Penny Reed, PhD, is an independent consultant in AT services and provides training on a variety of topics related to AT with a special focus on improving delivery of AT services. Dr. Reed has a BS in elementary education, an MS and PhD in special education, and certification as both a principal and special education administrator. She was the director of the Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative (WATI) for many years and serves on the Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology (QIAT) Leadership Team. She is a founding member of the QIAT Consortium, the National Assistive Technology in Education Network, and the Coalition for Assistive Technology in Oregon. Dr. Reed has authored and co-authored numerous articles and manuals, including her most recent publication, Best Practices in Special Education: A Framework for Assistive Technology (2022), co-authored with Gayl Bowser.
Workshop Description:
Are you confused about your responsibility to provide assistive technology devices and services?
Are you frustrated with delays in obtaining AT assessments from sources outside of your district or the cost of those assessments?
Are you looking for an efficient, effective way to determine a student's need for Assistive Technology?
Then this workshop is for you.
Assistive Technology Consideration and Assessment Made Easy
This activity-packed workshop will present a team-based model for completing assistive technology (AT) consideration and assessment. It begins with a brief overview of the laws related to the provision of AT services in the schools, including AT Consideration and Assessment. Participants will examine and discuss AT Consideration forms to determine what works for them. Then, an AT Assessment process will be explained. Specific, easy-to-follow forms will be provided. Participants will use the forms for guided practice in completing the AT Assessment process. The training will end with pointers for implementation planning. It is most beneficial if participants can attend as a team.
If you have questions regarding this training, please email our AT inbox.
Kelli has a background in general education and special education classrooms. She holds a master’s degree in Learning and Technology with teaching licensing in both general and special education. Kelli has keynote, national, state, and local presentation and training experience. She has a strong understanding of and ability to connect theory to practice. Her instructional experience has been with students requiring mild, moderate, and intense intervention. Kelli’s specializations include Universal Design for Learning, Autism, Accessible Educational Materials & Assistive Technology, Google Chrome Accessibility & Integration, and Specific Learning Disabilities.
Workshop Description:
This workshop will explore ways to debunk the mindset of “it’s cheating” through personal stories, understanding learning disabilities, short simulations, discussion of the different skill sets of reading, and the “what” of accessible educational materials (AEM) and most importantly the “why.” Attendees will learn about and have access to free/low-cost simple AT tools for Mac, PC, iOS, and Chrome extensions to turn classroom worksheets and documents into accessible formats, instruction for independent student access, and other assistive technology options.
Assistive Technology integration for All students
Creating our classroom instruction with learner variability in the forefront will allow us to be mindful in meeting the needs of all of our students. Oftentimes, the use of assistive technology is the appropriate accommodation to meet those needs. Statements such as “That’s cheating. They need to do that by themselves,” are often comments aligned with the use of appropriate accommodations of accessible educational materials (AEM) and assistive technology (AT) for students with specific disabilities. But how can we promote a culture of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and at the same time step outside of our “No, it’s not cheating,” echo chamber to have meaningful conversations with educators who may see AT accommodations as a crutch?
If you have questions regarding this training, please email our AT inbox.
Dr. Therese Willkomm, PhD, is the Director of New Hampshire’s State Assistive Technology Program with the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). Dr. Willkomm is clinical associate professor emeritus in the Department of Occupational Therapy. She developed, coordinated, and taught the assistive technology courses for the Graduate Certificate Program in Assistive Technology for 23 years. She is known nationally and internationally for her innovative strategies for creating solutions in minutes. She has designed and fabricated over two thousand solutions for individuals with disabilities. She has presented her work in forty-two states, ten foreign countries, and three U.S. Territories and has authored over twenty publications, including her recent book, Assistive Technology Solutions in Minutes Book 3: - “Make Stuff and Love People.”
Workshop Description:
This workshop will explore hundreds of assistive technology solutions that can be made in minutes using everyday tools and materials. Each participant will make ten different multi-use assistive technology solutions, including solutions for: reading, writing, communicating, vision, physical access limitations, life skills, self-regulation, and tabletop mounting/stabilizing solutions. Attendees will receive a copy of Dr Willkomm's latest book, Assistive Technology Solutions in Minutes Book 3: - “Make Stuff and Love People.”
Registration for this event is now closed.
If you have questions regarding this training, please email our AT inbox.
