Apps and Websites for Special Education ProgramsWhile some of these tools weren't designed specifically for kids with special needs and disabilities as well as learning and thinking differences, they've been recommended by educators and experts who work with these populations. You'll find apps that address foundational skills, boost social and emotional skills, and help kids with autism follow a schedule. There are also sites that help teachers differentiate learning and access resources for developing language and math literacy.
Omoguruis a reading app for students with dyslexia. It offers a wide variety of tools 'designed to make the text more readable'. Some of these features include: tools to adjust text appearance and enhance its readability (e.g., letter spacing, line height setting, contrast setting colours, text size and weigth), syllable marking ( the tool allows you to mark syllables in different colours enabling readers to easily identity and read multi-syllable words), speed reading, and many more. Omoguru also offers the Overlay tool which is available with the Scroll reading style. Overlay helps struggling readers focus on text by highlighting lines they read. The digitization functionality is another key feature that makes Omoguru stands out. You can take photos of printed text and convert them into digitized text and save them as notes.
Dyslex!aville(D!) will be the first destination on the web for any child who is identified with dyslexia or struggling with reading. D! will also curate the best resources for parents and teachers—new technology, the latest games and useful links.
Spotlight on Dyslexia discover how prepared teachers are to support students with disabilities, how parents are advocating for new reading curriculum, and how specialized instruction is helping students decode words. Dyslexia Toolkit
LDonline Use the search option for interventions, videos and accommodations
Helperbird Whether you need speech to text, text-to-speech, Opendyslexic font, highlight tools, note-taking, clutter removal, Immersive Reader, etc., this tool has all of your favorite accessibility tools rolled into one! video tutorial
Dyslexia Toolkitprovided by the Nation Center for Learning Disabilities
Helperbird works is simple and easy: install the extension on your Chrome browser and start activating the numerous features it offers. As for the textual features, the tool helps learners adjust word and letter spacing, paragraph width, line-height and font size; apply a specialized font or change it to American sign language; and reduce motion support. HelperBird embeds Immersive Reader, a dictionary app, and supports translation to over 100 languages. Its optical character recognition enables learners to easily extract text from images. There are also the options to hide images and Gifs to improve reading focus, capture screenshots of any webpage, annotate text with highlights and sticky notes, emphasize links, line focus and many more. video
Reader ModeChrome extension is a good alternative to Chrome's hidden feature and offers way more sophisticated functionalities to enhance your online reading experience. It is also ideal for individuals with dyslexia. Reader Mode removes distractive features, ads and clutter from web pages and provides you with a reader friendly environment where you can channel your focus to what matters the most: the reading material.
Open-Dyslexic is an open source font designed to help increase readability for students (or adults) with Dyslexia. The free OpenDyslexic Chrome extension overrides all fonts on webpages with the OpenDyslexic font, and formats pages to be more easily readable.
Follow the Story of a Typical DyslexicWhat Is Dyslexia? gives an overview of what it’s like to live with dyslexia. The app also includes a quiz that can help users determine if they have signs of dyslexia. What Is Dyslexia? was developed by Nessy Learning Limited in the UK and is compatible with the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Cost: FreeClick Here to Visit iTunes App Store
The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity aims to uncover and illuminate the strengths of those with dyslexia. Under the co-direction of Sally E. Shaywitz, MD, and Bennett A. Shaywitz, MD, the center disseminates information, practical advice and the latest innovations from scientific research in an effort to transform the lives of children and adults with dyslexia. The center’s website offers educators sources for free help for dyslexic students, articles for teachers written by teachers, students’ stories, reading lists, suggestions for using technology with dyslexics and more. Parents will find clues to look for in early childhood, from second grade on, and in young adults, as well as steps for intervention and stories from other parents. Click Here to Visit Website
Dyslexia Quest (1.99) Climb the mountain and play the yeti games. Each game will test memory and learning skills. The Yeti Master will explain signs of dyslexia.
Dyslexia ToolboxThis app “by dyslexic people for dyslexic people” has a suite of useful assistive technology features for older kids with dyslexia. One feature is a type pad with word prediction software that can help kids create messages for text, email and social media. Another is a digital overlay for reading text through a color screen. There’s also a digital document reader (for purchase) that takes photos of text and reads them aloud.
Dyslexia Quest — This interactive game from Netty Learning touches on six common learning abilities that can be affected by dyslexia. The three different levels offered can appeal to users of different ages and/or allow students to accept the challenges of increasing difficulty. The report generated from gameplay gives all stakeholders a glimpse at the areas where a student struggles most. This can help direct the focus of strategies and tools that can best help a student find success. This is a single-user app with a $3.99 price tag. It can prove to be invaluable for a student struggling to understand their disability, and the Netty Learning website offers a host of resources for parents and teachers of students with dyslexia. Tints: Dyslexia Friendly Reading — Helping dyslexic students find reading strategies that work can be life-changing. With this new app, users are able to try out changing the background tint to modify contrast and using a slide ruler that allows users to track the lines across the page/screen. This is an electronic variation of the reading rulers that can be purchased to help students keep their place while reading. If the app version improves the student’s ability to follow and comprehend text, then purchasing the tangible reading tool is a great next step for unlocking any text in book form. The free app offers chapter selections of several novels for students aged 8 to teen try out these modifications and content for parents/teachers. In app purchases can be made to unlock the entire text for each of the seven books that are currently available. Web Reader — Text to Speech- For students with dyslexia, focusing on web-based text can be an arduous task. By using Web Reader, students can highlight any and all text found on a web page to hear the content. For older students that need to spend a lot of time researching, this can be quite the time-saver. By donning headphones or popping in some earbuds, dyslexic students are able to keep up with classmates when using the web for research and information gathering. This is a great tool for school, home, and future life usage. At only $1.99, unlocking the world of text for a struggling reader is well worth the investment.