Assistive Technology for the Classroom Margaret Espinoza

What is Assistive Technology?  According to Individuals with Disabilities Act, assistive technology (AT) is any item, equipment or product system used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. In the classroom AT is used to help students with disabilities access the curriculum. For children with Autism AT can improve Overall understanding of their environment Social interaction skills Academic skills Self help skills Communication skills Retrieved from website: Assistive Technology for Children with Autism n.d. 

Assistive Technology for Academic Progress

Premier Assistive Technology  Premier is a software program that was created for PC based computers. It provides the student with a processing program similar to Word which presents a multi- sensory approach to reading and writing. Retrieved from website: Premier Literacy reading made ez.com n.d.

Premier’s Special Features Reading Comprehension  E-text reader  Universal Reader  Scan and View  Scan and Read Pro  Text to Audio  Talking Dictionary  Talking Word Processor Retrieved from website: Premier Literacy reading made ez.com n.d. Math Skills  Talking Calculator  Talking Checkbook

Integrating Premier into the School Day  Reading Comprehension Scan and Read feature allows you to scan passages or text books and then uses Optical Character Recognition to have the passage read aloud to the student.  Vocabulary Building Talking dictionary feature will read the definition of a word in the passage or allows the student to copy and past definitions into a work processor for vocabulary assignments Retrieved from website: Premier Literacy reading made ez.com n.d.

Integrating Premier into the School Day Cont.  Writing Provides a multi-sensory approach to writing by reading what the student has typed back to them so they can hear any corrections that are needed.  Math Calculation and Application Talking calculator feature allows students to hear the numbers being pressed by reads the answer to them as well Reads key words or word problems to student. Retrieved from website: Premier Literacy reading made ez.com n.d.

Premier’s Effectiveness for Students with ASD  It is common for children with autism to be able to speak and read on grade level but, have significant problems with reading comprehension. Reading comprehension might be a challenge for children with autism because they tend to be concrete learners. They don't tend to modify information that they take in to fit a particular situation. The Premier software present reading materials in multi-sensory forms which has been proven to increase reading comprehension. Retrieved from website: abcnews.go.com/Health/AutismSymptomsDiagnosis/story (2008) L. Eugene Arnold, M.D., Prof. Emeritus. On May 2011

Product Information  Publisher Premier Assistive Technology - U.S.A. Executive Offices 1309 N. William St. Joliet, IL Phone: Fax:  Cost $ Literacy Suite.pdf  System Requirements OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 Media: DVD-ROM drive

Assistive Technology for Communication

Boardmaker  Boardmaker is a graphics database containing over 3,500 Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) that can be used to create a variety of communication materials (Peake, 2003).

Boardmaker’s Special Features  Boardmaker User-friendly program 3,000 Picture Communication Symbol library in either black/white or color Can be accompanied by any written word/message Symbols can be made in any size Retrieved from website: Assistive Technology for Children with Autism n.d.

Integrating Boardmaker into the School Day  Design and print communication boards to encourage participation in class activities  Create reading comprehension worksheets with pictures  Illustrate reading books or picture theme boards to increase vocabulary (Peake, 2003)

Boardmaker’s Effectiveness for Students with ASD  The Autism Spectrum covers a wide range of characteristics. However, almost all children with Autism have some deficits in communication as well as being concrete learners. The Boardmaker is an effective resource for students with autism because it presents a clear uncluttered representation of words through visual pictures that allow them to communicate effectively. Retrieved from website: Assistive Technology for Children with Autism n.d.

Product Information  Publisher Mayer-Johnson, Inc. P.O. Box 1579 Solana Beach, Ca Phone: Fax:  Cost $ johnson.com/nsearch/?keywords=boardmaker johnson.com/nsearch/?keywords=boardmaker  System Requirements OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 Processor: Intel Pentium 4 or later or AMD Athlon 64 1GHz RAM: 1GB Disk Space: 2GB free hard disk space

References Arnold, Eugene L, Retrieved May 16, 2011, from Peake, P., (2003). Making Board Tutorial for Boardmaker. Solana Beach, Ca.: Mayer-Johnson, Inc. Premier reading made ez (n.d.). Retrieved May 11, 2011, from Stokes, Stokes., Assistive Technology for Children with Autism. Retrieved May 13,2011, from