An interesting Webinar presented by Shonda Golden gave me many ideas for helping students with reading challenges. One new bit of information that I can think could be extremely useful for students with a diagnosed reading disability (could be visual, physical or learning) is Bookshare. Once a student can verify that they have a diagnosed disability that impedes reading, they can sign up and download countless books.
On Bookshare, the books are free! Students can also download for FREE readers like ReadOutloud (Daisy version) that not only reads the text but also allows students to take notes and look up definitions. This is an incredible resource that I hope to share with my colleagues as many students with disabilities can now at home access great books for free. Here are the reading tools on Bookshare: https://www.bookshare.org/readingTools
What is also amazing is that many newspapers and magazines are available including our local Daily News and Philadelphia Inquirer as well as national papers like the New York Times.. In my US Government classes, I can immediately see how students at home can use this for current events assignments. Whatever articles they download, will be able to be read aloud immediately. Plus, the subscription to the newspaper is free. I love this site's commitment to help those who struggle to read!
Source of Webinar: https://atia.adobeconnect.com/_a1106703335/p4vi8fzxbyl/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal
I like how you pointed out the local resources that are available - this resource definitely helps to bridge barriers between struggling and regularly developing readers.
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