 |
|
Home | What's New | Articles Archive | Washington Archive | Resources Archive | Positions Archive | Reviews Archive | Links | Conferences | About Us |
|
|
Home | What's New | Articles Archive | Washington Archive | Resources Archive | Positions Archive | Reviews Archive | Links | Conferences | About Us |
Margaret Kardos, MS, OTR/L, ATP
|
 |
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! News-2-You is just about the greatest thing since sliced bread. I should know, as I come from a newspaper background. My exposure to the newspaper world started at a very early age when I had a best friend with a paper route who recognized my skills and would allow me to deliver a portion of her route on Wednesdays, the day the grocery ads used to appear. Later on I re-entered the field as a parent who had a kid with a paper route but who never had time to deliver them herself. Anyway, another really great product that I discovered at ATIA was News-2-You. For those of you who might not be familiar, News-2-You is a weekly “newspaper” for early readers and students with disabilities. Each week of the school year, and several times over the summer, News-2-You is published and can be downloaded and printed for use in the classroom or at home. The paper comes in four differentiated editions, simplified, regular, higher and advanced, with the advanced edition only being published monthly. Additionally, there are two communication boards published with each edition that have symbol sets for the pertinent topic vocabulary.
Each week News-2-You focuses on a different “lead story” that is both timely and appropriate for readers of all ages. A recent edition featured country music as its theme with none other than Miley Cyrus aka Hannah Montanna at the center. Additionally, her father Billy Ray was featured on the “People in the News” page, and Nashville, TN was featured in “Places in the News”. Each edition has a “Recipe Page”, this one featured a Hannah Banana Shake, and the weekly “Joke Page” had a Knock-Knock joke about the star. There is also a game page that features a game related to the feature story as well as a review page for pulling all of the topic related information together at the end. Each version has a vocabulary page reflective of the targeted learning level. The regular and higher level editions contain additional stories beyond the lead story and have thinking and writing activities as well. The text in News-2-You is simple and to the point and well supported with picture symbols. While News-2-You is primarily intended for the special education student population and/or the early level reader, I want to point out that while at ATIA I attended an absolutely phenomenal presentation given by a woman who volunteers at an adult day program in CA. There she presents a class several times a week in the computer lab using News-2-You, bringing current events and human interest stories to the adult clientelle. She shared that since she began doing this, the participants have increased both their literacy and language skills, and that the amount of conversation that is generated around the topics each week has just been incredible.
News-2-You has a number of other great features and expansion activities available that are just terrific. “Joey’s Locker” contains stories, games, worksheets, and other activities to reinforce academic learning targeting the weekly vocabulary . World News contains links to other stories taking place in the world. These stories are also written using text and symbols and cover any number of topics; 1-3 stories are added each week and can be located using the interactive Google Map. I'm sure at this point you are thinking, "No, this can't be" but wait, folks, there’s more. There are also activities made for Clicker 5 and IntelliTools that are just great for additional fun. And as if that wasn't enough, there is also a “Tools” section for teachers with lesson plans differentiated into three different levels, as well as a section identifying the appropriate curriculum standards associated with the learning outcomes.
In terms of accessibility, there is a built in eBook reader feature making the paper available in a “Speaking Version” simply by clicking on the speaker icon on the home page. It’s easy to find out for yourself how great News-2-You is simply by going to their website and clicking on products. There you will find a link to a sample newspaper that you can print out. News-2-You is available through subscription, with a single license costing $140.00. Significant discounts are available for volume buying, visit the website for pricing details. News-2-You is just the greatest, check it out today.
© 2008 ConnSENSE Bulletin