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Accessible Instructional Materials
Are You in the Know?
by Mary Jo Barry
IDEA 2004 requires educators to provide access to, and progress in, the general education curriculum for all students.
In essence, IDEA is saying that we need to; more proactively provide equitable and flexible access to concepts and ideas, in a timely manner and regardless of students' ability levels. One aspect of IDEA is the Accessible Instructional Materials-AIM-initiative. AIM serves to include all your students who struggle to make progress using traditional print, not just your students with physical disabilities who are exempt from copyright laws. If you are thinking about AIM, but have not taken steps to learn more about it...now is the time! How can you learn more about this important initiative?
AIM -- The Big Picture Perspective
IDEA and AIM support a lot of the other initiatives you've all been busy engineering, like UDL and RtI. AIM is a Universal Design for Learning approach and can also be used as an intervention before students fail (RtI). It's a way to think about the widest range of student needs before school starts...when you are evaluating, ordering or adopting regular and supplemental curriculum materials.
It's the LAW
All publishers of curricular materials are now required by law to create accessible files using a standardized file format called NIMAS (National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard) at the same time they create their printed materials. Without getting too technical, these files can be "re-rendered" into multiple formats (digital text, audio text, Braille and large print) to meet the needs of the students who cannot access traditional print (those who are exempt from copyright laws).
The question is, what about the larger population of kids who need more support? According to national statistics, the remaining 87% of students that have IEPs are reading below grade-level. These students are not exempt under copyright law. But, shouldn't they have those alternate formats too?
Don Johnston feels, and we hope you do too, that the answer to this question is YES! These students can and should get the supports they need! And the law supports this...
IDEA says that State Education Authorities are responsible for ensuring that children with disabilities who need accessible instructional materials receive them in a timely manner even if they DON'T qualify under the copyright exemption laws.
Take a moment now to list all the students who could benefit from alternate book formats. Talk with your curriculum folks to negotiate the purchase of those materials. At the time of purchase or adoption of instructional materials, instead of paying for a printed textbook for each student, you could pay for some printed textbooks and some alternate formats. This is an easy concept to grasp..don't you think?
Remember, it's the law..so in addition to "demanding" accessible materials (we use that term lightly), you will need to
be prepared to purchase tools that read accessible instruction materials in digital formats. This is where technology, such as a text reader, is critical to your mission and implementation of the law. Your school may have CD players, MP3 players, and Braille machines for those who require them, but what about text readers? For our part in helping you achieve this mission, we have new pricing to help you obtain text-reader software. For the price you used to pay for a single text reader, you can now get Read:OutLoud for all of your students with IEPs. Over 5,000 schools have already signed up. It's a minimal investment that can deliver maximum outcomes for you and your students!
Are You Ready for 21st Century Learning?
Start now by learning, readying and training your staff and students about AIM and the technology you'll need to support this effort. You'll realize an amazing transition!
Next, turn to the team at Don Johnston. We're ready for this change and are motivated like never before to support your efforts that will make the difference between failure and success in a student's life!
Archimedes said, "Give me a lever and a place to stand and I shall move the world!"
Read:OutLoud is one of the new 21st Century levers—let's move the world!
This article first appeared in the February, 2009 LeaderLink eNewsletter
