assistive_technology

**Introduction to Assistive Technology:**
Assistive technology is defined under IDEA as "any item, piece of equipment or product system whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified or customized that is used to increase, maintain or improve the functional capabilities of children with disabilties."

In other words, assistive technology is any device that helps a child with a disability to achieve in the classroom.

Take a look at the following resources to get a more general idea of what assistive technologies are. Why is it important for all teachers to be familiar with assistive technologies?

@http://www.pluk.org/AT1.html

@http://atto.buffalo.edu/registered/ATBasics/Foundation/intro/index.php


 * Part One:**

We are going to research the following questions for four categories of assistive technologies. You will be divided into groups (sign up on Google Doc) and will work with three or four other people (you may work with members of the other section of this class) to answer the questions:


 * How does this technology help the students who use it?
 * How might this technology be used in the classroom?
 * What are some of the challenges in using this technology
 * What are some strategies for overcoming the challenges of implementation?

I have created a wiki site with a page for each assistive technology that we will study. Make each of these questions a discussion thread in the discussion tab of the wiki page for the technology that you have chosen to research with your group and discuss with your group members. Use the following resources to help you (you may use other resources as well):


 * Speech to Text (Voice recognition)**

Demo: @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIK7I1E5Kks

@http://www2.edc.org/NCIP/vr/VR_Fundset1.html

@http://www.e-bility.com/articles/voice_recognition.php

@http://www.apt.gc.ca/wat/wb14300E.asp?pId=280


 * Text to Speech**

Demo: @http://www.donjohnston.com/media/flash/product_demo/readoutloud/index.html

@http://www.cast.org/system/galleries/download/pdResources/tts.doc

@http://www.readingonline.org/articles/balajthy2/

@http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?i=34475&CFID=1553438&CFTOKEN=73550836


 * Cognitive Disability Devices**

@http://www.biausa.org/at.htm

@http://www.cosys.us/

@http://www.evengrounds.com/blog/day-of-person-with-cognitive-disability


 * Alternative and Augmentative Communication**

Demo: @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4GAX-IXE_k

@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmentative_and_alternative_communication

@http://aac.unl.edu/yaack/d0.html

**Part Two:**
After answering the questions provided above with your group do the following:

You and your team mate(s) work at the local elementary school. You’ve just received an e-mail from your principal stating that a new student will be added to your team next Tuesday. The principal informs you that this student has an IEP, but is mainstreamed for all of her classes. The biggest concern for you is the fact that this student utilizes an [insert the assisive technology you've been assigned here] and no one in your team has any background knowledge of this technology.

You have 6 days to familiarize yourself with the assistive technology before your student arrives. Your job is to learn what [insert assistive technology you have been assigned] is so you can prepare to meet the needs of your new student.

You will be creating a tip sheet for you to use as a team and to share with any additional teachers or staff that will be interacting with this student (IE: gym teacher, custodian, etc). The following items must be addressed in your tip sheet:

What is this technology?

How does this technology help the students who use it?

How might this technology be used in the classroom?

What are some challenges in implementing this technology?

What are some strategies for overcoming these challenges?

As a team, you will research the questions provided in the task. Seeing as you only have 6 days to familiarize yourself with this assistive technology, it is imperative that you use your time wisely. It is recommended that you divide the questions evenly amongst yourselves, realizing that some team members may have to research multiple questions.

You are required to create a tip sheet that is comprehensive, yet brief. Be sure to make your tip sheet is user-friendly and to avoid using too much jargon, as this tip sheet will be used by various staff members at your school. You are responsible for including accurate, up-to-date information in your tip sheet. Be sure to include reliable sources in your tip sheet for staff members to find additional information.

**Submission:**
The wiki can be found here. You must ensure that you are signed in when you edit the wiki/tip sheet. You will be able to edit without signing in, but if you do not sign in then your team and principal will not be able to see who made contributions to the tip sheet.

Your principal has already set up pages for each assistive technology that will be reviewed. Once you navigate to the wiki you will see four assistive technologies listed in the left side bar. Click on the technology you have chosen to navigate to the page that you will edit. Notice that you are on the "page" tab. In order to edit this page simply click the "edit" button in the upper-right-hand corner and then type in the same way you would in creating a Word document - make sure that you select "save" when are finished editing. By next week this page should serve as your tip sheet that will be shared with the remainder of the school.

In addition, there is a discussion tab. If you want to communicate with your team about what should be included on the page then you can do that here. You might discuss adding, deleting or combining ideas, as well as format and clarity of message. Make sure that you discuss on the discussion tab associated with the page for the technology you have chosen.

There is also a "history" tab. This is where your principal can see who contributed to the wiki/tip sheet and what that person contributed so there is no need to put your name next to your contributions to the tip sheet. You can also use the history tab to look at previous versions of the "page". Therefore, if you delete something from the "page" and then later realize that you would like to use it then you can find the previous version in the "history" tab.