I am fond of using software nearly every one has to create accessible learning activities, if for no other reason than I can e-mail them to parents as an attachment and the parent can run the activity without expensive software or downloading anything special.
Power Point is one of my favorite media to use for creating adapted books and activities. Although I have
Sense Factory (freeware) and
Switch It Maker 2 (about $110.00) which do the same basic things I want done in an adapted book I generally end up using Power Point. (One of my chief complaints about both programs is that they reset the display on my laptop.)
My students also love making Power Point Books. Just last week when two students came in with news of new puppies at home, a couple of my students worked with a paraprofessional and made an switch run slide show of different kinds of puppies to share with the class. The paraprofessional is new to my room and did not need to be trained in any special software. She and the students used Google Images and Power Point, with the students accessing the built in touch monitor, and twenty minutes later they were done.
Power Point is a great tool for the special needs classroom with a few adaptations made. Not being someone who likes to recreate the wheel I will instead just point you to some other websites for instructions on how to make adapted activities and books in Power Point.
And here is a list of Power Point Adapted Books and Activities Pre-made for you to download:
If you don't have Power Point you can still use these activities with
Power Point Viewer, free for download.
Finally here are some Power Point resources for teachers:
