Week 13: Assistive Technology and Universal Design for Learning

Universal Design for learners is the idea that all instruction, materials, and content will benefit everyone without adaptation (Universal). It does not remove academic challenges students may have, it simply removes barriers to access educational content, or building. All students and teachers benefit from universal design. Universal design also takes into account that the content being taught to students needs to be revamped depending on the students needs.

There are alot of simple assistive technologies that can help a building or classroom achieve a universal design. Ramps outside of a building allow access to everyone, whether they are on crutches or in a wheel chair or just a regular person. Stairs, on the other hand, do not allow access to everyone. Someone who is in a wheel chair can not make it up those stairs. In the classroom, materials who be at a height that everyone can reach and have access to. The ability to raise the height of a desk is important. This can allow someone taller or in a wheel chair to use that desk.

Resources:

Universal design for learning: Elements of good teaching. Retreived from http://ada.osu.edu/resources/fastfacts/Universal-Design-FF.pdf

Week 12: Assitive Technology and Physical Disabilities

Students with physical disabilities often need assistive technology devices to help in the classroom. The level of technology will vary depending on the disability. There are four areas of focus for students with physical disabilities where some form of technology can be helpful. They are seating or positioning, daily living, facilitate learning, and communication (Meeting, 1996). A student with a physical disability needs a well supported seat. Improper seating will limit their functionality. There are some low level technologies that can help achieve the proper seating. The students can use hip straps or foot boxes to help position themselves correctly (Meeting, 1996).

Technology is important in the second area, daily life. It can be as simple as a grab bar to help a student use the toilet (Meeting, 1996). The everyday things such as brushing your teeth or feeding yourself can be challenging for a student with a physical disability. The more modifications one has to every day routine things the more independent they can be.

Computers can help facilitate learning for those with physical disabilities. Adaptations can be done to the computer. A solution for students who have trouble accessing a standard keyboard is a keyguard. A keyguard is a hard plastic cover that has holes for each key. This device increases accuracy and helps maintain correct hand placement (Torreno, 2010). Adjustable keyboards are another option instead of the standard keyboard. A solution for students who have trouble with hand control could be using a trackball or joystick. The size of the trackball can vary to best support the student (Torreno, 2010). Both of these don't require as much fine motor skills as a regular mouse does.

Lastly, communication can sometimes be difficult. This can effect all three areas above. If a student can not communicate properly and effectively then it is hard to let someone know there is a problem. There are several computer programs that will take text into speech. This may be a challenge if the student has a very difficult time with the computer though. 

Resources:
Meeting the needs of students with physical disabilities. (1996)

S Torreno. (2010, August 10). Assistive Technology for Children with Physical Disabilities. Retrieved from http://www.brighthub.com/education/special/articles/47379.aspx

Week 11: Early Childhood Education and Assistive Technology

I personally don't have much experience with early childhood students. I have seen my three year old nephew pick up his parents smart phone and know exactly how to use it. He knows exactly where to find his games and how to play them. I wonder how kids know all of this at such a young age? I suppose it is due to them seeing other people use them.

When it comes to what technology is appropriate and how much technology they can use on there own, I am not really sure. Wardle (2008) describes some do's and don'ts which I found to be interesting. One of them is not to use computer labs. She states this is because the computer lab is isolated and classroom curriculum can not be integrated in such a setting (Wardle, 2008). I am not sure if I completely agree with her. One do that she states that I liked was allowing students to explore how to use the computer (Wardle, 2008). I think explore and learning how to do something on your own is more valuable then someone telling you step by step what to do. Another important do she talks about is making sure you pick a developmental appropriate program for the students(Wardle, 2008). I believe this is important and can also be difficult since each student is at a different place developmentally. The last do I found to be important is to make sure staff has the proper training with computers and the software they choose (Wardle, 2008). A lot of the time staff members have not been properly trained on how to use new software. How can the teacher effectively teach or teach with the software if they do not know it capabilities.

Resources:
Wardle, F. (2008). The role of technology in early childhood programs. Excelligence Learning Corporation. 

Week 10: Assistive Technology and English Language Learners

English language learners are student whose first language is not English. Most of these students are still learning English. The number of English language learners (ELL) is becoming more popular in schools. According to Smart (2008), by 2015 one in three Americans will be ELL. In the last two decades the amount of students has nearly tripled( Smart, 2008). This includes a variety of languages from all over.


