This practice brief outlines a series of recommendations for improving the timely provision and use of high-quality braille – both embossed and electronic – and tactile graphics for state-mandated assessment. The primary target audience for these recommendations is State Education Agency (SEA) assessment leaders and others at the State-and national level who are responsible for ensuring that braille readers are full participants in their state assessment, whether general or alternate. Most desirable is that these recommendations will initiate conversations between and among states, districts, braille service providers, and test developers.

Understanding accessible formats requires some background knowledge of the barriers many learners with disabilities experience when reading or accessing information in print-based and certain digital-based materials.

"Text-based" refers to materials with static or fixed text and images, such as textbooks and supplemental text materials. Both print and digital materials can be text-based. For example, an electronic textbook that replicates a standard print textbook is considered a text-based material.

Books in standard print are common examples of text-based materials. To successfully use print, learners need functional skills related to sensory, physical, and cognitive abilities. Some learners may have visual disabilities that make it difficult to see the text and images on the page. Other learners may be unable to hold printed materials because of a physical disability. Still others may be unable to read or derive meaning from the printed text because of a learning disability.

Certain digital materials also have text and images. Specifically, text-based digital materials are not consistently designed for use with assistive technology (AT). Some learners use AT to read and navigate text and images in digital materials. Screen readers, text to speech, and switches are a few examples of AT devices and software that learners with a wide range of disabilities use. To prevent barriers for learners who use AT, see Vetting for Accessibility.

Because of the frequent barriers presented by text-based materials, some learners with disabilities need alternative forms, known as accessible formats. Examples of accessible formats include audio, braille, large print, tactile graphics, and digital text conforming with accessibility standards.

The term accessible format is defined in section 121 of the Copyright Act, known as the Chafee Amendment:

About the AEM Center at CAST
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National Center on Accessible Educational Materials logo
Based at CAST, the AEM Center is funded by the Office of Special Education Programs at the U.S. Department of Education. We work with states and districts to build capacity for developing and sustaining robust systems for providing accessible materials and technologies for all learners who need them. To us, accessibility means that individuals with disabilities—from early childhood through the workforce—have equal access to materials and technologies for reaching educational outcomes and advancing in employment.

We provide three levels of technical assistance:

Universal technical assistance is available to everyone. You’ll find products and services throughout our website and collected on our resources page. Webinars and conference presentations are listed on our events page.
Targeted technical assistance describes the Center's strategic collaborations to address problems of practice in early childhood programs, higher education, and workforce development. Supports for families are also a part of our targeted technical assistance.
Intensive technical assistance describes the Center's capacity-building activities with a small cohort of states. This partnership is designed to produce practices that can be scaled nationally.

This document provides a list of all the States with link to each state's information in the following areas: procurement policy, State Department of Ed., Accessible Educational Materials, IEP forms, transition and graduation

Discover accessible learning across the lifespan in these short and informative videos designed to start conversations about the importance of accessibility and accessible materials in your context.

Introduction to Accessibility

In this first video in our series, you’ll build an understanding of what accessibility means. People who need accessible materials and technologies describe how access creates inclusion where they live, learn, and work. Ultimately, accessibility is achieved when we remove barriers — or better yet, design environments that are inclusive for everyone from the beginning.

Turn learning barriers into learning opportunities by exploring the world of accessibility and Universal Design for Learning.

Each episode of The Accessible Learning Experience features interviews with national, state, and local leaders whose work focuses on turning learning barriers into learning opportunities. These leaders share their top tips and strategies for implementing accessibility best practices in a variety of settings. They also shine a spotlight on the partnerships and collaboration that are needed to create robust systems for the timely provision and use of accessible educational materials and technologies in support of inclusive teaching and learning practices. Episodes are released monthly and you can listen on the web through Anchor or through the podcast app of your choice.

Audio-supported reading (ASR) is a practical and supportable intervention that has been documented to minimize the constricting impact of limited text decoding, thereby improving academic outcomes for many students with reading-related learning disabilities. This article provides detail on the nature of reading; the challenges of reading-related, learning disabilities; the supporting legal landscape; and practical considerations for how to accurately target ASR interventions to address the needs of students with learning disabilities.

Coordinating Early Childhood Systems

Adults and a young child collaborating in an early learning classroom
While early childhood providers and families prioritize activities that optimize interactivity with peers and the natural environment, print and digital materials and technologies are commonly present in early learning settings, including the home and community. If and when they are determined to be appropriate, interactive materials and technologies need to be accessible if children with disabilities are to benefit from inclusive settings. Examples of accessible materials and technologies in early learning settings can include:

Tactile books that include a combination of print and braille
Video that includes captioning of sounds and audio description of visual elements
Mobile apps that are compatible with a child’s assistive technology (AT)
Ensuring that children with disabilities in early childhood programs can participate in all range of activities in early childhood programs is effectively achieved through a coordinated approach requiring collaboration between a number of agencies, federal, state, and local service providers, and families and caregivers.

