5 Different Gifts to Give To A Classroom

We can’t believe there are only a few weeks left before school starts.  We have been talking to teachers, scheduling school and teacher trainings, helping to prepare communication dictionaries, and making recommendations for classroom materials.  We realized that there are some bigger resources that would help MANY students in a classroom and even a school. These are gifts that might cost a lot of money ($150 or more) or a lot of  time to set up (but are free).   We realized that these would be great gifts for a parent group (PTA’s/PTO’s) or charitable organizations/foundations to give to a teacher, classroom, or school that has students who use AAC even though the gift will benefit ALL learners.  Give a gift before school starts or after a successful fundraiser.

5 Great Gifts to Give to A Classroom

1. News-2-You – A symbol based current event newspaper that allows ALL students to talk and learn about current events.   Each week, subscribers get symbol-supported news articles and dozens of worksheets, games, and activities to print out or use on the computer. By subscribing to News-2-You, the user (teacher and classroom) gets access to ALL levels of materials for ALL your learners. Can be an INCLUSIVE activity for entire school but multiple subscriptions must be purchased.
2. Point – Point can be added to a classroom website and then when users hover over a word a small box with the corresponding symbol appears illustrating the meaning of the word.  Point helps people learning to read, people with English as an Additional Language (EAL) or individuals with reading difficulties.
3.  Inspiration (grades 6-12) & Kidspiration (grades K-5)  – Software that provides a visual workspace for ALL learners. Students can combine pictures, text, numbers and spoken words. Helps with preparing visual learning tools across curriculum.
4. Single Hit Message Devices–  Single hit message devices can be very powerful for AAC users.  Purchasing one or more for a classroom can help students communicate in many ways (more than 101). Ablenet has many single hit message devices to choose from.
5.  BookShare –   Help a teacher join Bookshare® for the class. Bookshare® is an online library of digital books for people with print disabilities.  It is free for people with print disabilities.  Bookshare Members download books, textbooks and newspapers in a compressed, encrypted file to be read through text to speech technology, braille readers, etc..