assistive technologies

Students with Cognitive Difficulties

Student Challenges:
  • Students have difficulty with "reading, writing, memory and retention of information" (Roblyer, 410).
  • Students need "to balance remediation of skill deficits with activities that help develop more creative, higher level thinking skills" (Roblyer, 410).
Strategy 1: Read and Write for Google Chrome
  • How:   Read and Write for Google Chrome is a Chrome Extension, that provides students the ability to read and have passages read to them. Students can review information, highlight what they have read in an engaging and easily accessible way. This would support reading Grade 6 CCSS ELA standards.
Strategy 2: Dragon Speak Naturally
  • How:   Dragon Speak Naturally provides students the ability to speak what they plan to write and have it transcribed correctly for them. This supports student writing, in Grade 6 CCSS ELA standards.

Students with Physical Difficulties

Student Challenges:
  • ​"Agility and mobility" are challenges for students with physical disabilities (Roblyer, 412)
  • Also, these "fine- and gross-motor movement" challenges often "exist concurrently with other disabilities" (Roblyer, 412).
​Strategy 1: IntelliKeys
  • How: According to its website, "IntelliKeys meets the needs of students who face challenges ranging from learning disabilities to significant physical disabilities. The keyboard is flexible enough to meet a variety of access and learning needs. Unlike a keyboard normally attached to a computer, IntelliKeys look and functionality is changeable by sliding in different overlays" (IntelliKeys). IntelliKeys provides access to a computer and allows a student with physical disabilities to interact with literature, such as Grade 6 CCSS ELA.
Strategy 2: Hook and Switch Interface for iPad
  • How:   Hook + Switch Interface allows a student with limited fine motor agility to use switches to work an iPad. This provides access to reading and writing, or responding to storytelling on an iPad. 

Students with Sensory Difficulties

Student Challenges:
  • ​Sensory disabilities generally involve "the loss of hearing or vision" (Roblyer, 413).
​Strategy 1: FM Amplification
  • How:  Students who are deaf can benefit from a sound amplification system whereby the teacher uses a microphone and there are speakers around the room (or in strategic locations) to amplify sound and make is accessible to students. Students are able to access the Grade 6 ELA curriculum, for example, if a teacher were reading a book, or discussing a novel with students.

Strategy 2: SuperNova Screen Reader
  • How:   SuperNova Screen reader provides students who are blind access to information on a computer screen. While this is an expensive tool, it certainly could give those without sight or with limited sight access to computer-based information. This tool would support student access to reading, listening and writing, accessing the Grade 6 ELA curriculum.

At-Risk Students

Challenges:
  • Students with emotional, psychological and other learning disabilities may struggle to focus and learn in a general education setting
  • Strategies, such as alternative settings, or more voice and choice in the ways they can demonstrate mastery of learning can benefit students with these challenges.​
​Strategy 1: Newsela
  • How:   Newsela generates reading passages from current articles, coupled with a variety of questions to assess learning. The lexile level of the passages and quizzes can be adapted to meet the students current reading capability. The variety and daily updating of topics makes this an engaging and topical resource that can be delivered digitally if a student were not able to attend school. This tool provides at-risk students with access to the Grade 6 CCSS ELA curriculum in an appealing way.

Strategy 2: Distance Learning
  • How:  At-Risk Students may have challenges attending school, but a distance learning structure could meet their needs. There are increasing delivery mechanism and school choices that make this option appealing for students with anxiety or a psychological challenge. Distance learning makes the reading, writing, listening, and speaking aspects of Grade 6 CCSS ELA available to at-risk students.

Gifted and Talented Students

Student Challenges:
  • Gifted students need additional support to reach their potential 
  • Technology, coupled with the ability to pursue interests and curiosities more extensively are ways to achieve this challenge.
​
Strategy 1: OER Commons: Child Labor in America
  • How:  One way to meet Gifted and Talented Student learning needs is  “...by providing differentiated instruction” (Roblyer, 415). The Library of Congress created module based on Child Labor in America would allow students to explore child labor from a historical, visual, and reflective manner. This topic would pair well with the novel, Esperenza Rising, which was the focus of the Grade 6 CCSS ELA unit.

Strategy 2: OER Commons: Visualization
  • How:  An additional way to meet the needs of Gifted/Talented students is to provide a “...creative outlet for their work” (Roblyer, 415). OER Commons provides a link to a Visualization unit created by the Utah Education Network. This unit connects the challenge of visualizing a story and representing it using artistic means. This pairs well with the Grade 6 ELA CCSS standards, which calls on students to represent text using digital media.

IntelliKeys USB. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2016, from http://www.synapseadaptive.com/intellitools/new/IntelliKeys_USB.html ​

Roblyer, M. (2016). INTEGRATING EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY INTO TEACHING(7TH ED.). Massachusetts: Pearson.