Assistive TechnologyBy

Thad Prater

Assistive Technology

• Assistive technology is any tool that helps student with disabilities complete a task more quickly, or independently.

• Assistance with this technology may also be provided to support the teacher or the student in tech support, demonstration, or training.

• This technology may be expensive, or simple, and of little cost.

The Law• Assistive Technology is protected by the Americans with

Disabilities Act (ADA)and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

• These laws mandate that technology devices and services be considered for each child with a disability.

• Each students Individual Education Plan (IEP) should reflect use of these devices as well as other information that gives incite to level of students ability.

• They also require schools to provide such assistance if it is

needed to secure equal access. (disabilitylawcenter.org 2014).

Assistive Technology in Alabama

• In Alabama this technology is covered under the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services and the use of STAR program that deals with Alabama’s Assistive technology Act 1998 and amended in 2004.

• The goal is to allow children and adults with disabilities to reach potential through the access and use of assistive technology devices and services.(rehab.alabama.gov 2014)

Hearing Impaired• The Audisee is a device designed to gain better recognition of speech reading and hearing. It

was a developed by 2 parents who have a deaf son. The basic hardware of the Audisee is a duel transmitter worn on the teach with a microphone for the FM element and a camera for the visual. The system is portable and the student can gain 35% more information. It is portable, light-weight and powered by a long life battery or AC plug. The devise is a one time price but saves schools in the long run due to limiting the number of oral interpreters (michdhh.org 2014)

Seeing impaired• Optical Character Recognition System• OCR technology allows blind and visually impaired persons ability to scan printed

text and speak it back or save it to a computer. This technology does not allow for graphics, photographs, graphs or had written assignments to be able to interpreted at this time.

• The OCR converts the print into characters and words, then speaks the text. It also can correct spelling and store the information in electronic form on a computer or the memory within the system itself. It can also converted to word processing and spreadsheet that can be accessed by other assistive devices. The cost of these devices are $1,300 to $2,000 or if bound with PC can cause between $4,800 to $5,500 (American Foundation for the Blind 2014)

Learning Disabled• The term learning disability covers a wide

range of difficulties that can be associated with education. Assistive technology cannot cure disabilities but it can help one operate to his fullest potential. The focus is on strengths rather than weakness.

• In most cases it is the people that work with the children that make most decisions on assistive technology (Davis Barnard-Brak &Arredondo 2013).

Options for Learning Disabled• Learning disabled can be given technology they can use quickly and with relative

ease. Some of those examples are as follows.Built-in Options:• Apple and Microsoft have a number of features within their products such as

magnification, onscreen keyboards, filter keys for motor control problems, speech to text and more. Their word processors are valuable in that they offer spell checking, and grammar checking that allows for student to focus more on substance.

Electronic Books:• These sources allow for students with reading problems to listen to the text

through CD’s or other digital formats. Word Prediction:• This program allows person to type the first letter of a word and the program gives

a list of words that can be selected and then predicts the next word. This is a helpful for students who cannot write the words needed to express thought but can say them and recognize them.

Concept Mapping/Software for Organizing Ideas:• This allows students to put information in an unorganized way by giving

suggestions to main idea and then they are grouped together. (sc.edu 2013)

Physically Disabled• There are many physical impairments that can be over come by

technologies. These are but a few possibilities that can help give people with physical ailments a chance to achieve education potential.

• Mouth stick: a device that enables users to control input by controlling the stick with their mouth.

• Head wand: similar to the function to the mouth sticks, except in this case the stick is strapped to the head.

• Single-switch access: for people with limited mobility. If the person can only move their head, a switch could be placed to the side of the head that allowed one to click it with head movements. The clicks would then be interpreted using special software.

• Eye tracking: This device can be an alternative for people with no control, or limited control over hand movements. It follows the movement of the eyes and allows navigation through the web with only the eye movements.

• Voice recognition software: These programs enable the user to enter text and sometimes carry out common computer task by simply speaking into the microphone. The computer tries to analyze the users voice as they speak.

References

Alabama's Assistive Technology Resource. (2012). Retrieved August 25,

2014, from http://www.rehab.alabama.gov/individuals-and-families//star

  

Asher, N. (2009). The AudiSee: An audiovisual FM system. Retrieved August

24, 2014, from http://www.michdhh.org/assistive_devices/audisee.html

 

Assistive Technology Fact Sheet. (2014). Retrieved August 24, 2014, from

 

http://disabilitylawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads2/2013/07/FY14-AT-

Factsheet.pdf

 Assistive Technology and Learning Disabilities. (2013, June 28). Retrieved August 25,

 

2014, from http://www.sc.edu/scatp/documents/ATLearningDisabilities.pdf 

 

References Continued

Assistive technologies for people with physical impairments. (2014).

 

Retrieved August 24, 2014, from http://www.gmc-

uk.org/accessibility/assistive_technologies/physical_impairments.asp

 

  Davis, T. N., Barnard-Brak, L., & Arredondo, P. L. (2013). Assistive technology:

 

decision-making practices in public schools. Rural Special Education

 

Quarterly, 32(4), 15-23.

Optical Character Recognition System. (2014). Retrieved August 25,

2014, from http://www.afb.org/info/living-with-vision-loss/using-t

 

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