Assistive Technology
Technology has the potential to improve learning for all students, but it is especially effective for students with special needs, such as cognitive, physical or sensory difficulties, at-risk students and gifted students. Devices or technology that extend an individual's abilities are generally known as assistive technology.
Grade Level: Middle school, Grade 5
Subject Area: English Language Arts. Task: Writing & presenting a paper
Grade Level: Middle school, Grade 5
Subject Area: English Language Arts. Task: Writing & presenting a paper
Cognitive Difficulties
Learning Problem: Mild cognitive disabilities can be seen in students as reduced intellectual capability, attention deficits, and memory challenges. In the classroom, this disability can impact most content areas including reading, language and mathematics. Students with memory related issues can benefit from assistive technology.
Relative Advantage: Each of these tools are designed to remind students to perform an action which they might otherwise forget. These automatic reminders can relieve pressure on students, and ease burdens on teachers.
Technology Solutions:
iPad / IPod Apps:
Relative Advantage: Each of these tools are designed to remind students to perform an action which they might otherwise forget. These automatic reminders can relieve pressure on students, and ease burdens on teachers.
Technology Solutions:
- Watchminder: A wrist watch that gently vibrates to remind students to perform specific tasks, such as "Pay Attention" or "Be Positive." Teachers can create custom messages for students, or choose from presets. The alarm schedule is flexible. If a student is giving an oral presentation, the watch could be set for 30 second intervals to remind them to pause or look at the audience.
- AskSam: AskSam is a free form database which lets students enter notes / facts / ideas. The power of this tool is in its search and retrieval capabilities. A student with memory problems might not remember a lot of details on a subject, but if they can remember just one detail, then they can search for it with this tool. AskSam will find all the notes the student entered which are related to that detail. This a powerful tool for research paper writing.
iPad / IPod Apps:
- Easy Reminders: This app lets students easily create and manage reminders or to do lists. A teacher could use this app to keep a student on task while writing a paper. They could create reminders that alert the student to include key elements in a paper such as "Include topic sentence," "must write concluding paragraph", etc.
- To Do - Group: This task manager app allows collaborators to keep in-sync with project deadlines and responsibilities. Main streaming students with cognitive disabilities could use this app to work on group projects with their classmates. By creating a task list and assigning specific tasks to each member, the group can track the overall progress as well as individuals' progress.
Physical Difficulties
Learning Problem: Students with physical difficulties may have limited mobility or agility. Typing and navigating websites can be a difficult and slow process. These students might feel extremely self-conscious presenting in the front of the class.
Relative Advantage: These tools are designed to help students create electronic content by reducing the demands of keyboarding, and to provide alternatives to standing in front of the class to give a presentation.
Technology Solutions:
iPad / IPod Apps:
Relative Advantage: These tools are designed to help students create electronic content by reducing the demands of keyboarding, and to provide alternatives to standing in front of the class to give a presentation.
Technology Solutions:
- IntelliKeys USB: This alternative keyboard is a customizable, flat, touch sensitive device. Teachers can use premade templates, or create custom templates, that fit the device. Templates can use text, photos, or symbols to represent areas on the keypad to press. Software maps the location pressed on the device to a specific keyboard command for the computer. Teachers can use this tool to create much larger keys, or arrange the keys in an order that could benefit a student that has difficulty typing.
- Co-Writer: Co-writer is a popular word prediction word processor. As a student types, the program displays a list of words that the student can choose from based on the letters already typed. Teachers can create content specific word banks of names and places for a given unit. Co-writer significantly reduces the amount of typing a student needs to perform.
iPad / IPod Apps:
- Dragon Dictate: Dragon is the most popular speech recognition software used on computers and is now available as a free iPad app. Students can use this app to almost completely eliminate typing. Students will need to perform minor edits after proofing, but keyboarding requirements are greatly reduced.
- iPad Camera: The iPad has a built in video camera that easily records video and sound. Students with physical disabilities might not be able to, or might be highly self-conscious, to present material in front of the class. Using the camera, students can record their presentation in a private area and then display the video for the class to review. Using the video function on this device is especially useful for home bound students to record their work, as well as for teachers to present material to these students.
Sensory Difficulties
Learning Problem: Hearing and vision loss are two examples of sensory disabilities. Both of these disabilities can span from a complete loss of the sense to mild impairment. Students with vision loss struggle in language arts classes because of the difficulty it creates with reading.
Relative Advantage: Students that cannot read well are at a disadvantage for their whole life. There are numerous types of asssitive technology that vision impaired students can use to make reading easier.
Technology Solutions:
iPad / IPod Apps:
Relative Advantage: Students that cannot read well are at a disadvantage for their whole life. There are numerous types of asssitive technology that vision impaired students can use to make reading easier.
