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MakeBeliefsComix.com Launches Special Needs Section to HelpDisabled Students Communicate, Express Themselves by Creating Comic Strips


MakeBeliefsComix.com, the free online comic strip generator,has launched a new Special Needs Section to help educators, educationaltherapists and parents use the site to enable children with a wide array ofdisabilities communicate more effectively and express their ideas by creatingcomic strips online. (See  http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Special-Needs/)    
Creating comic strips is a fun way to encourage writing andreading. The new section provides examples of how educators use the site withchildren who are on the Autism Spectrum, who are deaf/hearing impaired,  who have head injuries/brain tumors, stutter,are struggling writers, or have physical and mental disabilites. The content isbased on suggestions and input from users who share what they have learned inusing the site. 
The free web site, selected by the AmericanLibrary Association as a ''Great Web Site for Kids,'' offers youngsters 100characters with different emotions to choose from, blank talk and thoughtballoons that they can fill in with text, background scenes,  storyprompts and printables.  Completed comic strips can be printed andemailed. 
The site also provides a Teacher Resourcessection (http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/How-to-Play/Educators/) that offers educators 21 ideas on how to use comic strips in theclassroom to improve student writing and English skills. There are blank comictemplates that can be printed and completed by hand, in addition to more than100 printables on a variety of subjects. In addition to English, comic stripscan also be written in Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Latin, German andItalian, offering and a useful tool for students who know or are learning newlanguages. 
More than 200,000 educators and English Language Learnerstudents from over 180 countries visit MakeBeliefsComix.com each month toimprove their English and writing skills.  UNESCO and Google selected thesite as among the world's most innovative sites to encourage literacy andreading.
The five year-old site was created by author/journalist Bill Zimmermanwho for many years created and edited Newsday newspaper's nationallysyndicated Student Briefing Page that was twice nominated for a Pulitzer. AtMakeBeliefsComix.com there is also a demo on how to use the site as well as aYouTube video showing how ELL students at City College in New York use the siteto learn English.  

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