2. What is Assistive Technology? Assistive technology is any item, piece of equipment, or product system used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capacities of individuals with disabilities.
3. Why Have Assistive Technology? “Over 75 percent of students with disabilities spend the majority of their school day in general education classrooms.” (Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer) Special education is moving towards more inclusive practices: having students with disabilites fully integrated (physically, socially, and instructional) into the school community. (Friend and Bursuck) The general education classroom is the least restrictive environment (the education setting most similar to a student’s without a disability) for most students with disabilities as indicated on most Individual Education Plans (IEPs). IEPs may include assistive technologies that must be used to help the student in the classroom.
4. Students Who May Require Assistive Technology Students with ADHD: Children with ADHD have trouble paying attention, controlling impulsive behaviors, staying focused, being still, and listening. Sensory Impaired Students: These students have either vision or hearing loss which affects their education. Students with Mild Learning Disabilities: These students often have trouble with processing, organizing, and applying academic information. The disability may affect the student’s ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, or do math calculations.
5. Examples of Assistive Technology Type of Student Type of Assistive technology ADHA Sensory Impaired Learning Disabilites Invisible Clock Computer Assisted technology Animation Hearing: Closed Captioning, Hearing Aids, Classroom Amplified System, Sound Field System Vision: Braillewriter, enlarged print, Screen Magnification Software Text to speech software Speaking Dictionary/Thesarus Speech to text Software Talking Calculators
7. References: Cennamo, Katherine S., and John D. Ross, and Peggy A. Ertmer. Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use. Belmont, CA. Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. Friend, Marilyn, and William D. Bursuck. Including Students with Special Needs: A Practical Guide for Classroom Teachers. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson, 2009. http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/facts.html www.ldanatl.org/ http://www.mnabedisabilites.org/guide/assitive-technology/ http://www.newton.k12.ks.us/@examples.html
