Power Tools

'Assistive technologies' help students with special needs keep pace in the regular classroom.

By Karen Nitkin

But thanks to a power wheelchair and a special computer station, the 9-year-old with cerebral palsy and a winning smile gets along just fine. Because Justin has difficulties performing tasks requiring fine motor skills, such as writing on paper with a pencil, he usually types on his own Mac computer, hunting and pecking away with one finger. He motors around the classroom using the power wheelchair, which he operates with his left hand.

Without these supportive technologies, "I don't think Justin would have been able to keep up with the curriculum, and he would have needed to be pulled from class," says Ann Litke, Justin's mother. "With the help of technology, I see him going to college and being able to live really independently."

Known as assistive technologies, tools such as touch-screen computers, voice recognition or "talking book" software and the like, are showing up in more and more general education classrooms like Throndson's. Some of the impetus comes from changes in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mandating that schools provide appropriate accommodations (such as assistive technologies) to allow students with disabilities to attend regular education classes. Using the new technologies, some students who would not even have been placed in regular classrooms are not only present—they're also participating in the curriculum and the camaraderie.

But teacher and staff training and collaboration are vital to making the technologies work.

Fortunately, she got lots of help—from professionals like special education teacher Kelly Bredeken and paraeducator Carla Buckholtz. Before the school year started, Throndson met with Bredeken, who helped her set up the seating so Justin could maneuver his wheelchair easily around the classroom and participate in group tasks with other children. And she turned his desk into a computer station, so he could tap out his assignments on his keyboard while other kids write them on paper.

Throndson also learned to make day-to-day adjustments so that Justin, who has no cognitive impairments, can keep up with the other 24 students in the class. If students are editing sentences, she'll type Justin's sentences directly into his Mac ahead of time, giving him a few more minutes to work while other kids copy from the board. For creative writing assignments, though, "I just leave him on his own," says Throndson. "It takes him a little longer to produce as much but he's an extremely good reader, so when the other kids are finished reading, he'll just go back to his story."

"He's a very capable young guy," adds Bredeken. "And that's why technology is so important to him. It gave him a method in which he can demonstrate his knowledge of curriculum."

Like Throndson, Ellen Budish, a kindergarten teacher at Sunrise Park Elementary School in Boca Raton, Florida, has a child in her class using an assistive technology. In her case, Danielle uses a DynaVox, a device resembling a touch-screen computer that provides a voice for children who can't speak. It's easy to use so that even Danielle, who has limited use of her arms, can manipulate it.

Before school started, Budish attended an all-day seminar in a school system office to learn about the technology and how to incorporate it in her classroom. About 30 teachers, paraeducators, and parents attended.

Budish works closely with Colleen Fritts, an augmentative communication specialist, to customize the program for Danielle. Fritts knows that teachers can be intimidated by the devices. "They're usually scared," she says.

But once that nervousness is overcome, the results can be magical. "Ellen is a fantastic kindergarten teacher," Fritts says. "She takes her job extremely seriously, and she wants to do her best for every single student in the classroom. It truly is a success story."

The commitment is just as strong in Throndson's classroom. With adequate support, Justin is making strides. And his classmates benefit from his participation, too—even if they sometimes envy his computer.

"The children are learning from him too," says Throndson. "They are seeing that…he's very smart and there are ways you can work around a disability."

"We're very fortunate to have him," she adds. "He brings us a lot of joy."

Learn more about how to make your curriculum more accessible to all students—for free.

Although the CD-ROM is not available at this time, you can view and download the material online at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Technology in Education (http://www.cte.jhu.edu/accessibility/primer/ ).

The Next Frontier?

Advocates of a concept known as Universal Design for Learning (UDL) think kids learning math, reading, or other subjects should have similar options.

UDL proposes that curriculum materials be designed so that students with quite different learning needs—even students who have visual or hearing limitations, cognitive disabilities, or who speak English as a second language—can access and learn the content. Instead of the teacher adapting the curriculum to meet such a wide range of learning needs, the materials themselves would have built-in ways for kids to learn the same lessons.

It may sound farfetched, but UDL advocates say they're addressing a critical flaw with most instructional materials—they simply aren't accessible for some of the diverse students most teachers now find in the classroom. After all, points out Skip Stahl of the nonprofit Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), even the common textbook is useful only "as long as you can turn the pages and see the print and extract meaning from the print."

UDL's precepts are beginning to influence the design of instructional aids such as texts or Web sites. For example, CAST has developed an eReader that makes text more accessible to struggling readers and students with disabilities. The eReader adds spoken voice, visual highlighting, and document or page navigation to any electronic text. So kids who use the reader can read text on screen, but they also can hear words spoken out loud.

UDL principles, combined with the trend toward providing necessary assistive technologies to students with disabilities, "move schools closer to providing an equitable education to all students," says Patti Ralabate,

NEA's senior professional associate for special needs.