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College of Information and Communications

Internet Resources

Links to internet sources that provide information that may be useful to librarians, parents, teachers and others who work with children and young adults who have differing abilities. Click on each heading to discover the links.

Biannual IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People with Disabilities) awards

Dolly Gray Award

Schneider Family Book Award

Newbery Winners and Characters with Disabilities

Arky, Beth. Twice-Exceptional Kids: Both Gifted and Challenged. 2e kids, as they are called, have a unique set of issues that need addressing. 

LD OnLine - LD OnLine seeks to help children and adults reach their full potential by providing accurate and up-to-date information and advice about learning disabilities and ADHD.

Book clubs for people with intellectual disabilities: the evidence and impact on wellbeing and community participation of reading wordless books, Advances in Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities, Vol. 10 Issue: 5, pp.275-283. 

Caroline Miller. What is Neurodiversity?

DSM-5: Neurodevelopmental Disorders. LibGuides Wiregrass Georgia Technical College

Visual impairment. The Australian Parenting Website.

Hearing loss in Children. American Academy of Pediatrics 

Motor disabilities. WebAIM

LaZotte, Ann Clare. September 20, 2021. “How a Prelingual Deaf Child Learned to Love Books,” Horn Book. 

Mama Bibliosoph, Picking Picture Books for Kids with Autismm, blog, Kitaab World accessed September 4, 2019Hollins, Sheila, Jo Egerton, Barry Carpenter.

Grandin, Temple. Scroll down to “Learning to Read.” (autism)

Smith, Jennifer. Giving Voice to a Young Person’s Dyslexia Journey (dyslexia)

Morrissey, Robert. My Experience of Living with a Visual Impairment (vision)

Swanson, Brooke. My Life Not Knowing What Colors Look Like (color blindness)

Tear, Chloe. What Can You See If You’re Partially Sighted? (vision)

Polacco, Patricia. Wish Upon a Meteor (dyslexia)

An interview with Henry Winkler (dyslexia)

Yao, JoAnn. Q&A with Ariel Henley, a Face for Picasso: Coming of Age with Crouzon Syndrome (appearance)

NYC Students with Disabilities Speaking About Accessible Schools (variety)

Ashburn, Meghan. Make the School Library More Accessible to Autistic/Disabled Kids. A mother makes good suggestions for librarians

Clayton A. Copeland, ed. Disabilities and the Library: Fostering Equity for Patrons and Staff with Differing Abilities. Libraries Unlimited, 2023.

Important Conversations: Storytime at Home. Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library. 
The Hamilton Co. Developmental Disabilities Services and a developmentally disabled advisor read a children’s picture book about disability awareness.

Bloomfield Township (MI) Public Library Accessibility Support Collection. Accessible materials, services, and programming for children, teens, and adults

Adaptive Umbrella, a blog written by Jen Taggart, Head of Youth Services, Bloomfield Township (MI) Public Library

Accessibility Support Collection. Bloomfield Township Public Library, Troy Michigan

Conducting a Storytime for Children with Special Needs

Parrott, Kiera. Stories on the Spectrum: Adventures in Outreach, Planning, and Programming for Kids with ASDhe Spectrum: Adventures in Outreach, Planning, and Programming for Kids with ASD

Rhythm and Rhyme: A Storytime for Children with Special Needs and their Families

Special Needs. Charlotte Mechlenburg Library, North Carolina

Pebbly, Mellissa. Inclusive Storytime Program.

Adams, Beth. Irondequoit Public Library Wanted to Be More Inclusive. So It Went All-In. From Equipment to Training.

Free Spirit Publishing  “young people need social and emotional guidance”

Magination Press Books that would help children deal with the challenges and problems they face as they grow up.

Orca Book Publisher -  “Orca …  offers five different series of high-interest, low-reading level (hi-lo) fiction for those readers facing literacy issues.”

Star Bright Books  - “We believe that all children should see themselves in print and we make a concerted effort to include children of all colors, nationalities, and abilities in our books. In addition to seeing themselves, children should also hear familiar language in the books they choose. In pursuit of that goal, we publish engaging books in twenty-nine languages.”

Mantra Lingua (bilingual children resources)

Manga about people with disabilities

American Printing House for the Blind - books, writing and drawing aides, maps, etc., for people with severe visual impairments.

Bookshare - Downloadable books for children and adults with severe visual impairments. The site includes many new books and several in Spanish.

Indestructibles - As sturdy as a board book but with soft pages that feel like paper but will not rip or wrinkle. All the books in the series are wordless picture books to encourage dialogic reading.

Learning Ally - Audio books

National Braille Press - print/Braille books for kids.

National Caption Institute - A source for captioned videos.

National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled

Seedlings Braille Books for Children - Also, a source for Print-Braille-and-Picture Books (sometimes called twin vision books).

TouchSpot Audio Resources - Mantra Lingua

American Foundation for the Blind Website for Children - Offers a reading club, some games and secret messages, and information for parents and others.

Children’s Sensory Story Time Support Group: Programming Resources and Booklists. State of Rhode Island, Office of Library & Information Services and Book Lists

Nomura, Misako, Gyda Skat Nielsen and Bror Tronbacke. Guidelines for easy-to-read materials. (Guidelines for easy-to-read books for adults begin on page 5).

