Audio
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will fund a limited number of Student Access Accounts for students with a documented print disability through Learning Ally (previously Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic).
Learning Ally provides audio versions of textbooks for students with vision impairments, learning disabilities, or physical disabilities that make it difficult to use traditional text. These audiobooks are available primarily as downloadable audio and CDs, which can be played on a variety of portable devices and computers. Learning Ally’s audiobooks are recorded using the human voice and include descriptions of pictures, graphs, and figures.
You can search the online library of Learning Ally (previously Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic) for audiobooks. If you do not find the book at Learning Ally, try searching the National Instructional Materials Access Library (NIMAC). If the textbook has a NIMAS file in the NIMAC, please email Carrie Brasier, with the pertinent textbook information and student SASID, and request that the NIMAS file be sent to Learning Ally for audio production.
Remember, to ensure that materials will be available when you need them, your district’s purchasing contracts with publishers should require the publisher to send NIMAS files to the NIMAC. Learning Ally has resources available as well.
