Assistive Technology

Assistive Technology By Malissa Perine Summer 2015 ED505

What is assistive technology? • Assistive technology (AT) is a term used to describe any device or service that increases, maintains, or improves the functional performance of an individual with a disability. • It is important to point out that AT consists of two components: devices and services. • In order for AT to be effective students, parents, and educators must have access to the appropriate devices and the proper services and support.

AT: It’s the Law! • The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has continued to define the responsibilities of public schools to provide special education and related services to students with disabilities. • Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) requires that: are provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction; • are provided at no cost to parents; • are in conformity with an individual education program or individual family service plan which meets the requirements of Section 007; • meet the standards of the state, including the requirements of this Rule; and • include birth to age five, elementary or secondary school education.

AT: It’s the Law! • The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in areas of employment, public services, public accommodations, transportation, and communication. It guarantees that: • auxiliary aids and services contained in Title II includes the following: • Qualified interpreters, note takers, transcription services, written materials, telephone handset amplifiers, assistive listening systems, telephones compatible with hearing aids, closed caption decoders, open and closed captioning, TTYs, videotext displays, or other effective methods of making aurally delivered materials available to individuals with hearing impairments; • Qualified readers, taped tests, audio recordings, large print and Braille materials, or other effective methods of making visually delivered materials available to individuals with visual impairments; • Acquisition or modification of equipment or devices; and, • Other similar services and actions.

AT for the Hearing Impaired • Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) • A specially trained CART operator uses a transcription machine to record all spoken text. The text is displayed either on a computer monitor or projected on a screen. • One benefit of this system is that all speech is recorded, not just that of the teacher. This allows the hearing impaired student to keep up with comments from other students, and participate more fully in the classroom. • Another benefit is that there is a written record of everything said in the classroom. The system is more common in colleges and universities. Recently, a high school student was awarded the right to a CART system in California. http://www.documents.dgs.ca.gov/oah/seho_decisions/2006110090.pdf • The benefits this system can provide for hearing impaired students may soon outweigh the costs involved for equipment and the operator.

AT for the Seeing Impaired Refreshable Braille Notetaker Like a small computer, these notetakers can be used for word processing, accessing the internet, computer games, calculator, spread sheet, address book and schedule and recording voice messages. Recently, braille notetakers have started to be used as GPS devices for travel by the blind and visually impaired user.

AT for the Learning Disabled • Audio Players and Recorders • Often times, students with learning disabilities benefit from hearing text as they read. Many e-books have audio files, and smartphones and tablet computers come with text-to-speech software that can read aloud anything on your child’s screen. • A student who struggles with taking notes can record a lesson and listen to it at home in order to process information the teacher went over in class

AT for the Physically Disabled Expanded keyboards Expanded keyboards have larger keys placed less closely together. Key labels are usually bigger and more clear. This way, the number of typing errors is reduced. Expanded keyboards can help with learning the alphabet or to use a computer. They can also be operated using toes instead of fingers in some cases.

Assistive Technology