creased their length of sentences, their overall length of writing, and the complexity of their vocabulary. Offering software/extensions that enabled the student to have text read aloud provided our students with the ability to hear information at their comprehension level, which seldom was at their independent reading level. Once the students had access to material at their comprehension level and of interest to them they, in turn, exhibited significantly improved enthusi- asm with their writing. When accessing Snap and Read, which our district utilizes as a UDL tool, the text is able to be translat- ed to multiple languages. The material the students are reading can be pulled into an outline from a variety of formats. This is incredibly helpful for students who struggle at organization of the content material and their thoughts regarding the reading information. Inspiration and Kidspiration are two options to consider for graphic organizers. These programs allow students to create graphic organizers including webs, concept maps and even Venn diagrams using picture symbols along with words. Through the use of both formats (verbal and non-verbal) our student were able to reduce their cognitive load and thus, retain and recall more information. First Author software was offered to students who were chal- lenged with increased learning difficulties. This program pro- vides specific lessons that are working towards standards based or, alternative based standards in writing. The students have access to multiple choices, or they can create their own topics. After choosing a topic they begin writing with the support of built-in accommodations like word banks and picture prompts which are generated automatically. This was instrumental in im- proving the written output of not only students with learning difficulties, but those with physical disabilities. Clicker 7 software is a program that can assist the students with organizing their ideas to help them prepare for writing. The students are able to use their own voice to record notes and also practice their sentence prior to typing it out. In this manner, the teaching staff are able to hear if the sentence has the correct format and provide additional support or instruction with sen- tence structure through alternative grids. These different types of grids are dependent on the support that the students need. The grids are able to be formatted so that the students must se- lect one word/phrase/picture from the first grid before they are able to move onto the second grid, the third grid and so on to compose a complete sentence including punctuation. The stu- dents are also able to see and hear pictures symbols paired with words, single words, or even entire phrases. Students can hear their writing read back to them with a child’s voice. In our district as Occupational Therapists, we worked in col- laboration with our teaching staff during reading and writing instruction. Curriculum that provided specific scripted lessons, which was able to differentiate and provide alternate methods to write, was offered to students who were working toward al- ternative standards. This curriculum prepares the students for
alternate assessments, along with collecting data. Unique Cur- riculum provides alternative formats of graphic organizers and journaling. The students may access a series of curriculum pic- tures paired with words to answer a journal question/create a graphic organizer on a Smart Board, a tablet or via paper. It was important when using the paper pencil method that we em- power our student to be as independent as possible along with providing instruction on how to complete the activity. Step-by- step visual checklists were used. The students understood that the first thing on a paper was their name and if they were not able to print their name, they became independent in locating, correctly orientating (for correct letter directionality and loca- tion on the paper) and stamping their name with a name stamp. Journal sentences could be pre-printed with the student only self selecting the ending, or the sentences were printed for them while the student watched. The adult took great care to verbal- ize every letter, along with capitalizations and spaces between words. The students were always responsible for ending punc- tuation. For our students who continued to struggle with writing or who had already experienced so little success with writing, we looked to voice to text through the Google Docs, Co-Writer or iPad applications. Dependent on the quality of the students speech this tool could provide a startling success and reframe the student’s own perspective of themselves. When using voice to text, we were diligent with instruction of complete sentence and paragraph formation along with punctuation. The students were also taught how to use other technology tools to listen to the text as it was read outloud back to them. This was so they could identify if the words transcribed were accurate and if the sentence was complete. Our district continues to increase access to technology through one-to-one technology options and the option to bring your own device. Even with the increase in accessibility, it is im- portant to make sure our students have the right technology for their needs. Therefore, our district has a variety of options available to our staff to try with our students. Chromebooks, Thinkpads and iPads are the common tools that our schools use, varying on the grade level being taught. With Chromebooks, we have a variety of different extensions that can be added to sup- port student access. Several have been discussed in the para- graphs above, which include word prediction programs, voice- to-text, word banks and google drive access for easy sharing to name a few. Thinkpads and iPads offer touch screen access with wireless keyboard or mice support. We use a variety of modified keyboards to help support student access, which may include larger or smaller key sets, color coded letters, or wireless. We also use our student’s Augmentative Communication devices to serve as their writing tool. As long as our students can get their ideas down through communication, we also try to access it for academics. If a student does not have an Augmentative Com- munication device, but still needs an augmentative communica-
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