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Screencastify (2020).  Retrieved from https://www.screencastify.com/

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Here is a wonderful piece from the screencastify team about different ways that this technology too can be used.

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[9.27.18] Screencastify 50 Ways eBook.pdf

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The final piece of technology I would like to talk about is Screencastify.  Overall, students with disabilities, have a consistent pattern of what they need in terms of writing.  They often have ideas, but have difficulty organizing them and making logical pieces of writing.  Although an essay may seem impossible for students, they always seem to do well when it comes to creating presentations.  This will go back to the ideas presented in the Book Creator section that students with disabilities tend to be visual learners.
Screencastify is a way that students are able to record their thinking and make wonderful presentations (Screencastify, 2020).  This is an important tool that they will continue to use all through their academic careers and possibly onto their working careers with the progression of technology. There are SO many ways to use this specific app. It is also a great tool for modeling and teaching the writing techniques for students to learn. It is great when there are pieces of technology that we can use as "learning tools" for students as well as "showing our learning tools".

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Book Creator (2020).  Retrieved from https://bookcreator.com/

Kelly, M. (2017).  Visual learners learn best by sight.  Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/understanding-visual-learners-7998

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Here is a video of how you can use book creator.

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Students love it. Teachers love it. Book Creator is the simplest, most inclusive way to create content in the classroom.

This intuitive tool uses the magic of simplicity to open up a universe of ideas and imagination.

Learn more and get started at https://bookcreator.com.

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Struggling with writing can in part be, that to a student with a disability, they are being asked to create these symbols to explain their thinking.  Do they truly understand the symbols yet?  Or is this a part of their disability?  Many students who fall into this category are often visual learners.  This means that visualizing and looking at things help them understand (Kelly, M., 2017).
Book Creator is an app that allows a students writing to me a more visually exciting experience.  When utilizing this technology students are able to not only put their ideas in writing, but they can also express their thinking in images and audio as well (Book Creator, 2020). They can tell a story by making a picture book or a comic book. This also brings in the important aspect of motivation for writing.

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Clicker Sentences (2020).  Retrieved from https://www.cricksoft.com/us/clicker/ipad/clicker-sentences

Ross, E. (2016).  Executive functioning strategies for writing.  Smarts online executive  functioning curriculum.

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Here is one more example of how you can also use picture cues to help students who may be lower functioning.

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Here is an example of journal writing. This student was able to give thoughts to the teacher who created the word bank, and then they can go off on their own to create their formally written piece. The other benefit is when the students push the words/sentences, the app will read back to them.

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Students with learning disabilities have the most difficulty with the basic areas of writing starting with forming a sentence.  As mentioned earlier in Kidspiration and Speech-to-text, Executive Functioning impacts writing greatly.  This means that making logical coordination of thoughts,  is very difficult for these students (Ross, 2016).
Clicker Sentences is an app that can be used with teacher guidance, with the knowledge that it will become an independent activity. With this app, students can give words that will relate to the written piece they are creating. The app will mix all of the words up and then the student uses them in order to create the sentences they want for their story. It essentially is a word bank for students so that they can remember what they planned as well as work on their sentence formation.

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Chromebook (2019). How to use speech to enter text on your chromebook. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTDztr0F_JA

Martin, J. (2014-2020).  Dictation (Speech-to-Text) technology: What it is and how it works.  Retrieved from https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/assistive-technology/assistive-technologies-basics/dictation-speech-to-text-technology-what-it-is-and-how-it-works

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Here is a video on how you can use speech-to-text for free on a chromebook.

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How to use speech to enter text on your Chromebook

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When we think about having our students write, what is our purpose?  Our purpose is to see what the student has learned in terms of a topic they studied, or a writing style we are focusing on.  What if this student had a disability that impacted them from getting those thoughts down on paper?  How is it fair to say they can not complete the assignment appropriately?  Luckily we now have options for those types of learners.  Speech-to-text is the simplest way to allow students to create a written piece, when physical writing or idea organization may be difficult, mainly students who have disabilities such as Dyslexia and Dysgraphia (Martin, J., 2014-2020).  These are students with average to above average IQ's but have executive functioning and encoding difficulties.
The benefits of speech-to-text are abundant. How many times have you had a student come up to you and recite a beautiful explanation of what you taught, so you say, "Ok Johnny, go and write your ideas that you told me". When you go back 5 minutes later expecting to see the best piece of work ever, but all you find is a blank piece of paper. This is where speech-to-text comes in. Students can say what they are thinking. Then go back and adjust their work as needed. They can also do text-to-speech to hear it back.

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Kidspiration (2020).  Retrieved from  https://learningworksforkids.com/apps/kidspiration/

Marshall, A. (2017).  Executive functioning and writing: What does it mean for writing centres?  Connecting Writing Centers Across Borders.

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As a teacher resource, there are so many different ways you can utilize the different organizers for planning with your students.

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As students get older and more mature as writers they are able to utilize and create the graphic organizers for their planning.

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Kidspiration allows for the use of pictures as well as words in order for students to record their thinking.

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Students with learning disabilities need a great deal of organizational tools and planning tools in order to be successful when creating a written piece.  My students struggle with Executive Functioning.  This means they have difficulty developing and reaching goals, processing information, and make reasonable inferences  (Marshall, A., 2017).  For this reason it is very important to give students the appropriate tools that can help them be successful on a writing journey.
Kidspiration is a wonderful organizational tool. This website allows students to make plans and utilize different visuals for graphic organizers. The best part about using Kidspiration, especially with students with disabilities, is that it can also be utilized for daily activities as well. When it is used often for more than one focus, not only writing, it then will be a great tool because it will be a transfer of learning across different planning areas. Kidspiration (2020), understands that Executive Functioning needs are very important when trying to plan out any written task and they are user friendly for younger and lower level learners.