Assistive Technology Reflection

Assistive Technology is a very interesting and helpful tool. Personally I use it a lot in my class working with students with Emotional Impairments that tend to have a dual diagnosis of a Learning Disorder as well. There was a number of tools that I have used over the years that have been very helpful. Using Inspiration or Kidspiration is a great tool for organizing. I implement it for a number of lessons. Using it for "How a Bill Becomes a Law" really helps students to understand the order the a difficult process. I have one particular student who uses a word predictor software. I can not remember what software exactly, but it does seem to help him quite a bit. We also have Alphasmarts that are used in the English classrooms. I would like to become familiar with them and use them when my students are writing in History as well. We have also used different Text to Speech soft wares such as Browse Aloud, Read Please and the Don Johnston software as well as Nettracker. These are a lifesaver! Giving a student who struggles at reading the ability to gain the same information really empowers the student. I am really excited to learn more about the different webquests the South Carolina web site has. Using WebQuest is a great way for students to get the information. Then using the Text to Speech option gives them the ability to search for information in a narrow search space and not to be overwhelmed. I have used the web site "web tool boxes for educators" before, but I had forgotten about it! It was very useful so I am glad I was reminded and will use it again. A number of the sites I will be exploring and sharing with my teachers!