Cognitive Re-Scaling with Assistive Technology

Kate Ahern, M.S.Ed.Easter Seals MA

Cognitive Re-Scaling "as a process of altering the cognitive

difficulty of information“ Edyburn, 2002

Traditional Approach to Assistive Technology for Reading

• Focuses on decoding• Replaces reading with listening• Audiobooks• Text-to-Speech• Adult or peer reader

• Necessary but not sufficient for many learners

Cognitive Re-Scaling

• Grade level text may be inaccessible for multiple reasons• Reading level too high• Student is unable to decode • Student is has difficulty with the complexity of the text

• Vocabulary level too difficult • Student does not have the pre-requisite

background knowledge• Student needs visual/graphical support

Summarization

• Reduces text down to key points• Decreases need for student to comprehend and

then determine importance of information• Allows student to focus on vital information

Summarizing Tools• Summarizer– http://www.tools4noobs.com/summari

ze/• SMMRY– http://smmry.com/

• Free Summarizer– http://freesummarizer.com/

• Text Compactor– http://textcompactor.com/

Supporting Vocabulary

• Vocabulary knowledge correlates strongly with reading (and oral) comprehension. – (Hirsch, 2003)

• About 2000 words make up 90% of words in novels for teenagers (Hirsch and Nation, 1992)

• Decreasing vocabulary complexity increases readability and comprehension for students who need it

• Pre-teaching difficult vocabulary which must be retained for meaning increases understanding

Vocabulary Tools • Up Goer Five – http://splasho.com/upgoer5/

• Rewordify– http://rewordify.com/

• Vocab Grabber– http://www.visualthesaurus.com/voca

bgrabber/

Make it Visual

• About 65% of people are visual learners• Graphics, especially infographics, help

students breakdown information• Non-language based information (colors,

shapes, arrows) help organize language based information (words)

Visualization Tools • Tagxedo– http://www.tagxedo.com/

• Wordle– http://www.wordle.net/

• Text2Mindmap– https://www.text2mindmap.com/

• Mindmapping Tools– Inspiration and online tools like Popplet