Blog Post #12

What assistive technologies are available to you as a teacher? Select a few and discuss how they may be useful to you.

Assistive technology comes in many shapes and forms. Last semester I did a site visit to the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind for EDU400 and I got to see and actually use some of these tools. My guide that day was a man named Stephen Sullivan and he has been legally blind his entire life and has worked at the institute for 20 years. He uses a lot of the technology there to help him with his daily tasks. In my research for this blog post, I stumbled across a great website called EnableMart. It is kind of like an Amazon for assistive technology. It has things as simple as large print keyboards and magnifiers for computer screens as well as more advanced tools. The large print keyboard and magnifier would be very helpful in a classroom that has a student with vision problems. An example is the Headmouse Extreme, which “provides precise and efficient head-controlled access to computers” (EnableMart.com). This particular tool would be extremely valuable with a student with sensory and motor disabilities. This website provides assistive tools for people with a wide range of deficits and disabilities. It has tabs for speech and communication, learning and instruction, vision, hearing, sensory and motor skills, and even assistive technology for the elderly. I would encourage everyone to take a look at this site just to see how much technology is out there that can be used in the classroom or even at home. Some of these tools can make a huge difference in a child’s education and all teachers need to at least be aware of them. – Mitchell Lane

There exist plenty of assistive technology for blind students. There exist Portable Notetakers. They’re lightweight devices that use a speech output rather than a visual one. They can be connected to printers and computers and are usually equipped with a special, braille keyboard. However, there do exist QWERTY keyboards for those who prefer that style of keyboard. There also exist screen readers which reads aloud everything that is on a computer screen. This includes text, icons, and even drop-down menus. There are also digital book readers which are sort-of like audiobooks and there are also various magnification devices that help those who may not be blind, but are still considered visually impaired. Here's a link to all those devices mentioned as well a list of well-known products that are commonly used by the blind. - Jeffrey Brazeal

The concept of teaching mathematics to the blind seems a little far fetched, but is something that should not be overlooked. As teachers, we may encounter students with special needs and we will have to figure out how to handle that. In the video (How to teach math to blind students) they explain how that even numbers have their own braille symbols and all it takes is just a little extra mileage to help the students understand the concepts. This is more true with Trigonometry than anything else, as having to feel the shapes takes a little longer than simply looking at the object. Texas is one of the leading areas in the teaching math to the blind thanks the efforts of Susan Osterhaus, a Secondary Math Teacher at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Susan brought this to the attention of the 10th International Congress on Mathematical Education, which was held in Copenhagen, Denmark on July 4-11, 2004. As we can see, this is something that became a huge deal in the teaching community and is something that needs to continue to be looked after. The end of video, however, had a statement that affects children of all kinds. The statement is that when a student has positive feedback and encouragement, then the student will do better in school. - Gregory Olsen

In the Video “Teaching a Mother What Her Deaf/Blind Child is Learning on the iPad” was an interesting view, and rather hilarious. It is a teacher, I assume, teaching a person, a mother I assume, how their child uses the iPad. First off, it is interesting to watch a normal person trying to figure out how to use it for the first time even when it is just sliding to the next screen. The difficulty that she was experiencing is only increased drastically by the fact that the student is blind or deaf. I remember when I first got my HTC One, I had no clue how to handle any of the devices or even get it to sign into the internet. Turning it on was a chore, I couldn’t find the button for 30 minutes. It is amazing that there are students out there that are figuring out how to not only navigate an iPad simply by touch and sound alone, but also can figure out how to type on the device. - Gregory Olsen

There are a lot of assistive technologies out there for use in the classroom as a teacher. I have found a program called word talk that I think would be useful when using Microsoft word in the classroom. This software can help students with reading and writing difficulties. Some of the features of this software is that it reads the text in the document as well as highlighting the text as it reads allowing for the student to follow along. There are numerous options that allow for customization. For access to this software go here: http://www.wordtalk.org.uk/Home/. - John McPeek

Another interesting assistive technology that I found is called speedtype. Speedtype is software that is used to make typing easier for those that struggle with it. Speedtype is an abbreviation expanders otherwise known as shorthand. With this software those who have difficulty with typing or those that are slow can increase their output of word processing. By decreasing the time in which it take them to put a word document together this program could potentially help self-esteem and give them time for other projects. – John McPeek