Always Learning

Thanks to the network of educators that I am connected to via the QIAT list serve, a local AT list serve, the Assistive Technology Ning, Twitter and various other Read/write web tools, I am constantly learning new things. Here is one new tool and one application used in a creative way to support learners strengths.
(These will be added to the Free Tech Tool Kit post but I want to highlight them here as well):

Free Word Prediction - never knew free word prediction existed! you can adjust the background color, font size, number of choices, disable "learn words" (otherwise misspelled words are added to the dictionary), etc. I had a few problems with it but this may be worth a try for some of our students; it at least gives them the opportunity to try word prediction/word completion/autocomplete across all applications.

Project Spectrum - Google for Educators has created a manual for using Google SketchUp with students on the autism spectrum. This link gives you access to the download, just-in-time tutorials for teaching yourself SketchUp and a pdf manual for lesson plans that worked. Here is a video that demonstrates student success using this free google app.
Great example of thinking outside the box and providing additional tools that support learners strengths!