Access to Math (Don Johnston) and MathPad (IntelliTools)
Two recently introduced programs - Access to Math and MathPad - have been eagerly anticipated by countless individuals with physical disablilities and their teachers and parents. Both programs are extremely exciting because of their potential to make math accessible to students with physical and/or learning disabilities. The programs are basically number processors, designed to let students write and work out math problems on a computer just as they would do with conventional pencil and paper. Students can even regroup (i.e., what used to be known as borrowing and carrying), and their numerals will automatically line up correctly. Both programs allow students to print out their work and can be used to generate worksheets so that all students in a class can be working on the same problems - on or off the computer. Additional features include speech feedback so that math problems can be read aloud, and an option for auto-navigtion to guide students through the problems. Both programs offer easy switch accessibility. Although these programs are similar, each has features that make it unique, so be sure to check out both.
Access to Math
Don Johnston, Inc.
(800)999-4660
Macintosh only: LCII or higher, System 7, 8 MB RAM
$79 Single user;
$277 Lab Pack (5 user)
MathPad
IntelliTools
(800)899-6687
Macintosh only: System 7, 4 MB RAM, 14" monitor or larger
$79.95 Single Copy;
$299 Lab Pack (5 user)
Students ages 5-8 learn math in an undersea world. Nine games, with three difficulty levels each, make it fun to practice concepts such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, time-telling, counting money, measurement, shape & pattern recognition, equalities, and inequalities. Students earn money for their efforts which they can use to purchase fish and treasures for their 3D onscreen aquarium. (Sanctuary Woods, Win/Mac CD-ROM, $39.99 consumer edition, $69.99 teacher edition)
Franklin the turtle, known to many through the popular book series, guides students through six learning activities in this program designed for children ages 4-7. Skills addressed include: counting, one-to-one-correspondence, number recognition, matching, addition, subtraction, arrays, number sequences, shapes & colors, patterns, time of day, reading a clock, and money. Each activity has three difficulty levels from which to choose. A "Report Card" feature allows teachers and parents to view students' progress, and the teacher's edition features a wealth of lesson suggestions and related off-computer activities. (Sanctuary Woods, Win/Mac CD-ROM, $29.99 consumer edition, $69.99 teacher edition)
This new CD-ROM version of NumberMaze, a classic in educational
software. To progress through entertaining mazes, students in grades K-6
must answer numerical and word problems that involve counting, addition,
subtraction, multiplication and division of whole numbers.
This CD-ROM consists of four entertaining games which motivate students in grades K-5 to solve math problems in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division: Overboard, Rapid Fire, Island Hopper and Submarine Shoot. Easy-to-use options allow teachers to select difficulty levels, customize the number of allowed attempts to answer a problem correctly, and turn automatic level advancement on or off. Correct answers are reinforced with amusing sound effects and graphics; wrong answers are corrected. The program tracks student progress and provides "report cards" to facilitate record keeping. (Optimum Resource, Win/Win95/Mac CD-ROM, $59.95 consumer edition, $79.95 2-pack school version)
Over the years Unifix Cubes have been manipulated by thousands of little hands, in thousands of classrooms. These cubes provide hands-on experiences that develop an understanding of math concepts. With this software program, students with physical disabilities can now experience the power of learning with manipulatives by using a mouse or a built-in scanning option. (Didax Media, available for Mac and Win, $79.95 Single user)