Research Shows that Books without Text Can Increase Literacy, Vocabulary Skills in Children with Developmental Disabilities

Parrott, Kiera. Stories on the Spectrum: Adventures in Outreach, Planning, and Programming for Kids with ASD

Storytimes for Autistic Children

Modifying Books for Students with Multiple Disabilities: Tips to Modify Books for Children Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, Deafblind or Who Have Multiple Disabilities

400 Free Printable Adapted Books for AAC Users [augmentative and alternative communication]

Accessible University 2.0 - This site demonstrates a web page with numerous problems, documents all of the issues, and then shows a corrected version.

Apple/Mac - Built-in Assistive Technology

Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs - “Mission and purpose: Maintain and enhance a strong, effective, and efficient national network of Statewide Assistive Technology Programs. Enable individuals with disabilities, service providers and others to learn about, access, and acquire assistive technology (AT) needed for education, employment, and community living.”

Augmentative and Alternative Communications (AAC) - College of Education and Human Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Clickspeak - “CLiCk, Speak is an open source, freely available extension for the Firefox web browser. It is part of the CLC-4-TTS Suite of products, it features a mouse driven interface, and it reads web pages - hence its name.”

Closing the Gap - Assistive technology strategies and solutions.

Fire Vox - “an open source, freely available talking browser extension for the Firefox web browser. Think of it as a screen reader that is designed especially for Firefox.”

Microsoft - Built-in Assistive Technology

Natural Readers - Upload text and documents or convert to mp3 to listen to anywhere anytime.

Intro to Assistive Technology from The Center on Technology and Disability

Maza, Luis. Examples of Assistive Technology in the Classroom

Slocombe, April. Dyslexic Fonts: The Top 10 Dyslexia Friendly Styles. 

South Carolina Assistive Technology Program (SCATP) - A federally funded program concerned with getting technology into the hands of people with disabilities so that they might live, work, learn and be a more independent part of the community. As part of a national network of technology-related assistance programs, SCATP’s goal is to enhance independence, productivity and quality of life for all South Carolinians through access to assistive technology devices and services.

Early Childhood Assistive Technology

Gia Miller, How to Get Assistive Technology for Your Child in School

AblePlay - Provides access to authoritative ratings and detailed reviews from National Lekotek professionals on toys and other play products. Product information is categorized by disability to simplify toy-buying. AblePlay is a free resource provided by National Lekotek.

Toy Tips ADAPTING TOYS AND MATERIALS TO MEET faustA VARIETY OF NEEDS

Top 10 Tips for Buying Toys for Kids with Special Needs

Blind Net

CAST - Universal Design for Learning “… helping educators and organizations apply insights from the learning sciences and leading-edge practices to educational design and implementation”

Center for Disability Resources Library, University of South Carolina - CDR is one of 67 University Centers for Excellence in developmental disabilities education, research and service, located in major universities throughout the U.S. We function as a bridge to connect the knowledge, expertise and resources of the university to persons with disabilities and the service delivery systems of the community.

Center for Parent Information & Resources

Center for Universal Design in Education - “…free tools or downloads that can assist teachers [or parents] to meet the needs of all students.”

Children’s Disabilities Information - Articles and resources empowering parents of children with disabilities and special needs

Deaf Linx: Fighting audism through empowerment and education

Deaf Resource Library

Homeschooling Special Needs, Homeschooling from A to Z

Pacer Center - “The mission of the PACER Center (Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights) is to expand opportunities and enhance the quality of life of children and young adults with disabilities and their families, based on the concept of parents helping parents.”

Parents Helping Parents

Resources to use at home with kids with special needs.

South Carolina Center for Disability Resources -  “We're proud to serve as a bridge between the university and the community for the benefit of people with intellectual, developmental and related disabilities. Our efforts focus on addressing meaningful issues, finding solutions and advancing research related to the needs of people with disabilities and their families.”

Resources for parents, teachers, librarians and others

“Hinton House is a specialist, independent publisher of books and resources for professionals working in education, counseling and social care who support the mental health and emotional well being of children and young people from early years to young adult. Many of our books are also suitable for use by parents and carers.”

Future Horizons was created to meet the needs of teachers, therapists, and family members who face the challenge of autism. Our books, videos, and conferences bring you the most current information possible to aid in that challenge.”

My CP Guide: Understanding cerebral palsy across all stages of life

We collect, review, and assess existing, credible information from around the world and make it easily available for you.

Neurodiversity 101: Terms and definitions, facts, and professional coursework

Information about and for those who “learn and think differently”

Facts about developmental disabilities - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Care.com - 10 helpful organizations and resources for children with special needs

https://www.unicef.org/parenting/child-development/children-with-disabilities-class

National Resources for Parents of Children and Youth with Disabilities - Disabilities, Opportunities, Internet working, and Technology (DO-IT)

Bloomfield Township (MI) Public Library Accessibility Support Collection. Accessible materials, services, and programming for children, teens, and adults

Center for Disability Resources Library, School of Medicine Library, University of South Carolina

LaVasse, Elizabeth, The Only IEP Planner: For Advocates 2023-2024. Independently published. 2023. A planning guide by a mother.

Child Mind Institute. Complete Guide to Autism

CHADD. Parenting a Child with ADHD

LD Resources Foundation Action. Understanding Neurodivergence: A Guide for Parents

Mama Bibliosoph, Picking Picture Books for Kids with Autismm, blog, Kitaab World accessed September 4, 2019Hollins, Sheila, Jo Egerton, Barry Carpenter.

 


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