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These no-cost resources provide tools that help students with disabilities achieve academic success.

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One of the many things we've learned from the Covid-19 pandemic is that technology has become more and more essential in schools. Although IDEA 2004 and Section 504 mandate that provided services must address the individualized needs of students with disabilities, in reality when students require a support that has a higher cost, schools might not provide it, or they might choose other alternatives that may not be as effective. Assistive technology is a good example of this. Some school professionals may still believe that assistive technology costs a lot of money, which isn't always true.

With more advances in technology, many assistive technological tools are actually free and easy to use. They not only are able to address the needs of students with various types of disabilities but also enhance their learning. Some of these applications may have already been preinstalled in our devices, while others are free to use online.

Utilize Preinstalled Applications on Available Devices

Office 365 (aka Microsoft Office)/iWork: Microsoft's suite of applications is free for educators and students to download. For others, it's free to use online. All you need to do is create a free Microsoft account. If you're a Mac user, iWork is also free. Simply create a free iCloud account.

Students can use the spelling and grammar check functions available in the applications to check their work prior to submission. Students with reading and writing disabilities can also use text-to-speech to have the computer read the written texts aloud to them and/or speech-to-text to dictate what they want to write.

Microsoft OneNote is a great digital note-taking tool. Students with auditory processing issues or limited fine motor skills, who may not be able to take notes quickly, can ask their teachers for permission to record the lessons and have the recordings sync with their written notes. Students can organize their notes by colors. This is especially helpful for learners who have executive functioning disorders and who lack organizational skills. They can keep all their class notes in one place instead of having loose sheets of handwritten papers.

Adobe Acrobat: Sometimes students receive materials from their teachers that aren't accessible. They can utilize the optical character recognition (OCR) feature in Acrobat to first convert the files into searchable text documents and then use the text-to-speech feature Read Out Loud to have the computer read the documents aloud to them. This support is crucial for readers who struggle or are visually impaired. Additionally, if students come across any word they don't know, they can highlight the text and have the application look up its meaning online.

Utilize Free Online Applications

Google Applications: Many teachers know quite a bit about various types of Google applications. Everything you create using them is stored online, can be easily shared with others, and doesn't take up much computer and email space. Signing up with a free Google account automatically gives you free access to many different Google applications, including 15 GB of free cloud storage space on Google Drive.

Similar to Office 365, most Google applications have built-in text-to-speech and " voice typing " functions. In addition, these applications recognize over 100 languages, such as Amharic, Lao, Bengali, and Tamil, which means that English language learners with disabilities can utilize these features in their preferred language.

Padlet: Padlet is a real-time online collaborative platform that has gained a lot of recognition since the pandemic. Students can use this cloud-based software during group work to keep track of everyone's ideas and how they would like to structure their project. They can also present their final work as virtual bulletin boards.

Students who need additional help with writing and organizational skills may find this tool especially helpful, since it can be used as a prewriting tool to brainstorm ideas and receive feedback from teachers or peers prior completing a writing assignment at school and/or at home. The background of each Padlet can be changed to suit the theme of their work. Anyone with a free account can create a maximum of three Padlets.

Utilize Free Browser Extensions

BeeLine Reader: Besides the use of textbooks, teachers nowadays utilize many online reading materials. Websites that are text-heavy and dense can create additional challenges for students who already struggle with reading. BeeLine Reader is a helpful browser extension that automatically adds color to the digital text, improves reading ability, and keeps students' focus.

Google Translate and Google Dictionary: Google Translate and Google Dictionary are two helpful browser extensions that English language learners with disabilities and students with reading disabilities can utilize. When students come across words they don't know on websites, they can highlight the words and have the extensions translate them in their preferred language, find out their meaning, and determine how to pronounce the words.

Lucidchart: Lucidchart has its own web-based diagram application and a browser extension that students can use for free. Students can share charts and diagrams with their classmates or group members. They can also use it as a graphic organizer to brainstorm ideas before writing. For a free Lucidchart account, students can create a maximum of three editable Lucidchart documents. Free templates are also available to use.

