Presenters

John E. Brandt, Training Coordinator, Maine CITE
Cynthia Curry, Co-Director, National Center on AEM
Hillary Goldthwaith-Fowles, Ph.D., ATP, RSU21 Assistive Technology Specialist

Addendum

In preparing the “handouts” we discovered that there was no easy way to convert a PowerPoint file into an accessible PDF. Therefore the presentation from Cynthia Curry is shared in an accessible PowerPoint format. If you need it in an alternative version, please contact John Brandt.