Assistive Technology Assignment

Mild Disability Students with mild disabilities can vary on the spectrum from learning disabilities, emotional issues, to mentally challenged. The most important areas of focus when dealing with students with mild disabilities are reading, writing, memory, and retention (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). Many of these students have issues in only one area of the course of study (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). Common assistive devices for these students are the NEO Writers. Below is a website that can be helpful for students with a mild disability that focuses on math remediation. http://www.mathplayground.com/games.html Moderate & Severe Disabilities Students with severe disabilities oftentimes have issues in several areas of the core curriculum. Many students that are affected by severe disabilities must focus on daily living skills (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). Teachers working with these students will need a vast array of assistive technology in order to best meet their needs. Alternative keyboards are one of the common assistive devices when meeting the needs of students with severe disabilities (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). Listed below is a link to software that helps in servicing students with these special needs. http://www.jubalearning.com Physical Disabilities Student’s affected by a physical disabilities can have difficulties with fine or gross motor movement (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). Assistive technology can include the student’s wheelchair or any type of modification to aide in the student’s learning process. Students with severe disabilities may have wheelchairs that are outfitted with several devices that help aide the student complete daily tasks. Listed below is a link that aide’s students with severe disabilities. http://www.especialneeds.com/solutions-students-with-severe-disabilties-software.html Sensory Disabilities Student’s that are affected with hearing or vision loss or impairment have various assistive technology devices that aid in their academic performance. Some of the more common devices for students dealing with vision impairments are canes, print conversions, and screen readers (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). Those affected by hearing loss may have access to FM amplifiers within the classroom setting (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). Listed below are two links that provide aide for hearing or visionary impaired students. https://www.microsoft.com/enable/guides/vision.aspx http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/pages/assistive-devices.aspx At Risk Behaviors/Students At risk student populations may need a variety of assistive devices and those devices can differ greatly. Some student’s may simply need access to the Internet while others may need more comprehensive remediation techniques in order to compete globally. Listed below is a resource that can help aide at-risk students. www.google.com Gifted & Talented Students that are intellectually gifted can greatly benefit from a variety of assistive tools. These tools are meant to help with scaffolding and expand concepts taught within the classroom. Ultimately, these tools encourage creative thinking, brainstorming, and problem solving (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). An amazing device that gifted and talented student’s seem to excel with are the iPad. Listed below is a software tool beneficial when facilitating gifted and talented students. http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/