Interactive Whiteboards with Special Needs

I love the use of interactive whiteboards in the classroom! The Council for Exception Children states, "Whiteboards Engage Autistic Students in Social Learning - Although touchscreen tablets work well as personalized tools, they cannot be a replacement for interactive whiteboards, which help autistic students with social learning in a group setting." I feel this is not only true for children on the spectrum but for all students when it comes to learning to work together! 


When hooked up to a computer, the whiteboard's screen becomes an active computer desktop, which can be touched to pull down menus, highlight, and move or open files. Users can circle relevant sections on the projected image, draw figures, and underline text. Special needs students can often manipulate the whiteboard with more ease than a traditional computer/mouse set-up. With Ablenet's Jelly Beamer and receiver you can pair as many beamers to one receiver as you want making the whiteboard now accessible with switches. 

The large fonts and bright colors might be helpful for both visually impaired students and those who have trouble staying on task, while students who respond well to kinesthetic learning will benefit from touching the board. Instructional best practices for students with disabilities and special needs include employing those multisensory methods and relevance to teaching. Integrating visual, auditory, touch and movement into the learning environment gives teachers the interactivity needed to provide engaging lessons.  

Lessons can be completed by using sounds, videos and images that are much more interactive and engaging. Allowing your students to and move and become a part of the visual information allows them to be more active in their learning. 


Multi-sensory tools, such as the interactive whiteboard, allow students to attend through visual, auditory and tactile means bringing in much more focus all around.  Students are engaged in what they’re learning, rather than just watching and it brings in all of their learning styles. 

Some added tools to consider when using the whiteboards:

• highlighter
• curtain
• spotlight tools  
• various font options
• magnifier tool  
• freehand shape and freehand text tools reinforce fine motor skill development for those with a dexterity disability 
• note taking for review of key concepts
• recorded assignments that can be used to review lesson content and be saved, printed and taken home for additional reinforcement
• Audio or video supplements make information more accessible for emerging readers and ELL students
• Copies of board work and student/teacher notes can be captured and shared across the classroom or taken home for additional practice and review

Research has proven that interactive whiteboard use raises awareness in children with special needs and helps them to socialize better with their teachers and peers in class. 
Interactive whiteboards brings in 

• group learning
• working together
• collaboration
• turn taking

Some sites to help get you started: 

• Smart Inclusion is a Wiki site full of resources. This is listed first as I find this site to be so rich and worth exploring. 
• Promethean Planet offers lesson plans broken down into ages and subjects.  Be sure to check out their special education section. 
• BGfL is a site full of information and resources but you might want to spend some time in the section designed for interactive whiteboards.   
• Crickweb offers free educational interactive resources for elementary schools, free to use fun games for kids plus links to free interactive, image and software resources.
• Global Classroom's Interactive resources is jammed packed of links, categorized by subject and age. You can spend days, months on this site and its links alone.
• Designed for safe Internet use with children, Kent ICT provides a rich website full of resources perfect for use on the big screen. 
• LearnZillion offers 2,000+  lessons by top teachers - all built from the Common Core State Standards.
• The Literacy Center Education Network delivers free, professionally-designed, education material appropriate for our children who need clean, clear materials. 
• Mrs. Gebauer's Smartboard Resources is laid out in a very friendly way so that it is easy to find what you need.  Very rich site with just about everything one could need.
• NASA has various interactive sites worth exploring. 
• NeoK-12 offers videos, lessons and games for K-12.
• Smart Notebook Express allows you to view, interact and save with Smart Notebook files online, at no cost. Free!!! This program can be downloaded right to your computer for easy access. One click on express.smarttech.com and anyone, anywhere can open, edit and share lessons and other content created using SMART Notebook collaborative learning software. This lightweight version of SMART Notebook software is accessible online anytime at no charge. With the SMART Notebook Express web application, you don’t need to log in and there’s no software to download - all you need is Internet access.
• South Carolina Department of Education has a PDF booklet designed specifically for the use of Interactive Whiteboards with special needs students. You will find it to be rich in visuals, accessories discussion, how-to guide, websites, and more. A must!!
• Sites to Support Students with Special Needs, on this blog, offers many sites perfect for using with the full class. Look for activities that are rich in visuals, require responses and encourage participation. 
• A resources that talks centers around inclusion  and the use of an Interactive Whiteboard SMARTInclusion provides many helpful hints, links and information worth getting lost in.  
• Marilyn Western's site: Stuff for Classroom Teachers, is jammed full of Internet resources, not with highlights in each section on "Smartboard Activities". Be sure to explore this site.