Adaptive and Assistive Technologies for Special Needs Students in an ASL class
Cognitive Difficulties
Students with cognitive disabilities can be all over the map in terms of intelligence, but may suffer from difficulties with memory, self-expression, information processing, and other learning disabilities that prevent them from performing their academic tasks in the same manner as other students. (TeachThought Staff, 2012)
Physical Difficulties
Students with physical disabilities may require the use of braces, a cane or a wheelchair, may use prosthetic limbs, or may be dealing with muscular dystrophy, Lou Gehrig’s disease, multiple sclerosis, or many other conditions, all of which can present accessibility challenges. (TeachThought Staff, 2012)
Fine Motor Skills such as Typing
Most computers have a Voice-to-Text option that will allow students who are unable to type the ability to speak and the computer will type for them. For the student with a computer that does not have this option, using the Dragon Naturally Speaking option works just as well. |
Gross Motor Skills such as walking
If students of American Sign Language are unable to walk or drive to class teachers can utilize web conferencing tools such as Skype, Google Hangouts, or Adobe Connect to provide live access to these students. |
Sensory Difficulties
Sensory disabilities include visual impairment and blindness, deafness and hard-of-hearing conditions can prevent students from utilizing traditional classroom materials and tools. (TeachThought Staff, 2012)
Blindness
For student who are blind, teachers can add voice to their presentations via Voicethread or captions (for deaf teachers) that can be read via Text-to-Voice software like Natural Readers. |
Deafness
For student who are deaf, American Sign Language is the perfect course for them to take. If there are spoken aspects of the course students can use close captioning technology such as Dragon Naturally Speaking. |
At-Risk Students
A student’s engagement in school is demonstrated across three dimensions: behavioral, emotional and cognitive.
Generally speaking, a student is engaged when they: participate in all areas of the school including academic, social and extracurricular activities (behavioral), feel included in the school and has feelings of belonging to the school (emotional), are personally invested in and take ownership of their learning (cognitive). Disengagement refers to a situation where a child or young person demonstrates none of these characteristics, and/or they are not enrolled or have very poor school attendance. Presence of only some of these characteristics may indicate a child or young person is at risk of disengagement. (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2013)
Generally speaking, a student is engaged when they: participate in all areas of the school including academic, social and extracurricular activities (behavioral), feel included in the school and has feelings of belonging to the school (emotional), are personally invested in and take ownership of their learning (cognitive). Disengagement refers to a situation where a child or young person demonstrates none of these characteristics, and/or they are not enrolled or have very poor school attendance. Presence of only some of these characteristics may indicate a child or young person is at risk of disengagement. (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2013)
Emotionally At-Risk
Students who are emotionally at-risk can be motivated by technologically engaging group work, for example a group American Sign Language story. The technology that can assist with this is video capturing or editing software such as Adobe Captivate or Google Hangout Air. |
Cognitively At-Risk
Students who are cognitively at risk can be motivated by having them become a creator of content. The internet is a great place to do this. Having students tell stories in American Sign Language and create a presentation using Screencast-o-matic or Powtoon and post them publicly online is a great way for students to take ownership of their work. |
Gifted and Talented Students
Gifted and Talented students are those who are high achieving and tend to get bored with regular lessons or move more quickly then the average student.
Differentiate Content
Allowing gifted students access to higher level content is a great way to challenge them and keep them from getting bored. ASLized and Deaf Studies Digital Journal are two sites that can be provided to these students as they contain higher level ASL content |
Differentiate Assignments
Allowing students to submit their projects online provides gifted students with the ability to use any presentation software they can find for example, Powtoon, Adobe Captivate, Emaze, Prezi, etc. Students are able to challenge themselves, push their limits, and continue learning past what is required by the class. |