Abstract
Assistive technology is not only a required component of a student’s IEP; it can be an effective way to help students with (and without) disabilities access their education and to provide them with required instructional accommodations. Teachers, however, are often not adequately prepared in their pre-service course work and ongoing professional development to address the technology needs of their special education students and have not had the opportunities to access technology due to limited availability and cost. While assistive technology can be purchased to augment an existing computer, it is often unnecessary to do that. Both Microsoft and Apple operating systems in “off-the-shelf” computers and handheld devices have embedded assistive technology that is easy to access and easy to use. This embedded technology can help teachers become familiar with technology and assist students with sensory, physical, learning, and attention disabilities, and it might have practical applications with Universal Design for Learning. This paper provides a discussion on how embedded technology can support students with disabilities in the school setting and provides examples for access and use.
Highlights
In 2013–2014, 6.4 million students ages 3–21 in the United States alone received special education services under an Individualized Education Program (IEP) [1]. This represents 13% of students in public school classrooms. It will be a rare classroom teacher who never encounters a student with a disability in their classroom at some point in their career, but few teachers are prepared in their teacher education programs to address the technology needs of their students
This paper, which takes a deeper look at material presented at the 2015 Society for Informational Technology and Teacher Education conference [3], will address the lack of teacher preparation for utilizing assistive technology, ways embedded technology can fulfill the principles of universal design, how it can help meet IEP obligations, how it can reduce barriers to assistive technology access, and the settings that can be adjusted in Apple and Windows operating systems to help meet the classroom technology needs of students with disabilities
Assistive technology consideration is a required component of any United States IEP and its use may help students remain in the general education setting instead of the more restrictive environment of a special education classroom [2]
Summary
In 2013–2014, 6.4 million students ages 3–21 in the United States alone received special education services under an Individualized Education Program (IEP) [1] This represents 13% of students in public school classrooms. Despite being raised with technology and using it on a regular basis in their personal lives, new teachers are not demonstrating competence in assistive technology for their students with special education needs in their classrooms [2]. All teachers, whether they are general education or special education teachers, will be expected to meet the academic needs of all students in their care. It is important to remember that adding or removing specific assistive technology from a student’s academic program is the responsibility of the IEP team and decisions should remain in their purview
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