For students with complex needs, the iPad may be the most accessible device of all time. But the iPad is only an empty screen with a ton of potential. What we fill it with and how we use it to address student needs is what matters most to our teaching. That is true whether students are in the classroom or remote.
Readtopia gives us a comprehensive reading curriculum for special education that integrates ELA, science, social studies, math, and life skills content. The content is accessible online and gives us rich videos, graphic novels (at seven levels), and word study/phonics activities—resources that make instruction remarkable even from remote.
Through iPads, we make this content accessible to our students. But how? Using two Readtopia Thematic Units (available for free), we’ll illustrate tips and strategies for:
- Implementing special education lessons on iPad—from remote and in the classroom
- Sharing lessons with students/families
- Making content accessible with text-to-speech, word prediction, and speech recognition
- Using built-in iOS tools (magnifier, voice control, colored filters, etc.)
- Keeping students on-task with guided access (lock student in)