Blogging+for+Learning+Disabled+Students

**How blogs can help students with specific learning disabilities**
===As technology is being integrated into the classroom, teachers are turning to Web 2.0 tools to increase student participation for all students. Web 2.0 tools are especially beneficial because they allow students to become both consumers and producers of text, which improves both reading and writing. These tools have evened the playing field for many students with disabilities like ADHD, dyslexia and other learning disabilities. Blogging is just one Web 2.0 tool that allows students with learning disabilities the ability to become more active participants in the class setting. With increased participation, these formerly reluctant students become independent and participate more frequently in both academic and social classroom activities.===

===Teachers who use blogs regularly in the classroom setting are seeing improvements from students of all ability levels. By using blogs as journal entries, students with reading and writing difficulties are beginning to feel more comfortable expressing themselves in written format. Students with specific writing disabilities feel more comfortable expressing themselves in this informal format that doesn't focus solely on spelling or grammar. Once students feel comfortable with this informal format, teachers can set more explicit parameters around grammar and spelling.===

===Another benefit of blogging in the classroom is that the blog serves as a collection place for assignments, lecture notes, and other important classroom data. For many learning disabled students who are not auditory learners, this written format helps accommodate their individual learning style. For students with attention difficulties, like ADD or ADHD, this provides access to information that they typically need to review multiple times in order to make it more concrete. For many learning disabled students, remembering to bring homework home for review is a common problem. However, for the teacher who puts class materials on the blog, these students have another outlet to use for accessing forgotten or misplaced work.===

===A third benefit of using classroom blogs is that they facilitate more class participation in writing projects. Typically, students with learning disblities like dyslexia need longer to process information and find the appropriate words to express what they want to say. By using a classroom blog, the student not only has the opportunity to have more processing time to think about what they want to write, they also get to choose when they want to write. This empowers the student to choose his/her words well. For students with other writing disabilites, such as dysgraphia, speech to text software such as Dragon Naturally Speaking could be used to convert speech into text and then simply copy and paste to the blog.===

===A final benefit discussed in this article about blogging is that blogs can create a wonderful avenue for students to develop their writing skills. Not only do students learn to express themselves better in the written form, they also become better readers. According to this article, a recent study has shown that teenage students who use a classroom blog, not only write more often, but also have shown improved reading skills than students who do not blog regularyly. This is great news for the LD student, because it means that not only will their writing improve with blogs being incorporated in the classroom, but their reading will also improve.===

===Like many things, with benefits comes consequences. One of the drawbacks of using a blog is that blogs can sometimes become places for bullying. Especially for students with disabilities, they often are not able to appropriately read social cues and know if a comment is appropriate or not. Teachers need to continually monitor to make sure that students are not being bullied by others on the classroom blog.===

==== Teachers who have students with ADHD in their classes may observe a range of behaviors related to problems with paying attention, controlling one’s own behavior, and being hyperactive. So how do you help students succeed in school if they have difficulty following through with instructions, can be easily distracted and impatient, and have difficulty completing quiet activities or sitting still? The Internet can help children with ADHD overcome their learning disability, and one web 2.0 tool is blogs. ====

==== Since students with ADHD have difficulty listening and following through with directions, teachers could utilize blogs as a class discussion forum to provide students a chance to say what is on their minds. Teachers can pose a problem or discussion topic that students respond to on the blog. Children can record their thoughts in a permanent space that can be referred to later by anyone. Visitors, such as other students, teachers, and parents, are able to comment on students’ posts, thereby providing immediate feedback and extending the discussion. Blogs become a place for students to keep track of their own progress and act like a think pad where they can store text and multimedia, try out ideas, and organize their thoughts before coming up with a final product. ====

==== Students with ADHD have “a need for visual illustrations, spatial strategies (such as semantic maps), and tactile or kinesthetic resources.” (Ostoits, 1999). Blogs allow users to embed images, videos, and audio files into their posts. Teachers can post videos that explain concepts so that students with ADHD can refer to them as many times as needed. Student and teacher created podcasts explaining concepts can also be added to the blog for the same purpose. ====

====To ensure children with ADHD are successful with using blogs, teachers should guide children on how to use blogs. Some blogs may contain too much information and cause children with ADHD to become easily distracted. When choosing a blog provider, try to choose one with limited ads. The design of the blog should be clean and simple, and the sidebar should consist of only the important features for the blog, such as the blog archive.====