1. Assistive Technology
Jade Johnson
ED 505

2. What is assistive technology?
Assistive technology refers to a wide variety of different learning and teaching aids which allow students with disabilities to leverage their strengths and complete daily tasks (An overview of assistive technology, n.d.)
Assistive technology does not just refer to high tech gadgets but can be any tool which helps a student work around his or her disability (An overview of assistive technology, n.d.)
Assistive technology helps students become more independent, more accurate and speedy in their classwork, helps them fit in better with the routines in class, and helps reinforce and strengthen skills (An overview of assistive technology, n.d.)
Examples of assistive technology include:
Highlighters
Books on tape
Inclined writing surfaces
Calculators
Text to speech computer programs
Computer programs which translate oral speech into written text

3. What assistive technology is not
Assistive technology cannot and should not replace high quality, well-intentioned, and purposefully planned instruction (An overview of assistive technology, n.d.)
It is meant as reinforcement and compensation for skills taught by a qualified teacher
It is not meant to serve as tool to overcome ineffective teaching (An overview of assistive technology, n.d.)
It does not help to make a disability go away (An overview of assistive technology, n.d.)

4. Laws concerning Assistive Technology
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 and 1997 and (IDEA)
1990
This act outlined school districts’ responsibility to provide assistive technologies to students with disabilities
Assistive technology must be provided to students as part of a free, appropriate public education (FAPE)
IEP teams are to determine what technology, if any, is needed
1997
IEP teams need to consider assistive technologies to extend FAPE and access beyond the classroom
Consideration means that IEP team members understand assistive technology well enough that they can make recommendations for use
2004
Amendments authorized formula grants for assistive technology as well as discretionary grants for research technology and training
IEP teams need maximize accessibility to assistive technology for students with disabilities
(Assistive technology, n.d.)
Technology Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1988 (Tech Act)
This act provided federal funds to develop training and delivery systems for assistive technologies
This act defined assistive technology and wanted to make it widely available to adults and children
Assistive Technology Act of 1998
This amendment extended the funding of assistive technology to all 50 states
It helped create comprehensive statewide programs of technology related assistance
(Assistive technology legislation, n.d.)

5. Hearing Impaired: VV-Talker
This device helps deaf students to learn to communicate more effectively. It records vibrations of their vocal cords and then compares these patterns to correctly spoken words (vv-talker, n.d.). This feedback allows them to compare that speech to others and make modifications.

6. Seeing Impaired: Tactile Image Enhancer
This technology helps seeing impaired students to feel diagrams, charts, graphs, and the like. Images are printed on a special type of paper and then fed through a printer which raises the ink (Hardware overview: tactile image enhancer, n.d.). This gives a seeing impaired student the opportunity to remember and understand information tactilely and spatially.

7. Learning disabled: Variable Speed Tape Recorders
These devices are useful for students who have difficulty reading and listening (Stanberry & Raskind, 2010). It allows students to listen to prerecorded information and then play it back at a speed that is useful and understandable (Stanberry & Raskind, 2010).

8. Physically disabled: Satalight SMART Board
This SMART Board has been designed with the needs of physically disabled students in mind. It is easily moved and can be tilted to almost any angle to provide students with greater access to the board (Satalight, n.d.). This device also helps to foster independence as well as one-on- one teacher-student interaction (Satalight, n.d.).

9. References
An Overview of Assistive Technology . (n.d.). National Center for Learning Disabilities. Retrieved June 9, 2014, from technology
Assistive Technology. (n.d.). Assistive Technology - Wrightslaw. Retrieved June 9, 2014, from
Assistive Technology Legislation . (n.d.). . Retrieved June 9, 2014, from
Hardware Overview: Tactile Image Enhancer. (n.d.). - Tactile Image Enhancer. Retrieved June 9, 2014, from
Satalight. (n.d.). Advanced Education. Retrieved June 9, 2014, from education.com/educators/products/smart-board/satalight/
Stanberry, K., & Raskind, M. (2010). Variable Speed Tape Recorder. Retrieved June 9, 2014, from
vv-talker. (n.d.). Industrial Designers Society of America. Retrieved June 9, 2014, from talker