Assistive technologies reading assignment
- 1. Assistive Technology refers to products, devices or other equipment, whether acquired commercially, modified or customized that are used to maintain, increase or improve the functional capabilities of individuals that are disabled.
- 2. There are many laws concerning assistive technology and students with special needs, one of which is The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 section 508 required that all federal agencies’ electronic and information technology services be accessible to persons with disabilities. Another law is the Assistive Technology Act of 1998 that provides programs and grants to help states develop permanent, comprehensive, programs of technology related assistance. This act helps individual states develop the needed infrastructure to deliver assistive technology. More recently is the Assistive Technology Act of 2004 that redirected the funding from the states to individuals by providing direct aid to persons with disabilities. This act also focused on the delivery of assistive technology to disabled person rather than the development of delivery systems.
- 3. Assistive Technology Categories:Cognitive and Learning Aids are assistive technology aids that give access to educational materials and instruction in school and other types of learning environments. An example of a cognitive and learning aid is a memory skills aid<br />Communication aids are products and equipment related to writing, speech and other methods of communication that make communication with others easier. An example is a voice output augmented communication device for a person with limited speech ability used to help them communicate more effectively with teacher, family, etc.<br />Computer Access aids are hardware and software that allows persons with disabilities to use and interact with computers. An example of a computer aid is a voice activated system for computer that allows and person with limited use of hands to write without the need for a keyboard.<br />Daily living aids are self help devices that assist persons with disabilities in their daily living activities. Grab bars in shower/tub is an example of a daily living aid.<br />Environmental aids are systems that allow access and control to various environmental devices such as lights, televisions, appliances, etc. A home equipped with electronic controls for doors, lights, television and radio to promote greater independent function of the disabled person in the home is an example of different types of environmental aids.<br />Hearing and listening are devices that assist hearing impaired and deaf individuals. An example of a hearing and listening aid is a deaf person who uses a text telephone for business and has an entrance that is equipped with a signal light to let them know someone has entered the room.<br />Mobility and positioning aids are adaptive seating and positioning devices that aid people with physical disabilities. An example of mobility and positioning aid is equipping a wheelchair with strapping to help prevent lower body injuries and at the same time giving greater upper body support and security while the wheelchair is in motion.<br />Recreation, leisure and sensory aids are products that assist people with disabilities as they play games, sports or participate in leisure activities. Many different Wii games can serve as examples of sensory aids. For example a person that cannot participate in an actual tennis match on a court can play tennis via the Wii game console and remotes giving them a sense of what the game is really like.<br />Switches provide access to items that use switches to function. People with fine motor skill impairment cannot use small switches therefore a large switch is adapted to function with the device being used. A switch could be used to attach to a fan that that otherwise the person with fine motor skill impairment could not turn on. <br />Vision and reading aids assist persons that have visual impairments. Using a monitor with large print for a person with a visual impairment is an example of a visual aid.<br />4. The SETT process and how it is used: <br />The SETT process is a framework for determining what a student should be considered a candidate for Assistive Technology devices or services. The SETT process helps to determine what students need AT, what kind of AT is best for them, who is involved in the decision making and what data the multidisciplinary team should collect to help make decisions and recommendations. SETT also assists with identifying the most useful assistive technologies for the person with the disability.<br />5. Case Studies:<br />After reading the case studies the one that most interested me was the Middle/High School scenario with Wanda. Wanda is an eighth grader that is orthopedically impaired. She walks without problems but tires easily and she cannot write legibly for more than a short period. She is enrolled in honors classes and what astonished me the most was that the staff considered the possibility of taking her out of the honors classes because of her writing difficulties. I think that rather than considering taking out of the honors classes they should have focused on what they could do to accommodate her needs, such as voice recognition software, that would allow her to not have to write and would keep her at the levels she should be and allow her to excel at her schoolwork. I learned that both Wanda and her parents are keeping their expectations high and expecting her to attend college; by them focusing on those aspirations and working with the occupational therapist she will be able to attend college and be successful.<br />6. Students requiring ATs<br />If I have a disabled student I will look to the student’s IEP or their 504 document to find out if they required assistive technology services. I would also contact the student’s IEP and the exceptional children staff at my school for assistance with my student’s AT needs. If I need further assistance I will uses the resources of the county Exceptional Department, Assistive Technology specialist, Instructional Technology specialist, and the speech, physical and occupational therapist for the school system. There are also special need libraries, disability organizations and websites to which I could turn to t find more information.<br /> Extra Credit:<br />There are many ways to change how your computer functions to make it more accessible to those with hearing or vision impairments. The following are seven different ways I found that you can change the way your computer functions for those with the aforementioned disabilities:<br />All of these actions can be performed in the control panel of most computers:<br />For hearing impairments:<br />Ease of access section
- 4. You can turn on visual notification for sound (Sound Sentry) and the computer uses visual cues to replace sounds cues.
- 5. You can turn on text captions for spoken dialogue allowing you to read what the speakers in a video are saying.For visual impairments:<br />Appearance and Personalization section
- 6. Display you can change the size of text and other items on your screen by enlarging the screen to medium 125% or large 150% you can also use the magnifier tool which zooms anywhere on the screen and makes everything in that area larger.
- 7. Turn on Clear Type text which is software technology from Microsoft that improved the readability on LCD screens.
- 8. Ease of Access/ Ease of Access Center
- 9. After in the Ease of Access Center you go to the “Make the computer easier to see” section. From there you can:
- 10. Turn on Narrator; where the narrator reads aloud any text on the screen.
- 11. Turn on Audio description; you can hear descriptions of what is happening in videos.
- 12. Turn on magnifier which can zoom anywhere on the screen, and makes everything larger in that area.Word and other documents let you change the size of the document you are viewing making it easy to adjust the settings and make the document appear larger.<br />