Research a news article
addressing issue of meeting needs of students with special needs and reflect on
the implications for teaching, learning, and technology.
Matching assistive technology tools to individual needs
Nowadays,
Assistive Technology offers some great tools, that if used correctly and with
planning and care, they might be extremely helpful and effective in meeting the
needs of students with learning disabilities. It definitely has the potential to
enhance the quality of life of those students by providing them with ways to
overcome those difficulties. The appropriate technology for a student with learning
disabilities should be selected based on some careful analysis of:
1. The individual – It is important to take
into account the strengths and weaknesses of the student in areas such as
reading, speaking, listening, math, memory, organization, writing and more.
When the educator examines these areas carefully, it helps identify the areas
where the Assistive Technology can be used. Example: a students that faces difficulties
in reading can benefit more from the use of the audio books.
2. The specific tasks to be performed – A very
important analysis is the one that will determine the task to be performed. Example:
if a student has a great ability in constructing sentences while writing an
essay, but has a hard time organizing them, then a graphic organizer for the essay
would be a helpful task to enhance. Therefore, having good knowledge of your
students, their strengths and weaknesses, in this case is the key to success.
3. The technology – the technology should
be chosen carefully here in an effort to be as effective as possible. Example:
a speech recognition system that would accurately convers the student’s oral
language to written text would improve tremendously the quality of life of a
student with a writing disability.
4. The contexts in which the technology will
be applied – same technology might not be effective in every setting in regards
to students with learning disabilities. It is important to be able to choose the
right technology for the specific settings where it will be applied (home, school,
leisure environments, e.t.c.). Special consideration shoud be given to
determine the appropriateness of the technology to be used in each case and
scenario.
Assistive
Technology is an ongoing process, that should have the educators, parents,
students and other professionals involved, and requires evaluation and
re-evaluation in order to be effective and for the student to benefit in the
maximum level possible.
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