Monday, June 17, 2013


Universal Design



What is Universal Design? If we look at Universal Design from the Education perspective it is learning for all. Shouldn't every child be able to learn and access information? This is not always happening in our classrooms and they is still a lot to learn about Universal Design for learning.

We want to be able to be meeting all the learning styles, not just one.Our education system tends to teach with one learning style. There are Four learning styles, visual, auditory/oral, sequential and Kintestic. So in simple terms, the learning styles can be like this:

-Visual: a visual learner likes to learn through seeing and images. That person learns best with pictures, diagrams, charts, videos, etc.  

-Auditory/oral: A person who likes to hear and talk to learn. Audio instruction is very important for this person to understand what they are doing. Also, having group discussions could help them to use their oral skills.

-Sequential: for a sequential learner, they learn in a very structured and logically manner. Having books, and broken down instructions make sense to them. Our school systems tends to teach in a very sequential manner.  

-Kintestic: this is hands on learning. You like to “do” or learn with your hands. For example: if this person was in gym class, they would not want to watch the teacher show how to do that slap shot in hockey, they would rather pick up the hockey stick and actually do that shot to learn it.

For more details on the different learning styles, check on the link below:

Multiple instruction is one way to use Universal Design Learning in our classrooms. We could meet these different learning styles by providing Multiple instructions.Here is an example of how multiple instruction would work in the classroom:
Teaching a science lesson on light. To teach this lesson and meet the four learning styles, these aspects could be involved. You would have lots of video and pictures to meet the needs of the visual learner. When you are explaining the aspects or instructions for this lesson on light, make sure they are very clear for your auditory learners. Handouts or resources are very helpful for students to review and look over. Especially with handouts you can meet the needs of a visual learner and also students that struggle with focusing or hearing what your saying.

Pulling from multiple resources and media will help to meet those multiple learning styles also. For example:

•  Youtube has videos galore and tons to pull from. Also kids usually love youtube.
•  Prezi is an awesome presentation tool. It is like PowerPoint on steroids. I find kids love watching it and creating it themselves.
•  Smart Boards are absolutely wonderful. Smart Boards Engage the visual and kinesthetic learner by showing them and letting them play with it with their hands.

Trying to incorporate technology will intrigue and engage the kids. Most of them use technology at home so why can't we use it at school? These are just a few of my favorites. The list goes on and on.Try as much as you can.

All children can learn, most  just haven't figured out there learning style. We can do this by making them aware and immersing them in the different learning techniques.

The video below is from the Hamilton Wentworth  Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC). They explain Universal design very well.

A how to for using UDL as a teacher:


Making Universal Design easy with the Learnstyle Inventory:







Tuesday, May 21, 2013


Why Can't I Access my Information?



What stops a person with a Learning Disability from fully accessing their information? There are many different reasons why a person with a LD (Learning Disability) cannot access the information that they need. The definition of information from the access Ontario laws are defined as the following: "information" includes data, facts and knowledge that exists in any format, including text, audio, digital or images, and that conveys meaning, ("information") Information  needs can be and need to be available just about anywhere like at School, University, Libraries, etc. The information needs for each person are always unique especially when it comes the Learning Disabilities.

Looking at the text and focusing one's eyes can be very overwhelming for certain types of Learning Disabilities. For example if someone had Dyslexia the text can look very overwhelming because letters like “b” and “d” and “m” and “w” can be flipped. Also the text can be all over the place making it hard for them to focus their eye. Another type of disability that has a hard time focusing their eyes is people with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Tex can look very overwhelming and be all over the place. To focus the eyes and follow the text can be quite the task.Text to speech software like TextHELP or Kurzweil can sometimes be a solution to this problem or essential for some.

For information of any type to be accessible to people that use text-to-speech software it needs to be in an Electronic format. Text to speech software can be an essential tool for some but beneficial for everyone. There are many studies that have been done that  prove that when anyone uses text-to-speech software they can better understand and memorize information. Here are a few articles stating the benefits of text-to-speech software:

Australian Journal of Learning Disabilities


Daisy Universal Design

Quick video of the 5 benefits of Text-to-speech software

Another reason that accessing information can be hard for people with LDs is because we want to be able to Comprehend and understand the text. For certain types of LDs comprehending information needs to be presented depending on the information need and type of learning style. I want to be able to Understand the meaning of the text and have it presented in the format I need. I will give an example of myself and my type of learning disability (or learning style). I am extremely visual and auditory learner. So when something is presented with a visual and the audio I can understand and comprehend information that much more. For example if I’m going to go pick up a hardcover book on reptiles a may need to read the information over  three or five times until I fully understand it. Also as I mentioned before my eyes can have a very hard time focusing and following the text because of my ADHD. Now, if I had this book loaded onto a text-to-speech software I could read it once and understand/comprehend the information instantly.

This can only happen when we start Making information Accessible in all aspects. PDF or Rich Text format needs to be available everywhere so that it can be loaded onto text-to-speech software or any other assistive technology software or devices. Publishers and information creators have to work with the public to create and make these formats accessible to everyone.

Unfortunately on many occasions the formats available are not accessible to every type of learning style. As mentioned before the information needs  are Unique to each person. We all have such different information needs and we need to start making it accessible to everyone. Everyone deserves to have access to the information and education they want and to deserve to have lifelong learning.




Tuesday, January 29, 2013


Why should libraries be accessible for someone with a Learning Disability?
• The right to information and lifelong learning
• To create the joy of reading in your Learning Disability population
• Remove the barriers of accessing and comprehending information. Create the access in
the ways that work for us.
• Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act ultimately wants libraries to be a more
accessible and inviting place for people with Learning Disabilities

There are many different ways that libraries can become more accessible for people with
Learning Disabilities. Many Universities and Colleges have libraries that are accessible to people
with Learning Disabilities. The University of Ottawa is a very good example of an accessible
library. They have an Adaptive Technology lab. This Adaptive Technology lab has a lot of the
software that people with you Learning Disabilities and other varying types of disabilities use.

The software that they offer is Kurzweil, Dragon Naturally Speaking, and Zoom Text to name a
few.
To look more into this library check out:
http://www.biblio.uottawa.ca/html/Page?node=accessibility-tech&lang=en

The AERO (Alternative Education Resources for Ontario) library is another example of an
accessible library for people with Learning Disabilities. This library is ran through the Ministry
of Education so that schools all throughout Ontario can access accessible format for their
students that use Assistive Technology and Accessible Format. Only teachers can access thislibrary and request Accessible Format.

Accessible resources need to be available to all individuals who have a disability not just for
when student attend academic institutions where this information is made available.