2. Research Paper: Utilizing Technology for Students with Learning Disabilities Alissa Swartz EDUC 504, Computers and Technology in Education June 19, 2006 www.angelfire.com/poetry/aswartz

3. Introduction  Technologies, from low tech to high tech, can play a significant role in both a student and teacher’s success in promoting physical, emotional, and academic growth in students with learning disabilities.  There are countless technological tools available in our growing world today that may be supportive in helping students with learning disabilities in areas such as basic movement (supports for mobility and growth), communication (animated speech projectors, receptive and expressive tools), and participation in a daily educational setting with assistive software (programs found on the computer, from Microsoft Office to classroom webquests).

4. Research Findings  Learning Disability Challenges in the Classroom Learning Support or Special Education classrooms may look very different depending on district numbers/needs of special education students. In my Learning Support classroom, there are two types of technology that I make available to the students: technological software and assistive technology. Both types of technology may be utilized in a special education classroom, depending on the overriding needs of the students.

5. Technological Software: Microsoft Office Programs  Microsoft Word – Word Processing  Microsoft Outlook – E-mail access  Microsoft PowerPoint – Presentation Creation  Microsoft Excel – Spreadsheets and Graphing  Microsoft Publisher – Banners, Cards, Brochures, etc.

6. Technological Software: Internet  Webquests “…provide an authentic, technology-rich environment for problem solving, information processing, and collaboration. (http://annettelamb.com/tap/topic4.htm)http://annettelamb.com/tap/topic4.htm  Progress Monitoring - Internet-based programs, such as AIMSweb, teachers are able to chart and graph student progress in areas like reading accuracy and fluency and math computation speed Progress Monitoring  Teacher websites - Parents of students with learning disabilities need to be involved in their child’s education in order to provide maximum success for these children Teacher websites  Inspiration and Kidspiration -software programs to create graphic organizers, outlines, and present information in an organized fashion

7. Inspiration Sample This is a sample of work taken from the Inspiration home page Inspiration home page

8. Scanned Kidspiration Sample: Graphic Organizer Using the Kidspiration program, students have the ability to draft ideas using a web or graphic organizer, like the one to the right.

9. Scanned Kidspiration Sample: Outline Version  Kidspiration also offers an outline version of the students’ original graphic organizer  With a click on the program’s outline icon, the graphic organizer bubbles are put into an outline form  The sample provided is an OCR scanned outline of the original graphic organizer Click here to view the sample outline

10. Assistive Technology  Speech Impairments - Speech Conditions include: problems with the way words are pronounced, voice quality, rate of speech, and esophageal speech.  Hearing Impairments – Conditions include deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind.  Visual Impairments – It is important to consider what training or strategies the child has come to the classroom with before finding appropriate devices

11. Assistive Technology for: Speech Impairments  electronic "speaking" machines, activated by punching a keyboard with a head pointer or mouth wand  spelling board that has the alphabet and a few common words/phrases to which a speech impaired person points and an assistant may speak out loud  "ticker tape" printout or display the message on a calculator ‑ like screen across which the characters move  computer with a voice synthesizer  Launching Literacy with Timo - animated Speech's software, designed to give speech pathologists, educators and parents who work with these children an important new tool to build comprehension and vocabulary skills

12. Assistive Technology for: Hearing Impairments  preferential seating and always sit near a speaker and have good lighting to take advantage of visual access.  audiologist should be consulted prior to any purchases. They will match the hearing aid to the type and level of hearing loss.  sound field system - a microphone (transmitter), an amplifier, and speakers  cochlear implant is a medically implanted device which translates sound from the environment to the acoustic nerve  Closed Caption (CC) device projects text on a television screen to read when speech may not be understandable through hearing alone.  Sometimes speech is so difficult to understand that an augmentative communication device might be needed

13. Assistive Technology for: Visual Impairments  Computer screen enlargement software  People who are blind access computer output with speech and/or Braille output systems. Speech output is the most popular form of access.  Screen reader software uses pre- defined key combinations for review and navigation of the computer  Refreshable Braille displays are devices that echo information from the screen to a panel with Braille cells.

14. Conclusions  Teachers and parents need to be aware of what tools and devices are available and appropriate for these students to use both in the classroom and at home in order to make learning and succeeding in this world more fun, feasible, and motivating

15. For additional information click on the links below…  Listen to an audio message from the presenter by clicking here Listen to an audio message from the presenter by clicking here  Research Paper Research Paper  Internet Address Book Internet Address Book  Personal Website Personal Website  Scanned OCR Text Scanned OCR Text  Scanned Picture Scanned Picture

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