1. C HAPTER 15 T EACHING AND L EARNING WITH T ECHNOLOGY IN S PECIAL E DUCATION By Brittany Sapp and Zach Cox

3. I NTRODUCTION TO S PECIAL E DUCATION Education for students with special needs, including those with physical and/or mental deficits and gifted students. Special Ed Tech has been part of the US Education since 1879 when congress made grant for the production of Braille.

4. Assistive Technology extending the abilities of an individual in ways that provide physical access and sensory access. Can also address special teaching and learning needs. Council for Exceptional Children’s Technology and Media Division (CACTAM).

5. I SSUES AND P ROBLEMS IN S PECIAL E DUCATION Legal and Policy Directives-- The Technology Related Assistance ACT for Individuals with Disabilities Provides funding for state wide systems and services to provide assistive tech to individuals with disabilities. Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education ACT Mandates every IEP team consider AT when planning their IEP.

6. I MPLICATIONS OF NCLB A CT Focuses on adequate yearly progress which requires documentation that each school is meeting specific performance criteria. Teacher and Paraprofessional Qualifications The use of evidence based practices High Standards for all students

7. T RENDS IN P REVALENCE OF A UTISM The number of children with Autism receiving Special ED has increased by 13-28% each year since the early 90’s. One AT solution has been development video capture and editing solutions. One example is Video Modeling

8. A MERICAN S IGN L ANGUAGE ASL has been recognized as a world language and become the third most widely used language. ASL web-based instruction has been developed with four different aspects: 1.Platform for students to capture, submit, and archive ASL performances 2.A setting for instructors to evaluate and report student performance 3.A portfolio where students can monitor their personal performances 4.An admin. Component to manage and coordinate performance and evaluation data

9. I SSUES AND P ROBLEMS IN S PECIAL E DUCATION CONT. Need for Trained Personnel- Considerable effort has been devoted to identifying the knowledge and skills needed by teachers using assistive tech. Enhance their own productivity. Enhance effectiveness of instruction and success of all students. Enable them to acquire and use assistive tech for students in need of support.

10. R EQUIREMENTS FOR I NCLUSIVE C LASSROOMS During 90s, the policy of placing special needs students in separate classrooms changed to allowing them to participate in selected gen. ed. Classes called mainstreaming. Efforts were made to include them completely in gen. ed. Classrooms called inclusion. Access is still limited. Still an urgent need for assistive tech.

11. U NIVERSAL D ESIGN FOR L EARNING Universal design has emerged from our understanding of the design of physical environments for individuals with disabilities. The Center for Applied Special Tech. in collaboration with National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum have helped to create practical approaches for improved access to general curriculum by weaving together new curricula, teaching practices, and policies.

12. W EB A CCESSIBILITY There has been a recent push to make websites more usable by people with disabilities. Using text equivalents with screen readers. Using large or enlargeable images for people with low vision. Underlining links as well as coloring them for users with colorblindness.

13. T ECHNOLOGY I NTEGRATION S TRATEGIES FOR S PECIAL E DUCATION Foundations of Integration Strategies- Tech. integration efforts must include both assistive and instruct. Tech AT evaluation process is based on three categories: no tech, low tech, and high tech. Remediation- involves helping an individual learn or improve performance Compensation- focuses on using tech to accommodate difficulties performing tasks.

14. S TRATEGIES FOR S TUDENTS WITH C OGNITIVE D ISABILITIES Mild Cognitive Disabilities- Use productivity software as well as other software materials and online resources that can be used. Reading Skills- Software products such as JumpStart Kindergarten and text-to-speech products. Writing Skills-Voice recognition software for students who are unable to write by hand. Math Skills-specialized calculators, simple graphing software materials, games, tutorials. Moderate and Severe Cognitive Disabilities- alternative keyboards to simplify the demands of interacting with computer.

15. S TRATEGIES FOR S TUDENTS WITH P HYSICAL D ISABILITIES Power wheelchair operated by joystick. Switches are commonly used for controlling and getting input to the computer as well as activating environmental control systems. The goal is to identify tools to access and control across environments.

16. T ECHNOLOGY I NTEGRATION S TRATEGIES FOR S PECIAL E DUCATION CONT. Strategies for Students with Sensory Disabilities Blind- canes and sensor tech, tools to convert printed info, screen readers Partially sighted- closed circuit television to magnify printed forms. Deaf- multiple formats, assistive listening devices.

17. S TRATEGIES FOR A T -R ISK S TUDENTS /G IFTED AND T ALENTED At-Risk: AT can be used to motivate and help them be successful. Gifted and Talented- Technology use for these students is based on the 5 Ps: pace, process, passion, products, and peers.

18. T ECH -PACK N EEDS AND C HALLENGES Special Ed. Content Knowledge- must understand public law, tech options, and adaptations. Must keep up with changing laws, caseload options, and tech. Ped. Knowledge- Even when a teacher is aware of the latest tech, public laws, caseloads, and content, they still need to know correct ped. To assist learner.

19. S PECIAL E DUCATION T ECHNOLOGY K NOWLEDGE Teachers need to know about the tech and how to use tech that affords learning specific concepts and strategies within their classroom. Research is required along with time and PD. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBbY-s5b1RE http://www.schooltube.com/video/a04a1d7da74d4ecc868a/

20. S TRATEGIES FOR I MPROVING T ECH -PACK Consider the following questions: Do I have the content knowledge needed to assist my students in meeting the standards within my classroom? Do I have the tech knowledge needed to teach Special Education Content within my classroom? Do I have the ped. knowledge?

21. W EBSITES Learning Technologies Media Lab http://it.umn.edu Turn Taker App uses visual and audio cues to facilitate turn taking and sharing for children with disabilities. http://touchautism.com Web Accessibility Initiative http://www.w3.org/WAI Illinois Center for Technology Accessibility http://html.cita.uiuc.edu Building Accessible Websites by Joe Clark http://joeclark.org/book Power Reader http://projectpossibility.org/viewProject.php ?id=1 http://projectpossibility.org/viewProject.php ?id=1 Web-based social stories http://www.projectpossibility.org/viewProjec t.php?id=27 http://www.projectpossibility.org/viewProjec t.php?id=27 Sign Language Recognizer http://www.projectpossibility.org/viewProjec t.php?id=30 http://www.projectpossibility.org/viewProjec t.php?id=30 Problem-based Learning http://lt.umn.edu/geothentic