Mike Marotta, ATP, is the owner of Inclusive Technology Solutions, LLC. Mike has been in the field of Assistive Technology for almost 30 years and his experience revolves around a vast array of accommodations for persons with disabilities and their family/support members. Mike is the Director of the Richard West Assistive Technology Advocacy Center @ Disability Rights New Jersey. Founder @EdcampAccessNJ @EdcampAccessInt Co-mod #atchat Wed 8PM ET @BookCreatorApp Ambassador Raspberry Pi Certified Educator. Mike believes that networking and information-sharing are essential for successful evaluation, consideration, implementation, and application of technology to support individuals of all abilities.
Workshop Description:
From Chrome apps and extensions to Google tools, Google can support all learners in your classroom. This full-day, in-person workshop will focus on exploring Google tools and identifying ways to incorporate these powerful tools into educational experiences. We will explore the feature match process to ensure a clear rationale for using built-in Chrome OS accessibility features, G Suite tools, and third-party Chrome apps and extensions. You will explore tools to assist students in the areas of reading, writing, and math, as well as with executive functioning skills that include time management, organization, task completion, and focus, to effectively meet the needs of every learner in all environments (classroom, transition, community).
Registration for this event is now closed.
If you have questions regarding this training, please email our AT inbox.
Lauren S. (Enders) Gonzales, M.A., CCC-SLP is a licensed and ASHA-certified Speech-Language Pathologist working as a school-age Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) and Assistive Technology (AT) Consultant for the Bucks County Intermediate (Bucks County, Pennsylvania). She has had a passion for using AAC and other forms of assistive technology to support students with complex needs since she began her career in 1995. Lauren presents regularly at national conferences, including Closing the Gap, ATIA, and ASHA as well as more intimate conferences, speaking engagements, and webinars. She has shared her knowledge via blog posts on Praacticalaac.org as well as articles published in the ASHA Leader and Closing the Gap Solutions Magazines. Lauren enjoys sharing resources and networking with others in the field via her professional social media accounts.
Event Details
Session 1: Refresh Your Instructional Toolbox with Fun and Customizable Activities
Date: Monday, February 13, 2023
Time: 3:30–5:00 p.m.
Fee: Free
Where: Virtual (via Zoom)
Workshop Description
Happy New Year! As we enter 2023 and continue our journey in the post-pandemic educational world, now is a perfect time to reexamine and refresh the instructional “toolboxes” we use to support our students, including AAC learners. We will spend time in both sessions learning to think “outside the box” when modifying an activity on the fly. Learn about easy-to-access resources that are super fun, require minimal planning and set-up, and can be used and reused in endless ways. As we make our way through engaging and flexible lesson ideas, I will share some creative and effective ways I have incorporated supports for students who use AAC.
Peek into my newly updated “Mary Poppins Bag” and learn about my favorite types of traditional materials (toys, games, trinkets, weird stuff…) that can be used to follow interests, elicit language, and support instruction of all learners. Leave with a clickable, digital resource containing important links to ideas shared in both sessions.
Event Details
Session 2: Refresh Your Instructional Toolbox with Awesome Activity Ideas for AAC Learners
Date: Friday, February 17, 2023
Time: 3:30−5:00 p.m.
Fee: Free
Where: Virtual (via Zoom)
Workshop Description
In this session, we will bolster your repertoire of fun activities with many exciting, flexible, digitally-based tools (apps, websites, YouTube channels, etc). Learn about some awesome new digital tools, some awesome uses for existing digital tools, and walk away with an itemized list of my favorite digital resources. We will explore examples of how each tool can be used with students of varying ages and AAC competency or language levels. Leave a little more prepared with a clickable, digital resource containing important links to ideas shared in both sessions.
Tony Vincent started out teaching fifth grade in Omaha 25 years ago. Several years later, he took on the role of his school's technology coach. Eventually, he left school teaching to be a self-employed consultant, sharing friendly ways for teachers to reach, empower, and inspire their students. Tony is a prolific sharer, approachable, and he consistently selects practical tools and strategies that can be implemented right away. Tony went back to teaching for the 2018–2019 school year, where his fifth graders became Chromebook superusers and creative communicators. Tony posts lots of handy tech tips on social media, and he hosts a series of digital drawing challenges for kids called Shapegrams. Most importantly, Tony is the father of 10-year-old twins.
Event Details
Date: Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Time: 8:30a.m.–3:30 p.m.
