Overview
Benefits
Registering
Renewing
Disability Certification
Overview
Q: Does my membership number begin with the letter I or the number 1?
A: Your membership number begins with the letter "I", as in "Iowa".
Q: How do I get aLearnign Ally membership?
A: Learning Ally offers different types of memberships. The first step to joining is to register online or complete an application and have it signed by an education professional.
As part of the application process, you or your school must submit a certification of the disability for the student or students that will be using Learning Ally. It needs to be completed by a qualified professional in the field of disability services, special education, medicine or psychology. The certifier must be a recognized expert who attests to the physical basis of the visual, perceptual or other physical disability that limits the student's use of standard print.
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Q: How much does membership cost?
A: Memberships cost $99 per year.
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Q: Why is my account on hold?
A: There are several reasons why your account may be on hold. To find out why your account is on hold, contact our member services department at Custserv@LearningAlly.org
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Q: What is Learning Ally's cancellation policy?
A: Individuals: New Individual members may cancel their membership within 30 days of your membership's start date.
Institutions: Institutional members may cancel their membership for a full refund within 60 days of registration or renewal.
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Benefits
Q: What are the benefits of a Learning Ally membership for teachers?
A: At Learning Ally, we are very aware of the daily requirements placed on educators-from teaching to paperwork to meetings. Sometimes extra projects, such as creating audio versions of textbooks, have to be put aside. Since many students are audio learners, this can be a limiting factor in their information retention and comprehension levels. However, instead of having to wait for the extra time to make recordings, Learning Ally has done it for you! Below are some benefits of our audiobooks:
- You will save time and resources. Learning Ally complements the existing curriculum in all subject areas and has thousands of the most popular classroom titles available.
- You won't have to record textbooks yourself anymore!
- Learning Ally's online catalog offers easy access to order audiobooks. You can also search by subject or keyword to locate titles for your students by grade level or by fun topics they are interested in to encourage reading.
- Learning Ally helps with classroom management. Teachers can use audiobooks as a support tool for students to continue working independently on assignments. It helps to minimize the amount of one-on-one instructional time a teacher may have spent in the past reading textbooks to students.
- Learning Ally helps to decrease behavioral problems because students who previously could not participate in assignments due to learning disabilities can now participate. Students are more engaged with the text.
- Learning Ally has adapted commonly used graphic organizers for use with audio textbooks.
- Graphic organizers are visual representations of the concept.
- Graphic organizers promote active listening and learning.
- Learning Ally has developed reference guides to help you and your students become adept at using audiobooks with specialized DAISY CD players and DAISY software or in a downloadable format.
- Free comprehensive educator support website at Learning Through Listening.
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Q: What are the benefits of Learning Ally membership for students?
A: All too often, students with learning disabilities have negative classroom experiences. The information is presented too quickly, the students cannot decode the vocabulary or the sheer volume of reading may be overwhelming. Learning Ally's naudiobooks can be a lifesaver that teachers or parents can throw to your students before they sink into the depths of academic failure. Aside from providing access to the general education curriculum, audiobooks provide a number of other educational benefits:
- Learning Ally's audiobooks complement and reinforce what is being taught by allowing students to "read to learn," even when they are learning to read.
- Learning Ally increases independence because students can work on assignments with the support of audiobooks.
- Students become active participants in the reading process as they take notes, underline and monitor their listening comprehension.
- Learning Ally raises self-esteem because students are able to meet higher academic goals which lead to greater levels of academic success; students indicate increased confidence in their reading skills and academic participation.
- Audiobooks provide a multimodal approach to reading.
- Audiobooks assist with word attack and decoding skills as students listen to the text being deciphered.
- Audiobooks help students manage the demands of reading by allowing them to learn auditorily.
- Audiobooks put the pleasure back in reading.
- Students with print disabilities can be included in the general education curriculum.
- Students can listen to the text in the author's own language.
- Free comprehensive educator support website at Learning Through Listening.
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Q: What are the benefits of Learning Ally vs. other audiobook producers or commercial CDs?
A:
- Learning Ally's DAISY CD books are navigable because they are recorded in a special format known as DAISY (Digital Accessible Information SYstem). Users are able to jump from page to page, chapter to chapter or level to level; place bookmarks; adjust the tone of the reader; and adjust the speed of the reader.
- Learning Ally's textbooks usually fit on one CD or one small set of downloadable files because of the special way that they are recorded.
- Learning Ally's books are read by volunteers. Human voice is important because it allows students to hear proper voice inflection, pronunciation and prosody. Teachers have provided feedback that this is especially important for literature books and textbooks.
- Learning Ally provides the entire textbook or book, not portions of the book as many commercial publishers do. This allows schools to meet the legal requirements in the accommodation section of a student's individualized education plan (IEP), which dictates the student must have textbooks in an auditory format.
- It is currently at the discretion of the publisher to provide text in an audio format. Therefore, schools cannot consistently rely on their textbook publishers to provide audio formats.
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Q: Why do I need Learning Ally when I already have a reading program?
A:
- Learning Ally complements the existing curriculum and can supplement all subject areas, not just the reading component. Learning Ally provides novels, nonfiction, math books, history books, science books, etc.
- Learning Ally complements the independent reading, vocabulary development, comprehension and language development of all programs listed above.
- Learning Ally provides access to authentic literature (i.e. The Catcher in the Rye), which many skill-based reading programs lack. Many skill-based reading programs use high-interest, low-level reading passages that are written to specifically address the skill that is being taught.
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Registering
Q: How can I register for a Learning Ally membership?
A: You can register for Learning Ally membership on our website.
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Q: Can I change my membership level (upgrade/downgrade) online? (Institutions only)
A: At this time, please contact Custserv@LearningAlly.org for information regarding changing your membership level.
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Q: Can I adjust my membership period online?
A: At this time, you cannot adjust your membership period online. For further information regarding your membership, please contact the Member Services department at Custserv@LearningAlly.org
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Q: Can I place a book order outside the US?
A: Regrettably, U.S. copyright restrictions continue to preclude us from being able to serve our international members by shipping or offering downloadable digitally produced audiobooks outside of the U.S. Learning Ally has valued our international members and until recently, Learning Ally has been able to offer the option of converting selected titles from digital to an analog 4 track cassette format. Unfortunately, we are no longer able to produce that 4 track format for our international members. Learning Ally does not currently provide school or institutional memberships for foreign-based institutions.
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Renewing
Q: Can I renew my membership online?
A: Individual members may renew their memberships online by following the instructions that will automatically be sent to them as their membership year comes to a close.
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Q: Can I look online to see when my membership expires?
A: In order to find out when your membership expires, you must call Member Services at 800-221-4792. This feature is currently under consideration for a future enhancement to the website.
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Disability Certification
Q: How does one obtain certification?
A: A qualified professional in the field of disability services, special education, medicine or psychology must attest to the physical basis of the visual, perceptual or other physical disability that limits the applicant's use of standard print.
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Q: Who is a Certifier?
A: Appropriate certifying experts may differ from disability to disability. Our Certification page lists examples of professionals who are qualified to certify a Learning Ally applicant. It is in no way a comprehensive list. If you have any questions about who is a qualified certifying professional, please contact Member Services department at Custserv@LearningAlly.org
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Q: What is a print disability?
A: A print disability can be a learning disability, a visual impairment or a physical disability. Although the manners in which the disability occurs are very different, they all share one characteristic: individuals diagnosed with a print disability cannot access print in the standard way.
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