College Adulting 101

1. Timers

• Timers help keep track of the remaining amount of time for accomplishing a task or activity.
• helps students who can’t easily keep up with the current pace.
• also ideal for people who find it challenging to transition from one task to the next.

• Baby Yoda 5 min. Timer            
• RescueTime
• Brain Focus Productivity Timer
• Forest
• Tide 

2. Reading guides

• Reading guides help students to maintain focus on specific pages that they are reading.
• A plastic strip that helps to block out neighboring words of the text while highlighting those that the student is currently reading. 

• Reading Guide Highlighter Strips
• Free Printable Reading Guide Strips

3. Text to speech

• Some individuals have problems reading standard print texts. 
• Some of the typical disabilities handled by this software include; dyslexia, blindness, learning difficulties, visual impairment, and any other shortcoming that impedes reading.  
• Scans the written text and then synthesizes it, reading in a voice that students can easily understand. 

• NaturalReader
• ReachDeck Toolbar
• ReadSpeaker
• VoiceDreamReader (phone or tablet)

4. Alternative keyboards

• Programmable keyboards that help students who can’t quickly type to do so freely.
• customized appearance using unique overlays that are absent on a standard keyboard.
• specifically great for students with LD and typing issues.
• adds graphics for comprehension, grouping keys using different colors, and reducing input choices.

5. Audiobooks

• Audiobooks are pre-recorded tools with relevant information relating to the particular field a student is studying.
• You can also subscribe to electronic libraries online and listen to various subjects.

• Audible
• Learning Ally
• Check out your local Public Library 

6. FM listening systems

•  Frequency Modulation (FM) systems are handy in terms of reducing background noise.
• This is useful for classes where many students are present, and amplification is required. It is an impressive tool for students with attention deficit and other hearing impairments. It helps to improve the auditory processing issues current with students in a classroom.
• A tutor will wear a microphone that later broadcasts to speakers present inside the room.
• Alternatively, if there aren’t many people with difficulties in the classroom, the specific students with issues can wear personal receivers. This will help them easily grasp what the teacher is saying, even at a distance.
• FM systems equally help students facing language-processing concerns get a better understanding.

• Contact Student Services for assistance with technology required in the classroom

7. Writing supports

• These tools help make writing more palatable for students with this deficiency in learning.
• It is appropriate for students who have thoughts racing ahead of their ability to jot.
• Some examples of writing support software that can help include word prediction. This technology helps to suggest the next word to the student before he or she types.
• Speech recognition software is another useful asset to have. The student simply speaks out their thoughts, and the tool transfers the words into text. Most of the current smartphones and other mobile devices have these apps in-built in them.

8. Graphic organizers

• These work hand in hand with outlining software to help students who struggle with organizing and outlining problems.
• This is especially visible in writing projects where students lack the prerequisite skills to draw out a plan accurately.
• This software helps the student to release information in an unstructured manner.
• Later on, it plans and organizes everything based on different categories and in a specific order. It helps the student to organize their thoughts ahead of a writing task.