In the US, students with disabilities, ranging from deafness and blindness to ADHD, are legally entitled to a free and suitable K–12 education as well as reasonable accommodations for their postsecondary studies. Assistive technology, which Cynthia Curry defines as technology “intended to support the function of the individual,” is frequently used by schools to comply with these standards.
Curry is the director of the Center on Inclusive Technology & Education Systems and the National Center for Accessible Educational Materials.
For example, screen readers and refreshable Braille displays are popular assistive technology for blind students. According to the speaker, screen readers “read aloud all the content on the screen, as well as buttons, links, menus, and images, if the images have alternative text on them.”
What Is Assistive Technology?
The use of tools and software to enhance learning or daily living is known as assistive technology, or AT. Text-to-speech software, wheelchairs, Braille displays, and books are a few examples of AT. The allure of assistive technology lies in its ability to enhance both learning and life. But for a technology to be considered helpful, it must be tailored to the specific needs of the user. Put otherwise, it is intrinsically personal.
Curry has a special interest in the use of assistive technology in the classroom. It all began when she was a science teacher at middle and high schools. Curry was astonished by the diversity of students in her classroom, despite her background as an engineer having given her extensive knowledge of the subject.
She admitted, “I really struggled with learner variability.” Especially [with] kids whose perspectives differed from mine. I was trying to make up for my lack of education and training by working 16 hours a day, making my own materials, and working one-on-one with pupils.
Curry’s pupils spoke many languages and were from diverse cultural backgrounds. Their backgrounds in class were dissimilar. Their levels of physical and cognitive abilities also varied.
Curry thought it was imperative to support children with disabilities because his sister is disabled. Although such help was required by laws such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, it also felt more “straightforward” than “trying to accommodate student variability in language, race or ethnicity, or even gender.”
Put differently, there is a practical aspect to equitable access for students with disabilities. It can be somewhat engineered through the use of assistive technology.
ALL TECHNOLOGY IS ASSISTIVE
certain critics contend that it is absurd to refer to certain technology as merely “technology” and other technology as “assistive.” Technology aids all users, regardless of whether we label them as “disabled.” As stated by Sara Hendren in Wired:
“What non-assistive technologies are you utilizing, really? Your mobile device? Your glasses? headphones? And just those three instances are helping you in a number of ways: Say, they’re offering navigational information or facilitating or enhancing a sensory experience. However, they also give you the option to select which culture group you associate with by your choice of brand or appearance, to check in or out of a conversation or meeting in a variety of subtle ways, and to pick whether to be approachable in public or not. Are you certain that your phone isn’t serving as a sort of crutch for numerous unmet needs?”
Not only does commonplace technology provide assistance, but it also benefits those without legally protected disabilities. Alternatively, more generally, we can’t always predict how bettering accessibility for one group will increase accessibility for others. It is the fundamental idea behind universal design.
Curb cuts, or the ramp-like dips in sidewalks, are one well-known example. Originally intended for wheelchair users, they ended up being useful for parents pushing strollers, rollerbladers, and a variety of other users.
The concepts of Universal Design are brought into the classroom by Universal Design for Learning, or UDL. Curry stated, “It’s based on research on human learning.” According to the UDL tenet, lessons created with accessibility in mind typically—“though not always”—work well for all students, supporting a variety of learning preferences.
A paradigm that was first presented in the 1990s states that UDL lessons ought to convey knowledge in a variety of ways. That can be fairly easy. For example, closed caption videos help the hard of hearing, English language learners, and anyone learning new vocabulary understand dialogue more easily. Students should be able to demonstrate their knowledge in a variety of methods during evaluation, for as through writing or audio recordings.
Assistive technology is frequently included in or seamlessly integrated into lessons created to satisfy UDL requirements. Let’s examine a few instances of assistive technology and the businesses that produce it.
These ten resources are revolutionizing the way assistive technology is utilized in the classroom.
Examples of Assistive Technology in the Classroom
SPEECHIFY
Software called Speechify converts text to audio by capturing text and converting it to speech. This is really helpful for reading assignments in PDF format, textbooks, and more. The program works with iPhones, Macs, Android devices, and the Chrome browser. Learners and students with ADHD and dyslexia frequently utilize Speechify.
KURZWEIL 3000
With a range of assistive technologies, Kurzweil Education’s Kurzweil 3000 is a literacy support system for Macs and different browsers. Students with vision impairments and ADHD, among other disorders, benefit from the speech-to-text and text-to-speech features, which are available in eighteen languages. Meanwhile, OpenDyslexic, a typeface made specifically for dyslexic readers, reduces letter confusion with its bottom-heavy characters.
