3.4 Adaptive and Assistive Technology
Candidates facilitate the use of adaptive and assistive technologies to support individual student learning needs. (PSC 3.4/ISTE 3d)
Candidates facilitate the use of adaptive and assistive technologies to support individual student learning needs. (PSC 3.4/ISTE 3d)
Reflection:
The artifacts that I included for Standard 3.4 include the Assistive Technology Implementation Plan and the Unstructured Field Experience from the Assistive Technology activities. These artifacts were created during the first semester in the Instructional Technology Master’s Program in the fall of 2012. I created the plan and did activities with a boy at Timber Ridge who is visually impaired. He uses Zoom Twix, an apparatus to magnify any papers or books that he is reading or working on in class. When working on the computer, he uses a software program called ZoomText which can magnify any information on the screen up to 35 times its size. I also was introduced to the Braille embosser and the Perkins Brailler while participating in this project. All four of these instruments were new to me. I have not had a visually impaired student so I have never been introduced to any of these instruments or programs. After being trained on these instruments, I feel that I am better equipped if I were ever to receive a student that is visually impaired.
The artifacts demonstrate my ability to facilitate the use of assistive technologies to support individual learning needs. This artifact showed how it was necessary to make accommodations and incorporate assistive technologies to achieve learning. Some of the accommodations included preferential seating, organizational help with articles inside his desk, special placement for Max’s books, seating a friendly helper next to him, minimizing the work load when necessary, or giving him extra time to complete class assignments. In addition, he had to have a teacher who was very patient and willing to give extra help when needed. Max wanted to fit in with his peers and often walked down the hall without assistance but using stairs often was a challenge. A buddy was assigned to him for support when needed. Max functioned very well in his classroom environment. Outside of his classroom he had a buddy that walked with him as he went to lunch, media center, or specials.
I learned so much from this Assistive Technology activity. Since I had not been exposed to a vision impaired student previously, the necessary equipment for a visually impaired student was all new to me. It was amazing how technology is able to assist our students with special needs. These technological advances help our students feel more comfortable in the classroom. From what I observed, Max is just one of the kids in the room. He does not feel out of place nor do the students ostracize him. He is a very nice boy and out at recess, everyone plays with him. He runs around with the others but the class as a whole is always watching out for him to make sure he does not run into anything, including mud puddles. I am very glad I was able to have the opportunity to complete this assignment. It really taught me a lot and gave new examples of how differentiation is used with special needs students.
This Assistive Technology Implementation Plan can impact our school in new ways now that we have a new unit coming to our school next year. It was just announced at the end of the year that we will be home to a new visually impaired unit. This means that we will now be home to a large number of visually impaired students. They are coming to us from another school bringing their own instruments needed along with many new teachers as well. This plan was shared with my team since none of them have ever had a visually impaired student either, this taught them about the types of devices used with visually impaired students in preparation for the future if they were ever to get a visually impaired student.
The artifacts that I included for Standard 3.4 include the Assistive Technology Implementation Plan and the Unstructured Field Experience from the Assistive Technology activities. These artifacts were created during the first semester in the Instructional Technology Master’s Program in the fall of 2012. I created the plan and did activities with a boy at Timber Ridge who is visually impaired. He uses Zoom Twix, an apparatus to magnify any papers or books that he is reading or working on in class. When working on the computer, he uses a software program called ZoomText which can magnify any information on the screen up to 35 times its size. I also was introduced to the Braille embosser and the Perkins Brailler while participating in this project. All four of these instruments were new to me. I have not had a visually impaired student so I have never been introduced to any of these instruments or programs. After being trained on these instruments, I feel that I am better equipped if I were ever to receive a student that is visually impaired.
The artifacts demonstrate my ability to facilitate the use of assistive technologies to support individual learning needs. This artifact showed how it was necessary to make accommodations and incorporate assistive technologies to achieve learning. Some of the accommodations included preferential seating, organizational help with articles inside his desk, special placement for Max’s books, seating a friendly helper next to him, minimizing the work load when necessary, or giving him extra time to complete class assignments. In addition, he had to have a teacher who was very patient and willing to give extra help when needed. Max wanted to fit in with his peers and often walked down the hall without assistance but using stairs often was a challenge. A buddy was assigned to him for support when needed. Max functioned very well in his classroom environment. Outside of his classroom he had a buddy that walked with him as he went to lunch, media center, or specials.
I learned so much from this Assistive Technology activity. Since I had not been exposed to a vision impaired student previously, the necessary equipment for a visually impaired student was all new to me. It was amazing how technology is able to assist our students with special needs. These technological advances help our students feel more comfortable in the classroom. From what I observed, Max is just one of the kids in the room. He does not feel out of place nor do the students ostracize him. He is a very nice boy and out at recess, everyone plays with him. He runs around with the others but the class as a whole is always watching out for him to make sure he does not run into anything, including mud puddles. I am very glad I was able to have the opportunity to complete this assignment. It really taught me a lot and gave new examples of how differentiation is used with special needs students.
This Assistive Technology Implementation Plan can impact our school in new ways now that we have a new unit coming to our school next year. It was just announced at the end of the year that we will be home to a new visually impaired unit. This means that we will now be home to a large number of visually impaired students. They are coming to us from another school bringing their own instruments needed along with many new teachers as well. This plan was shared with my team since none of them have ever had a visually impaired student either, this taught them about the types of devices used with visually impaired students in preparation for the future if they were ever to get a visually impaired student.