Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Lily Wiesler
Professor Rodrick
English 115
September 26 2018
Kevin O’Brien is a seventh grader who heavily relies on assistive technology to function
throughout the school day because he is mentally handicapped. Thanks to Tobii Technologies
eye-gaze device, Kevin is able to do things a neurotypical student does like communicate, type
Disorders Can Improve Education for All” Brian Butterworth explains the importance of
understanding disabilities so that people who have them are able to have a successful school
career. In his article he writes,“SLDs are thought to affect approximately 10% of the population
and have a profound effect on educational outcomes”. Brian is stating the fact that it’s a
prevalent issue for people with SLDs (special learning disabilities) and that it truly does affect
their school careers. This new technology helps disabled students communicate, socialize, and
become more independent in their studies. Although people say technology may be too
distracting, it is making education easier for those who are handicapped while also giving them
an identity.
Communication is a major key to success in the classroom, so how is someone who isn’t
disability, kids that have mental disabilities are either afraid to talk, refuse to talk, or don't
understand how to write and spell. Heather B. Hayes explains in her article “How Technology Is
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Helping Special-Needs Students Excel” that technology is a very helpful resource for students
with disabilities since it helps them do things that they wouldn't be able to do on their own.
Hayes states, “Students with motor and mobility disabilities also can use speech recognition tools
to turn speech into shareable text, e-books to eliminate page turning and portable eye-gaze
devices that are powered by blinks”. She is saying that students who experience problems with
from. Without these softwares, school would be very difficult for these specific children. One
typing out whatever they say. This makes it more convenient for them to communicate by
texting and emailing fellow students and teachers. Another company, (that specifically focuses
on tools for) those who cannot speak, is called VocaliD. This company is basically an online
“voicebank”, meaning it provides multiple unique voices to choose from for this demographic.
They type out what they want to say, and VocaliD translates for them. The fact that those who
don’t have a voice can choose from different human voices versus being stuck with a monotone,
robot voice is giving them an identity while helping them communicate and be able to ask and
and websites will continue to impact the lives of those who need them.
There are some disabilities that affect a person's way to socialize, which then affects their
ability to do well in a school setting. Take Autism for example; while some kids on the spectrum
can socialize just fine, others have a very hard time with it. As Ann Griswold, an acclaimed
health and biotechnology writer for The Spectrum states, “In 2011, researchers reported that
children with autism tend to linger on the edges of social groups at school and have fewer
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friendships than those without the condition”. Her article “Support helps some children with
autism socialize at school” connects the dots between success at school with socialization.
Autistic kids who feel as though they don’t belong or feel that they’re too different don’t do as
well as the kids who do. Kids with autism usually tend to not have as many friends, therefore that
directly correlates with how they do in a school setting. Not understanding basic social skills can
make it hard for kids with autism to properly learn since it stops them from gaining relationships
with classmates and other teachers. That’s where technology steps in.
Google Glass, for example, is a headset that pairs with a mobile app to help kids with
autism socialize. After a trial run, they had significant improvement on their social skills. The
other people. When interacting with someone, the headset pairs with
Google Glasses who is now a 9 year old with autism and was part of
the Google Glass trial when he was just 7 years old. His mom,
“noticed within a few weeks that Alex, who was 7 years old at the
time, was meeting her eyes more often — a behavior change that’s
the only disability that struggles with socialization. Social communication disorder often don't
want to talk to other people simply because they don’t understand the basic concepts of
interaction. Google Glass would help people with SCD (Social communication disorder)
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determine emotions of others they’re talking to which helps them know how to react. In school,
where emotions are very high and all over the place, it can be really hard for students with
disabilities to properly function and socialize. With this kind of technology assisting them, they
Learning how to become independent is another huge struggle for kids with disabilities.
While in elementary and middle school, disabled children have parents, teachers, and special
helpers with them in their classes. Yet, as they get older, becoming independent gets harder and
harder for they won’t have anyone with them when or if they go to college. Independence is
especially important when they’re done with school so it’s important to learn when surrounded
by people and technology who can help them. There are so many programs out there that are
used to help disabled students with time management, organization and self identification. Memo
To Me is a program that helps with basic reminders throughout the day while Plan Plus is a time
management program. Using programs such as this is teaching students with disabilities how
they can help themselves versus someone else doing it for them. It gives them a sense of
responsibility and helps them identify with themselves and what they’re capable of. Another way
to obtain independence and confidence is self identification. For a disabled student to understand
his or her own strengths and weaknesses means they know what they need to do to compensate
for that. If they know they struggle with math, they can then use the right softwares to help them
with it. Or, if they know it’s hard for them to be around loud noises, they know to keep noise
cancelling headphones with them at all times. When they know what their weakness is, then they
know there’s a possible solution. Technology holds much importance when it comes to
independence.
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Some people may say that technology is actually hindering students with disabilities
rather than helping them. Technology can definitely be distracting, especially for someone who
is on the spectrum or has ADHD. Plus, if students are using ipads or other softwares to socialize,
maybe that could possibly hinder their ability to socialize with humans even more. Here’s the
thing, there’s too much good and too much improvement happening with technology to say that
it’s a bad thing. As Great Schools Staff puts it, “over the past decade, a number of studies have
demonstrated the efficacy of AT for individuals with LD.” Assistive Technology (AT) will
continue to develop and help those who truly rely on it. While you cannot cure a disability,
technology is there to help cope and make the education system that much easier for them to
Works Cited
Can Improve Education for All." Science Mag, vol. 340, no. 6130, 19 Apr. 2013, pp.
Fisch, Steve. Savvy Specs. JPEG file, 2 Aug. 2018. Accessed 25 Sept. 2018.
GreatSchool Staff. "Assistive Technology for Kids with LD: An Overview." Great Schools, 19
Dec. 2016,
www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/assistive-technology-for-kids-with-learning-disabilities
edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2013/03/how-technology-helping-special-needs-students
Temming, Maria. "Google Glass Could Help Children with Autism Socialize with Others."
www.sciencenews.org/article/google-glass-could-help-children-autism-socialize-others.