GOOGLE CLASSROOM
With the rise in popularity of online education, Google Classroom has gained popularity. It provides a number of executive function and speech-to-text features that enhance accessibility and learning. The platform can be used with Hāpara Student Dashboard, which assists students in arranging their resources in a convenient location, and Kurzweil 3000. Google intends to provide features like video tutorials, guided lectures, and automatic hints in the next versions of Classroom.
TACTPLUS
It’s a Braille printer called TactPlus. The portable printer, which is frequently used by educational institutions, takes one to two minutes to produce a page of Braille (or other 3D graphics) by precisely heating a special kind of foamed paper. To help visually impaired users, the printer also has audio instructions.
SEEING AI
Microsoft’s Seeing AI app provides voice instruction in a wide range of scenarios and is intended for the low-vision community. As soon as a text appears in the camera viewfinder of a smartphone, it reads it aloud. In addition, it depicts the colors of the surrounding surroundings and helps shoppers identify products by barcode. It eventually picks up on the user’s friends’ faces and can describe their expressions.
CLICKER
Crick Software’s Clicker is a writing and reading platform with an extensive feature set for assistive technology users. For example, its mapping tool allows elementary school pupils to draw complete projects or make word webs and pictograms that resemble emojis. That facilitates reading and writing assignments for those who learn visually.
CO:WRITER
Don Johnston Learning Tools’ Co:Writer is a tool that can predict words and phrases in speech and transcribe it, which is very helpful for kids with a range of special needs. Co:Writer, created in collaboration with Google for Education, has an integrated prediction engine that understands grammar and free association principles. It can uncover writers’ meaning even when they misspell words or conjugate verbs wrongly.
DRAGON
A clever voice recognition program is called Dragon. Although it’s positioned as a productivity tool for businesses, it’s also a popular accessibility tool for students with impairments that make using a mouse and typing challenging. The software can transcribe natural speech at up to 160 words per minute thanks to its deep learning capabilities.
MATHTALK
MathTalk is a speech recognition program created for kids who are physically unable of using a keyboard and have ADHD. This software, which is an add-on for Dragon, can understand technical terms and transcribe in mathematical notation suitable for courses ranging from trigonometry to calculus and even doctorate-level coursework.
TOBII TECHNOLOGY
With the use of eye-tracking technology from Tobii, one can utilize their gaze as a hands-free mouse. Students with limited motor abilities and linguistic issues only need to look at their screen to use the technology; a combination of cameras, infrared projectors, and machine learning algorithms will then identify their point of focus.
The Future of Assistive Edtech
There is still opportunity for assistive technology in the classroom to advance. Curry is particularly interested in two areas: mapping apps and artificial intelligence.
She said that AI has already improved the lives of those who are disabled. But, she concerns that accessibility programs over-rely on it, particularly when working with those who are hard of hearing, because “it’s not quite accurate yet under all conditions.”
As of right now, AI frequently produces jerky closed captions or live captions for videos. (For instance, it might translate “Pokemon” as “bro give mom.”) Curry noted that for AI to function well, “human monitoring and human vetting” are required.
But once it can function dependably on its own, it will revolutionize everyday living for those with a variety of disabilities. Better AI could produce helpful tools for individuals with autism who struggle to read facial expressions in addition to hearing “Pokemon” correctly.
Curry points out that while not all students with autism struggle with it, many do. They might learn “how to interact with the individual” by matching a peer’s facial expressions to their emotions with the aid of facial recognition technology, which is a subset of artificial intelligence, according to Curry.
There’s still room for development in digital mapping. Almost everywhere in the world, users of maps apps may already get spoken navigation instructions and an extremely detailed sense of their surroundings. On the other hand, future maps may provide blind individuals with new forms of support.
According to Curry, many blind persons learn the layouts of their schools and neighborhoods by heart and are able to traverse them on their own. But strange places can be problematic. Technology for mapping cannot identify which streets lack sidewalks and which have uneven walkways. Additionally, it isn’t able to lead users through strange buildings just yet.
“Virtual and augmented reality could aid [blind students] in acclimating to new surroundings,” Curry stated. And it may be true in more constrained settings, such as classrooms. As a result, students who enter schools—perhaps they are changing school districts or making the move from middle to high school—are able to navigate their surroundings more swiftly and autonomously.
Naturally, the mapping system would only be considered helpful for students who initially wanted to learn how to navigate alone. The requirements of the individual must be met by assistive technology, not the wants that others impose upon them.
That being said, a teacher who asks, “How can I help you?” could be the greatest helpful classroom technology.
