Blog Post #12

What assistive technologies are available to you as a teacher?

Assistive technology is any object or system that increases or maintains the capabilities of people with disabilities, therefore these would be highly used in special education classes. Despite the high need for these technologies in special education classrooms, they would also be used in any classroom as well. For example, you may have a student who cannot see as well as others, so simply using an enlarged keyboard in the classroom can help.

A lot of assistive technology used in the classroom that most people have heard of are alternate input devices. These alternate input devices allow individuals to control their computers through means other than a standard keyboard or pointing device. These technologies include: alternative keyboards, electronic pointing devices, wands and sticks, joysticks, and touch screens. The one that I foundd most important in a classroom with disabled children would be wands and sticks. Some disabled children have a hard time using their motor skills. So any other alternative in general is good; however, a wand or stick can increase their mobility along with their knowledge. If a student had limited mobility another great assistive technology would be a voice recognition program. These programs allow for students to put data into their computer via command than to use the mouse or keyboard.

While watching, Teaching Math To The Blind, I was incredibly intrigued by how hard it is to teach math to the blind. Although it is difficult it is not impossible. Professor Karshmer explains they use little tiles, like game pieces in Scrabble, that have braille on one side and visible numbers on the other side. These blocks allow blind students to line up the numbers when adding and subtracting. The blocks used in the classroom are put onto a grid that will map onto the visual cortex with a two dimensional math problem. Another thing you can do with the blocks is scan them and the computer will say out loud the number that is on the tile. What an awesome way to teach the blind and it is very creative! I enjoyed learning about this so much because I have never heard of it!

It is so important to teach all your kids to your best ability. If that means using assistive technology, then so be it! These methods and devices are created to help those specific students who are disabled. I would definitely use these in any of my future classroom.