Making a Difference with Assistive Technology

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