What is Assistive Technology?

Assistive Technology (AT) is any item that helps bypass, work around or compensate for learning difficulties. AT is a process. It will change over time. AT provides access to a task, improves performance of a task and allows students with learning difficulties to work independently. AT is not information technology (IT). Technology will only assit an individual if the tool matches individual need.

Tuesday 29 November 2011

Apps to Support Literacy

Apps to Support Literacy


Seven building blocks of literacy instruction
Literacy Building BlockDefinitionReference
1. Print awarenessAn understanding that print carries meaning, that books contain letters, words, sentences, and spaces. It also includes an understanding of what books are used for.Reading Rockets, 2011
2. Phonological awarenessPhonological awareness is the understanding of different ways that oral language can be divided into smaller components and manipulated.LD Online, 1999
3. PhonicsPhonics is the system of relationships between letters and sounds in a language.National Reading Panel, 2000
4. FluencyReading fluency encompasses the speed or rate of reading, as well as the ability to read materials with expression.LD Online, 2001
5. VocabularyVocabulary is an important component of becoming a successful reader, and related to reading comprehension. Readers cannot understand what they are reading without knowing what most of the words mean.National Reading Panel, 2001, Reading Rockets, 2011
6. ComprehensionComprehension is a complex cognitive process, as well as an active process that requires interaction between the reader and the text. It is important to note that students from learning disabilities learn from explicit instruction in comprehension.National Reading Panel, 2001
7. WritingWhen writing, children draw on knowledge they have gained from reading.Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network, 2009
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