One assistive technology that I would find useful for an elementary classroom would be the online-stopwatch.com. This website could be helpful in keeping the students on task. If they have to do several things in the computer lab, the time can be divided between those things and the stopwatch used to signal the time to switch. Students in general seem to have some trouble managing their time, and the online stopwatch could improve their ability to do that.
Another assistive technology that could be used in an elementary classroom is Kurzweil 3000. This software can help students who are learning to read or students who are having difficulty reading. Kurzweil 3000 highlights the words that are being read, so that the students' attention is focused on the reading. It also allows students to look up a word that they do not know, find a picture that helps them understand a word, find synonyms for words, check spelling, and find the syllables of words. All of these things can enhance the students understanding of words and what they are reading. It is a great tool for elementary students.
Text to Speech is another useful tool for elementary students. With this website, you can type something into the text box and the computer will read it back to you. This allows students to hear aloud what they are saying, and in several accents. It highlights the words as it reads them, which helps students to follow along. This website is useful for students who are learning to read and students who are learning to type complete sentences. Personally, sometimes it helps me to hear what I am writing. This way you hear the mistakes and can fix them. It can also be helpful when talking about different cultures. This allows the students to hear how people of different origins speak, and can open a discussion or lesson on different ethnicities.
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