Assistive Technology

With a student with a mild disability I might use a text to speech product. This would be useful for students with cognitive disabilities. A website for this would be http://www.donjahnston.com This allows students to read and write out loud. A hardware to enhance learning for this type of disability is an Quicktionary Reading Pen. This pen has different apps that help students with communications disabilities.

For a student with a moderate to severe disability there are videos that enhance acquisition, maintenance, and transfer of functional and community-based behaviors. A hardware is an alternative keyboard such as the Intellikeys. These can be used to create customized keyboards. The keys can be enlarged and keys that are not needed can be removed.

For students with physical disabilities there there is a website called http://www.enablingdevices.com that allows students to mount their technology to their wheelchair. This would be useful for students confined to a wheelchair. It would enable them to use things such as the Ipad. A hardware that could be used is joystick device that enables students to move things with just the use of a joystick. This could be used to move things such as a door or a desk on and off of them.

 A student with a sensory disabilities would benefit from the use of from a closed circuit television magnification system. It could be used to see classroom materials such as books. A hardware that could be used is FM amplification system. These systems, involve the teacher wearing a wireless microphone and students with hearing impairments wearing a receiver that amplify the teachers voice.

 For at risk or behavior situations I would use a website called BrainPop it is located at http://www.brainpop.com This website has many interactive opportunities for students to engage and be involved in learning while providing intervention. A hardware that could be used is TrackStar it gives activities that parallel the curriculum.

Students with gifts and talents would benefit from Hoagie’s Gifted Education Page. Located at http://www.hoagiesgifted.org This would be used to engage these students in things that would engage them and give them extra things that would challenge them and keep them interested. A hardware that could be used is by using podcasts. This allows them to showcase their knowledge.

Assistive technology is very important in the classroom. Almost every classroom will have some use for assistive technology in some form. As Roblyer and Doeling (2013) say, “Teachers who were well prepared to be a special education teacher even five years ago have had to keep up with the changing laws, caseload options, and technology or they quickly find their content knowledge out-of-date. This is because technology is always changing. In order to provide what is best for all students including those with special needs, it is important that teachers stay up to date on all forms of technology. There are different types and varying degrees of disabilities. Doeling and Roblyer (2013) point out that, “Despite the efforts on the part of most universities to improve the preparation of teachers to use technology in the classroom, most teachers begin their career with minimal experience using technology”. I think that this is a problem that should be corrected. Technology is such a huge part of our society and has the capability to help special needs children in ways that nothing else can. With the No Child Left Behind Law it is very important that assistive technology be used in the general education classroom to help special needs children succeed (p.402). By using this technology students do not have to compromise anything in order to succeed, they just need adaptions.

Assistive Technology in Action - Meet Mason: http://t.co/W9572msQTZ via @youtube #ED5059413UWA #assistivetechnology
— Camellia Bryant (@CamelliaLBryant) July 16, 2013