Support Students with Multiple Disabilities - Assignment Example

Assignment Task One Introduction There are various types of disabilities that exist. Limitations have different forms and each bear some adverse effects on the individual. People with limitations take the term ‘the disabled’ as a polite way of referring to them. Most of the disabled require special treatment or special devices to enable them go about their duties. Some limitations may render the victims bed-ridden and unable to perform any task. 1. Hearing impairment Hearing impairment is diverse ranging from partial deafness to complete deafness. Persons with hearing disabilities cannot comprehend sound or have limited detection to sound waves. For persons with partial limitations, they can only detect limited amount of sound waves and mostly need special material to boost their hearing abilities. However, people with total hearing limitations employ other means of enhancing their communication. Causes Hearing impairment has several causes. Genetic condition is a typical cause of such disability. Genetic transfer from parents with such disabilities into their offspring exist. In such cases, offspring’s DNA would regenerate the disability into the next generation. Illness and trauma have been found to be another significant cause of hearing impairment. Most of the old people experience hearing limitations due to aging of body and tissues. Aging act as one of the reasons for of hearing limitations. Impacts For individuals the deaf to participate in efficient communication with the healthy people, special way of communication needs establishment. Thus, such people use a particular language called sign language. However, other media such as hearing aids and lip reading have been developed to enhance communication between the victims and the healthy persons. 2. Vision impairment Visual disability refers to partial or complete loss of sight by an individual. Partial visual impairment constitutes of short-sightedness or long sightedness. Short-sighted people can only perceive visual objects close to them while those objects far from them become blurred or completely inexistent for them. Long-sighted individuals have a contrary behavior to those with short-sighted effects. Complete visual impairment, however, have complete inability to perceive any object. Causes Causes of visual impairment are diverse. Some instances of visual limitations are inborn. However, loss of vision could also occur due to accidents that may damage the eyes or affect the eyes’ neural system or other sensitive tissues. Diseases and aging are also reported to be some of the common causes of such limitations. Impacts Visual disability has various effects on the victims. One significant impact is the effect on the level of mobility of such people. Visual impaired individuals do cannot travel or cover large distances on their own. For pupils with such disabilities, special requirements are required to enable them to continue with their learning process. Such include tools such as Braille and other visual aids. 3. Physical disability Physical impairment takes various forms and types and is a typical kind of disability recorded currently. Physical disability commonly affects one or different parts of the victim. Most of the bed-ridden disabled individual have multiple physical limitations. Causes Accidents cause most of the limitations. Accidents cause most of the cases of spinal injuries Accidents that victims encounter causes other instances such as body parts amputations. Illnesses and aging also cause some of the physical limitations. Impacts The most vital effects of physical disability depend on the fact that, it mostly renders the victims immobile. Such limitations in most cases make persons bed-ridden or limit their level of mobility. Thus, students with such limitations always encounter a lot of difficulty in their academic life. Emphatically responding to disabled students needs Observing our attitude towards the disabled means a lot to them. Healthy people tend to treat persons with limitations with a contrary opinion according to research. View for students with limitations is crucial and goes a long way to having an impact on their performance in class work. Our behavior towards the disabled also matters a lot. Research has shown that, changing our behavior towards them could help in reducing stigmatization and other negatives impacts we subject to the physically challenged. The way we treat, the way we talk or the way we involve them in every endeavor will help in making the disabled comfortable at all times. Helping the needy to accomplish some of the tasks that their physical conditions make it hard for them to accomplish is necessary. In an academic setting, helping the scholars with disabilities is a mandate that healthy students should observe at all times. Assignment Task 2 Assistive technology for students with multiple disabilities Limitations have various forms and types; however, some individuals have been found to experience more than one kind of impairment. Such persons are said to have various limitations. An ordinary case of different limitations is the case of the deaf and blind people. Such people have a visual disability as well as hearing impairment. Others take the form of mental limitations as well as physical disability. For scholars with such multiple constraints, various technological inventions have been made to provide in addressing their problems. Such technologies contribute to making the academic life of students with different limitations easier and to make them achieve the knowledge like the other healthy students. Assistive technology is a device that assist persons’ with multiple disabilities, especial in the