Do2learn is primarily targeted at students with special needs but can be useful to anyone who wants to work on social skills and behavioral regulation.
The website is crammed full of useful resources that are easily accessible and made available for free. Premium features are also available, including books, however, you can quite easily keep busy on this website indefinitely without paying a cent.
The idea is to offer a single point at which resources are collated that can help teachers, parents, caregivers, and others to work with learners who could benefit from social and behavioral attention.
While this caters for a wide range of ages, including younger students, it also has a focus on work with job tips and more to help the transition into the post-school world. Read on to find out all you need to know about Do2learn.
What is Do2learn?
Do2learn is an online special needs resource hub that was created from a grant back in 1996 that has led to a site that now serves more than 11 million hits per month.
Do2learn is aimed at helping teachers, parents, and caregivers by offering specialized teaching for kids with learning needs that require extra attention. The company says that it doesn't simply want to tell adults how to best help the children, but to lay it all out visually with picture cards.
These free cards, which can be printed if needed, lay out processes for adults to show kids but also to help kids learn to follow along. This can be widely varied from literacy tools and behavioral management techniques to fine motor skills and SEL development.
The huge selection of resources is used by millions worldwide. With many ready to use picture card sets, this can offer a great way to use work systems and sequencing options with ease.
How does Do2learn work?
Do2learn is free to begin using right away, all you need to do is navigate to the resources you need in order to get started. This, in itself, requires some attention though as there is a huge amount from which to pick. Thankfully, it is all well laid out under headings and subheadings that can be navigated quickly and clearly.
Do2learn offers sections including disabilities, academics, social skills, behavior management, picture cards, jobs, and products. Each section has an overview and then from that you can navigate to a specific area that you may want. These include literacy, visual discrimination, social skills toolbox, behavior management, daily living skills picture cards, resources for adults, and much more.
Once you go into a landing section, such as fine motor skills, you're then given a selection of options including how to draw, marble painting activity, string art, rubbing art, and more. Go into one, such as how to draw, and you're then given a selection of choices like boy, dog, car, and so on. Each one has a guide on how to draw with a process shown in simple stages that allows students to follow along.
These resources can be printed, and usefully there is even guidance for how to do this in the best way to get the ideal result on paper.
What are the best Do2learn features?
Do2learn is rich with options yet is also easy to use thanks to a self-explanatory layout. Usefully, since this requires navigation rather than a search bar, it can mean discovering useful resources you may not have known about that can help inspire learning activities.
The guidance that goes with resources is excellent. As such, everything on the site can be used by virtually anybody, allowing parents, caregivers, and teachers to work with disabilities effectively, immediately.
Helpfully, the site caters for a variety of needs, including neurological disorders such as ASD, fetal alcohol effects, intellectual disabilities, attention disorders, and learning and communication disorders. In fact, there is now a specific Diagnose First tool aimed at helping teacher and caregivers recognize symptoms of ASD.
The Job Tips section is also helpful, aiming to guide those looking to move into the world of work. From disclosing your diagnosis and determining interests to keeping a job and passing screening tests -- there are lots of resources available.
Other helpful resources include caregiver checklists, contacts, bathing communication cards, "I need help with" cards, communications boards, medical contact lists boards, and more.
How much does Do2learn cost?
Do2learn is totally free to use and doesn't require any sign up so personal details can also be kept private. There are no ads on the website and it appears tracking is minimal also.
Some paid premium resources are clearly segregated in the products heading section of the website. These are sold individually with offerings such as books, View2do teaching programs, and the Job Tips Pro section.
The View2do is charged at a yearly license price of $99 per user, with reductions on multiple users, with 6-10 at $94, 11-15 at $89, and 16-20 at $84. More users than that are on a quote basis.
The Pro version of Job Tips is charged at $199 per user for students.
Do2learn best tips and tricks
Get organized
Use the cards to print off and stay organized with real-world charts you can put on the wall -- the medical contacts, logs, and medications charts are particularly useful.
Work with students first
Work through guidance with students initially and once they understand, try them with new activities, using the same layout, to provide independence subtly.
Share cards digitally
Print cards in class but send home more to parents and caregivers so they can continue lessons after school hours.
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