Providing a Helping Hand

54 million people or 20.6 %of Americans have some level of disability.

Free and Appropriate Public Education

• FAPE is a right that must be made available to all eligible students with disabilities Provided at public expense Provided in conformity with the IEP Meet state standards

What the Law Says…..

IDEA is an Entitlement law giving students more services than the general public

Section 504 and ADA are Access laws that provide a “level playing field” for persons with disabilities.

The Assistive Technology Act of 2004 (AT Act), administered by the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), is intended to improve the provision of assistive technology to individuals with disabilities through comprehensive statewide programs of technology-related assistance.

Disabilities by category….

• Autism• Emotional disability• Hearing impairment• Multiple disabilities• Severe sensory

impairment• Developmentally

delayed• Orthopedic

impaired

• Specific learning disability

• Speech/language impairment

• Traumatic brain injury• Visual impairment• Other heath impaired• Preschool (moderate

delay, severe delay, speech delay)

Planning for students with disabilities

Each public school child who receives special education and related services must have an Individualized Education Program (IEP).

The IEP is a legal document. The IEP is developed by a committee. The IEP is reviewed at least annually. The parents have a right to receive a copy of the IEP

within five school days after the meeting is held.

Least Restrictive Environment

In selecting the most appropriate educational environment, first consideration should be given to the least restrictive environment (LRE). To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities should be educated with their peers in the general education environment. Special classes, separate schooling, or environment should occur only when the nature or severity of the handicap is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.

Location, location, location

Self-contained classroom: a classroom in which one teacher provides instruction to the same pupils for the majority of the pupils’ instructional day.

Resource classroom:  classrooms (sometimes smaller classrooms) where a special education program can be delivered to a student with a disability.

Inclusion

Inclusion is the placement of students with special needs in the general education classroom environment.

Accommodations and Modifications

Accommodations – allow access to the current level of

instruction in the classroom

Modifications– change the curriculum while still focusing on

the content area being taught

What is Assistive Technology?

“any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially, off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of children with disabilities.

Necessity: The mother of Inventions

Professor Stephen Hawkin, himself perhaps the most famous assistive technology user described assistive technology, as "a bridge to independence".

*Dentures made by Etruscan craftsmen in the sixth or seventh century B.C.

*Sergius Silus, a veteran of the Second Punic War (218-201 B.C.) against Carthage, had an "iron hand" made to replace the hand he lost in battle.

*Artificial leg made by the Romans (circa 300 B.C.) of wood and metal parts that was found recently near the Capua area of Italy.

*Drinking tubes (in effect, "straws"), apparently invented for more convenient drinking of beverages by the early Sumerians, depicted in art from the Bahrain area of the Arabian Gulf dating from about 2000 B.C

What are the types of devices used in Assistive Technology

AT may be organized into a system of low-tech, medium-tech and high-tech tools and strategies that match a person’s needs, abilities and tasks.

Learners/ teachers/parents pick and choose from the system the appropriate tools for the situation.

Low Tech

Refers to unsophisticated devices and largely non-electronic devices, many which can be produced from local materials:

1. pencil grips 2. book holders 3. texture boards 4. reading stands 5. educational toys and games

Medium Tech

Devices are more complicated, many of which can be manufactured locally, such as :

1. hearing aids 2. speech trainers 3. Braille paper and styluses 4. tape recorders 5. magnifying reading glasses

High Tech

Devices involve the use of sophisticated communication and environmental control systems that are electronically based.

Increasing variety of methods of adapting the computer through the use of special needs peripherals and/or software.

Devices: Complex or Simple

Assistive Technology vs Understanding by Design

The universal design approach is to create products and/or environments that are designed, from the onset, to accommodate individuals with a wider range of abilities and disabilities than can be accommodated by traditional applications.

Assistive technology programs for the individual, while Understanding by Design looks at the bigger picture.

Resources

http://www.pluk.org/Pubs/PLUK_ATguide_269K.pdf

http://standards.gov/assistivetechnology.cfm http://www.harlingen.isd.tenet.edu/specialed/

assistive_technology/Assistive_Technology_Handbook.pdf

http://www.krugerlab.dsu.edu/ppt/Parent%20Workshop.ppt

References

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Ashton, T. (2000). Assistive technology. Journal of Special Education Technology, 15(1), 58-59. Basham, J. D., Israel, M., Graden, J., Poth, R., & Winston, M. (2010). A comprehensive approach to RTI: Embedding universal design for learning and

technology. Learning Disability Quarterly, 33(4), 243-255. Berkeley, S. & Lindstrom, J. (2011). Technology for the struggling reader: Free and easily accessible resources. Teaching Exceptional Children, 45(4), 48-55. Boone, R. & Higgins, K. (2007). The role of instructional design in assistive technology. Reading Research Quarterly, 42 (1), 135-40. doi:10.1598/RRQ Bryant, B., Bryant, D., Shih, M. & Seok, S. (2010). Assistive technology and supports provision: A selective review of the literature and proposed areas of

application. Exceptionality 18(1), 203-213. doi:1080/09362835/2010.513925 Chan, S., Foss, B. & Poisner, D. (2009). Assistive technology for reading. Intel Technology Journal, 13(3) 168-187. Dalton, E. & Roush, S. (2010). Assistive Technology and educational and technological standards and teacher competencies in relation to evidence-based

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Judge, S. (2000). Accessing and funding assistive technology for young children with disabilities. Early Childhood Education Journal, 28(2), 125-131. Kennedy, M., & Deshler, D. (2010). Literacy instruction, technology, and students with learning disabilities: Research we have, research we need. Learning

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