Many of the options work very well with the SMARTBoard - I love the Snakes and Ladders game which is very similar to the board game, Shoots and Ladders. This game is awesome for practicing counting skills, eye/hand coordination, turn taking skills, etc. Some of the options also present with audio support- like the Shopping Time Game. 

HelpKidzLearn was created and is maintained by Inclusive Technology Ltd.  There is a great interactive visual timeline produced by the Down’s Syndrome Association, that once downloaded can be used to easily produce timetables with pictorial clues for young children and those with more complex difficulties.  This timeline can be a positive supplement to daily schedule boards to assist students in anticipating transitions and daily schedules. ENJOY!

I have been utilizing the software from DeafBlind Online for quite a while, first learning of it from Dale Gardner-Fox at a  HEC CCATT Center workshop I attended a couple of years ago. This amazing site offers some great FREE downloadable software.  In my opinion, it rivals other software programs that come with a hefty price tag. It is very user friendly, easy to install and offers a variety of options.

“This website provides free software for people who are deafblind or have learning disabilities. This software can be used to enable them to learn, explore their surroundings and become more independent.”

They offer six programs which you need to download to your computer prior to being able to access the materials- which I might add are not only extensive, but wonderfully created.  The downloads are quick and painless! They also offer the option of printing the user manuel in Word format for each program, which can be very useful in the event you encounter difficulties.

 The 1st program is called Sense Factory.  This can be utilized as a basic automatic slide show or can be set to practise cause/affect objectives using switches or touching the SMARTBoard to advance the slide.  The photos and sound are excellent.  It offers basic alphabet and dressing activities.

The 2nd program is called Everday Skills.  This program provides you with a tutorial on how to create profiles for each student to access various life skill activities.  Again, these activities are very well presented. The “What’s Right” option in this program is especially helpful to review learned skills. It presents two slide with a question and the student must touch the correct picture that illustrates the answer- working well with the SMARTBoard.

The 3rd program is the EdWord. This is a talking word processor that allows you to combine text with symbols. The only negative I found is that although it will speak words, it does not speak sentences and/or paragraphs, but it does speak words and is free! It can be used as a text/symbol  or a symbol only processor, similar to Writing With Symbols.   I should mention though that you will need to download the symbols from Symbol Set Maker  (the 4th program). When downloaded it will instantly convert a file full of images into the correct format to be used in EdWord and EdWeb.

So this brings me to the 5th program, EdWeb which is downloaded with EdWord. EdWeb is a talking web browser that can display web pages as a combination of text and symbols.  I have encountered some difficulty using this program and have been told by the Tech folks that it is due to the Network system at school.

The 6th and final program offered is Grid Maker. This program is an accessory for producing grids to use in EdWord and EdWeb. This download offers you the ability to create interactive writing and/or symbol activities.  A huge plus!

So if you haven’t already explored this marvelous FREEEEEEEEEEEE site you definitely need to put it at the top of your “To Do” list for the new year! ENJOY!

So back to the original request– the student loved this activity!  During his free time activity he is able to independently use the computer to compose all of the original tunes wants!  It also has proven to be reinforcing for other students to address cause/effect objectives– especially when using the SMARTBoard. ENJOY!

**Quick directions to activate the hovering mouse when using the SMARTBoard (thanks to Jim Hollis for help with these directions). Go to your SMART tools in the task bar, select control panel, select SMART Hardware settings, make sure the pen and button option is selected and click on the picture of the mouse & keyboard. On the left side drop down menu select right click, on the right side drop down menu click floating mouse. So now the right click button on the tray launches the hovering mouse feature. To deactivate this feature simply touch the board and to reactivate it touch the right click button again.  If you need to do a right click when in this mode you can still accomplish this by touching the SMARTBoard for 3-4 seconds. 

Seterra is a geography software that teaches about countries, states, flags, cities and capitals all over the world! It is a  challenging educational geography program with 70 different exercises.

Sebran’s ABC helps students  learn letters, numbers, simple math, and reading.

Minibran is a suite of early learning games for students 2-6 years old.