field of academics to go about the duties in a healthy way. Several assistive technologies have been developed so far while others are still prototypes and still undergoing further research in the laboratories and workshops. For an education setting, various disabilities in the existence of deaf and blind students. Such students have both visual and hearing impairment. The learning act ivies of such students hit the wall if an active way of communication between such scholars and teachers does not exist. Although the level of communication in such scenarios has limitations, the assistive technologies in place address most of the multiple limitations cases. One significant kind of assistive technology in the field of education is the use of speech recognition tools. These tools work together with the speech synthesizers. The technology comprises of a computer with installed speech recognition program. The user inputs information into the computer by speaking into the microphone. The computer then interprets the information through use of sound analyzing softwares and then converts them into text. The cost of such equipment is dynamic depending on the model of the computer used as well as other components such as the microphone. However, an average cost of $500 should be enough to purchase a complete package of the device. The software or programs needed for voice recognition and processing also bear a dynamic cost. There exists a possibility of cost of such material varying from various suppliers depending upon their understanding of the equipment. In an educational setting, sound recognition is critical for those students with physical limitations. Such technology could address some limitations such amputation of limbs. Thus, the student needs not write the notes in class using a physical pen. The student has a simple task of speaking whatever he or she intends to write on a microphone connected to a computer. The microphone inputs the sound commands into the computer. The computer, on the other hand, processes the input and outputs a written form of the words. Thus, such technology is used by students with such individual needs in answering exams given the inability to use a physical pen. The students can as well use the system in making their notes or even passing information from one person to another. Before the implementation of an assistive technology for use by students with various limitations, a critical analysis of the students’ needs is necessary. Qualified individuals must perform different evaluations in the field. The professional should determine the effects or impacts of the technology both in the subject and to the other students. The evaluation should also determine the most appropriate technology for use by the handicapped student. Having identified the best assistive technology by use, the student has to undergo a teaching on how to use the technology effectively. Enough training to the physically challenged should aim at instilling mastery of the technology by the student. For the case of the mentioned assistive technology, the student should learn on how to standardize the tone and pronunciation in order for the computer to process the words quickly. The training should also enable the student to master the command words used in most case. Sound recognition materials require the input voice to be made audible. It thus means that, the student will have to shout the commands whenever he or she requires inputting the information into the computer. Such sound projections could disturb the rest of the students attending the same class with the physically challenged individual. Such a scenario could result in discrimination of the disabled by the other regular scholars. Some of the sound recognition tools have been enhanced to ensure efficiency in sound detection. Such equipment could end up picking voice from other secondary people within the same environment. It thus creates incorrect sound entry into the computer. Such a scenario disorders the learning process of the disabled using such an assistive technology. The physically challenged might also feel discriminated if such cases persist. Regular evaluation of the assistive technology’s efficiency in terms of the effects on the user`s performance is necessary. Such evaluation can be carried out through direct interviews with the user or assessment of the physically challenged academic performance. Keeping track of results for the individual from the time they before using the assistive technology and the kind of changes after using the technology would contribute in determining the efficiency of the technology. Apart from classwork, the assistive technology could also assist the user in other co-curriculum activities. Most of the sound recognition kit can link with other interactive programs such as video games. Use of voice commands could control such games. Thus, students with various limitations, through the use of such assistive technologies could participate in playing video games quickly. It is a feature that could help boost the social standards of such disabled students. With the use of assistive the technology, the pupils with various limitations can participate in both academic and non-academic activities. The assistive technology has narrowed the gap between the healthy and the disabled significantly. It thus simplifies the tasks of teachers in terms of schedule preparation for both academic and co – curriculum activities. Although the assistive technologies are not perfect, their impacts have placed its user in a near perfect scenario. Work Cited Lancioni, Giulio E, and Nirbhay N. Singh. Assistive Technologies for People with Diverse Abilities. New York: Springer, 2014. Internet resource. Read More