Assistive Technology

Sara Lynn Jennings

EDTC 5010 Section 602

Spring 2014

Assistive Technologies

Carl: limited speech and motor disabilities. Difficulty with fine motor skills, making writing almost impossible. He is also impeded in communications with his teachers and classmates.

The website www.rehabtool.com offers a product called Vocalize which helps people who are impaired in communication with others to use the computer software to help them communicate more effectively. I would recommend this or a similar software for Carl to use to help him communicate with his teachers and classmates. Another thing that Carl might benefit from are adaptive classroom items like pencil grips, adaptive scissors, etc. There are many of these items available to help students with fine motor skill difficulties.

Shawna: has limited vision. unable to see standard size letters and words

For Shawna, one of the items I would recommend that she have access to in her classroom is text-to-speech software, whether it be on a personal computer or a class computer. This would allow her to participate when books are read that could be read to her via computer, or assignments that are typed could be read to her so she could follow along. Another thing I would recommend for Shawna is using a small, portable magnifying glass, such as one that is available on http://www.freedomscientific.com. This would help Shawna be able to participate in reading assignments and to be able to follow along by seeing bigger images.

Serena: primary language is Spanish. struggling with reading assignments. Her parents speak no English

Depending on how old Serena is, she could utilize websites like www.eslcafe.com to study English through quizzes and activities on the website that help her with her English. Another website that is helpful for students http://www.englishclub.com/learn-english.htm which also has quizzes and stories for students to practice based on their grade level. There could also be some software available in her classroom that translates from Spanish in to English. There are also devices available such as The Talksystem (http://www.talktech.com) that translate what someone says in to headphones that another language speaker can listen to in their language.

Rehabtool (http://www.rehabtool.com/)

Dave’s ESL Cafe (http://www.eslcafe.com/)

RNIB (http://www.rnib.org.uk/)

Freedom Scientific (www.freedomscientific.com)

English Club (http://www.englishclub.com/learn-english.htm)