Coordinating Higher Education Systems

Adults in a higher education environment collaborating
Multiple indicators show a positive trend in the number of students with disabilities enrolling in higher education programs. Equitable access to learning for these students requires that all learning materials and activities be made accessible to them. This extends to textbooks, courseware, learning management systems, instructional software programs—in short, any and all curriculum resources required for use in academic programs.

The Critical Components for the Quality Indicators for Higher Education were first released in 2018 and include actionable language for developing a coordinated system that leads to the timely provision of accessible materials and technologies in higher education settings for all students who need them.

Creating Accessible Websites

Illustration of website icons surrounding a computer monitor
Creating a website is not as difficult as it used to be. Today, most websites are created by entering information into a form, not by writing lines of code. A number of publishing systems are available for creating a website or a blog, and many of them have options for making the content accessible.

Students describe the impact of technology on their learning. They share specific examples of accessibility tools and highlight how each has supported their engagement and learning in school in powerful ways. This video is a great tool for highlighting the importance of making sure that instructional materials are accessible to all students. It is easier to ask instructional material providers before adopting curriculum rather than trying to retrofit materials (if that is even possible) after adopting materials.

This report provides state leaders and test developers with initial considerations for improving the accessibility of state-mandated assessments for students with disabilities, specifically those who use assistive technology and accessible educational materials in daily instruction. These findings can be used by states to inform the development of policies and guidelines, and by test developers to inform the design of assessment systems and platforms. Most desirable is that the findings will help initiate improved collaboration between and among states, districts, and test developers.

NIMAS Q&A
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This Q&A provides states, state educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), and other interested parties with information to facilitate implementation of the NIMAS and coordination with the NIMAC.

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) in the U.S. Department of Education issued a Q&A document in August 2010 to provide states, state educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), and other interested parties with information to facilitate implementation of the NIMAS and coordination with the NIMAC. OSERS has updated this document to reflect changes in the NIMAS resulting from the 2020 Notice of Interpretation (NOI) [3] and the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act (MTIA). [4] This Q&A document supersedes the previous document and will be updated with new questions and answers as important issues arise or to amend existing questions and answers, as needed.

The Marrakesh Treaty has resulted in changes to the disability categories used to determine eligibility for NIMAS-derived materials. Additionally, the term “accessible formats” replaces “specialized formats.”

The terms “eligible person” and “accessible formats” are now used in relation to the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) provisions of IDEA.

The National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) is a technical standard publishers can use to produce source files (in XML) that may be used to develop multiple accessible formats (such as Braille or audiobooks).

In addition to the technical specification, our NIMAS Exemplars provide NIMAS-conformant filesets you can inspect to learn more about best practices based on the technical specification and the DAISY Structure Guidelines.

MathML is the recommended way to represent mathematical notation in NIMAS. For more information, visit MathML in NIMAS.

Visit Resources for Publishers and Conversion Houses on the NIMAC website for additional resources related to the production of NIMAS files.

Both State education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs) have responsibilities related to the provision of accessible formats from NIMAS files through the NIMAC for qualifying students. The State Director of Special Education leads the following activities on behalf of the SEA and LEAs.

Are some terms new to you? See the definitions section on this page or visit NIMAS & NIMAC. The NIMAS Q&A also provides answers to common questions related to the implementation of the NIMAS and coordination with the NIMAC.

Personalizing the Writing Experience

A person using both a paper notebook and pen alongside a laptop computer
We often take for granted just how complex the act of writing is, and the range of mental and motor skills it involves. While we each go about the process of writing in our own unique way, some distinct steps are typically involved: pre-writing, drafting, revising and editing.

You may experience barriers in any of these steps of the writing process that can keep you from being a successful writer. Fortunately, the devices many of us already own have a range of built-in features to support you at each stage of the writing process, and many free or low-cost apps and extensions are also available.

This workshop, offered by the AEM Center, will explore the challenges and opportunities of transition and programmatic accessibility for workforce developmen...

The purpose of the Protocol for Creating Accessible OER is to provide detailed yet easily implemented techniques for creating accessible OER with Microsoft Office and Google Workspace. These are the two most commonly used authoring suites in schools, and documents created with them are often the source files for other formats, such as PDF and EPUB publications.The techniques presented can be implemented by any educator who creates or adapts materials for use by students and families.

The purpose of this brief is to help families and educators understand the right of students with disabilities who need accessible educational materials to receive these materials in a timely manner. This right is based on provisions in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as well as in the disability civil rights statutes Section 504 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).