(6) A World of Difference With a Simple Touch

As educators, we will all face various individual, social, and political hardships at some points that will come heavily into our profession.  We will have to facilitate lessons with students test scores so that by them meeting state scores, we are able to impact their learning as well as keep our positions.  We will navigate stormy seas with parents, guardians, and other associated family issues that occur in students' lives outside school. Though some us of may not be educators specializing in teaching disabled students that require intense educational modifications to assist in learning, we all will have the responsibility to adapt our lessons for students who have difficulties learning by their own faculties or faculties that are beyond their control.

We are all well aware of how types of technology are revolutionizing learning for students in classrooms all over the world.  Not only are visual aids, smart boards, and enriching websites taking over our potential classrooms, they are revolutionizing the way we will be teaching our students for the rest of our careers.  I stumbled upon this article that showcases this very amazing feat but not only for academic level education students but for students with various learning disabilities or physical disabilities.

Times are changing in every aspect of our lives. The picture above displays a person reading braille from a traditional 8x7 form in order to study materials and read concepts for a lesson.  This type of instruction has dramatically changed over the past few years.  While students might rely on notebooks and pens for note taking, the transition to laptops and tablets has changed the dynamics of instruction and concept understanding in classrooms everywhere.  Problems arise when these advanced technologies cannot help disabled or special needs students.  Tablets performance in classrooms is unconventional, but how might their performance help impact the learning of blind students who cannot type their notes or see the applications on their tablets?

In a Wisconsin school district, blind students are being reengaged into technological learning by the use of an iPad application called Refreshabraille as well as smart attachments like the Omnifier.  When combined together, these advancements allow blind students like Kyle, age 7, to read stories that are on his iPad by use of the technology of braille dots popping up as the story progresses on an iPad case.  The dots raise on the case as it "reads" the story and adapts it for a blind person.  Though Kyle may not be able to see the story and read it on the screen, he can read it through the braille bubbles appearing on the Omnifier case that allow him to follow stories and learn new concepts.  When he finishes the first sentence, the next sentence in bubbles appears so he can continue reading.  Other iPad applications like VoiceOver help students like Correy who are dyslexic to read by reading aloud the content on the screen.  Correy, who struggles while attempting to sort words and read them from a book, will see the words on the screen as they are highlighted and being read to him from the iPad.  This application helps students to focus on "problem" words to help struggling readers keep reading with assistance.

 

Though technology may be debated widely while being used in instruction, the applications and attachments here provide students with capabilities that can change their education immensely and advance their abilites to absorb new concepts.  Though funding is required through Medical Assistance applications for these, blind students as well as diagnosed struggling readers will have various new learning styles that can revolutionize their understanding while still honing in their abilities of comprehension.

What do you think?  Does "it", meaning advancing technology, have a place in a classroom for students that have disabilities that prevent them from some comprehension or learning? Sound off with your thoughts or comments:)