AIM Tips Part I: Introducing AIM to Students

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>Text-to-Speech: They were in truth fighting finally down there -- almost ever see --

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> Text-to-Speech: It was the season of light; it was the season of darkness.

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> Teacher: And so you're going to just work by yourself.

> Female Student: Yeah.

>Teacher: Okay. Here we go.

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> Teacher: For our map for the whole class, where we have the southern part of Minnesota all the way to Montana --

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>Cathy Wurzer: There are many ways to learn about determining which students need accessible instructional materials, or AIM, how to go about selecting formats and supports needed, and what sources can be used to acquire AIM. Now, let's get some tips from national leaders in education for how AIM, once selected and acquired, can be introduced and used in the classroom.

>Text-to-Speech: Trace amounts of helium and -- Decrease. Slower.

>Joy Zabala: If you're using your format successfully, you're actually able to gain the information from that format and then use that information in the same way that someone would if they were using that information that they'd gained from a piece of printed material. So I would judge success not by simply how well they had access to their format, but are they indeed gaining and using the information that one would expect them to do.

>Teacher: It's going to say literary focus, narrative poem.

>Joy Zabala: As a teacher, the important thing for me to keep in mind is not what format they're using but are they getting the information, and can they then use that information.

>Cathy Wurzer: The timeline associated for each student to use AIM effectively and efficiently will vary. For example, learning to read print takes years of practice for a student to be a proficient and fluent reader. It may also take many years of practice and support for a student to use a specialized format effectively and efficiently.

>Teacher: The type of homes the Shoshone lived in were permanent --

>Cathy Wurzer: For example, if a student is learning through listening, or by using Braille, it's important to keep in mind that they are learning to do something in a very different way.

>Joy Zabala: One of the interesting things about audio is that typically what your goal is is for a student to be able to learn b y listening for 55 minutes, because 55 minutes is often the length if a class. Most of us can concentrate and actually understand the content of what we're hearing with no additional supports for about five minutes. So we're looking at a great learning curve -- the difference between listening casually and listening for instructional meaning is quite significant, so it's not going to be something that changes from five minutes to 55 minutes overnight.

>Text-to-Speech:…for Windows is ready. Start button.

>Cathy Wurzer: Effective planning helps ensure that the use of accessible instructional materials is implemented in ways that support both the teacher and the student.

>Kelly Fonner: They might need to consider a slow introduction, a transition from the materials, the way they've been delivered, the accommodations and adaptations that they've been using for a student

>Text-to-Speech: beep, beep, beep

>Kelly Fonner: -- say a live reader to suddenly being read all of your materials electronically -- isn't an immediate transition for every student, so they may need to think about which classes would be the best to start that with and slowly move into more in-depth materials.

>Cathy Wurzer: Again, it takes many years of practice for a student to be a proficient reader, and it would be reasonable to expect that it may also take as many years of practice and support for a student to use a specialized format effectively. Technology tools offer many ways for students to use accessible instructional materials. Here are some tips for helping students and teachers use technology to deliver accessible instructional materials.