Bridge Multimedia and the New York Institute for Special Education (NYISE) are showing how artificial intelligence can support accessible learning when educators and students stay at the center of the process.
This week, Bridge President and Chief Creative Officer Matt Kaplowitz will present WISER at the CSUN 2026 conference in Anaheim, where educators, researchers, and technology leaders are gathering to explore the future of accessibility and assistive technology.
At NYISE, Bridge brought its WISER tools to a four-week learning camp for children with disabilities built around an “Under the Sea” theme. Students described original sea creatures in their own words, including how they moved, communicated, lived, and interacted with others. Bridge then used those student ideas to generate tailored images, music, lyrics, and image descriptions that teachers carried into classroom activities throughout the camp.
The result was not AI replacing instruction. It was AI supporting instruction, creativity, vocabulary growth, and student engagement.
“It was a great way for the children to experience AI for the first time,” said Denise Hidalgo, Special Educator and Lead Teacher at the learning camp. NYISE Principal Margherita Manz added, “I couldn’t believe what vocabulary the children were learning and using from just these sessions. Vocabulary and reading go hand in hand. I value any tool that will get a child hooked into reading.”
For Bridge, the NYISE project shows how educational AI can work best: not as a novelty, but as a structured classroom tool that helps teachers extend student imagination into reading, discussion, art, and accessible media.
WISER is part of Bridge Multimedia’s broader effort to develop practical AI tools that support students with disabilities through research, technology development, and real-world educational use.
Kaplowitz said,
“People often think of artificial intelligence as just a technical skill. Our experience has shown something different. The strongest results happen when school leaders, teachers, and students all see AI as a tool that can support learning, creativity, and access.”
