Guest Post by Bill Lester, a passionate educator and traveling teacher.

The idea of using technology in the mainstream classroom is something that has been known by teachers for quite a long time.  It started out as trying to have a good mixture of “plugged-in” and “unplugged”, but now it’s all about the different strategies so that the students are staying “plugged-in” to technology as long as they can during the learning process.  This is even true for ESL students who have sophisticated translators at their disposal.  However, there isn’t much conversation about how to use technology in the Special Education classroom. 

Have you seen our new look? Check out this overview video to get the inside scoop on our clean, fresh updated user interface.

Guest post by Sarah Fudin, University of Southern California

In the not-so-distant past, children with disabilities were not guaranteed an education. It wasn’t until the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s that advocacy and legislation were inspired, and teachers, community members invested in school districts and other education personnel began to become familiar with how special education works. Special education has come a long way since then, and with technological advancements and an evolving culture that embraces diversity, we are coming even closer to a fully inclusive, equitable educational environment for all students.

What is special education?

In honor of National Disability Awareness Month, Atomic Learning along with assistive technology partners Crick Software, PALM, and TextHELP are encouraging educators to take a pledge to provide accessible instruction to reach all learners. 

 There are 6.5 million children with disabilities in the U.S, and about 95% of publishing output is not accessible. As one disabled student shared,

I would get really frustrated and angry when the teacher would not give me the materials I needed. I would get tired more quickly," said Laura."I could be more independent when the materials were made accessible."

In recognition of National Disability Awareness Month, Atomic Learning is offering its Accessibility: It IS Important workshop at no cost for a limited time. The workshop is part of the Atomic Assist solution, providing over 5,000 online video tutorials on common assistive technology software and hardware to help educators support ALL learners.

Every educator impacts students, but are they able to effectively reach ALL their students? Anyone working with students with disabilities who fails to provide accessible instruction and materials is inadvertently building barriers to learning. To help bridge the gap, Atomic Learning offers an accessible instruction-focused collection of training.

A recent EdWeek blog article reflects on a report from the US Department of Education's office regarding an increase in complaints about special education, setting a record for having received more complaints than ever before in a three-year period. The article states:
 

Every educator impacts students, but are they able to effectively reach ALL their students? Anyone working with students with disabilities who fails to provide accessible instruction and materials is inadvertently building barriers to learning.

In honor of National Disability Awareness Month, Atomic Learning is encouraging educators to take a pledge to provide accessible instruction to reach all learners. The pledge can be found at: http://www.atomiclearning.com/k12/pledge.

A Facebook cover photo has been developed to show support for providing accessible materials, those who submit the pledge will receive the cover photo by email, it can also be found here.

A recent EdWeek article highlighted how children with learning disabilities affect the achievement gap. Without helping those students, it is nearly impossible to narrow the gap. Providing proper professional development and assistance for educators is key to make sure students of all abilities can succeed.

In recognition of National Disability Awareness Month, Atomic Learning is showcasing the Accessibility: It IS Important workshop and is offering it at no cost for a limited time. The workshop can be found in the Atomic Assist solution at http://www.atomiclearning.com/k12/accessibility_wkshp.

This blog post on the Official SketchUp Blog shows how a program called Project Spectrum helps autistic students use Google SketchUp to change their learning.

People with autism tend to be unusually strong visual and spatial thinkers, and it became clear that SketchUp plays to those strengths. With that bit of information (and help from the Autism Society of Boulder County), we launched Project Spectrum with a single goal: connecting the autism community with SketchUp.

Atomic Learning provides special education teachers and paraprofessionals anytime, anywhere answers to questions about the assistive technology tools and devices students are using. Training tutorials also provide a tool to help keep general education teachers informed on the devices students need to be successful in the general ed setting.

Atomic Learning’s Assistive Technology Professional Development Solution provides over 5,000 online video tutorials on common assistive technology software and hardware. Just-in-time training on accessibility features build into Microsoft® Office, Apple® iPad™, Windows® and Mac operating systems is also included.