As a teacher dealing with students with
Special Needs it is important to recognize their differences but not treat the
student any differently. As such, we should keep in mind any Assistive
Technology (AT) that could potentially benefit our students, as well as plan
for it in our lesson plans and execution of the lesson. By looking at AT as a
tool to benefit our students and adequately planning for these variants we can
offer a successful learning environment.
Many students with
disabilities have some form of AT whether it is visible or not. According to Netherton
(2006), “Assistive Technology is any piece of equipment or device that may
be used by a person with a disability to perform specific tasks, improve functional
capabilities, and become more independent. It can help redefine what is
possible for people with a wide range of cognitive, physical, or sensory
disabilities.” AT can come in many shapes and sizes from hearing aids and
listening devices to laptop computers, voice recognition software, electric
wheelchairs, or joystick controlled musical instruments as demonstrated in the
video. As such we should be on the lookout for AT in our classroom and how
students utilize it. We don’t want to make a commotion or a big deal, but we
should take the proper steps to understand what helps our students.
Once we have
identified technology that is being used in our classrooms we can adequately
plan. Within our lesson plans we can often make accommodations and
modifications to assist our learners. For example, a student in an electric
wheelchair can be grouped with individuals whose area is easily accessible or
an individual with an assistive hearing device can be placed closer to the
classroom area where most instruction comes from. These are just two methods
that AT paired with good planning can be successful. While looking at the video
we can see that lesson planning came into effect with the first individual, she
was taking an exam utilizing speech to text software. This requires a separate
testing area, and more time allotted, therefore the teacher had to make these
adjustments and plan properly. A well thought out plan would identify the
normal task, a typical accommodation and typical AT. According to Special
Education Technology British Columbia (SETBC), a non-profit organization specializing
in AT, a typical tiered medication would be as follows:
“Typical Task:
·
Responds
to teacher and peer questions
Typical Accommodations:
·
Provide
preferential seating to enhance and encourage interaction
Typical Assistive Technology Solutions
·
Use
picture communication symbols to support interactions (e.g. communication
boards created with
Boardmaker)”
We should keep this in mind in all steps
of planning and execution, our special needs students are not different, and
they just require different methods sometimes.
From an educators
perspective AT is a blessing. I had one student this previous year who required
an enhanced listening device so he could hear what was going on in the
classroom. I incorporated the AT and proximity to instructional location to accommodate
the learner and I offered written assignments instead of verbal assignments
when necessary. However, he never told anyone that his enhanced listening
device was broken. I couldn’t figure out for the longest time why this
individual was getting so frustrated over the smallest things until one day it
dawned on me that it didn’t work. The CRT informed me that it wasn’t in his IEP
so there was nothing that could be done so I paid for a replacement out of my
own pocket anonymously. Once the AT was back in play in my classroom the
student’s behavior was back to well behaved.
It is through the
proper planning and execution that we are able to make the difference and
utilize the AT in our classrooms, turning our classrooms into an inclusive
learning environment instead of making the student feel excluded.
References
Ellis, K. (2005). Assistive Technology: Enabling Dreams [Video
File]. Retrieved June 24, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXxdxck8Gic&feature=youtu.be
Netherton, D. L., & Deal, W. F. (2006). Assistive Technology
in the Classroom. Technology Teacher, 66(1), 10-15.
Special Education Technology British
Columbia (SETBC). Section 6: Adapt Lessons for Technology Integration. (n.d.).
Retrieved June 24, 2015, from http://www.setbc.org/download/LearningCentre/Topics/MakingItWork_Section6.pdf
Hi:
ReplyDeleteYou have a good heart and a good soul. You also write very nicely.
-j-