As the mandatory shift to online instruction for all students occurs amidst the Coronavirus Pandemic, more vendors of assistive technology software have stepped up to support special needs students. The following developers of assistive technology software and apps for reading and writing are offering free licenses for special education staff and students upon request:

• Kurzweil 3000 – Scan and Read software is available for free upon request until the end of the school year. Information can be found at:  https://go.kurzweiledu.com/news/covid-19 . Free webinars and online video tutorials on features of  Kurzweil 3000 are available at the Kurzweil Academy.

• Claro Software Licenses available for free until the end of July, 2020 due to the pandemic. Free licenses of Claro Cloud Web Apps for Windows, Mac and iPad, Claro Read for Chrome and Claro apps for Android and iOS. Each of these tools provide text to speech tools to read documents, PDF and web based text. Check out the Claro website for more information: https://www.clarosoftware.com/blog/effects-of-coronavirus-covid-19/

• Don Johnston, Inc. is offering their assistive technology learning software for free for struggling readers and writers. The licenses are offered with a request from students special education staff. Licenses for Snap & Read, CoWriter, Wordbank are among the tools offered. The Don Johnston Learning Academy offers tutorials to learn how to use the software.

These tools will allow access to learning materials as schools close and students learn at home. What generous offerings from AT developers to support of students with special needs and families as they continue their  learning at home during the COVID Pandemic.

Thank you to the developers for their generous support!

Carol – OT’s with Apps and Technology.