What is technology? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Technology is “the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry” Therefore when we speak of Assistive Technologies or AT we are looking at any type of technological device, place, and/or equipment that benefits a person with a disability that helps them work around their challenges. Assistive Technologies can help people read, write, spell, move from palace to palace, etc. Assistive Technologies come in all shapes, sizes and forms. AT could be a piece of paper with darker lines for a student with a visual impairment to a device that allows a student that does not have the use of his arms to play an instrument, or even a grip corrector on a pencil.
Dragon In my ideal classroom, I would have one-to-one technology utilizing iPads. Having an iPad assigned to every student for classroom and home use would be beneficial. In the classroom iPads could be customized each semester with applications that would meet the needs of the special education students, but would also help all students in the classroom. Students could utilize apps such as Notability, Dragon, and many more to help with note taking and writing skills. IPads would allow for anonymity for the students with needs because all students would have the same apps. Students could have eTextbooks loaded on the iPad and which would allow students to use apps like K3000 by Kurzweil to provide an audio version of the text. It would also students to follow along with the text while listening which enhances learning.
K3000 IPads would also be beneficial for the student at home especially for students without internet access. They could download information to the iPad at school and then study and work with it at home. They could also do their homework offline.
While it is an older technology and might be considered simple it would be extremely beneficial for every student to have their own set of headphones equipped with microphones. Students with speech difficulties could speak into the microphone and then they can be critiqued. Students would be able to play recorded teacher instructions over and over again as many times as needed. Students with reading difficulties could have the text read to them, not just an assignment but for research materials as well. Utilizing the headphones would prevent disruption to another students’ learning.
While it is an older technology and might be considered simple it would be extremely beneficial for every student to have their own set of headphones equipped with microphones. Students with speech difficulties could speak into the microphone and then they can be critiqued. Students would be able to play recorded teacher instructions over and over again as many times as needed. Students with reading difficulties could have the text read to them, not just an assignment but for research materials as well. Utilizing the headphones would prevent disruption to another students’ learning.
Linxy Some applications that I have found to be helpful in the classroom and at home are Linxy by EvenPixel and Newsela. Linxy is a dictionary app which allows you to use the camera to take a picture of the word and the app with give you the dictionary meaning or you can manually enter the word. This app can also give you interesting facts, so it works as an encyclopedia as well. This app is able to work offline, there are more than 400,000 definitions, utilizing Wiktionary and Wikipedia. This is a great app when students are doing research and rather than them coming and asking the teacher or parent for the meaning of a word they can look it up by themselves because looking something up in the dictionary takes so much extra time—just kidding, but students need the instant gratification in today’s world of technology.
Newsela Another great app for Social Studies and/or English classes is Newsela because it is often hard to find high-interest, non-fiction current events for social studies. This not only allows for high-interest current events, but has adjustable reading levels. Newsela is a resource for teachers to assign high-interest non-fictional text and current event articles. The text is available in five different reading comprehension levels. Newsela also has Common Core aligned quizzes that cover the following types of questions: What the Text Says, Central Idea, People, Events & Ideas, Word Meaning & Choice, Text Structure, Point of View/Purpose, Multimedia, Arguments & Claims. The free version of this site allows teachers to track when student complete articles and quizzes, shows class-wide results, allows teachers to compare their students to other Newsela users, and has many of the articles in Spanish. Newsela is accessible at school and at home where the student has access to assigned readings and quizzes.
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