1. Kidspiration Digital Graphic Organizer

2. Try low tech graphic organizers first. What stretegies can you use to get students to write more independently?

3. Online you can sign up for a free account at thinkfinity.com. There you will find a myriad of supports, among them interactive graphic organizers.

4. Access to a tape recorder might prove helpful for some students to begin the process of communicating their ideas. Teachers / parents can support this by helping them organize the information. A large percentage of students will need to visually see their work, so it may be necessary to write out or type what they have orally said. If this is done during the brainstorming process, this visal representation of text may need to occur simultaneously. Computers are another way students can record information. Windows contains a sound recorder and this can be used in several different ways. (examples demonstrated)

5. When the lower tech graphic orgaanizers work, but are limited in their scope of support, these can be replicated using kidspiration. Teachers can pull together an online graphic organizer with written prompts and students might verbally record their answers in each picture or shape. Along with other supports (visual, behavioral) the student may begin tofeel a greater level of independence in producing work.

6. Resources that may help: kidspiration web site-inspiraton.com training videos simply googling the topic “kidspiration returns an array of templates/activities.