Assistive technology can help students with disabilities in several ways: it can present educational materials in audio or visual formats to help master grade-level content; it can improve writing skills through tools like speech recognition software and concept mapping; and it can aid reading skills by reading text digitally or at lower levels. Different types of assistive technology address individual strengths and needs, such as speech recognition software for good speakers or text-to-speech for strong comprehenders. Software also provides feedback, focus, organization, stress reduction, and expression support.

1. How Can Assistive Technology Help Students
with Disabilities?
Technology can be a great tool for students who have learning disabilities. Assistive
tools have been helping them leverage their strengths and work around or
compensate for specific learning problems. These supports have been keys to
helping users become more independent in school and accomplish tasks on various
levels like:
Mastering grade-level content. Assistive Technology can present
educational materials in audio or visual forms.
Improving writing and organizational skills. Assistive Technology can enable
students with learning disabilities or autism do things like developing a
concept map for a research paper, and write using grade-level vocabulary or
words they otherwise would not be able to use without a computer because
of poor spelling skills.
Working towards grade-level reading skills. The computer can either read
texts digitally or presents it at a lower grade level for students with reading
disabilities or visual impairments.
Improving note-taking skills. Many students with disabilities have difficulty
taking notes in longhand because of poor spelling, writing, and eye-hand
coordination skills.
Mastering educational concepts that would otherwise have been beyond their
reach. Students can experience abstract concepts such as the growth of a
flower through 3-D computer simulations.
What Types of Assistive Technology Can Help Students in the Classroom?
It is imperative to make sure that an assistive technology works towards an
individual's strengths. For instance, if someone has problem writing, their spelling
and grammar are poor. However, he or she may be an articulate speaker. Instead of
simply providing them a standard word processing program, they might be better
off with speech-recognition software, a program that converts the spoken word to
text. In another example, if a child is having trouble reading but can easily
understand spoken words, then an Optical Character Recognition system with
computerized speech that can read a book out loud for them could provide a great
deal of benefit.
Computer-based instruction can support other learning activities. There are
Assistive Tools or software that gives immediate positive feedback and provide
motivation and focus for students with learning disabilities. Some special software

2. can enable students with developmental disabilities to compensate for motor
disturbances, organize behavior, and communicate with a minimum of stress,
fatigue, and misunderstanding. Talking software can help a child hear the words
while at the same time seeing them on the page while reading. Word processing
with word prediction helps children with limited vocabularies, as well as children
whose use of a keyboard is limited by motor impairments, to express them in
writing with far less frustration. Special software can also help a child with attention
deficit disorder to reduce the effect of external stimuli, increasing his or her ability
to focus on class work. For example, a textbook can be "rewritten" at a lower grade
level or shown graphically for students who have reading disabilities.
It can easily be presented in large print, in a different color, or with different
backgrounds for students who have visual impairments. It can be read aloud via
computer for students who are blind or non-readers. It can even be presented in a
different language to students for whom English is a second language.
For information on Assistive Technology Services visit
www.PracticalATSolutions.com.
Other article you will find interesting:
What Does the Law Say About Assistive Technology?
What Is Assistive Technology?