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For many students, math difficulty isn’t about understanding the concept. It’s about the extra demands of copying, spacing, and handwriting. Today we’re focusing on supports that reduce these barriers, such as prepared math sheets, typed problems, ModMath, and digital math paper.
By removing or reducing copying demands, students can focus their energy on problem-solving and reasoning. These tools also support accuracy by helping with alignment, spacing, and organization, which is especially important for multi-step problems.
Offering alternative ways to show work supports access and fairness, allowing students to demonstrate what they know without unnecessary obstacles.
These supports can be helpful for students with dysgraphia, slow or effortful handwriting, motor planning differences, or executive functioning challenges.

Math can be especially challenging when concepts feel abstract or disconnected. Today, we’re highlighting visual and manipulative-based tools like Brainingcamp, Math Learning Center Apps, Desmos, and GeoGebra that turn math into something students can see, move, and explore.
These tools support number sense, fractions, graphing, geometry, and algebra by showing how numbers and relationships work visually. Students can experiment, test ideas, and build understanding through interaction rather than memorization alone.
Visual math tools encourage exploration and reasoning, helping students develop deeper conceptual understanding and confidence with math thinking.
These resources can be great for visual learners, hands-on thinkers, and students who need to see math to understand it.

Today, we’re starting our math supports by highlighting tools that break problems into clear, manageable steps. Tools like Photomath, Microsoft Math Solver, Khan Academy, and Prodigy provide visual explanations and guided solutions that help students see how and why a problem is solved.
Rather than simply giving answers, these tools model problem-solving strategies, reinforce key concepts, and allow students to review steps as many times as needed. This supports conceptual understanding and reduces anxiety around making mistakes.
Many of these platforms also offer extra practice in a low-pressure format, helping students build confidence and persistence over time.
These supports can be great for students who may need modelled problem-solving, benefit from visual explanations, or require extra practice to solidify understanding.

Getting started is often the hardest part of writing. Today, we’re focusing on visual brainstorming and planning tools like MindMeister, Coggle, MindMup, WiseMapping, Popplet, and Inspiration Maps that help students organize ideas before writing.
These tools allow students to map out thoughts visually, making it easier to see connections between ideas, plan paragraphs, and structure essays or stories. Reducing the pressure to write in full sentences right away can help reduce overwhelm and support students who struggle with planning and executive functioning.
Visual organizers also help students hold on to ideas while deciding what comes first, what comes next, and which details belong together. This leads to clearer, more organized writing and a smoother transition from planning to drafting.
These supports can be great for students who “have the ideas but can’t get started,” feel overwhelmed by blank pages, or need structure for planning.

Welcome back to our next Writing feature in our Assistive Technology series!
Once students have their ideas down, editing can often feel overwhelming or discouraging. Today, we’re highlighting writing tools that support revision without taking over the thinking. Tools like Grammarly, ProWritingAid, Hemingway Editor, and the editing features in Google Read&Write help students notice grammar, punctuation, and sentence clarity in a supportive, step-by-step way.
These tools reduce frustration by offering clear suggestions instead of vague feedback. Students can focus on improving one part of their writing at a time, such as sentence flow, word choice, or mechanics, rather than feeling stuck or unsure where to start. Over time, this can build awareness of writing patterns and increase confidence in the quality of their work.
Editing tools are most effective when used after ideas are expressed, helping students refine their message rather than limiting creativity upfront.
These supports can be great for, students who have strong ideas but struggle with mechanics, confidence, or independent revision.