CA Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CASPP) & Accessibility Options

Whether you know it as CAASPP, SBAC, or just Statewide assessments, it's that time again.  There are many accessibility tools available to students on this assessment.

• Universal tools are available to all students on the basis of student preference and selection.

• Designated supports are available to all students when determined for use by an educator or team of educators (with parent/guardian and student input, as appropriate) or specified in the student’s individualized education program (IEP) or Section 504 plan.

• Accommodations must be permitted on CAASPP tests to all eligible students if specified in the student’s IEP or Section 504 plan. 

Speech-to-Text and Word Prediction fall under the Accommodations category as a non-embedded tool.  Click on the links below for more information on each option.

Speech-to-Text Options that can be used within the secure test browser
Dragon Naturally Speaking Software for PC
MAC OS dictation tool (built in)
Read&Write Software for Windows ONLY

Word Prediction Options that can be used within the secure test browser
Read&Write Software for Windows ONLY

Two Computer Method- Cannot be used within the secure test browser*
Read&Write for Assessments- NEW!
CoWriter Test Mode - NEW!

* With the two computer method, the tool(s) are opened on one device and SBAC is opened on another. A test proctor will have to transfer the students work from their device into the computer with the SBAC secure browser.

Click Here for more information on CAASPP accessibility options 

Haley Harrington Collaboration

Haley Harrington, at Torrey Hills Elementary in Del Mar, had an AAC emergency! She wanted UDL for her preschool classroom to help with language learning. Haley reached out to her program specialist, AT Department, and her district IT Department and came up with something we're really proud of. Check it out:

Her idea of using a large touchscreen with her class was something she wanted to try. We were able to put it together a prototype with a Surface Pro 2 with Grid 3 software, a monitor mount, and an Ikea table. Haley reports that it creates engagement with the group, and allows students to watch their peers as they model AAC for each other. She is finding the skills are already generalizing to individual students after just 6 months!

"It is so fun to see the students interact with it and we are already seeing many of them  navigating their own devices more accurately." - Haley Harrington

Haley has been using the large touch screen to access Unique Learning Systems, fun problem solving games, and classroom management tools such as timers. She even uses it for shared reading. Haley often splits the screen with Grid 3 on one side and a digital copy of a book or video on the other. She uses Slides and Powerpoint to adapt books; she takes photos of each page embeds recordings, music, and simple animation. She makes them on her macbook and uploads them to Google Drive to retrieve on her Surface. She uses shared reading to work on sequencing, and story-telling. Two other teachers have asked for similar setups. Way to go, Haley!

Built-in Dictation Now Available on Chromebooks!

Now you can use your voice to type anywhere using the dictation feature on a chromebook.  If your chromebook is able to get the latest update (68+), you can enable this accessibility feature.  Check out the video instructions below.

1. Go to your settings .
2. Scroll down to the bottom, click Advanced.
3. In the "Accessibility" section, click Manage accessibility features.
4. Enable dictation by turning the toggle on.

4 Chromebook Accessibility Shortcuts

Here are some quick shortcuts that can be helpful when working on a chromebook:

1. Increase size of text on the screen- Press Ctrl + to increase and Ctrl - to decrease
2. Increase size of all items on the screen- Press Ctrl Shift + to increase and Ctrl Shift - to decrease
3. High contrast mode- Ctrl+Search+H (chromebook only) 
4. Highlight the mouse cursor when it’s moving- Settings → Accessibility → mouse and touchpad

Socratic Math & Homework Help App

The Socratic Math & Homework Help App allows you to take a PHOTO of your homework question (in any subject) or math equation and get INSTANT explanations, videos, and step-by-step help. 100% free, NO in-app purchases.   It's available on android and iOS device.  Check out the math example below.

Bookshare works with iBooks on iOS devices

Bookshare works with iBooks on iOS devices...
Now that Bookshare offers books in EPUB format, Apple users can read EPUB books on their computers and mobile devices using iBooks.  It has a few accessibility options for readability (including the ones built into your device under settings) and it's free to use!. 

Video Tutorial

Download EPUB

• On the iPad, launch the Safari internet browser and navigate to Bookshare, and log in to your account.
• Search for a book using the search box at the top of the page.
• After finding the book in the search results, select EPUB from the download format drop-down menu, then select the Download button.
• You’ll then be taken to your My History page. Select the Available or Downloaded link next to the status of the book to save it to your device.
• Select the Open in iBooks button to save the EPUB file to iBooks.

Open iBooks

• Go to Settings on your iOS device.
• Select General, then Accessibility.
• Under Accessibility settings, select Speech.
• Under Speech settings, enable Speak Selection, Speak Screen, and Highlight Content. 
• Open your book in iBooks. For best results, please disable Scrolling View in iBooks settings.
• Swipe down with two fingers from the top of the screen to start listening from the top of the page.
• To listen to a particular paragraph, tap and hold on the text to highlight it, then select the Speak button to start the audio. To stop the Text to Speech, select the Pause button.

Once you’ve opened the book in iBooks, you can use Apple’s built in Text to Speech feature to listen to the book. Before you can use this feature, you’ll need to enable Text to Speech and word-highlighting:
Once Text to Speech is enabled:

Change the Default font in Google Docs!

Adapted from smartcloud support solutions