1. How technology can assist special needs students at Dalton State College

2.  Part of choosing Assistive Technology to help our students is establishing what challenges, specifically, they face as a person with a learning disability.  For example, students with ADHD often have difficulty organizing information in a meaningful way (www.add.org).www.add.org  Students with learning disabilities in a collegiate environment are often confronted with being their own advocate for the first time. While public schools have resources and alternatives readily available, the collegiate realm is behind in making such accommodations. To that end, the instructor must be open and willing to enter into a dialogue about the student’s past experiences in learning, actively seeking out methods of accommodation with or without a referral from Academic Resources, though the student should always ben encouraged to include Academic Resources so that all of the student’s instructors can make accommodations on their behalf. CHALLENGES STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES FACE

3.  Dropbox—since we know that students with learning disabilities find it difficult to organize information and we also know that providing them with copies of lecture notes will assist them (www.add.org, www.chadd.org), using Dropbox as a means of organizing the information and providing lecture notes is a sound application of Assistive Technology.www.add.org  Audio Textbooks—When selecting course materials, professors should consider the options and supplemental materials that are available to their students. Providing an audio textbook is a viable, reasonable, and easily applicable method for incorporating assistive technology. This will be especially helpful for students who are auditory learners and those who struggle with reading comprehension. HELPING STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES THROUGH ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

4.  Writing is essential to most all areas of study and poses a specific challenge to students with disabilities. To that end, a program called Inspiration can prove helpful in assisting students with organizing their ideas in written form. With the click of a button, students are able to organize an outline, allowing students to visually organize their ideas while brainstorming about their assigned topic. According to the website, Inspiration® can be used by students to “create webs, idea maps, mind maps, concept maps, graphic organizers, process flows, and other diagrams for thinking, organizing and writing. Use these proven visual thinking and learning techniques to brainstorm ideas, explore and explain relationships, and integrate new knowledge with what you already know. Inspiration® encourages deeper, more critical thinking and that improves creativity, comprehension and retention” (www.inspiration.com).www.inspiration.com HELPING STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES THROUGH ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY (CONT’D)

5.  Since some students struggle with auditory impairment, a best practice would be to eliminate all unnecessary noise in the classroom as much as possible. This will also assist students with ADD and ADHD (www.asha.org).www.asha.org  Using timing as a positive component in computer-based learning is also essential—a professor can slow down the response time needed for students with disabilities (www.sc.edu). This will reduce student frustration and increase comprehension since the focus is shifted from the timing of the exercise to the course material.www.sc.edu ADDITIONAL METHODS

6.  For reading comprehension, the National Center for Learning Disabilities states that, “Socially mediated instruction, of which peer-assisted learning strategies (PALS) is one example, seems to hold considerable promise. In these situations, students learn to process verbally with a peer or group of peers what they've read verbally. After reading a passage, for example, students or a student and a teacher discuss the content of the passage, ask each other questions about it, and in narrative texts, predict what may happen next” (www.ncld.org). Asking students to articulate the ideas and concepts will undoubtedly increase comprehension while also increasing student confidence and their verbal skills, as well.www.ncld.org ADDITIONAL METHODS (CONT’D)

7. http://www.add.org/ www.chadd.org www.ncld.com www.inspiration.com RESOURCES FOR FURTHER ASSISTANCE