Assistive Technology

Assistive Technology

Assistive technology in special educations has great potential for helping students with disabilities achieve success in the general educational classroom. Federal Laws mandate that the use of assistive technology be considered in the individual education program for special education students.

            Special Education can encompass a wide variety of disabilities including, mild, moderate and severe cognitive disabilities; physical and sensory disabilities; students with at-risk behaviors and gifted students. All of these students can be assisted by technology either by using it to provide services or devices. Schools need to have teams in place to help classroom teachers implement the assistive technology. Teams should include the IEP members and assistive technology coordinators. This insures that all of the stakeholders in the student’s education are trained and on the same page for successful implementation of the assistive technology in an inclusion classroom.

            Mild Cognitive disabilities are the most common and included students with attentions deficits, difficulties in reading and writing, and students with memory and retention of information difficulties. Emotional issues are also common with students with disabilities.  While looking for apps in our Blog assignment, I found Firefly by Kurzweil. For schools that use Kurzweil software this iPad app will allow students to use text-to-speech technology anywhere at anytime. It has a lot of flexible features.  The Logitech headsets that I currently use for audiobooks and read-alongs are a piece of hardware that can be utilized to assist with Firefly or other text-to-speech software.

            Students with moderate to severe cognitive disabilities need technology that can help them learn life skills. They can benefit from alternative devices that can be customized for their special needs. I found Mathpad, adaptive software, on Glenda’s Assistive Technology Information and More… , a  blog I added to  Google Reader. She has some great suggestions for assistive software and websites. The Coin-U-Later is a hand-held device that makes counting money easy.

            Assistive technology for students with physical disabilities usually involves methods to assist with fine or gross motor skills. Students need to be able to participate in the classroom without limiting physical demands. Clicker Sentences found at www.cricksoft.com allows students to click on a grid containing a word to create sentences. Bigtrack Trackball is a device that requires less fine motor control than a regular mouse.

            Students with hearing or vision loss  have sensory disabilities. Vision loss can vary from partially sighted to complete loss or blindness. Deaf students need little modification to technology. Their major issue is with audio in multimedia presentations.  I found a game by MindsEye2 called Magic Match. This game was recommended by a parent for use in teaching keyboarding skills.  I have a visually impaired student at my school this year and he uses several devices. Austin enjoys listening to the same stories on his PlayAway mp3 player that the other students are reading in class.

            The No Child Left Behind Act challenges teachers to find ways for at-risk students to succeed in the classroom.  Lack of motivation and or learning deficits in certain academic areas are areas that assistive technology can help teachers reach these students.  The teachers use curriculum based BrainPOP to engage students.  Our intervention teachers have also used the Xbox as a device to encourage at-risk students. The game National Geographic Quiz: Wildlife uses trivia and gaming to get students motivated about learning.  I also use to FrontRow amplification system to help all students focus on verbal instruction.

            The model described in our text called Pyryt’s P’s focuses on Pace, Process, Passion,  Product, and Pace  when utilizing assistive software with gifted and talented students.  I looked at the Hoagies’ Gifted Education Page that was suggested in our text and  the Kids and Teen link, http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/links  has links that gifted students would find  cool.  I think that Web 2.0 projects and Wiki’s would be great projects for gifted students.  I help the gifted students at my school with several projects throughout the year and one device they love to use is the digital microscope. 

            Assistive technology is opening a whole new world to students with disabilities and is helping them have success in the classroom right along with the average and gifted students.

Reference
Roblyer, M.D. & Doering, A.H. (2010). Integrating educational technology into teaching,
              5th edition. Columbus, Ohio: Merrill Prentice Hall.