7 Accessibility Tools to Include in Your Classroom

 As teachers, we are always looking for ways to make our classrooms more accessible for the different needs of our students. Here are 7 tools you may not have known about that can help!

1. Built-in Device Accessibility Tools

Most devices have tools already built into them. Familiarize yourself with the accessibility menu of the devices your students handle before you add anything else. Apple, Windows, and Chrome all have a screen reader, zooming, and dictation tools and a dark / high contrast mode option already built-in.

2. Mercury Reader

A free browser extension that removes adds, pop-ups, and clutter from websites to create a distraction-free reading experience. Great for students with ADHD or low vision needs.

3. Grammarly

An AI tool that helps students with revision and clarity in their writing. It offers real-time feedback and suggestions across different platforms. This tool helps tackle barriers with written communication, and supports learning challenges and language processing differences.

4. Visual Timers

Whether physical or digital, visual timers improve accessibility by providing a tangible, non-verbal way to track time. This simple tool can benefit students with hearing impairments, low vision, autism, and ADHD.

5. OpenDyslexic

A free tool that provides different letter spacing and unique downloadable fonts to help prevent common dyslexia issues.

6. Captions

Live captions are a great tool for students with hearing needs. Platforms like YouTube, Google slides / PowerPoint, and Zoom provide students with auto-generated subtitles to anything they are trying to listen to.

7. HelperBird

Last but definitely not least, this is an extension that encompasses most of the things listed above, allowing you to provide accessibility to students with different needs with only one tool. HelperBird offers features like text-to-speech, reading mode, reading rulers, customizable fonts and colors, word prediction, voice typing, and grammar support which can help students with learning differences, dyslexia, and ADHD.

Hope these are useful! thanks for reading!