Good Sensory Learning Blog

This post shares my most recent video blog. Stan Gloss joins me again for a demonstration of Voice Dream Reader as well as a discussion about the many benefits of this text to voice technology for individuals with dyslexia. Resources mentioned in the video podcast: Voice Dream Reader: http://www.voicedream.com/reader/ Bookshare: https://www.bookshare.org/cms Learning Alley: https://www.learningally.org/  URL: https://youtu.be/5cdVCQoiTqU A Breakdown of the Video: 01:29 Downloading Voice Dream Reader from iTunes 02:26 A document that reviews what’s new on Voice Dream Reader 03:17 How to adjust the speech rate 04:30 Managing and downloading voices 05:45 Learning Ally audiobook option 06:48 Adjust text size,...

Educational Therapists, Learning Specialists and Tutors can now use Zoom, a conferencing platform for free to improve online sessions and office appointments when meeting with students one-on-one. Compared to Skype, Google Hangout, and Facetime, Zoom is a more stable platform with some unique added features.  What are the Key Features? Zoom allows both participants to share pdf images, web pages, word processing and an interactive whiteboard. When you select the green "share screen" option that is on the bottom menu of the zoom meeting, it opens a window that allows you to share anything that you have open on your...

Bring the Fun Factor into Reading Lessons Making lessons fun and associating difficult lessons with pleasantries and turn a discouraged student into an eager participant.  I love to integrate games into my lessons and here is a favorite. Vowel Combination Balloon Toss and Other Games 1) Place the vowel combinations on a balloon with a permanent marker, or have the students do it themselves. Pass the balloon from student to student. They will then say the first vowel combination they see and then they share the sound that it makes. In a more advanced version, they can share a word...

Having focused my higher education on lifelong learning, I studied both pedagogy (a child-focused teaching approach) as well as andragogy (an adult-focused teaching approach). In fact, I believe that many of the distinctions in instructional methods are valid, such as children come to lessons with little to no experience, while adults come to the learning table with far more know-how and knowledge. However, over the years of working with learners of all ages, I have found that incorporating many of the adult education principles into my one to one sessions with children has been extraordinarily beneficial. In fact the inquiry-based...

Motivating students to complete homework assignments can be tricky. After a long day at school, few learners look forward to tackling academics on their free time.  So what can we do to make the process less taxing, and possibly enjoyable? Strategies for Turning Homework into Home Fun: Who came up with the idea to call after-school assignments "homework?" Clearly, they were not thinking about the psychological sabotage embedded in that word.  I mean, really, who wants to take schoolwork home?  Here are a number of strategies that will help you to improve students attitudes and motivation, about home assignments. Don't...