Bookshare offers free resources for students with visual impairment, dyslexia, and other qualifying disabilities

Alaska has an opportunity to increase statewide participation in the BookShare program, an Online Library of Books for People with qualifying print disabilities. Individuals may participate in this free program that provides read along/read aloud book titles for an enormous listing of books in all areas of interest. Whether it’s leisure reading, information or education instruction, BookShare is a phenomenal federal resource.  With the upcoming release of the state’s eLearning module on dyslexia, this resource supports students as well as all other individuals experiencing print related challenges.  Book Share can be found online at: https://www.bookshare.org/cms/

For school support in print related disabilities, the Special Education Service Agency (SESA) operates the AKCAM service.  AKCAM provides Accessible Educational/Instructional Materials (AEM/AIM) are (print and technology-based educational materials) that are designed or enhanced to make them usable by people with and without disabilities. AKCAM is located online at: https://www.akcam.org/  

Some examples of student materials supported include:

• A curriculum that has been converted to Braille
• A book that is made available through audio instead of text
• A worksheet that has been reformatted to large-print text
• A video that includes subtitles and descriptions

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates that students who require materials in braille, large print, audio, and digital text, have access to them.  The Department of Education and Early Development works with SESA to provide this valuable service to Alaskans.  SESA’s main website may be found online at: https://sesa.org/  For support concerning individuals with disabilities, persons may always contact the state special education team at (907) 465-2972 or by email at sped@alaska.gov