Assistive Technology

“Assistive technology is technology used by individuals with disabilities in order to perform functions that might otherwise be difficult or impossible. Assistive technology can include mobility devices such as walkers and wheelchairs, as well as hardware, software, and peripherals that assist people with disabilities in accessing computers or other information technologies. A formal, legal definition of assistive technology was first published in the Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1988 (The Tech Act). This act was amended in 1994; in 1998, it was repealed and replaced with the Assistive Technology Act of 1998 ("AT Act"). Throughout this history, the original definition of assistive technology remained consistent” (AccessIT).

Assistive technology can include Access Technologies and Adaptive Technologies. Access Technologies include those applications of technologies that provide a way for students with disabilities to better "access" classroom instructional materials provided as part of the general curriculum.” Some examples are alternate keyboards and page turners. ”Adaptive Technologies include customized systems that help individual students move about, communicate in, and control their environments. They are designed specifically for persons with disabilities; devices which would seldom be used by non-disabled persons” (Buffalo Education). Some examples are teletypwriters and DynaMyte (portable communication device).

It is very obvious that some students need assistive technology. In other cases it is hard to tell that a student has some sort of learning disability. I think that the first step in helping students with learning disabilities is to actually give each teacher a list of their students who have learning disablities. This list should state the exact type of learning disability that each student has. The one year that I taught at a local Middle School here on Guam, I had several students that I was not aware of had learning disabilities. I did not find out that these students had learning disabilities until I had to fill out Individualized Education Plans for each of them on various occasions. In all actuality, I thought that a lot of them were just dumb and lazy. As a teacher it did not do me any good not knowing that at least one quarter of my students had some sort of learning disability. If I would have known about this from the beginning of the school year, I would have been better able to come up with ways to address their various learning needs.

Also on Guam, we have the problem of lack of funds. Guam Public School System just does not have the money to provide these nice types of assistive technology devices that were shown in Enabling Dreams. I think that these types of assistive technology devices are great and can really help the students get their education and a career, but as of right now it is just not a reality on Guam. The students are lucky if they have a motorized wheelchair to get around in. The one blind girl at the school that I was teaching at walked around with a cane and an old brail machine.

Another problem, is the lack of properly trained teachers. I admit that has a new teacher I had no clue what to do with some of my students that had severe learning disabilities. I had one student that was extremely autistic and would just sit in the back of the room with his one to one aides. He could not talk at all and at times he got physically aggressive. I did not know what kinds of activities to give him, and most of the time he was not even in class or the one to one aides had to take him out of class early, because he was acting up. The schools need to give more training to the teachers and the one to one aides on how to best assist these students.

When structuring a lesson to include opportunities for disabled students to be successful participants, the teacher needs to know and pay careful attention to what the limitations are of the students. The teacher also needs to make sure that the students have the proper assistive technologies needed to complete the tasks at hand. If I were to revise one of my lesson plans to include students with disablilities, I would first find out as much as I could about those specific learning disabilities. Then I would come up with ways that I could modify my lesson plan to include these students.

Nowadays more and more students with learning disabilities are being mainstreamed into the classroom. This is why it is important that teachers modify their lesson plans to make accommodations for these students. The criteria that I would use to determine whether or not my revised lessons were successful would be to first look over each student’s Individualized Education Plans. Then I would track their progress on a regular basis to see if they were meeting their IEPs.

References
AccessIT. “The National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education.” May 13, 2009 http://www.washington.edu/accessit/articles?109

Buffalo Education. “Introduction to AT.” May 13, 2009
http://atto.buffalo.edu/registered/ATBasics/Foundation/intro/introbasic.php