Reflections of Assistive Technologies

There were many different tools introduced in the videos. All of these tools were used to help students with disabilities communicate and learn in school. One of the technologies that was introduced was the computer that Susanna used. This computer could record her voice. She was able to talk to the computer and have it record her voice for all the different assignments from written to computer-based. Another boy used something similar to Susanna for his schoolwork. He used a computer that was voice activated because he did not have control over his hands. He used the computer to surf the web, and do his assignments.

Some of the children in an elementary classroom used different computers to communicate. One girl was learning about the solar system. She was able to touch the boxes on the screen to select her answers. The device would respond and repeat her selected answer out loud. One of the other children in the classroom was immobile. He was able to use the only part of his body he had control over, his eyebrows, to select the answers on the computer. His eyebrows would move the cursor between the rows until he selected the answer he was looking for.

Another boy in a middle school was interested in band. However, he doesn't have control over his four limbs, so he couldn't use his fingers to move the valves on the horn. He had a horn built for him. This horn used a joy stick to control which valves he pressed. He could use his lips to make the different notes, and he used the joy stick to control the valves.

A student in an early childhood education setting, Josh, is autistic. He was primarily non-verbal when he started school. He was very frustrated when he couldn't communicate. His teacher used his love of books to help him learn to communicate. He had a device that could record your voice saying the words on the page. It would then repeat what you recorded at the press of a button. Josh soon began to say more words. He also, started to recognize the words on the page. He soon started reading to his classmates.

All of these devices changed the lives of these students. The students would not be able to communicate without them. It allows them to live a normal life.