In Flagler County, Fla., the Make It-Take It course is taught to a wide variety of students. Because some of them have physical disabilities, several adjustments have been made to the curriculum. Former software engineer and program volunteer Bill Welch created gadgets to assist computer users who cannot easily maneuver a mouse. He's also found a number of software programs that can help students who cannot use the standard interfaces.

"The technology that I developed is very simple switches because using a mouse can be very difficult if you have poor coordination in your hands," Welch said. One such device is a mouse connected to a novelty Easy Button from Staples. Users drag the mouse to guide the cursor, but rather than using the buttons on the mouse to click, which requires fine motor ability, they can lean on or pound the Easy Button, requiring far less precision. The gadgets, made entirely of donated devices, have let the county accommodate more students without increasing the budget.

Welch also identified free software programs on the Internet to assist with things like speech difficulties and trouble using a standard keyboard.

"After much trawling, I've found a variety of high-quality software," Welch said.

In particular, he cited a piece of software that uses a voice synthesizer to speak the sounds that the user cannot. By touching screen menus, users direct the computer to speak the sounds that he or she has programmed into the software.

"These typically are very expensive pieces of software if you buy it commercially," he said.