technology and learning connections, a part of Florida's multi-tiered system of supports.

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Getting Started
  1. Florida Standards - http://www.cpalms.org
  2. Demonstrating Reading Comprehension - a 2 page handout on reading supports for students with learning disabilities; from the Exploring New Territories booklet
  3. Puffin Browser https://www.puffinbrowser.com/index.php . a mobile browser for iPad, iPhone, and Android devices that runs Flash, enabling many online math supports to work on a mobile device
  4. Natural Reader (Win) http://www.naturalreaders.com/index.html . a free text to speech reader
  5. Text to Speech on Mac https://support.apple.com/kb/PH14230?locale=en_US
  6. Text to Speech on iOS http://osxdaily.com/2012/05/30/text-to-speech-iphone-ipad/

Reading Basics
  1. freereading - http://www.freereading.net/index.php?title=Main_Page . free opensource reading intervention program
  2. Earobics : Step 1 & 2 (Win . Mac) - http://www.earobics.com . intervention software with a focus on auditory perception and phonemes within words
  3. Teaching Reading - http://www.readingresource.net/teachingreading.html . free online materials and resources for teaching the basics of reading
  4. SpellCity - http://www.spellingcity.com/ . free online tool where teachers and students can enter spelling words and then play a variety of games to reinforce the spelling skills
  5. Start-to-Finish Series (Win . Mac) - http://www.donjohnston.com . middle and high school subject matter written at the 1.5 to 5.5 grade level. available in printed, computer-based, and auditory formats
  6. ClozePro (Win . Mac) - http://www.cricksoft.com . create fill-in-the-gap activities with visual and auditory supports
  7. Cloze Test - http://l.georges.online.fr/tools/cloze.html . super simple free online cloze activity creator
  8. Bloom's Cards for Rings - http://www.scribd.com/doc/63781863/Blooms-Cards-for-Rings . reading comprehension cues that can be put on cards
  9. Teach Your Monster to Read - http://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com/ . students create a monster and take it on a game while they teach the monster to read
  10. My Friend (Win) - free adjective software for young readers
  11. Textivate - http://www.textivate.com/ . online tool to create interactive text activities

Online/Digital Books & Reading Support
  1. StarFall - http://www.starfall.com/ . the ABC’s of getting ready to read. extensive materials and resources for early literacy development
  2. BookBox - http://www.bookbox.com/ . inexpensive digital books in a wide variety of languages. many of the books can be read in one language with subtitles in a different language
  3. TumbleBooks - http://www.tumblebooks.com/ . online library of books and reading resources
  4. Region 2 Digital Library - http://www.at-udl.com/library/ . great collection of reading supports, powerpoint books, Boardmaker activities, and much more
  5. 24 Reading & Writing Apps for iPads - http://imaginationsoup.net/2012/05/favorite-educational-ipad-apps-for-kids-reading-writing/
  6. UDL Editions by CAST - http://udleditions.cast.org/ . online books with flexible supports for ages 10 up
  7. Reading Strategies & the New York Times - http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/the-times-and-the-common-core-standards-reading-strategies-for-informational-text/. ideas on using the New York Times to address informational text and the Common Core State Standards
  8. Travel the World with Timmy - basic "make-a-book" software for young readers. each version includes English and another language (NOTE - the Mac files will only run under OS9)
    1. Timmy in Argentina (Win)
    2. Timmy in Japan (Win)
    3. Timmy in Kenya (Win)

Graphic Organizers / Cognitive Support
  1. Graphic Organizers - http://www.teachervision.fen.com/graphic-organizers/printable/6293.html?s2 . free online source of printable graphic organizers in a wide variety of cognitive supports
  2. Kidspiration & Inspiration (Win . Mac) - http://www.inspiration.com . graphic organizers with templates to support reading comprehension
  3. Read:OutLoud (Win . Mac) - http://donjohnston.com/readoutloud . digital text tools with extensive reading strategies/guides and cognitive supports for fiction and non fiction
  4. Active Reading Strategies - http://savvyknowledge.com/resources/education/active-reading-strategies/ . excellent resource of strategies for students to use to visually organize text
  5. Use QR Codes to Create Interactive Books - http://www.technologybitsbytesnibbles.info/archives/5066 . add QR codes to books to provide just-in-time audio and video enhancement to printed text
  6. ReadWriteThink - http://www.readwritethink.org/ . extensive online set of reading and writing support activities. examples include:
    1. Comparison and Contrast Guide
    2. Summarizing Cube Creator
    3. Story Map
  7. 50 Apps for Students with Learning Disabilities - http://www.teleread.com/education/50-best-ipad-apps-for-users-with-reading-disabilities/ . apps that can help with reading, writing, and spelling
  8. Online Text Summarizer - http://www.tools4noobs.com/summarize/ . free online tool that summarizes text. You can paste text in or paste in a URL and decide how much to summarize
  9. Typefaces for Dyslexia - http://bdatech.org/what-technology/typefaces-for-dyslexia/ . article on fonts that support students who have dyslexia, including links to download fonts that are free

Digital Text (scaffolding tools for struggling readers)
  1. Mercury Reader - https://mercury.postlight.com/reader/ . clean up web pages and remove clutter to help make them easier to read
  2. Natural Reader (Win . Mac ) - www.naturalreaders.com . a free text-to-speech utility. add to Adobe Reader and your computer can read PDF files aloud . use with a web browser and the Internet "talks"
  3. Read and Write (Win . Mac) - http://www.texthelp.com . suite of software tools that are available in most programs being used on a computer. includes scanning printed text, reading and writing supports, and study tools
  4. Kurzweil 3000 (Win . Mac) - http://www.kurzweiledu.com . software designed for scanning printed text to digital formats. includes reading, writing, and study supports
  5. Firefly - http://www.kurzweiledu.com/kurzweil-3000-firefly.html . web based cloud version of of Kurzweil 3000 reading support tools
  6. Firefly iPad - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/firefly-k3000/id535277727?mt=8 . very basic version of Kurzweil's Firefly for the iPad