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Kentucky Teens with Disabilities Use Computer eBooks to Learn
Alternative High School Curriculum
Each year, special education teachers at Lone Oak High School in
Paducah, Kentucky spend weeks and sometimes months rewriting required
literature to accommodate students with multiple disabilities. This
arduous activity takes extra teaching staff and planning time. When the
teachers finish this yearly task, their students have one or maybe two
more books that meet their reading comprehension levels.
 Elaine
Farris, Special Education Teacher said, “We wanted to find a reading
solution that could accommodate our students’ diverse reading abilities
and challenges, and serve as our adaptive high school reading
curriculum. Today, we use Start-to-Finish Core Content and Library. These computer eBooks and paperbacks support students with
text-to-speech and human narration. The content is written and
formatted for students who read on a beginning 2nd/3rd grade level. In
the two years we’ve used the books, students’ alternative portfolio
scores rose.”
Each year, students in the multiple disabilities unit at Lone Oak High
School work toward a Certificate of Attainment. They are tested on five
alternative reading standards about a story’s main idea, author’s
purpose of 10th grade level text, vocabulary and jargon, paraphrasing
level text, and making predictions.
 “Huckleberry Finn, Prince and the Pauper, Romeo and Juliet and Treasure
Island all align to Kentucky core standards,” said Elaine. “Students
listen to the human narration aloud, see the text highlighted on the
screen and understand the meaning of the story. It’s a win-win for
teachers and students!”
Instead of rewriting literature, Elaine’s team plans new reading
extension activities for students who all have laptops which the
district is proud of. This year, students did a research project on King
Henry the 8th and developed a PowerPoint presentation with text and
images. “They loved the computer book and the project,” adds Elaine.
This school also has a peer tutoring program now using the computer
eBooks where students from the general education high school come to a
reading class to work with students with disabilities. Students read the
same story and talk about it with their schoolmates. “They can now
relate their ideas to each other,” said Elaine. “They feel more
independent. That’s a good thing for students who function or read at
lower levels. They are excited to start a new book now and get down to
the business of reading and improving their achievement skills.”
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