The Science of Reading and Inclusion: Bridging the Gaps with AT

Presenter(s)

Event Details

Topic:

instruction, literacy & inclusion

Format:

demonstration

Subject Level:

beginner

Age Span:

kindergarten - grade 6
grades 7-12
adult

Target Audience:

AT specialist
autism specialist
consultant
educator
K-12 administration
occupational therapist
paraprofessional
special educator
speech language pathologist
teacher of the visually impaired
university professor / personnel

Professional Development Credits

IACET CEUs:

0.01

ACVREP CEs:

1

Presentation Length: 1 hour

Location:

Plaza 2

Description:

This session explores how a school district effectively integrates the Science of Reading with inclusive practices, using assistive technologies like Read&Write. It will illustrate how tools initially created for marginalized students now aid many struggling learners, enabling them to learn in General Education classrooms, on grade-level, with their peers. Recent enhancements to Read&Write, including the integration of Don Johnston’s Co:Writer word prediction, Snap&Read, and AI voices from ElevenLabs provide struggling students the opportunity to read, learn, and succeed independently. These tools have helped many districts like Mounds View provide students with the appropriate supports to increase reading comprehension levels, improve test-scoring, and free up the time of paraprofessionals and aides, allowing them to focus on assisting students with greater needs.

Learning Outcomes:

As a result of this activity, participants will be able to:

• 1. Participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of how Assistive Technologies can support Science of Reading initiatives.

• 2. Participants will learn the benefits of a UDL program and how it also supports Inclusive practices like MTSS (Multi-Tiered Systems of Support).

• 3. Participants will acquire 3 practical strategies for implementing Assistive Technologies into General Education practices such as reading with Text-to-Speech, writing with Word Prediction, and studying with Reference Support Tools to help students learn and succeed independently.

Disclosures:

Paul Brown is an employee of Everway.