For
most people, technology is used as a way to make everyday life convenient. It
is no secret that technology has transformed the way we live today. However, newly
advanced technology devices continue to be a growing trend exposed to users
around the world. Nearly all of these users today use technology as a tool for discovering,
social networking, communicating, and researching. Technology has become a very useful and helpful
tool for students with special needs. As teachers, we must also accommodate and
modify certain lessons so that students with special needs will be able to
participate in the lesson and not feel neglected.
While
viewing the 10-minute educational video clip, How Assistive Technology
Enables Dreams, it reveals how
technology influences the lives of individuals with special needs. Susanna Sweeney- Martini, the main person in
the video, is a young lady who happens to be a college student who relies on an
assortment of assistive technology tools every day. In the video, she explains
the importance of assistive technology and how it contributes to her
achievements in school assignments, sport activities, and communicating with
others. The video clip also shared some inspirational and enlightening stories
of other students with special needs in the elementary, middle, and high school
levels. It explains the different accomplishments these students have achieved
by using the different assistive technology tools to reach his or her full
potential and actually have a sense of belonging amongst their peers. Some
of the assistive technology tools used in the video is: a voice activated
software, customized laptops, and a joystick which provided a new way for
students with special needs to learn, play, communicate, and live their dreams.
(Ellis, 2005)
Students with various learning
disabilities lesson plans should always be modified to ensure a successful
learner outcome. A learning disabled lesson plan should always include a needs
assessment, objectives, materials, teaching methods, lesson content and
structure and assessment. (Kanaitsa & Wistrom, 2011) As a teacher, some
of the steps I would take before I could include a student with special needs
into certain activities or begin teaching, I
would have to go through each child’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or
specific learning requirements. Also, I would want to make sure that the
appropriate and expected lesson modifications and accommodations are being
implemented in the classroom. By creating effective instructional lesson plans
that are motivational, engaging, fun, and in accordance to their IEP, the
students with special needs will be able to effectively join in on the learning
activities.
Growing up, I was aware that life
was different at our house. My father, who was born with
normal hearing, but lost 50% of his hearing during the time Guam was being
liberated. He grew up not wearing a hearing aid and was non-verbal. It was not until
the mid 60’s, when my father and his family moved to San Jose, California. He received
treatments and therapy for his speech and hearing. Eventually, my father was
issued hearing aids and was able to communicate with sign language and verbally
(with some sort of babbling). Because my father had some babbling issues with
his speech, it was always hard for people to understand what he is saying, especially
when he gets excited. I used to always get asked “Do you understand what he is
saying?” “Can you translate to us what he is saying?” and I saw the way people
would take advantage of him in all the wrong ways. So when I became a teenager,
I became my father’s interpreter.
Overall, assistive
technology enhances individual learning and everyday life. Throughout
the world, people with special needs are finding themselves turning toward
these types of technology to help them succeed in their social and educational
life. Assistive technology strives to better a person's experience and make
them feel as if they belong.
How Assistive Technology Enable Dreams
Click Play!
Citations
Ellis,
K. (2005, 02 02). How assistive technology enables dreams. [0].
Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/assistive-technology-enabling-dreams-video.
Kanaitsa,
Wistrom, Elizabeth (updated: 12/9/2011). Student Lesson Plans for Various
Learning Special needs. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.brighthubeducation.com/special-ed-inclusion-strategies/74056-developing-lesson-plans-for-students-with-various-learning-special
needs/. [Last Accessed 12 October 2012].
Tools
for Life. Tools For Life. N.d. none, none. http://www.amacusg.org.
Web. 12 Oct. 20