Technology Solutions:
- Ivona: There are many text to speech applications, but a common complaint from students is the robotic sound and poor pacing in these computer generated voices. Ivona is a set of high quality voices that make the spoken text sound as if it was being read by a live human. Good writing demands constant revision, and a student using a text to speech application needs to feel comfortable listening to their work.
- Refreshable Braille Display: These wireless Braille keyboards/displays allow a student to enter text in Braille and read the results. The device can be used to replace a traditional keyboard and can also control navigation on computers, tablets and iPhones.
iPad / IPod Apps:
- Magnifying Glass: This app uses the device's camera to enlarge objects 2 or 3 times and is a handy tool to use in the classroom for low vision students to read text from a novel or other printed source. It could be used by students to read hand-written teacher comments on student papers.
- Learning Ally Audio: This app gives visually impaired students access to more than 75,000 auidobooks, audio textbooks and other recorded books. Teachers can select a class novel from this list, so that visually impaired students can follow along, and participate in class discussions.
At-Risk Students
Learning Problem: While not disabled by the federal definition, at-risk students face academic challenges that if not overcome will put them at a disadvantage in the workforce. Reading and writing are two skills every person needs for career or college success. Often, tools used for at-risk students can be used successfully for any student which might benefit from additional motivation.
Relative Advantage: Motivation is often a key factor for at-risk students, and writing is often a least favorite task. Technology which can increase student motivation can help these students.
Technology Solutions:
iPad / IPod Apps:
Relative Advantage: Motivation is often a key factor for at-risk students, and writing is often a least favorite task. Technology which can increase student motivation can help these students.
Technology Solutions:
- Interactive Writing: This web site helps students understand basic writing techniques by structuring them in a game like tutorial. Students which lack motivation to write creatively on their own can use this site to practice structuring several common types of writing and demonstrate proficiency to the teacher.
- Starter Paragraph Punch: Software designed to kick-start the writing process. Onscreen prompts guide students through 16 writing topics using over 1,600 choices. Students receive feedback, and their work is easily monitored by the teacher. At-risk students are lead through the process which helps them maintain focus and stay on task.
iPad / IPod Apps:
- Socrative: This classroom response (clicker) app allows students to participate in discussions and give feedback without being singled out. At-risk students are often hesitant to contribute in class from embarrassment or apathy. Using this app, these students can participate without the "boring" method of raising ones hand, or waiting to be called upon. By using technology that students enjoy, like the iPhone, this app also increases student motivation.
- Story Creator: Writing might seem like drudgery to an at-risk student, so this app can help add some excitement to the activity. Students use their iPad to create a story. Instead of typing, students draw pictures, take photos, and add voice or video narrations to tell their tale. The final project can be displayed to the class. This app empowers students by giving them an alternative over the traditional method of writing a paper.
Gifted and Talented Students
Learning Problem: High-achieving students may be disadvantaged in the typical classroom as much as students with disabilities. Teachers tend to teach to the middle group of students, and those with needs on the upper or lower end of the scale often receive less attention. Technology affords high-achieving students the opportunity to go beyond the material presented in the classroom.
Relative Advantage: Students can benefit from modified projects that force them to go beyond the basic requirements of classroom activities. Providing these student with additional choices for output/presentation methods, as well as allowing them to work with "experts" both in and out of school, can allow them to develop and practice numerous 21st century skills.
Technology Solutions:
Relative Advantage: Students can benefit from modified projects that force them to go beyond the basic requirements of classroom activities. Providing these student with additional choices for output/presentation methods, as well as allowing them to work with "experts" both in and out of school, can allow them to develop and practice numerous 21st century skills.
Technology Solutions:
- Prezzi: Instead of producing a typical typed paper, high-achieving students can use presentation tools such as Prezzi to create an interactive experience that includes multimedia. This type of activity requires similar organization and content knowledge as a typed paper, but it allows for a more creative final product, and the development of photo, audio, and video skills.
- Skype / FaceTime: Instead of traditional book or online research, students can conduct face to face interviews with people to gather information. The teacher will need to arrange /screen these contacts, and students will need to develop interviewing and conversation skills.
- Kindle: Several book sellers offer apps to read their content on an i-device. such as Amazon and their Kindle app. Language arts students that have finished reading the whole class assigned book might be given a more challenging book that is similar in genre or content. When students need to demonstrate their understanding of the content, the high-achieving students would provide evidence from both books, perhaps even identifying similarities or differences in the books.
- MindMash: High-achieving students can demonstrate their creativity by presenting their information in visual terms. Mindmash is a free-form drawing tool that combines text, images and drawings on a blank canvas. Organizing ideas and presenting them in a manner which others can understand is a difficult task. Students can be given the assignment to express a central theme or portray a character from a book in this visual fashion.
Resources:
Roybler, M. D., & Doering, A. H. (2013). Integrating educational technology into teaching. (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Roybler, M. D., & Doering, A. H. (2013). Integrating educational technology into teaching. (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson.