ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY Adrienne King Professor Cutler Final Paper ED 391

1. ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY Adrienne King Professor Cutler Final Paper ED 391

2. What is Assistive Technology??? • Assistive technology is technology used by individuals with disabilities in order to perform functions that might otherwise be difficult or impossible. • Assistive technology can include mobility devices such as walkers and wheelchairs, as well as hardware, software, and peripherals that assist people with disabilities in accessing computers or other information technologies. • The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the federal special education law, provides the following legal definition of an assistive technology device: "any item, piece of equipment, or product system... that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities." Under IDEA, assistive technology devices can be used in the educational setting to provide a variety of accommodations or adaptations for people with disabilities.

3. A Brief History • 1000AD- Hand held eye glasses were invented. • 1285-An Italian Monk makes head worn version of these glasses • 1456-Guttenberg invents the printing press and the evolution of eye wear begins • There has been great progress made over the last 150 years due to WWI, WWII, and the Vietnam War • 1990-The Americans with Disabilities Act is signed into law

4. Common examples of Assistive Technology • Someone who has limited hand function may use a keyboard with large keys or a special mouse to operate a computer • People who are blind may use software that reads text on the screen in a computer-generated voice • Someone with low vision may use software that enlarges screen content • People who are deaf may use a TTY (text telephone) • Someone with a speech impairments may use a device that speaks out loud as they enter text via a keyboard.

5. Wheelchair Lift This device is completely motorized to allow for a wheelchair to be loaded into a vehicle while the person is still in it. This technology has allowed for more community involvement for someone who is wheelchair bond.

6. Scan and Read Technology • Device will read aloud and can also improve reading comprehension • Text size and format can change how words are displayed on the screen • Can be made to use synthesized voices • The down side to this device is the cost is pretty expensive

7. Magnifying Glass Using this type of magnifying glass can help make print on a page larger for someone who has vision impairment. This is a simple and low expense example of assistive technology.

8. Text to Speech Software • The device can help with reading comprehension • It can be scanned directly into Microsoft Word • For a more natural affect it can read using human voices, some have even added breaths in a long passage • Web pages and e-mail can also be read aloud • PDAs and Voice Recognition devices can respond to voice prompts • High Tech communication board software can produce 1000s of pictures and signs

9. Speech Generating Devices • Selects words and phrases • Has memory and processors • High tech speakers • Can be used by a teacher to utilize the voice of a parent or care taker • Has crisp screen images that can be made suitable for visually sensitive students

10. A child at play Assistive Technology has allowed this child the enjoyment of playing games and having fun much like her peers are able to do. This device uses a simple switch method. It has been made larger in order for her to better access it.

11. Most common assistive technology devices used in regular education classrooms. • Communication boards • Eye-gaze or eye-pointing systems • Augmentative communication devices (visual display, printed or speech output) • Text-to-voice and voice-to-text software • Talking word processing with writing support • Braille writer (to take notes, store information, print in various formats) • Braille translation software (translates inputted text that can be Brailled) • Braille printer • Computer with speech output or feedback • Closed-circuit television

12. All students in the classroom should have an equal and inclusive opportunity to participate in and benefit from the learning process. • Word prediction, abbreviation, or expansion options to reduce keystrokes • Software that allows communication via pictures and symbols • Touch screens • Translating devices: voice language (e.g., English) to output different voice language (e.g., Spanish) • Computer-screen magnifiers • Letter- or word-magnification software • Glare-reduction screens • Talking electronic dictionary, thesaurus, spell checker • Screen readers

13. Modified Assistive Trike This device is often used by Occupational Therapists. The back support and seatbelt allow for safety along with the use of the helmet. This bike pedals with minimal physical efforts and will steer in a straight line allowing a child with moderate to high physical handicaps opportunity for exercise and play.

14. Assistive Technology and Teaching Models • Teaching Models are often overlooked as assistive technology • Teaching models have been developed that teachers can utilize with autistic spectrum students • Teaching models can be modified to meet the students needs

15. The Early Start Denver Model for Young Children with Autism • Promotes Language, Learning, and Engagement • Several approaches were combined to put together the ESDM including the original Denver Model and Rogers and Pennington’s Model of interpersonal development • Identifies specific skills sequenced developmentally within specific domains

16. Specific Domains of the ESDM The ESDM identifies the developmental domains as: • Receptive Communication • Expressive Communication • Joint Attention • Imitation • Social Skills • Play Skills • Cognitive Skills • Fine Motor Skills • Gross Motor Skills • Self Care Skills

17. Echolalia • One of the character traits of a student with Autism or Aspergers is impaired communication. • Definition: Echolalia is the uncontrolled immediate repetition of words spoken by another person. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/echolalia • Echolalia can be both immediate (a repetition of something they have just heard) or delayed (a repetition of information heard previously - minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years!). • Echolalia occurs in normal language development yet decreases as the typically developing child gains more spontaneous generative language.

18. Educating children with Echolalia • In children with autism, echolalia occurs with greater frequency and lasts for a longer period of time as the child with autism typically experiences significant difficulty developing spontaneous, generative language skills • Echolalia is reflective of how the child processes information. • Children with autism process information as a whole "chunk" without processing the individual words that make the utterance. • Many children with autism also process part of the context in which these words were stated, including sensory and emotional details. • Some common element from this original situation is then triggered in the current situation which elicits the child's echolalic utterance

19. Other Aspects of The ESDM • Strategies in determining long term and short term learning goal • How to develop teaching targets and track progress • Forming plans and frames for teaching. • Developing imitation and play • Developing the use of natural gestures • Developing verbal communication • Contains charts and curriculum checklists

20. Other Models for Teaching Students within the Autism Spectrum • Take Control of Asperger’s Syndrome by Janet Price and Jennifer Engel Fisher is an excellent reference when dealing with teens who have AS. It contains strategies for success in school, advice on homework, making friends, and the use of technology to communicate with other kids across the country. • Parenting an Adult with Disabilities or Special Needs by Peggy Lou Morgan suggests strategies for planning and protecting children with disabilities in the middle school and high school environments.

21. All Assistive Technology is not "High Tech " and Expensive… • Some of the most practical and satisfactory technology solutions are inexpensive, simple, "low tech" adaptations and/or devices. • Using a spoon with an enlarged handle is often more appropriate and convenient than an expensive electronic feeding system • Costly sophisticated devices are not always necessarily a part of every solution. • High tech technology doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. • Some adapted computer programs are FREE, and to use a computer one needs follow only step by step instructions rather than having to understand how computers work.

22. Adaptive utensils for eating These weighted utensils are one example of a simple and also inexpensive device that can continually improve the life of someone who has a disability.

23. Assistive Technology Grant(AT) • Grant based program that supports consumer-driven state projects • Allowing people access to assistive technology devices and services. • Eligibility for an assistive technology state grants requires the governor of that state to designate a lead agency to develop, administer and monitor the projects. • The application can either be submitted electronically or by mail including seven separate lengthy forms • For the 2007-2008 school year $24,620,237 was awarded to U.S. States, District of Columbia, and outlying areas.

24. Quote Summary • If necessity is the mother of all invention, then disability is the grandmother. • -Author Unknown