[Cabs-talk] Bookshare helps San Jose students with disabilities learn - San Jose Mercury News

[Darian Smith]

 in advance of our up-close and personal with bookshare on friday at
the breaking down barriers seminar at Sacremento  State University,
here is something neat  out there to show what  good work the
non-profit is doing.
 Keep in mind, there is more than one way to access  books from these
guys, but this is still a good story!

http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_21493562/bookshare-helps-san-jose-students-disabilities-learn
ookshare helps San Jose students with disabilities learn

By Sharon Noguchi

snoguchi at mercurynews.com

Posted:   09/09/2012 04:01:08 PM PDT

Updated:   09/09/2012 04:01:13 PM PDT

Click photo to enlarge

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Tammy Irvine, a resource specialist, shows fourth-grader Justin Wagner
some... ( Jim Gensheimer )

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Gobbler the Belch is talking, and 9-year-old Justin Wagner is all ears.

Thanks to the revolutionary program Bookshare, Justin actually hears
Gobbler yell -- or at least utter in a measured monotone -- "Pay
attention!" to Dogsbreath
the Duhbrain on his classroom iPad at Toyon Elementary School.

As the iPad highlights each word it voices, the story -- "How to Train
a Dragon" -- is so riveting that Justin skips the option to view
accompanying illustrations.
"I just keep reading. It doesn't really matter if it's a picture or
note," the fourth-grader said.

Since is debut in 2002, Bookshare has transformed not only reading but
schooling for students with various disabilities. The program, an
initiative of the
Palo Alto-based nonprofit Benetech, produces an online library of
accessible books for those visually or severely physically disabled or
with learning
disabilities like dyslexia. Through a grant from the U.S. Department
of Education's Office of Special Education, Bookshare's library of
nearly 160,000
titles are provided free to students who qualify.

On Tuesday, federal Department of Education officials will visit Toyon
Elementary in San Jose to highlight the role of digital technology in
improving learning.
The department has awarded Benetech another five-year grant, for $6.5
million annually, to expand and maintain Bookshare.

Bookshare helps students by voicing words and highlighting them as
they're read, with the options of

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enlarging the font and speeding or slowing the reading. All of that
helps students track words and focus, said Kristina Cohen of
Bookshare. "With a traditional
print book they can't concentrate; it's overwhelming."

Toyon has used the program for four years, and has been catching and
riding tech's latest waves, thanks in part to teacher Tammy Irvine,
who teaches 22
special-education students and also doubles as the K-5 school's
technology guru. In April, the school received 80 iPads, which were
distributed to classrooms
on three mobile carts. By May, teachers already were enthusiastically
using them daily, Irvine said.

Besides Bookshare, which is only for students with disabilities, the
350-student school engages JiJi, the online penguin, to teach math and
is one of the
first local schools to use the ST (spatial temporal) Math program.
Jonas Wagner, Justin's twin brother, is a fan. "If I get it right,
JiJi walks across
the screen," he explained. "If not, I lose a penguin."

At Toyon, English learners create videos recorded with their own
voices; computers help teach phonics and fluency. It helps that the
Berryessa Union School
District installed Wi-Fi at all its campuses, and boosted Internet
speeds two years ago. Teachers employ Apple TV, which is to the
overhead projector what
mobile phones are to their desktop ancestors.

Irvine credits technology for helping Toyon advance in achievement, as
measured by standardized test scores. For instance, the number of
students scoring
in the bottom two levels -- below basic and far-below basic -- in
reading dropped from 30 to 20 last spring, she said.

Technology is not a solution in itself; it is a tool that needs to be
adeptly wielded, she said. Bookshare, for example, doesn't actually
teach reading.
"It doesn't help in building skills," Irvine said. But until a
dyslexic student learns to compensate for his disability, she said,
Bookshare helps in comprehension
and enables students to participate in class and stay engaged in school.

"Technology has really bridged that divide to allow students to work
at their own pace and be successful," Irvine said.

But the software and gadgets aren't turnkey devices. "It takes really
good teaching to be able to do this," said Principal Don Vu, who has
worked to bring
high tech to his campus. Part of tech's forte, he said, is in engaging
students, whether via an animated penguin or the enticement of virtual
rewards.

And Irvine acknowledged that tech is not perfect, as in Bookshare's
monotone reader. "But it's a whole heck of a lot better than not being
able to read
at all," she said.

Anyway, Justin already knows that when his iPad says "M. M. M. M.,"
what Gobbler really means is "mmmmmm!" as he's munching on a goody.
And then it's on
to the next page.

Contact Sharon Noguchi at 408-271-3775. Follow her at
Twitter.com/NoguchiOnK12.

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-- 
Darian Smith

"Let's work together to eliminate Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities"

http://www.nfb.org/fairwages


"To dream what is possible and to put oneself in service of that dream is the
formula
for a life well lived."

- Dr. Peter Benson