Help me give my students with disabilities access to the curriculum, by using headphones with noise-canceling microphones and wireless mice.
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Rachel's classroom raised $489
This project is fully funded
My Students
I am a special educator, so obviously my students are SPECIAL! To utilize their strengths despite their disabilities, we are using a fully digital curriculum. My intent is to teach my students how to use accessibility tools that are built into Microsoft applications.
At least half of my students struggle with a visual processing disorder.
They can look at a word and struggle to decode it because the visual information is processed incorrectly. My students struggle connecting a symbol with a sound, therefore making it difficult to read.
Visual processing disorders cannot be fixed through modern medicine, but strategies can be taught to combat it. They will always struggle with this, but given the tools, they can gain access to the curriculum and be successful learners.
My Project
Have you ever tried to read something and the letters moved on the page? Do you struggle reading the letter b, d, or p? When you look at a word do you have to repeat the vowels in your head to try to connect the visual symbol with its sound? Did you know that "one in five students, or 15-20% of the population, has a language based learning disability? Dyslexia is the most common of the language based learning disabilities" (dyslexiacenterofutah.org).
I teach special education and have a large number of students who struggle with this dyslexia.
I am teaching them how to use Microsoft applications that incorporate accessibility tools, which give my students better access to the curriculum. We use "Immersive Reader", which provides my students the ability to have text read to them, click on words they don't know to hear it read or give them a picture to help understand its meaning. We also use "Dictate" when writing. My students can verbalize their thoughts more easily than trying to process the sentence in their head and then put it down on paper.
To use the accessibility tools we need to use technology. We are lucky to have enough laptops but need to replace our headphones with sound-canceling microphones and wireless mice. Please support our efforts to help students with disabilities feel like they can learn with their peers.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Rachel and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
