Assistive Technology

Definition and

ExamplesHeather Leach

UWA

ED 505

Definition

According to Wikipedia, “Assistive Technology is an umbrella term that includes assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices for people with disabilities and also includes the process used in selecting, locating, and using them” (para. 1).

What does this mean for education?

In general, assistive technology are the tools that students with any form of disability can use to help them perform in their classroom.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act - in 1998, congress amended the rehabilitation act to require federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities . Section 508 was enacted to eliminate barriers in information technology, to make available new opportunities for people with disabilities, and to encourage development of technologies that will help achieve these goals

Assistive Technology Act of 1998 - the assistive technology act establishes a grant program, administered by the U.S. Department of education, to provide federal funds to support state programs that address the assistive technology needs of individuals with disabilities.

For more information on the specific laws regarding assistive technology, please visit:

http://www.ndrn.org/issues/assistive-technology/292-assistive-technology-federal-law-and-regulations.html

Laws Regarding Assistive TechnologyThe National Disability rights website list the laws regarding assistive technology.

Listed below are some of those laws.

Assistive Technology for the Hearing Impaired

According to Logsdon (2014), “a hearing impairment is a permanent hearing loss or a decrease in hearing so significant it negatively affects a child’s performance in school or ability to learn” (para. 1).

Assistive Technologies, such as the below C-Print System, are available for students with hearing impairments.

Image retrieved from: http://www.rit.edu/ntid/cprint/

According to the developers, the Rochester Institute of Technology, the “C-Print is a speech-to-text (captioning) technology....that is being successfully used “to provide communication access who are deaf or hard-of-hearing in many programs around the country. (para. 1).

Assistive Technology for the Visually Impaired

According to Kids Health, a “Visual impairment is a term experts use to describe any kind of vision loss, whether it's someone who cannot see at all or someone who has partial vision loss” (2014, para. 6).

Dolphin Computer Access sells the product, SuperNova Access Suite, to assist students with visual impairments. Dolphin describes SuperNova Access Suite as having an “HD screen magnifier, intelligent screen reader and robust Braille support” (2014, p. 1).

Image retrieved from: http://www.thelowvisionstore.net/index.php?pageId=13&mode=mod_order&action=shop&todo=list_products&pkg_id=4&r=1389984419

Assistive Technology for Students with Learning Disabilities

Reading Rockets defines Assistive Technology for students with disabilities “as any device, piece of equipment or system that helps bypass, work around or compensate for an individual's specific learning deficits” (2014, para. 4).

One type of assistive technology that can be used with students who have learning disabilitites is the ReadingPen2. According to Wizcomtech “the ReadingPen®2 is designed specifically to help readers improve their reading skills” (2013, para. 1).

Image retrieved from: http://www.wizcomtech.com/eng/catalog/platforms/01/default.asp?pcat=1&platformid=1

Assistive Technology for Physically Impaired Students

Students with physical disabilities may have limited mobility. It may be difficult for the student to navigate easily around the room or to use regular hands-on materials for learning.

Claro FaceMouse is a product that allows students with physical impairments to control the mouse of a computer with the movements of their face and head.

Images retrieved from: http://www.help.clarosoftwaredownloads.com/help_files/online_help/Claro_FaceMouse/

References

Claro Software (n.d.). Claro facemouse. Retrieved from: http://www.clarosoftware.com/index.php?cPath=402

Dolphin Computer Access, Ltd. (2014). SuperNova acess suite. Retrieved from:

http://www.yourdolphin.com/productdetail.asp?id=1

Logsdon, A. (2014). Hearing impairment- What is a hearing impairment. Retrieved from:

http://learningdisabilities.about.com/od/gi/g/hearing_impairm.htm

National disabilities rights network (2012). Assistive technology: federal laws and regulations. Retrieved

from: http://www.ndrn.org/issues/assistive-technology/292-assistive-technology-federal-law

and-regulations.html

Reading Rockets (2014). Assistive technologies for kids with learning disabilities: An overview. Retrieved from: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/assistive-technology-kids-learning-disabilities- overview

Rochester Institute for Technology (n.d.). What is C-Print? Retrieved from: http://www.rit.edu/ntid/cprint/

Teens Health (2014). Visual impairment. Retrieved from: http://kidshealth.org/teen/diseases_conditions/sight/visual_impairment.html#

The Low Vision Store (2014). Supernova access suite [Image file]. Retrieved from:

http://www.thelowvisionstore.net/index.php?pageId=13&mode=mod_order&action=shop&todo=list_products&pkg_id=4&r=1389984419

Wikipedia (n.d.). Assistive technology. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assistive_technology

Wizcomtech (2013). ReadingPen2. Retrieved from:

http://www.wizcomtech.com/eng/catalog/platforms/01/default.asp?pCat=3&PlatformID=9