It's important to note that an assistive technology service or evaluation must be conducted prior to determining which tool is best for students to use. It's mandatory for schools to provide these resources to teachers and students as well as training on how to use them effectively. Students' families also require training, so that they can support consistent use of assistive tech at home. If access to specific equipment, such as an iPad or augmentative and alternative communication devices, is needed, schools are obligated to provide the equipment for use both at school and at home.

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Free Assistive Tech Tools That Support Academic Success

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These no-cost resources provide tools that help students with disabilities achieve academic success.

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Free or low-cost tools can help all students-with and without learning differences-better access course content.

Teachers put a lot of time and effort into designing classroom activities that encourage students to read, write, communicate, play, move, and socialize. They strive to ensure that all students have opportunities to grow and learn, but children with disabilities can face barriers to their participation in classroom activities. To lower those barriers, teachers can access a set of tools-collectively called assistive technology-that have been designed to help these students participate fully and naturally in inclusive learning environments.

Assistive technology (AT) is "any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities." AT includes a wide variety of no-tech, low-tech, and high-tech tools. Some assistive technology tools cost nothing, and others can be fairly inexpensive. Many teachers are using some tools that function as AT-even if they don't think of them that way.

Simple Ways to Incorporate Assistive Technology

Closed-captioning in videos: Adding or turning on closed-captioning in all videos, including YouTube and GoNoodle, assists students in making connections between text and audio representations of language. Captioning is an assistive technology tool that is free and easy to use: simply push the CC button underneath a video.

Closed-captioning provides missing information for individuals who have difficulty processing speech and auditory components of visual media. It is crucial for students who are hard of hearing and can support students' reading skills.

Graphic organizers: Graphic organizers are a no-tech AT tool that offers a simple, effective way to provide writing support to elementary, middle, and high school students who have dysgraphia, executive function challenges, and other learning challenges.

Students with executive function challenges who struggle with organization, for example, can benefit from the visual organization of their thoughts and ideas, and graphic organizers "clarify implicit relationships contained in the text in a way that text alone may not." Likewise, students with dysgraphia -which affects handwriting and fine motor skills, word spacing, and the general ability to put ideas and thoughts onto paper-can benefit from graphic organizers.

This tool can help struggling writers show what they know and organize their thoughts before they start to write, which can make writing less intimidating. Having printed graphic organizers available in your classroom for all students is an easy way to provide an assistive technology tool to struggling writers of all ages.

Classroom seating: To help students focus their attention in order to learn, it's helpful if teachers are able to provide a variety of seating options in the classroom. Examples of supported seating include beanbag chairs, yoga balls, wobble stools, carpet squares, and wedges for active sitting, which is "seating that naturally encourages us to stay in motion, rather than passively relaxing into a slouch or attempting to rigidly hold a 'correct' pose."

My daughter's fifth-grade classroom has a variety of seating options, and one of her favorite seats looks like an old wooden train bench with pillows. Her third-grade classroom had a reading corner with beach chairs. Metal chairs arranged in rows don't need to be the only seating choice in our classrooms, and involving students in the seating design process-by having them help arrange the room or develop the norms for using the options, for example-can create excitement and engagement.

Visual timers: Time can be abstract for students with executive function challenges or autism. Students may become anxious when a teacher says, "You have 10 minutes left to work on this test." Using a visual timer-a device that makes the concept of time easier to understand and monitor by providing a clear indication of the time remaining and elapsed for tasks-can help students prepare for transitions and ease test anxiety as they are able to see at a glance how much time is left.

Teachers can place a physical visual timer on their desk or elsewhere at the front of the classroom, or project one on their interactive whiteboard during timed class activities, projects, or tests.

Speech-to-text software: Students with print disabilities such as dyslexia can struggle when producing written assignments. However, if your classroom uses Google Docs, all of your students-those with and without disabilities-have access to an important free tool called voice typing, which is found under the Tools tab. (Dragon Dictation and VoiceNote are similar tools that are also worth trying.)

Speech-to-text is a form of assistive technology that allows students-and teachers-to dictate into their computer and watch their words appear as text on the computer screen, without typing. I've found that students with and without disabilities like using this tool.

Teachers may want to create a space for voice typing in a corner of the classroom, where classroom sounds won't be picked up by the computer microphone. If all students have the opportunity to rotate through this area, voice typing should not carry any stigma.

