Universal Design for Learning (UDL) aims to make instruction accessible to all learners by recognizing there are 3 networks in the brain related to learning - recognition, strategic, and affective. UDL calls for using varied teaching methods, materials, and assessments customized for each student. Assistive technology helps make learning accessible for students with special needs through tools that aid physical or cognitive functions. Implementing UDL and assistive technologies allows more students to learn in mainstream classrooms in ways that suit their strengths.

2. UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING (UDL)
• Makes learning accessible to ALL types of learners
• UDL is about making instructional goals, using different teaching
methods, materials, and assessments that is customized for each
individual learner.
• 3 learning centers of the brain (from http://www.cast.org/udl/index.html ):
1. Recognition Networks--The "what" of learning
• How we gather facts and categorize what we see, hear, and read. Identifying
letters, words, or an author's style are recognition tasks.
2. Strategic Networks--The "how" of learning
• Planning and performing tasks. How we organize and express our ideas.
Writing an essay or solving a math problem are strategic tasks.
3. Affective Networks--The "why" of learning
 How learners get engaged and stay motivated. How they are challenged,
excited, or interested. These are affective dimensions.

3. UDL—IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATION
• Teachers need to look at the needs of ALL of their
learners.
• Lessons should be designed to incorporate more than
just lecture, reading, and writing on paper.
• Technology should be embraced and used to create new
ways to engage students and allow students multiple
ways to share their knowledge.
• Assessments should also allow students to show their
knowledge of a subject in more than one way.

4. ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY
• Assistive technology is any technology that helps to
make learning accessible to a student with special needs.
• It can be physical: wheelchair, ramps, specially set up
classroom to make it possible for a physically
handicapped student to succeed in the classroom
• Computer technology can include: special keyboards,
speech to text, books read aloud, software to create
visual presentations, and many more tecnologies.

5. ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES—IMPLICATIONS FOR
EDUCATION
• Students, who in the past have been in a special
education class, could be included in the mainstream
classroom
• Students of all abilities could learn about a certain topic
in different ways and present their knowledge of a topic
in a way that suits their learning style and strengths
• This involves looking at education in a new way
• Not all students would be, or should be, doing the same
activity as every other student in the class.
• Teachers will have to rethink how they plan their lessons
and grade the subjects they teach.

6. ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES FROM APPLE
• Spell Check/Dictionary
• Voice Over—provides verbal description of a web page
• Text to Speech—Reads text aloud to students
• Speech to Text—Struggling writers can say the words and the computer
will type them
• Braille Display Support
• Screen Magnification
• Close Captioning
• Keyboards--Slow Keys, Sticky Keys, Mouse Keys—for students with
fine motor skill difficulties
• These are just a few of the technologies that are offered to help people
with different learning styles and abilities learn and share what they
have learned in different ways.

7. 2 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
The following websites have additional
information about UDL and Assistive
Technologies:
• http://udltechtoolkit.wikispaces.com --This
one has links to actual templates, audio
books, etc. to use with students in many
different areas of the curriculum.
• http://www.greatschools.org/special-
education/assistive-technology/784-parents-
guide-to-assistive-technology.gs --This one
offers help for parents to understand
assistive technology