Role of Information and Communication Technology in SNE

2. Unit 1.2
Role of information
and communication
technology in special
needs education]

3. The definition of special
needs education refers to
those with special educational
needs are defined by the
additional public and/or private
resources provided to support
their education.

4. A child has special
educational needs (SEN)
if he or she has learning
difficulties or disabilities that
make it harder for him or her to
learn than most other children of
about the same age.

5. 1.2.1
Changes in the Educational
System in Information Age

6. * Information system
*recent 20 years have brought some
remarkable innovations in the
delivery of education.
[traditional texts , sounds graphics
and video merged into a single
‘multimedia’ document.]

7. Understanding of ICTs, in modern
world of communication
Mastering of the basic skills as well as
concepts of ICTs as part of the core
education.
Alongside;
*reading
*writing
*calculating

8. New approaches to
teaching and
learning;

9. Teaching and learning
are becoming more
independent from specific
physical location.

10. the number of resources
available to students outside
the classroom has increased
dramatically.

11. The locus of control to
initiate educational
encounters has now pass to
the learners.

12. Progress in educational system
impacted by ICT application
Table 1.2

13. Variable
• Teacher role
• Learning
• Criterion for success
• Type of knowledge
• Assessment
• Instructional
paradigm
• Grouping
• Student activity
Traditional model
• Experts , recall facts
and sage on the
stage
• Focused on the
teacher
• Demonstrate full
competence
• Acquisition
, accumulation
or, reproduction of
data.
• Based on test
• Content-
oriented, teacher-
oriented
• Homogeneous
• Personal work
Emerging model
• Collaborator ,
resource person and
guide on the side.
• Focused on the
student
• Demonstrate growth
and personal
abilities
• Construction or
mental
representation of
meaning.
• Based on the
student’s
performance of real
tasks
• Heterogeneous
• Group work

14. BOX 1.2 changes in the learning process
caused by information age
From teacher-centered instruction to student – centered learning
The educational paradigm has gone from the instructional paradigm
that emphasized the role of education and the teacher ,to the ‘personal’
paradigm focused on the learning itself and the student who learns.
The roles of a teacher and a student are interchangeable.
From content – based classes to process- oriented lessons.
There has been a conceptual change that does not interpret the
learning as acquisition , accumulation or reproductive of information
data , but as constructions of mental representations of meanings.

15. Learners are engaged in task that are authentic and bear direct
relationship to meaningful and relevant task in the ‘real’ world.
Assessment is based on a student’s implementation of real task’s.
Toward a more collaborative learning
Children often learn better from other children.
Students are no longer seen as passive recipients of information.
Students are now grouped heterogeneously so that each can
contribute to the completion of a task collaboratively exactly as in the
real world.

16. 1.2.2 Equal
opportunities for all:
Digital inclusion of people with
SEN

17. •Speedy development of information age
brings possibilities and dangers to people
with special needs.
•Those who unequal access to information
run the risk of losing some of the most basic
rights.
•There is a growing awareness that people
with disabilities have the right to expect the
same standard of service and access as every
other member of the society.

18. Offer of the ICTs to the full:
1.Blind people-appropriate hard , software to be
created and braille.
Ex. A text as an alternative to images
2. People with low vision – large format text and
effective color contrast.
3. People who have cognitive impairment –
simpler language or alternative text formats.
Ex. Easy read, clear and logical layout of
uncluttered structure of information.

19. 4. People , whose first language is sign
language may also find simple language
indespensable.
5. People with manual dexterity
impairments – may navigate easier with a
keyboard rather than with a mouse.
*We have just started to put into practice
the potential of ICTs to support
independent living and learning by persons
with special needs.

20. 1.2.3 Identification of
barriers to learning for
students with SEN

21. Table 1.3 the main types of nature and
impairments, and functional limitations caused
by them.
Types of Impairments Nature of Impairments
Physical Impairments Neuromuscular impairments:
• paralysis (total lack of muscular
control in part or most of the body)
• weakness (paresis; lack of muscle
strength, nerve enervation, or pain)
• interference with control, via
spasticity (where muscles are tense
and contracted), ataxia (inaccuracy
of motor programming and
coordination), and athetosis (extra,
involuntary, uncontrolled, and
purposeless motion)
Skeletal impairments include joint
movement limitations (either
mechanical or due to pain), small limbs,
missing limbs, or abnormal trunk size

22. Sensory Impairments Visual impairments:
• low vision
• colour blindness
• blindness
Hearing impairments:
• hard hearing
• loss of sensor-neural hearing
• loss of conductive hearing
• deafness
Cognitive Impairments Mental retardation
• Age-related diseases
(Dementia, Alzheimer’s disease

