Our assignment this week was to look at
Chapter 15 in our book to briefly describe how you would use assistive
technology for student with special needs. It is important to remember that
technology is a wonderful recourse for teachers to use with special needs. I
think we often forget this and tend to not use our recourses to the benefit of
all students.
Mild Disabilities
Students who have mild disabilities often have difficulty retaining
information. For these students software like JumpStart Kindergarten Reading,
Simon Sounds it Out, and FastForward from Scientific Learning are wonderful recourses
because they focus on teaching children a specific skill. The website http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/interact-read.htm
is a great website to use because it has a list of interactive websites for all
subject areas. Also http://www.nlvm.usu.edu
has a lot of online math manipulative for students to use. Students with
mild disabilities really thrive when using interactive websites.
Moderate and Severe Disabilities
Students who have moderate to severe
disabilities are in need of life skills. It is important for them to learn
things like personal hygiene, social skills, shopping, making change, time
management, and using public transportation. I found a wonderful website, http://www.ocali.org/up_archive_doc/spectrum_apps_asd.pdf,
with several apps for students with Autism, but can be used with any student
under this category.
Physical disabilities
Students with physical disabilities are students who have some
physical disability. For these students, it maybe beneficial to find
alternative methods for accessing the keyboard, mouse, and/or monitor. Students
can use Joysticks that function just like a mouse. They can also use a special
keyboard with bigger buttons or an on screen keyboard. Some helpful website
are: www.ablenetinc.com,
www.adaptivation.com,
and www.orcca.com.
Sensory Disabilities
Students with sensory disabilities are
students who have impairment with their vision or hearing. For students with impaired
hearing I would try these apps: iSign,
ASL
Dictionary, Signing Math Dictionary, Signing Science Dictionary, and Sign 4 Me. All of these apps use sign
language and can benefit students who have trouble hearing. For student who are
blind or have trouble seeing I would use text-to-braille converters, CCTV
magnification systems, and screen readers.
At-risk Behaviors/Situations
For these students they need a lot of positive reinforcement,
something that can motivate students to do their best with their behavior and
academics. There are several apps that promote behavior management. Some of the
behavior management apps are: Behavior
tracker pro and iReward. Some educational websites that
will engage these students are www.brainpop.com,
www.donjohnston.com,
and www.tomsnyder.com,
because they provide immediate feedback.
Gifts and Talents
Students who are considered gifted and talented are those
students who need to be challenged in the classroom. They need to be engaged in
activities that will help them grow academically. For these students I would
let them use golgster.com, prezi.com, and www.hoagiesgifted.org. All of these
websites can all be used to challenge students. You can use glogster and prezi
to extend your lesson. Students will love to complete and share their glog and
prezi. These are great ways to challenge your students!
References:
Roblyer, M.D. & Doering, A.H. (2012). Integrating
educational technology into teaching
6th edition. Columbus, Ohio: Merrill Prentice Hall.
