Blogs Worth Looking At

     I have looked at quite a few blogs on special education and and assistive technology, and have found four blogs that are very informative and helpful to future teachers or even teachers who have been educating children for many years.  
  The first blog that I decided to follow is called "Special Education" by Jerry Webster.  Webster blogs about numerous techniques for teaching individuals with special needs from his book titled Teach Like a Champion.  His blog is current, which I like a lot because it shows that he cares about the blog and wants to inform people.  In one of his posts, he talks about a program called Best Buddies in which young people with intellectual disabilities and developmental disabilities are paired with a member of a community of varying ages and they do things together.  I think that this program is a fabulous way to help people with special needs make new friends and work on social skills.  I also know that there is a Best Buddies chapter at Buffalo State, which I think is a wonderful way for students, especially Exceptional Education majors to get experience working with people with disabilities.
   The second blog i followed is called the "Assistive Technology Blog".  This blog discusses different ways people with disabilities can function well in society using different types of technology such as voice recognition software, or subtitles on Netflix.  One point in the blog that I found interesting was that there are now elevators with voice recognition so that people who have visual impairments are able to say the number of the floor that they desire to go to instead of having to search for the correct button to press.  Also, there is a system in these elevators that can detect wheelchairs (when 30 CM away from the sensor).  When the sensor detects the wheelchair, voice recognition is detected and the person can say what floor they want to go to so they will not have to struggle to reach high buttons.
   Another blog I followed is called "Reality 101:CEC's Blog For New Teachers".  I chose this blog because as soon as I saw that it was written by the Council for Exceptional Children, I knew that it would be an informative blog.  I found it interesting that they talked about diigo.com, a bookmarking website that helps people  save websites that are useful to them.  I thought that it was funny that they talked about this and so did we in class.
   The last blog that I followed was another assistive technology blog also called "Assistive Technology Blog".  This blog talks about many different types of assistive technology that people can use.  One of the posts on this blog discusses something called reference cards.  These cards are small enough to fit in a pocket or purse/wallet, and contain different cues, symbols, and devices that can be used in the classroom.  I thought this was interesting because it is a good way for teachers to have a reference on how to better assist students with special needs.
   These blogs are very interesting, and I feel that they are good resources to help one learn more about special education and assistive technology.  I definitely think that I will look more at these blogs and hopefully I will learn even more about how to better teach individuals with special needs.