Resources from the National Center for College Students with Disabilities

As part of its mission, the National Center for College Students with Disabilities (NCCSD) is to provide assistance to colleges and universities, including faculty and disability services providers. NCCSD is the only federally-funded national center in the U.S.for college and graduate students with any type of disability, chronic health condition, or mental or emotional illness.

At the NCCSD site you can:
– Find free information for students, parents, families, high school and college faculty and staff in our NCCSD Clearinghouse.** Though not exhaustive, the NCCSD has collected their favorite resources about disability and higher education in one place. https://www.nccsdclearinghouse.org/

The Center’s Coronavirus – Covid-19 and College Students with Disabilities, page is updated frequently and has general information about Covid-19 and information on different topics ranging from mental health, housing, food insecurity, online classes/online learning and much more.

http://www.nccsdonline.org/coronavirus-covid-19.html

**(Higher education faculty and staff with disabilities can use the NCCSD, too.)

A Quick-start Guide to Learning in an Online Environment

If your campus closes and moves to offering classes only online, do you know how to keep in contact with your instructors? Before you get started, here are a few things to think about as you prepare to be an online student:

A Quick-start Guide to Learning in an Online Environment

No matter how far into the semester classes are required to move online, your instructors are committed to ensuring your academic progress. This may require some adjustments in the syllabus, but you can expect to continue to have learning materials and activities for the rest of the semester.

How will you communicate with your instructor?
How will you maintain internet access?
Do you have a device with appropriate video and audio capabilities?
Do you know how to use all of the essential features in Canvas?
Do you know how to attend a virtual Zoom meeting?
Do you know where to go to get help?

Communication

If your course moves online, the most important change is going to be the way that you communicate with your instructor. It is essential that you are familiar with the following modes of communication, as they are the most likely ways your instructor will contact you. Check your syllabus or ask your instructor to see what form of communication they would prefer you to use.

Email: be sure to check your school email multiple times a day
Online learning platform Announcements: check your platform (ex: Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard) settings to ensure you get email notifications for announcements
Platform Inbox: when sending emails to your instructor, it is recommended that you use the built-in inbox feature. The message you send will automatically contain information about what course and section you are in, which will help your instructor answer your email more efficiently.

In addition to the Quick-start guide above, the website, LDAdvisory.com, has posted tips that ALL students learning from home, may find useful. Visit, Crowdsourcing Learn-From-Home Strategies for College Students – Spring 2020

A Toolbox of Apps

Assistive Technology Consultant Shelley Haven, is a certified Assistive Technology Professional (ATP) and a Rehabilitation Engineering Technologist (RET) with more than 30 years of experience.

Haven specializes in learning differences, ADHD & executive functioning. At her website, TECHnology to Unlock POTENTIAL, Havens provides listings of links to a variety of apps.

Because many software tools perform multiple functions, it’s difficult to list technologies by category such as “Technologies for Reading” and “Technologies for Writing” — certain tools would show up in several places — Havens lists the apps by broader topics in a more eclectic manner.

Listening to Recorded Audiobooks
Simple text-to-speech, E-readers with text-to-speech and other tools
Read, Write & Study Software Suites
Resources for Alternatives to Printed Text – Electronic Text (E-text) and Narrated Audiobooks
Graphic Organizer and Mind Map Software
Portable Word Processors
Speech recognition (speech-to-text)
PDF Annotation
Assorted Reading & Writing Aids
Taking Notes & Organizing Notes
Math Notation, Graphing & Drawing
Math Concepts
Assorted Aids for Attention and Executive Functioning
Mobile Computing
Interactive Electronic Whiteboards and Whiteboard Capture
Alternative Access for Computer & iPad
Virtualization software (allows Windows to run on Macs)

The value of the lists at this toolbox page is that you may be introduced to an unfamiliar app or discover new or updated information about an app you already use.

Note: Havens works in the California peninsula area and the San Francisco Bay area. She also works remotely with clients.