Assistive Technology, or AT, is technology that can help students with disabilities to reach educational goals and participate in the classroom setting. An assistive technology device can be any item that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of a child with a disability( There is an exception, however, of those medical devices that are acquired through surgery that may help improve a student with disabilities, these devices are not considered assistive technology.

 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) states that appropriate AT should be provided to students who need it for testing.  For schools to meet the requirements of LRE (Least Restrictive Environment) they may be responsible for providing assistive technology.

 Personal frequency modulation (FM) systems can be compared to a radio station that is listened from a specific frequency. The teacher in the classroom uses a microphone while the listener uses a receiver that transmits what the teacher is saying into earbuds or directly into a hearing aid worn by the student. This AT is helpful in that it allows the student to be able to hear the lessons and lectures by the teachers which in turn helps the student to take notes and participate in class assignments.

 An assistive technology for seeing impaired students could come in the form of a braille printer. These braille printers emboss braille onto paper for visually impaired students. Braille is essential for visually impaired students to complete homework and do other tasks just as the sighted students in the classroom do.

 A reading pen is as assistive technology that uses optical character recognition. A reading pen can be used when a student is learning disabled in reading and it helps a student by reading a word or sentence that they are having trouble with.

 An example of an AT for a student who is physically disabled could be a mouse with an enlarged trackball that could be easier to control for a student with a disability. This could help a student to complete a computer assignment just as the other students did in the classroom.

Assistive Tevhnology in Education (2008). Stanberry, Kristin. Assistive Technologytools: Reading