Evaluation of Assistive Technology for Sensory Impairments - Assignment Example

Evaluation of Assistive Technology for Sensory Impairments Low-incidence disabilities, such as those affecting the senses, are still critically important to understand. Difficulties with such areas as hearing, vision, and sensory movements can adversely impact the learning process if properly educational methodologies are not employed (Beard, Carpenter, and Johnston, 2011, p. 128). In recent years, many assistive technology devices have become available that enable educators to provide services never before possible. In addition, these devices are enabling students with such low-incidence disabilities thrive academically and contribute a great deal to their communities, despite any setbacks that they encounter. Teachers today are wise to learn about such devices and become an agent for helping students properly apply the technology to their daily personal and academic lives. What follows is a description and evaluation of several such devices that are currently available and in use today. It is estimated that 24 million Americans suffer from some degree of hearing loss. For students, this can be particularly troubling because, if proper modifications are not implemented, such individuals are placed at an academic disadvantage. It is important to use modern technology to assist students in leveling the ‘playing field’ as much as possible. According to research, students who are hearing impaired can exhibit a low self-esteem, lose interest in many learning activities, fail to participate in social activities, and often have poor communication skills (DeConde-Johnson & Thibodeu, 2005). As such, looking incorporating assistive technology devices that help hearing impaired students perform better in school and become more sociable with their peers can only serve to benefit the entire academic community. While there are many such devices on the market today, three particularly stand out for their effectiveness, even in the face of certain inherent challenges that must be overcome. ASL software is a readily available program that can be used on either a PC Windows operating system, or on a Macintosh. This software allows students to learn advanced sign language skills in an interactive environment, thereby allowing them to communicate more opening and freely with their peers and other adults. In essence, the program promotes literacy skills for the hearing impaired student in much the same fashion as phonics does for the non-disabled individual. This assistive technology device can be easily implemented into a traditional classroom setting. In addition, students can use the software independently at home or in other locations. The benefits are many, and the challenges minimal. One hurdle for the software is that the teacher will likely need to have some basic knowledge of sign language in order to assist the student in learning how to make full use of the program. That being said, such knowledge can only serve to strengthen the student/teacher relationship, which in the end should prove beneficial itself. ACL software requires only 3-4 hours of training time for the student learn how to make proper use of it, and the IT department at any school should be able to assist with its installation. Such devices and software can be used to enhance math skills, promote literacy and spelling, focus on the advancement of sign language, improve visual perception, and strengthen memory skills. From this evaluation, the software should be considered in any environment where there is a hearing impaired student. The cost is minimal, with most packages running only about $35. Another device designed to help hearing-impaired student is the speech synthesizer. Depending on the age of onset for the disability, many hearing impaired students cannot communicate verbally. They do not know how to make certain sounds and cannot hear what they are saying. A speech synthesizer enables the student to type out information that they wish to say and then the device speaks it out loud on behalf of the student. Such a device serves dual purposes. If a student has some range of hearing, they can use the speech synthesizer to more openly communicate with others, while being able to hear a response and work on certain communication skills. Students that cannot speak at all, in turn, can use the device to speak to others as well. If used correctly, the synthesizer can greatly enhance computer, language, spelling, and typing skills. Once again, most of these devices can be installed on a computer. The one challenge is for the instructor to gain sufficient knowledge of the program in order to troubleshoot any problems that might arise. Such devices are useful for all grade levels, from K-12, with no modifications. This is particularly useful for a smaller school with a limited budget as the software can be utilized at multiple grade levels if there are few hearing impaired students. To make full use of the synthesizer, disabled students do need to have full use of the computer during class time, so certain considerations there will need to be taken into account. One drawback is the cost. Currently, speech synthesizers range from $500 to $700, yet as mentioned, they can be used at any grade level. One other useful device for the hearing impaired student is a speech-to-text system. Such a device can take what the instructor has said in class and place it almost instantly into a written format. This enables the student to read what has just been said. This obviously has enormous positive implications as the student can remain comfortably in class and receive the same benefit of the teacher as their non-hearing impaired peers. This device is more labor intensive for the teacher, requiring an average of 12 to 15 hours to fully learn the system, and continual use thereafter to fully master all of the components of the program. Students also must fully understand how to use the system in order to gain full benefit. A great feature of the program is that the material can be saved, so the student can reference the notes at a later time outside of the same classroom, thereby placing them at a similar advantage as their peers. One particularly useful device for visually impaired students in a screen magnification system. This is software that enlarges information on a computer screen up to 20 times. They can be used on the full screen, part of the screen, or via magnifying glass where the student clicks on what they want to see. There are several major companies making this software include Magic, Zoom Text, and BigShot. The cost is not prohibitive and there are minimal obstacles to the implementation in a classroom setting, other than the student requiring a computer in order to utilize its features. Some students struggle to read anything in an academic environment. A screen reader can assist with this by reading out loud what the student is looking at. The screen reading software will read out everything on a computer screen, including web pages and dialogue boxes. The downside to this is that the student must often go through hearing meaningless information until they arrive at what they truly want to learn about. This means that students do need to spend a great deal of time with the screen reader in order to maximize its effectiveness, but it proves invaluable to students who truly desire to keep up with their classmates, yet simply cannot read the material at a fast enough pace. Similarly, a scan and read system can take printed text, scan it into the device, and then read it back to the students. This is particularly useful in secondary schools and at the university levels where instructors may make handouts available to their class. Students can scan in the lecture notes and then listen back to them outside of class. The challenge is to utilize this effectively during class, requiring the device to be physically present and time allowed for the scanning and recognition of the text. References All Educational Software. Retrieved from http://www.alleducationalsoftware.com/idrt1000. Beard, L. A., Carpenter, L. B., and Johnston, L. B. (2011). Assistive technology: Access for all students (2nd ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. DeConde-Johnson, C. and Thibodeu, L. (2005). Serving children with hearing loss in public school setting. The Asha Leader, 9(1), 1-15. Read More