technology tool available to students with learning disabilities is a speech synthesizer. This software enables the student to hear text on a computer screen spoken aloud. Text that is entered into the program is read aloud to the student. This allows the student to catch words that might have been left out of text that they might not have caught just by reading the text. Brain storming/mind mapping programs assist students with writing. These programs diagram the students’ ideas and displays the diagram on the computer screen. This program would be useful to students who have difficulty expressing their ideas in writing. Reading technologies that are available to students with learning disabilities includes optical character recognition
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Selecting assistive technology should be an inclusive process. Members of the selection team may include teachers, occupational therapist, speech pathologist, physical therapists, assistive technology professional, vocational rehabilitation counselors and other IEP team members. However, it is important to the successful use of the assistive technology that students and families also be involved in the selection process. When selecting assistive technology for students the following factors should be taken into consideration. Setting specific demands/tasks and requisite abilities, Student specific characteristics/functional capabilities and limitations, technology features and student-technology match. Researchers have documented the importance of identifying the setting demands in a variety of learning environments (Bryant, Bryant, & Raskind, 1998). In order for the selection team to assess the assistive technology that best fits the students’ needs they must first gain knowledge about the student. This would include having an understanding of the tasks that students are expected to perform and what abilities are required to perform the task. The selection team would also need to have an understanding of the functional capabilities and functional limitations of the student. B.R. Bryant, Seay, & D.P. Bryant used the term functional dissonance. This term was used to describe when a student’s weaknesses do not correspond to the requisite abilities required to complete a task (Bryant et al., 1998). By identifying the assistive technology required to assist the student in overcoming the weaknesses functional dissonance can be alleviated (Bryant et al., 1998). It will be important for the selection team to consider the technological features of assistive technology, as some devices are relatively simple, whereas, others may be complex in nature. When reviewing the technological features of
Selecting assistive technology should be an inclusive process. Members of the selection team may include teachers, occupational therapist, speech pathologist, physical therapists, assistive technology professional, vocational rehabilitation counselors and other IEP team members. However, it is important to the successful use of the assistive technology that students and families also be involved in the selection process. When selecting assistive technology for students the following factors should be taken into consideration. Setting specific demands/tasks and requisite abilities, Student specific characteristics/functional capabilities and limitations, technology features and student-technology match. Researchers have documented the importance of identifying the setting demands in a variety of learning environments (Bryant, Bryant, & Raskind, 1998). In order for the selection team to assess the assistive technology that best fits the students’ needs they must first gain knowledge about the student. This would include having an understanding of the tasks that students are expected to perform and what abilities are required to perform the task. The selection team would also need to have an understanding of the functional capabilities and functional limitations of the student. B.R. Bryant, Seay, & D.P. Bryant used the term functional dissonance. This term was used to describe when a student’s weaknesses do not correspond to the requisite abilities required to complete a task (Bryant et al., 1998). By identifying the assistive technology required to assist the student in overcoming the weaknesses functional dissonance can be alleviated (Bryant et al., 1998). It will be important for the selection team to consider the technological features of assistive technology, as some devices are relatively simple, whereas, others may be complex in nature. When reviewing the technological features of