Assistive Technology: Providing Learning

Opportunities and Access for All Students

Dale Pearce, B.Sc., B. EdAccessibility Services Lakeland College

The Learning CentreLakeland CollegeOctober 22, 2012

Ensures equal access to the

curriculum and educational

services.

What is Assistive Technology? Assistive technology (AT) is a generic term

that includes any piece of equipment that is used to increase efficiency, maintain function, or improve the capability of individuals with disabilities. (ATACP Training 2004)

Simply put …

It is a support to ‘getting the job done’ more effectively and independently.

The focus is on what the device or technology does for the person, not on the device or technology itself.

Assistive technology can support both remedial and compensatory approaches for a student.

Assistive Technology

A compensatory approach (benefits students with more immediate solutions).

Example: A student listens to an audio version of a book for English class to answer questions about it, with the goal of bypassing a reading problem, not learning to read.

A remedial approach. Example: A student listens to an MP3 file of a book or has a

computer reading a scanned version of the book while following along with the text and trying to learn unfamiliar words, designed to improve areas of deficiency.

Assistive Technology

o Persons with disabilities that interfere with communication, learning, social relationships, mobility, and active participation.

o Persons with disabilities are the most common users of assistive technology. This group comprises the largest minority group ever defined.

o While persons with disabilities are the primary demographic for the assistive technology market, this technology is also making it into the mainstream.

Who Uses Assistive Technology?

AT and LS together may be the answer to many student difficulties.

Use LS with students’ strengths (i.e. Memory strength: create mnemonic device to remember parts of an essay).

Use AT to overcome students’ weaknesses (i.e. Essay organization: mind mapping software).

Assistive Technology (AT) and Learning Strategies (LS)

Assistive technology can aid the student in using the LS.

Students should be encouraged to reflect on their learning and the strategies they apply in the learning process.

Students need to develop the language to talk about their learning. These strategies should be explicitly taught.

Can AT & LS be Effective?

Software

Text-to-Speech- Kurzweil 3000

Editing- texthelp Read & Write Gold

Voice Recognition- Dragon Naturally Speaking

Mind Mapping- Inspiration

Inexpensive software for struggling readers.

Freeware (Open Source)

Types

Text-to-Speech

Scans• textbooks• newspaper articles• magazines• reading materials

CD – Classic Literature

• 1,100 titles!

Reads• scanned pages with

formatting retained (.kes format).

• text files (.txt format).• web pages while in

the browser window (html format).

Kurzweil 3000

For individuals with:- learning disabilities- reading difficulties

Improves reading speed and comprehension Highlights text as it is spoken aloud Multisensory approach provides support:

- at school- in the home- at work and in the community

Kurzweil 3000

Beneficial to have students read along with a paper copy (paired reading)- textbook

Study skills:- bookmarks- highlight words- definition, syllables, synonyms, word prediction- sticky notes, text notes, voice notes- audio study notes.

Reading with Kurzweil 3000

Enhance memory:- Multi-sensory study using variety of modalities to enhance memory (see, say, hear, write, color code).

Capitalize on auditory strengths – reviewing aloud.

Capitalize on visual strengths – free up mental energy to focus more on meaning.

Enhance attention – highlighting feature. Compensate for slower reading speed. Enhance visual tracking – highlighting.

Learning Strategies

Editing Software

Screen reader

You can type and it reads:- Back to you after you type;- Back to you while you type.

textHelp! Read and Write Gold

Auditory word prediction:- Good for students who don’t know how to spell words.

Thesaurus Homonym checker Spell Check:

- Dyslexic (b p q d)- First letter errors

Word wizard – looks up topics for you.

textHelp! Read and Write Gold

Useful for students who:

- Have difficulty with the mechanics of writing- Are poor spellers- Need to listen to edit their written work- Need to listen to help with comprehension

textHelp! Read and Write Gold

Speech-to-Text

Speech to text software Good writing tool to get the ideas down Worry about grammar and sentence

structure later Dictate directly into the computer Works with MS Word, WordPerfect, or almost

any Windows program

Dragon Naturally Speaking

15-minute training session

Patience!! Allows hands-free

use of the computer

Have to memorize commands

Mobile unit available, too!

Reads back what you say

Beware the voice!

Dragon Naturally Speaking

Benefits people with:- physical disabilities- fine motor problems- who can verbalize but not write- who have poor spelling- who read well enough to edit their work- not beneficial for those who cannot read what is on the page (i.e. low vision).

Dragon Naturally Speaking

Minimize writing – support output efficiency. Maximize writing speed. Make writing more efficient and legible

Learning Strategies

Mindmapping

Provides visual groupings or linear formats Templates for ease of use Students with visual processing problems

may not like this but can be flipped to linear format

Inspiration

Useful for:- idea gathering- brainstorming- planning- organization- sharing ideas

Features include:- integrated diagramming and outlining environments- many pre-designed templates- 1,250+ symbols- create hyperlinks directly to the web

Inspiration

Text-to-Speech- Flame Reader. www.flamereader.com, offered as a free trial download and as an upgrade for less than $50.00.- Text Aloud2. www.nextup.com, allows conversion to MP3 files, under $50.00.- Natural Reader. www.naturalreader.com, comes either as free, personal (under $50.00) and professional (under $100.00).

Inexpensive Software for Struggling Readers

Narrator, a free program bundled with Windows, and works with Notepad, Wordpad, control panel program, Internet Explorer, Windows desktop.

PowerTalk, a free reader designed to add speech to PowerPoint presentations at www.fullmeasure.co.uk/powertalk.

ReadPlease, a free download, www.readplease.com, allows readers to paste copied text into its program window where the reader can listen to the content.

Freeware (Open Source)

Wordtalk, a free text to speech plug in for Microsoft Word at www.wordtalk.org.uk/Home.

Quizlet, a free flashcard website for study skills at www.quizlet.com.

SmartDraw, a free mind mapping software at www.smartdraw.com/specials/mindmapping.asp.

Assignment Calculator at www.lib.umn.edu/help/calculator.

Freeware (Open Source)

Motivation and training Opportunity is often missed because of hard work Past experiences have been negative Takes time before payoffs are realized Unrealistic perception of how others do work (e.g.

writing an essay)- thinks that everyone else can just write with no problem – they don’t realize how others do their work

Why Students Resist

Denial Resentful that they can’t do things like others Fear of exposing difficulties Afraid of trying new things Learned helplessness – others do for them, don’t

learn for themselves (coping mechanism) If this doesn’t work, what else is there?

Why Students Resist

Jendron, J., Assistive Technology and Learning Disabilities, www.sc.edu/scatp/ld.htm

LD Resource Guide 2008. www.disabilityissues.ca/documents/LDResour.pdf.

Reisberg, L., Freeware and Shareware, Closing the Gap Solutions Newsletter.

References