Blog Post #12 - What assistive technologies are available to you as a teacher?

It is very important to meet every child's need, even the impaired children. There are many new types of technology that were created to assist impaired children to help them have a better learning experience. After watching these videos and doing my own research, I have found many interesting assistive technology devices that are great aids in the classroom. In The Mountbatten - Assistive Technology for the Blind, the mountbatten is demonstrated as a typing device for the blind. The student will type Braille into the typewriter-like machine and it produces a Braille copy onto a piece of paper, reads aloud what they are typing, and also sends the file to a computer for the teacher's use. I found this device to be very interesting because it enables the student to keep up with the rest of the class; it benefits both the student and the teacher because it produces a text in both Braille and regular typing. Another interesting device was the iPad with the voice over. In both iPad usage for the blind and Having a great time teaching mom what her deaf/blind child is learning on the iPad, it shows how blind people are able to use an iPad just as efficiently as a seeing person. The voice over application makes it where everything that is on the screen can be read out loud to the user to benefit those who are unable to see. Watching these videos on assistive technology tools got me really interested in learning more.

In my research, I found a device called Tactile Image Enhancer (or T.I.E). In Tactile Image Enhancer - Assistive Technology for the Blind, it demonstrates how this device works to create an image or representation where all the parts are able to be felt and identified. This video shows a teacher making a flower. First, she draws the flower onto special chemically treated cotton-woven paper with a China pencil. Then it was put through the machine and the heat of the machine caused the lines that were drawn to be raised up; the darker the lines, the more it rose. This enables a blind student to feel over the picture and identify the different parts and create their own image in their head. The Tactile Image Enhancer is great for making pictures, charts, graphs, and tables for tests.

These tools and many others are great and useful tools for impaired students. These students should get an equal opportunity to have the best learning environment possible; and these tools help make learning much better and easier for them.