EDUC 477/698O:

Assistive Technology/Universal Design for the General Classroom Settings

Author: Yan Zhu

1. Visit http://www.schwablearning.org/articles.asp?g=4&r=488 and read about assistive Technology Guide for Students with Learning Disabilities. Why assistive technology (AT) devices may enhance the lives of persons with learning problems? Why a person with learning disability should consider using assistive technology?
2. Visit http://www.nls.org/specedat.htm to study how the Public School's Special Education System work as an Assistive Technology Funding Source. Please find how educational services, special supports, and even AT that may be needed by children with disabilities to benefit from the public school's educational system?
3. Visit the simplified Technology for Children with Disabilities website: http://www2.edc.org/NCIP/library/ec/Burkhart.htm Find the general philosophical basis for using augmentative communication with young children and children functioning at young levels.
4. Visit the website about Assistive Technology for People with Mental Retardation, http://thearc.org/faqs/assistqa.html Describes devices that are used by children and adults with mental retardation and other disabilities to compensate for functional limitations and to enhance and increase learning, independence, mobility, communication, environmental control and choice.
5. Visit Disability & Technology website http://home.nas.net/~galambos/tech.htm and find whether it is appropriate to to group "assistive technologies" according to disability?

Answers submitted by Author: Yolanda Brooks

1. AT can enhance the lives of people with disabilities because it can increase their quality of life, help them access places, documents, and explore information they may not have been able to before. AT can also be geared towards the individual needs of the persons requiring it. A person with a learning disability should consider using AT because it increases their self confidence, independence and self esteem. As quoted on the website: as quoted on the website: “AT can advance kids with LD lives. Kids with LD must be able to learn at school and function in other settings — home, work, social, and recreational. AT that is easy to carry around lets them use a bypass strategy wherever they go. A child with LD can write a school report at home on a word processor. He can check for spelling errors at the library with an electronic spell checker or use a calculator to keep score in a game at a friend’s house. AT helps kids “get the job done.”
2. AT can range in price. They can range from a calculator to a computer scanner. Couldn’t find any more of the answer for this question.
3. The general philosophical basis for using augmentative communication with young children and children functioning at young levels is they help to increase communication and interaction for young children with disabilities who may not have any other way to do so. Because communication is directly tied to cognitive learning it is vital to give children opportunities to communicate in whichever they can.
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5. No it isn’t. It’s best to determine the individual needs of the child and then look through the devices/services to see what fits those needs. Although many people look for AT based on the child’s disability label, its best to look based on the needs.