For this research, which aims to help the training of autistic students and students with intellectual difficulties in identifying communication cards, we use an application installed on a smartphone. The application allows choosing between PECS or cards used in school. We used PECS because they decreased problem behaviors and increased speech in some individuals

And these new literacies are embodied in new social practices—ways of working in new or transformed forms of employment, new ways of participating as a citizen in public spaces, and even perhaps, new forms of identity and personality.

none of us could have predicted the reach and the influence the multiliteracies idea would have, way beyond our own circles of personal and professional association. Even the idea of a ‘Google search’ was unimaginable ten years ago

This could impede a child’s registration of information in memory and impact the integration of the information needed to form concepts. 

Attracting over 11 million views monthly, Do2Learn is an unparalleled special needs resource website started in 1996 through a NIH Small Business Innovation Research grant. Learning disabled youth access thousands of free elementary-level worksheets for literacy, math, visual discrimination, behavior management, and more. There are also printable picture cards available to promote functional communication in children with Autism.

Educational websites assist children with learning disabilities master basic skills in reading and math or advanced concepts like calculus

Parents and special education teachers often have difficulty finding new tactics to provoke a love for learning in children with learning disabilities

Consider, for example, just a few of these new technologies: Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Siri, Foursquare, Drop-box, Skype, Chrome, iMovie, Contribute, or any of many, many mobile “apps” and ebooks. Each requires additional reading and/or writing skills to take full advantage of its affordances

We live during a time in which new technologies continuously appear online, requiring additional skills to effectively read, write, and learn, sometimes on a daily basis.

To be honest, I had some trouble setting up my first project, and as a result my students got impatient, regardless, I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel; rather, I was even more committed to improving on our next project.

For collaborative projects, teachers can pair higher- and lower-functioning students, who will then work together to accomplish a common goal that is often bigger or better than what they could have done on their own.

The collaborative-learning style incorporated into the fabric of the school helps students to be resilient by aiding them with identifying their resources (peers) and testing their theories to see if they are on the right track all while developing habits of mind that form the foundation of scholarship.

Learners need to feel a sense of belonging and be able to make meaningful contributions to a community in order to experience connected learning

. A growing body of research indicates that interest helps us pay attention, make connections, persist and engage in deeper learning.

Learners need support from peers and mentors to persist through setbacks and challenges

The research is clear: Learning is irresistible and life-changing when it connects personal interests to meaningful relationships and real-world opportunity.

Much of what educators and researchers know about effective literacy instruction comes from the special education field. When professionals understand why the learning process breaks down, they can better understand learning for everybody,

With the right instruction, most special education students can increase their literacy. The question remains, though, whether schools have the resources and knowledge to provide those tools.

As school districts across Idaho try to reach the literacy goals they crafted earlier this year, one group is often left out of the conversation: special education students who likely won’t read at grade level by the end of spring semester, if ever.

Teachers are coaches of understanding, not mere purveyors of content knowl-edge, skill, or activity. They focus on ensuring that learning happens, not just teaching (and assuming that what was taught was learned); they always aim and check for successful meaning making and transfer by the learner.

Understanding is revealed when students autonomously make sense of and transfer their learning through authentic performance. Six facets of under-standing—the capacity to explain, interpret, apply, shift perspective, empa-thize, and self-assess—can serve as indicators of understanding.

The UbD framework helps focus curriculum and teaching on the develop-ment and deepening of student understanding and transfer of learning (i.e., the ability to effectively use content knowledge and skill).

Unfortunately, many focus on skills rather than literacies. Digital skills focus on what and how. Digital literacy focuses on why, when, who, and for whom.

Knowing how to read, write, and participate in the digital world has become the 4th basic foundational skill next to the three Rs—reading, writing, and arithmetic—in a rapidly evolving, networked world

we need to provide people with open access to the skills and know-how needed to use the web to improve their lives, careers, and organizations.