23. Specific Learning Impairments • Dyslexia
• Dysgraphia
• Dyscalculia
• Attention deficit
Speech and Language Impairments Speech disorders (developmental or
acquired):
• articulation disorders
• voice disorders
• fluency disorders
Language disorders (developmental
or acquired):
• expressive disorders
• receptive disorders
• mixed receptive and expressive

24. 1.2.4 The Role of ICTs in SNE
The educational needs of people with
disabilities are vastly diverse. On the one hand, they
must, as their peers, get knowledge and skills
required in the society in which they live. On the
other, they have (by definition) additional demands
(often referred to as special educational needs)
caused by functional limitations which affect
learners’ ability to access standard educational
methods of instruction, therefore, prevent
educational progress.

25. Though specific applications of ICTs are
extremely diverse and varied, they may be
grouped into the following main categories:
• Compensation uses.
• Didactic uses.
• Communication uses.

26. 1.2.5 Supporting Inclusive Education
through ICT Implementation
Inclusive education presents an
opportunity for students with special needs to
attend mainstream classrooms with their age-
group peers. To realize this we need to provide
for the relevant conditions of overcoming the
barriers to the learning process. Particularly
speaking, these conditions are attained via the
facilitation of ICT infrastructure for SNE,
integration of ICTs into SNE curriculum and
training of ICT specialists in SNE

27. Training of
ICT specialists
in SNE
Integration of ICTs
into SNE
curriculum
Promoting ICT
infrastructure for SNE

28. The key ways in which ICTs can support
educational opportunities for people with SEN are as
follows:
• Identifying the preliminary level of personal
development (experiences and skills), that is to say
the starting point of a student;
• Assisting in personal development by shaping new
skills or updating existing ones;
• Improving the access to information;
• Overcoming geographical or social isolation v ia
communication support and networks;
• Improving the image/perception of an area by
enhancing motivation and awareness regarding the
ICT benefits in SNE.

29. 1.2.6 Benefits of ICT Use in Education
for People with SEN
According to the research of British Educational
Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA, 2003), ICT
usage in schools to support students with SEN can enable
learners to communicate, participate in lessons, and learn more
effectively.
Benefits of ICT use in education of people with special needs
General ICT benefits:
• Enables greater learner autonomy;
• Unlocks hidden potential for those with communication
difficulties;
• Enables students to demonstrate achievement in ways which
might not be possible with traditional methods;
• Enables tasks to be tailored to suit individual skills and abilities.

30. ICT benefits for students:
• Computers can improve independent access for students to
education (Moore and Taylor, 2000; Waddell, 2000);
• Students with special educational needs are able to accomplish
tasks working at their own pace (ACE Centre
Advisory Trust, 1999);
• Visually impaired students using the internet can access
information alongside their sighted peers (Waddell, 2000);
• Students with profound and multiple learning difficulties can
communicate more easily (Detheridge, 1997);
• Students using voice communication aids gain confidence and
social credibility at school and in their communities
(Worth, 2001);
• Increased ICT confidence amongst students motivates them to
use the Internet at home for schoolwork and leisure
interests (Waddell, 2000).

31. ICT benefits for teachers, non−teaching staff:
• Reduces isolation for teachers working in special educational needs by
enabling them to communicate
electronically with colleagues (Abbott and Cribb, 2001; Lewis and Ogilvie,
2002);
• Supports reflection on professional practice via online communication
(Perceval-Price, 2002);
• Improved skills for staff and a greater understanding of access technology
used by students (Waddell, 2000);
• Enhances professional development and the effectiveness of the use of
ICTs with students through collaboration
with peers (Detheridge, 1997; Lewis and Ogilvie, 2002);
• Materials already in electronic form (for example, from the Internet) are
more easily adapted into accessible
resources such as large print or Braille (Waddell, 2000).
ICT benefits for parents and carers:
• Use of voice communication aids encourages parents and carers to have
higher expectations of children’s
sociability and potential level of participation (Worth, 2001).

32. Key Terms
• Digital divide: A term which refers to the gaps between those who can
effectively use new information and communication tools, such as the
Internet, and those who cannot.
• Digital inclusion: Several initiatives that work socially and
technologically in order to reduce the existing gap in access to
information and communication technologies and networks for people
with special needs.
• Information Age: The period of social development when the
production of information is more important than the production of
physical goods; the service sector is much larger than the
manufacturing sector.
• Information Society: Characterizes the level of community
development being formed as a result of the fusion of
information, media and telecommunications including far-reaching
organizational and institutional changes in all aspects of human activity
(e.g. workplace, leisure, shopping, commerce, education).

33. Thank you! 