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3 New AIM Resources for District, Local Education Agency (LEA) Personnel
a new AIM Center webpage for LEAs
The new LEA webpage contains specific actions districts, schools can take to ensure that students who need accessible instructional materials can get them in a timely manner -- and use them effectively.
Critical Components of AIM - District Actions
Purchasing Materials - New Purchasing Contract Language for print and digital
LEA Role Regarding AIM in the Individual Education Program (IEP) Process (with links to the popular and much-used AIM Navigator in a downloadable, printable format and as an interactive, web-based tool)
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AIM for Digital Equity
Making the case for "accessible from the start" instructional materials
Read this compelling argument for accessible design in products and materials written by the AIM Center's Director of Technical Assistance, Joy Zabala in collaboration with long-time AT and special education expert Gayle Bowser. Originally published in Learning & Leading with Technology (May 2012), republished with permission on the AIM Center web site. Access the article.
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PALM Initiative Use your purchasing powerwhen considering digital materials
As classrooms start to incorporate more digital technology, it becomes increasingly important that materials used in the classroom are designed to be useable by all students from the start.
This requires adjustments in the way materials are purchased, and that, in turn, will drive the availability of more flexible and accessible learning materials in the marketplace.
The AIM Center has launched the Purchasing Accessible Learning Materials (PALM) initiative to ensure this change happens with your help.
Adopt the PALM initiative in your school, district, and/or state. The PALM Toolkit resources include handouts, slides, and easily downloadable materials for flexing your purchasing muscle.
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New Contract/Purchasing Language for Ordering Print Instructional Materials
Suggested language includes MathML3
A June 22, 2012 letter from the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services to the State Directors of Special Education specifically encourages SEAs and LEAs to "ask publishers to use the MathML3 Structure Guidelines recommended by the NIMAS Center when requesting NIMAS files."
To make this easier for you to implement, the AIM Center has created suggested language you can use as is, or modify to meet your needs. Access suggested purchasing language.
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Accessibility Resources
To help guide purchasing decisions
The AIM Center is fully aware that instructional materials reach far beyond today's printed textbooks.
In order to support educators who are interested in learning more about accessible computer applications, assessments, documents, e-book readers, e-learning systems, meeting software, multimedia, survey tools, and the web, we have begun developing an accessibility resources web page that will grow richer over time.
For example, are you wondering about accessible online learning systems or accessible mobile learning? Check out these great accessibility resources, recently added.
We welcome your feedback and suggestions. Please let us know (email: aim.cast.org) about resources that you have found to be especially helpful!
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September 2012 Webinars Registration now open
AIM Basics 2012: Introduction to Accessible Instructional Materials for Educators and Families
Date: September 17, 2012
Time: 1:00-2:00 PM, EDT
This webinar provides educators and families with current basic information about the provision of accessible instructional materials. Topics will include legal issues, a decision-making process, and how to locate and use supporting resources. Participation in this webinar is suggested as a prerequisite for other AIM webinars. Register.
Presenter: Joy Zabala
Making a Measurable Difference with Accessible Instructional Materials
Date: September 27, 2012
Time: 1:00-2:00 PM, EDT
As more and more students are receiving accessible instructional materials formats in a timely manner, it is time to think about how these materials are impacting the educational outcomes of students to whom they are provided. This webinar will highlight three aspects in which change would be expected to occur and consider ways to capture qualitative and quantitative data on these changes. Register.
Presenters: Joy Zabala, Joanne Karger
AIM webinars are free, and links to archived recordings are available on the AIM Center web site, usually within a week of the session.
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New! AIM Policy Briefs
Providing a deeper understanding of two important terms/provisions in IDEA
Reading Disability Resulting from Organic Dysfunction (June 2012)
by Joanne Karger, J.D., Ed.D.
Discusses the meaning and implications for LEAs and SEAs of the term "reading disability resulting from organic dysfunction," one of the four disability categories that determine eligibility for instructional materials that have been developed from National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) files obtained through the National Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Access the brief.
Timeline and Overview of An Act to Provide Books for the Adult Blind or Pratt-Smoot Act (June 2012)
by Joanne Karger, J.D., Ed.D.
"An Act to provide books for the adult blind" plays a key role in establishing eligibility, under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), for blind or other students with print disabilities to receive instructional materials in specialized formats that have been developed from files using the NIMAS (National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard) obtained through the NIMAC (National Instructional Materials Access Center). Access the brief.
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STAY CONNECTED
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Meet the AIM Center Team
|  Amir Bar, AIM Center Intern
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Amir is a graduate student from the University of Houston with a summer internship at CAST focusing on accessible materials. Amir created a free, accessible e-book of tips for college students, Tips for College Success by Nigel the Fox as part of the AIM Center's student learning journeys. As a successful student with reading disabilities, Amir developed the Nigel the Fox character as a humorous and unthreatening way to provide tips that would be useful to any student and certainly important to students with disabilities who need to advocate for themselves to successfully reach their college goals.
Please take a look at Amir's book and share it with others. Do you have more tips that you think are fox-worthy? Contact Amir at abar@uh.edu.
 | | Cover Illustration showing Nigel the Fox reading Tips for College Success |
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TA Tips
| Welcome back! I hope your summer included some refreshment and relaxation! I'd like to highlight three resources that may be especially useful as the year kicks off.
First, when help is needed to determine which students need AIM, what is needed and where to get it, the AIM Navigator is at your fingertips 24/7 to walk teams through the decision-making process and provide as much - or as little - help needed.
Second, if you need to find out more about who to contact for help in your state, check out the "AIM in Your State" section on the right side of the AIM Center's homepage.
And last, but not least, know that you can contact us at the AIM Center via email to aim@cast.org if there is any way that we can be of assistance.
Joy Zabala
Director of TA
jzabala@cast.org
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