Blog Post #12

As a result of being a student of EDM 310, I have had an opportunity to view technology and its usefulness in the classroom a whole other way.  The only thing I have felt that is missing from this learning experience is learning how technology can assist and benefit children with special needs.  Since school systems have begun the inclusion process, the way in which pre-service teachers are being taught has changed in a way that allows them to be able to give these students the instruction and care they so desperately need.  So far the blogs and material that we have been instructed to read focuses mainly on how technology can be used to enhance mainstream student's education.  I feel these same techniques and strategies can also help children with special needs, but I also feel there are other ways technology can be used to help them either cope with or overcome any disability they may have.  I would like to engage my fellow classmates in pondering ways technology can change a child with disabilities' life.  First, explore Glenda's Assistive Technology Blog. Pay particular attention to her post iPads in the Special Education Classroom.  Here, Glenda provides first hand accounts of how the iPad and the applications available changed the lives of children with Autism and Cerebral Palsy.  Watch the videos provided at the bottom of the post. Writing a Quality Blog Post, provide your reactions to the way in which the iPad is used in this manner.  Then, think of ways that the other technology we have learned about in EDM 310 can also help children with special needs and include them in your post.

As a parent, it is a devastating blow to receive a diagnosis that your child has a disability.  The process to find quality educators to help the child can be an exhausting, maddening and emotionally draining one.  On the other hand, it is just as exhausting, maddening and emotionally draining for the educators to find resources and techniques to provide children with special needs the quality education they deserve.  In her blog post iPads in the Special Education Classroom, Glenda Anderson provides ways the iPad can assist educators in providing opportunities to students with special needs not previously available.  In his video,The iSchool Initiative, Travis Allen addresses steps that can be taken with touch technology to reform the way schools operate.  While Travis Allen's ideas are all wonderful, I wished he had addressed what Glenda Anderson does in this blog.  With applications such as iWriteWords and Stories2Learn, just a name of few, children with Autism have been able to break social and behavioral boundaries never before broken, opening up doors and possibilities for these children.  In her blog, Do it Myself, Glenda Hyatt shares her experiences living with Cerebral Palsy and also how the iPad has changed her life through the application Prologuo2Go available on this device.  The touch technology provided allows her to keep up with her blog and post her experiences by typing with one thumb.  Through this fascinating technology, she has gained a certain level of self sustaining independence she otherwise would not have had available to her had it not been for the iPad.  Other possible ways technology can be useful to students with disabilities is offered through the SMART Board technology.  By allowing hands on interactive manipulatives and large visual stimuli, children with autism have a better chance to excel in the classroom.  The SMART Board can also be very beneficial to children with Dyslexia which impairs a students ability to read, spell, and process numbers properly.  With the assistance of a SMART Board, teachers can incorporate interactive phonics activities to build the child's awareness of the letter's sounds in words and also provides multisensory experiences for the student.  The SMART Board can also make a profound difference in children with musculoskeletal disorders through its ease of writing and large touch technology. There are a wide range of disabilities that teachers of an inclusive classroom will encounter, the aforementioned examples are just a few ways to make the inclusive process not only smooth, but also productive and meaningful for the student.