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Easy Ways to Bring Assistive Technology Into Your Classroom

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Free or low-cost tools can help all students-with and without learning differences-better access course content. Teachers put a lot of time and effort into designing classroom activities that encourage students to read, write, communicate, play, move, and socialize.

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Assistive technology tools were once meant for students with learning disabilities, but there is clear, documented proof that these tools are beneficial for other students. And I've observed students without learning disabilities learning more effectively using text-to-speech and speech-to-text tools-they read longer, write longer, and show a great improvement in spelling.

Text to Speech

Research supports the effectiveness of text-to-speech tools with students who struggle with decoding, fluency, and comprehension. Speak Screen for iOS is a built-in tool that can read text on a screen. Newer iOS devices can download the higher-quality Alex voice for a better experience.

The Read and Write for Google Chrome extension is a great alternative to Speak Screen, for those who don't use iOS devices.

Voice Dictation

Siri's dictation feature offers real-time speech-to-text conversion, recording the words you say as typed text. Students who struggle with writing benefit immensely when using this tool, which can be accessed on a Mac or iOS device. It is by no means perfect, but the more a user utilizes it, the better it functions. Alternatively, Google Docs' voice typing feature is available in the Chrome browser.

Reader View

Safari Reader helps students avoid sensory overload by reducing the visual clutter on web pages. Reader pulls out ads, buttons, and navigation bars to reduce distractions. Most websites that are built with responsive web design in mind are also enabled with reader modes. When you find an article or other informational web page with a lot of text, you'll most likely see the reader view button. I recommend turning this on before enabling a text-to-speech tool so that the screen reader doesn't include the ads. Once reader view is enabled, you can tap the AA icon to adjust page colors, font sizes, and font types.

The Mercury Reader extension allows Chrome users on PCs, Macs, and Chromebooks to get the same benefits as they would with Safari Reader.

Clock Apps

The native clock app on an iOS device can be a powerful tool for students when used for time management and redirection. Students can set the timer when working on an assignment so that they can focus on that task before moving to another. They can also use alarms, labeling them appropriately for important reminders throughout the day.

Using Google's timer and stopwatch via the search function is a great way for teachers to manage time in the classroom. If you want your students to read for 15 minutes or spend five more minutes on that narrative, this tool can help keep your students focused for the time you've allotted. You can tell Google Search to set a timer for a certain amount of time or simply enter the search terms 'timer' or 'stopwatch' to bring up the tool. The timer will beep within the Chrome tab when time is up.

Apple Classroom 2.0

Apple Classroom 2.0 allows teachers in one-to-one classrooms using iOS 10.3 or later, Bluetooth, and a Wi-Fi network to link students' iPads together in a virtual class. This free app helps keep students on track and allows teachers to see their progress. The teacher can guide students through a lesson, launch the same app on all devices at the same time, or launch different apps for groups of students. One of my favorite features within Apple Classroom is the ability to lock all student iPads with the touch of a button or to lock them into one app, helping students stay focused on a specific lesson.

My 10-year-old daughter has always struggled with handwriting on paper. This exercise came with lots of tears and frustration. Supported with an iPad, dictation, and an on-screen keyboard, she has become a habitual writer who has written numerous books in the Book Creator app. Her stories are chock-full of detail and emotion. Writing is now a passion of hers.

It's our obligation as educators, parents, and caregivers to help our students find tools that make learning accessible-for all learners, with or without a diagnosis.

For full written and video instructions on the iOS tools mentioned above, please see my free book iCan with iOS: Apps, Tools & Strategies for Students with Learning and Attention Issues.

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Assistive Technology Can Benefit All Students

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Assistive technology tools were once meant for students with learning disabilities, but there is clear, documented proof that these tools are beneficial for other students. And I've observed students without learning disabilities learning more effectively using text-to-speech and speech-to-text tools-they read longer, write longer, and show a great improvement in spelling.

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CSU unveils massive venture to provide free AI tools and training across all 23 campuses

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California State University has unveiled a massive venture with Gov. Gavin Newsom and tech leaders to equip all students, faculty and staff with AI tools and skills.