ELL can use a variety of technology to help them learn English. Technology can make school fun for ELL. So it is important to try to incorporate it as must as possible. The use of technology can help ELL in social settings as well. One program is called read naturally. This program helps develop students fluency (Smart, 2008). Another program is Rosetta stone. This software helps associate images with English word to build vocab (Smart, 2008). Both of these software's are designed to help on an individual basis. Some other programs include Lexia Reading, My Reading Coach, and Reading Assistants. Each address a different part of the English language (Smart, 2008). Programs like these can cost hundred to thousands of dollars. Spell checker can also be helpful for ELL. A researcher from the University of Calgary (2002), found that ELL students who used spell checker made 61% of the suggested changes while a native English speak made .3% of the changes. I found this information interesting. Why is the native speaker rejecting so much of the changes? Shouldn't the spell and grammar checks be correct? I know from my experience there are a lot of times when I reject what spell checker has suggested. English is not an easy language to learn. ELL have a significant disadvantage on test and in schools compared to native English speaking students.


Resources:

Esl and the use of assistive technology for writing. (2002). University of Calgary.
 
Smart, M.P. (2008, Dec 10). The word and the world: Technology aids english-language learners. Retreived from http://www.edutopia.org/technology-software-english-language-learners

Week 8: Funding and Assistive Technology

Funding is a huge issue in school districts today. Districts must budget there state and government money carefully. Assistive technology (AT) funding can come from two major places: Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) or Medicaid. Both have guidelines that must be met and considered before trying to get funding from them. One guideline medicaid has is that the AT device must be medically necessary for the child. Other funding options can come from The Developmental Disabilities assistance and Bill of Rights Act Amendment of 1987 (Kemp, Hourcade, Parette, 2000). Each state has its own plan for this. Of course they all have certain requirements such as "the developmental disabilities must have arose prior to age 22 (18 in some states)" (Kemp, Hourcade, Parette, 2000, 20). Lastly, AT devices could be funded by private insurance companies. When this occurs the device then belongs to the family instead of the district.

AT can be very expensive. IEP teams must evaluate whether or not a student needs AT. This came about from the IDEA Amendment of 1997. If a student should need an AT, most funding for this should come from IDEA. This funding does not always cover the cost though. Lack of funding can not be a reason for not purchasing AT that a student needs if it is written on there IEP (Kemp, Hourcade, Parette, 2000). I believe this would force districts to be careful of what AT they do put on the IEP because whatever is on there must be done by the district.


Resources:
Kemp, C., Hourcade, J., & Parette, H. (2000). Building an initial information base: Assistive technology funding resources for school-aged students with disabilities. Journal of Special Education Technology, 15(4), 15- 24.

Week 6: Sensory Impairments and Assistive Technology

Computers have come along way in helping those who have sensory impairments: vision, touch, and hearing. Sensory Impairments have a variety of effects on people. Each impairment have a range from mild to severe. For example, visual impairments could just mean the person is sensitive to light (mild) or they have a complete loss of vision (severe) (Burgstahler, 2010). Assistive technology can be used to support the effects of the impairment. Finding the appropriate assistive technology depends on the persons needs and goals.

Visual impairment is defined as an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects the child's educational performance (IDEA, 2004). There are several things a person with visual impairments can do to use a computer. They can enlarge the display on the screen to six times as large. Also, they can invert the colors so that the background is black and text is white. This reduces strain on the eyes. There are several speech output and enlargement software as well. Two examples of enlargement software are ZoomText Xtra and MAGic (Burgstahler, 2010). Photo copiers can also be helpful to enlarge printed text.

IDEA defines hearing impaired as an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child's educational performance (IDEA, 2010). Assistive technology for the hearing impaired is not as advanced. Most of the basic applications like Microsoft office do not require you to hear in order to use them. On the down side, many multimedia presentations on the internet do not include captions. The National Center for Accessible Media has resources for developers to add captioning to streaming videos (Burgstahler, 2010).

People that have limited sensitivity in their hands have a very hard time using a regular keyboard and mouse. There are several speech input software that can be helpful. Some are Dragon NaturallySpeaking or Voice Xpress (Burgstahler, 2010).  Limited sensitivity can be caused by Peripheral Neuropathy (Burgstahler, 2010).

 

Resources:
Burgstahler, S. (2010). Working together: Computers and people with sesnory impairments. University of Washington, Seattle, WA.

IDEA- http://idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/,root,regs,300,A,300%252E8,

Week 3: Assistive Technology and Autism

Autism is a unique disability. It is one disability that I am really interested in. The amount of families affected by autism is increasing yearly. There is a varied level of autism called the autism spectrum. The spectrum ranges from low functioning to high functioning. Most kids that have autism have trouble communicating.

There are a lot of assistive technology devices out there to help students with autism communicate. iPad's are one technology that are becoming bigger for students who have autism to use. One other popular technology is a Dynavox. This device is much bigger and less affordable than an iPad.