Fee: $30 (Breakfast and Lunch included)
Where: Helios Education Foundation
Address: 4747 N. 32nd St. Phoenix AZ, 85018
Workshop Description pixels to paper
Discover visual design techniques that you can apply to a variety of printable creations. These creations are not ordinary printouts! Learn to make tear-off sheets, table toppers, bookmarks, multipage posters, door hangers, brochures, dice, scratch cards, and foldable mini-books. As a bonus, they can include QR codes that open webpages, Google Forms, documents, or videos. These kinds of productions can be great for teachers to package instructional materials, and they can be used for student-made learning artifacts. There are lots of possibilities to explore when we turn our digital designs into tangible products. Bring your Chromebook, PC laptop, or MacBook, because you'll get time to create your own designs.
Registration for this event is now closed.
Spring Regional Professional Development
Come to this make-and-take workshop to learn how to create a variety of easy-to-assemble learning tools made with paper, PVC pipe, and other materials found in your storage rooms, garages, and hardware stores. Leave with lots of DIY learning tools to use in your classroom the very next day, including iPad stands, tactile rulers, weighted pencils, and more (seats are limited).
Locations:
Sierra Vista, AZ *CONCLUDED*
fford /Thatcher, AZ *cONCLUDED*
Yuma, AZ *cONCLUDED*
A common misconception about assistive technology is that it is always a budget-buster. But is that true? Not always! Come to this session to learn about free and easily available options to support students who struggle with literacy, math, and executive function. These same tools can be used as a part of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), IEPs, transition plans, or 504 plans. Leave with a Wakelet full of free resources.
Locations:
Sierra Vista, AZ *CONCLUDED*
Safford/Thatcher, AZ *CONCLUDED*
Yuma,AZ *cONCLUDED*
If you have questions regarding these trainings, please email our AT inbox.
Assistive Technology—Just One Thing (AT-JOT) Register For The Lunch Or After-School Session.
Come ‘roll’ on in to learn all sorts of inclusive, fun, creative and meaningful ways to incorporate dice and specially adapted dice rollers into your classroom or therapy sessions. We will explore how a variety of paper, digital, and physically adapted dice (large dice, multi-colored dice, etc.) can help your students with special needs to learn content material, social skills, play games, and more.
Immersive Reader is a free reading enhancement tool available in Office 365 that will work with Word, OneNote, and Outlook. It is built into the Edge browser and can also be installed as an extension for the Chrome browser to read the text of any website.
How does Immersive Reader help?
Immersive Reader helps students who are struggling to read text online by making it easy to:
Change font size, text spacing, and background color
Split words into syllables
Highlight verbs, nouns, adjectives, and sub-clauses
Choose between fonts optimized to help with reading
Highlight text as it is read aloud
Change the voices and speed of reading
And more
Come to this session to find out why we are so excited about Immersive Reader.
We all need and use visual supports every day. For students with disabilities, visual supports can be critical tools to support social-emotional, behavioral, learning, and communication skills. Beth Poss will review why and how visual supports should be used and show a range of printed, hands-on, kinesthetic, and digital tools like first/then boards, visual schedules, token economies, and social stories that are easy to create and implement. Beth Poss is a speech/language pathologist, educational and technology consultant, accessibility advocate, and former assistant principal. She is currently the Director of Educational Programs for LessonPix
Composing and editing written material can be a difficult and frustrating process for many students with disabilities, especially as the demands continue to increase in middle and high school. Fortunately, many previously specialized tools are now built into word processing programs and available to all students as part Universal Design for Learning (UDL). For example, Microsoft Office 365 has tools such as Read Aloud, Dictate, and Editor easily accessible to help students in the writing process. We just have to teach students how to access and use these tools effectively. Come to this session to learn more about the various tools in Office 365 and for some ideas such as simple checklists and instructional videos to help your students find and use the tools independently.
Some of the most powerful assistive technology tools on the planet are already sitting in your students’ pockets! Come to this JOT to learn about our top 3 iPhone AT tips and tricks.
As the school year comes to a close, we will uncover a few annotation tools that you can add to your Universal Design for Learning and Assistive Technology toolkits for the next school year. Join us as we explore free and low-cost iPad-based annotation tools which shift barriers of paper and pencil to opportunities through digital annotation. We will discuss iPad features, apps, and Google tools that empower student independence to read, write, and spell.
The Exceptional Student Services Data Management team will host the next Special Education Data Updates live webinar on Wednesday, June 21,from 2pm – 3pm. This session will cover a variety of data topics that will include (subject to change):
ADE/ESS is excited to announce the opening of registration for Arizona’s 2023 IDEA Conference: Creating Connections and Strengthening Systems. This year’s conference will be held from August 21–23, 2023, at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge in Phoenix.
