Assistive Tech

Use of Computer Technology to Help Students with Special Needs
by: Hasselbring,T., Glaser, C.
The Future of Children
CHILDREN AND COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY
Vol. 10. No. 2 - Fall/Winter 2000

The use of computer technology has come a long way since computers were first built. The technology we have today there seems to be no problem finding what we need on the web, just type it in and there are thousands of web pages that pop up for you to look at. Even though we have come so far we still need to look and search harder to find ways the help children with either learning disabilities or special needs to find away to learn. Have you ever asked yourself what if I was born with a disability that stopped me from learning what might I used to help me further my education? Just because someone is handicapped there is ways for him or her to learn. Upon reading this article I did not know that more than half of all the students receiving special services were males. Why is that? Word processing software has helped students with disabilities to be able to write, it helps the ones who need to spend a significant amount of time rewriting a passage to communicate and idea clearly. It also helps students fine-tune their ability to write legibly. Word prediction software helps the student’s type much faster, by typing part of the word and then spelling out the rest. In communication technologies the student can type out a question and it is read aloud to the teacher. This device is called augmentative and alternative communication. This helps make it possible for individuals with poor speech or no speech over come their communication problems. There are many kinds of special devices that students can use today to learn the skills they need to excel in the classroom. As teachers or future teachers we need to understand these devices more. The big question are we willing to learn and help these students succeed further in there and abilities to learn?





After watching this video I know a lot more about people with disabilities that can use computers to learn. It shows different screens, keyboards and many more applications dealing with computers.