Bookshare 101A hands on session to familiarize you with Bookshare and its procedures.

Trish Lopacienski, CCC-SLPACT Team Leader

FCPS Bookshare Primary Contacttrishia.lopaciens@fcps.org

What is Bookshare?O Bookshare is an accessible online library

for people with print disabilities. It operates under an exception to US Copyright Law, The Chafee Amendment, which allows digital books to be made available to qualifying students.

O It’s FREE for qualified U.S. students and schools.

O www.bookshare.org

QualificationsO Guidelines for determining what

qualifies as a print disability and examples of “competent authorities.”

O https://www.bookshare.org/_/membership/qualifications

QualifiedO Visual Impairment, Blindness/Low

Vision: family doctor, ophthalmologist, optometrist

O Physical Disability: family doctor, physical therapist, resource specialist, special education teacher

O Learning Disability: neurologist, school psychologist, special education teacher

Not QualifiedO The following disabilities are NOT

qualified UNLESS they are accompanied by a QUALIFIED visual, physical, or learning disability:

O AutismO Emotional DisabilityO ADHDO ESL & ELL

How to get your students access: FCPS guidelines

O FCPS has an organizational account and students should be enrolled through this account. Special Education Department Chairs and Special Education Team Leaders are the county’s designated Bookshare sponsors.

O http://education.fcps.org/fcpsACT/

Case Manager Responsibilities

O 1. Search other sources to determine if the book is available without accessing Bookshare.

O 2. Determine that the student has a qualifying print disability in order to access books through Bookshare and have the Special Education Department Chair (high school)/Special Education Team Leader (elementary) enroll the student(s).

O 3. Provide the Special Education Department Chair (high school)/Special Education Team Leader (elementary) in your building with a list of books that the student will need in digital format. Be sure to include the title, publisher, publishing date, edition and ISBN number.

Department Chair/Team Leader Responsibilities

O 1. Enroll with Bookshare as a Sponsor.

O Contact Trishia Lopacienski (trishia.lopaciens@fcps.org) to enroll you as a Sponsor for your school. You will need to provide your FCPS email address and phone number.

O 2. Enroll StudentsO 3. Download Books

Enrolling StudentsO www.Bookshare.org O My OrganizationO Members, scroll to the bottom Add a MemberO Complete Account Details, Qualifying Information &

Members Download Preferences. O Save **Utilize Save and Add an Individual Membership. An

Individual Membership is free for the student and allows the student to download their own books and use tools such as Bookshare Web Reader and Reading Lists. When using this feature, parents do not have to provide additional proof of disability. You have the option to download the forms or sending the parents and e-mail. E-mail is the faster, more efficient option if available.

O Utilize Bookshare’s Video Tutorials found under the Help> Training tab.

Enrolling Students

Your Turn!O This demo account should allow us

to practice downloading a book. Please DO NOT change any account preferencesor delete any students you or others have added.

O Login Information: O orgdemo@bookshare.orgO Password: demo480

Downloading BooksO 1. If students are using a networked

computer for Bookshare, save books to the “G” drive aka the Student Drive. Create a Books folder for the designated student. (ex. May Duperson Books)

O 2. Within that new folder, create folders for each book you’ll be downloading. This is because each download contains many files.

Downloading BooksO 1. Search bookO 2. Click Download

O Select StudentODownload

OClick AvailableOSave As (Choose the

destination folder created)OSave

Downloading BooksO 3. Open the book’s folder.

O Double click the zipped file. OExtract All files (VERY important)

OOpen Kurzweil and open the largest file (might be the XML file) and it should open your book.

Reading ToolsO Computer based software

KurzweilRead:OutLoud by Don Johnston (free to

Bookshare members)Google Chrome

O Tablet based ApplicationsRead2Go (iPad: will show images when

available)Voice Dream (iPad: no images)

Reading Tools: Read:OutLoud

Reading Tools: Google Chrome

Is Bookshare right for your student?Other sources for digital text:

O FCPL and consult your media specialist for school-based subscriptions

http://www.fcpl.org/research/resource-guides/ebooks-kids

O Book Flix: Scaredy Squirrel vs. Scaredy Squirrel

O True FlixO Freedom FlixO Tumble BooksO Reading A-Z

Is Bookshare Right for your Student

Other sources for digital text:O Newsela.com: “Launched in June 2013, Newsela publishes high-interest news articles daily at five levels of complexity for grades 3-12 using Newsela’s proprietary, rapid text-leveling process. Common Core–aligned quizzes attached to articles give educators and parents insight into their students’ reading strengths and weaknesses. Newsela develops nonfiction fluency and critical-thinking skills necessary to master the Common Core standards for informational text.”

Help! I can’t find my book!

O For K-12 textbooks:  It is possible that we can request a book from the NIMAC repository. NIMAC-sourced titles are only available to U.S. K-12 public schools for students who are Chafee-qualified and have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) from a public education agency. You can request a NIMAC book completing and submitting aBook Request form. From there, we will be happy to check to see if it’s available in NIMAC. If it is, then we will request it from NIMAC. You will receive an email when your requested book is available in the collection, a process that will take about two weeks. If a book is not available through NIMAC, then we would be glad to order, scan, and process it manually. 

O For other school books: Send a request to Bookshare’s School Book Team by completing and submitting a Book Request form. While Bookshare tries to process all student and teacher book requests, please understand that in some circumstances the requested material may not be available or suitable for Bookshare’s scanning processes;at this time, when we chop and scan a book, images are not retained. The Bookshare team will reply to your email within three business days so you know the status of your request.  

O Bookshare.org>Help tab>Support Center and FAQ>Searching for Books

Bookshare and the IEPO As an accommodation, Bookshare would be listed

as Text to Speech software. The explanation is then listed under "Document basis for decision". It is in this section that case managers need to describe the specific deficit for which they are accommodating (i.e. - deficit in reading as evidenced by low scores in the area of reading on the Woodcock Johnson-III as well as low performance within the curriculum). They can also list in this section that students will access digital texts read aloud via Bookshare.

Bookshare and the IEPO How do you decide as a team which

read aloud accommodation is appropriate?

Human reader vs. Text to Speech

O PAR: Protocol for Accommodations in Reading available for free from Don Johnston.

Bookshare and the IEP: PAR

O “The PAR manual helps you determine the most suitable reading accommodations for specific students by assessing their individual needs. Anyone on the IEP team can administer PAR to systematize how reading accommodations are recommended on a student level or across the school district.”

O http://donjohnston.com/par/#.UwD-rvldV8F

Bookshare and the IEP: PAR

O Watch an On-Demand PAR Webinar: http://donjohnston.com/par/#.UwD-rvldV8F

O The pre-recorded webinar delivered by Denise DeCoste will help you get the PAR Framework off the ground and immediately working in your setting. (65 min)

O The PAR webinar covers:Research about reading accommodationsThe motivation behind creating PARHow to carefully consider a reading accommodationA process to compare performance across

accommodationsForms for collecting data, making recommendations

and sharing outcomes

That was easy, huh?!O Questions?O Please complete your session

evaluation.