Selecting Software for Students with High Incidence Disabilities
By Forgan, James W.; Weber, Roberta K.; Intervention in School and Clinic, Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 40-47Publication Date: September 2001
Article focuses on teachers' considerations in selecting software to teach students with learning disabilities, behavioral disorders, and mild mental disabilities. Methods used in evaluating equipment are discussed, and a software program is described that has proven to be useful. Bailey's Book House from Edmark is one of the most frequently used software programs of elementary special education teachers. Bailey's is an academic tutorial program designed to enhance language and reading skills. Five activities are included, which allow students to learn letters and their sounds, acquire new vocabulary, and compose stories as they make rhymes, direct plots and publish their own storybooks and greeting cards. The program is evaluated by using an Individualized Special Needs Software Evaluation Instrument (ISNSE), a type of internal software evaluation/rating form used to measure academic tutorial programs for appropriateness and usability. Bailey's Book House is rated by ISNSE for performance in welcoming, sensory stimulation, individual integration, curriculum encompassing, narration, learner program design, learner empowerment, technology adaptations, and diversity. Overall, the ISNSE evaluation proved to be an effective evaluating tool, and although it had a few shortcomings (does not allow for bilingual typing, the student must initiate the greeting), Bailey's Book House tested favorably.
Assistive Products Discussed: BAILEY'S BOOK HOUSE
Published by: Sage Publications (Website:http://www.sagepub.com)
