In the world today, there are tons of different types of technology available to help students with various disabilities succeed in the classroom.
The first example would be a student who has a hearing impairment. As a way to help this student navigate the classroom, I would try and provide them with an e-Reader for the class textbooks so that they could listen to the lessons through headphones (Wikipedia, 2010). Also, I would try and get the speech recognition software for speech-to-text so that I could record some of my lectures and then provide the student with the textual information (Wikipedia, 2011).
Second would be a student who has problems with their vision. One tool that can be used for this is again the e-Reader. There are many different gray scales and sizes for the text so the student would be able to make the words very large and not struggle to see as much (Wikipedia, 2010). Another tool would be using technology created by DAISY. Talking books transfers words into speech so that students who cannot see the words can now hear them (Wikipedia, 2009).
If a student has a broken arm, especially their dominant arm, they will certainly have a more difficult time writing and completing tests and work in class. To help them, a speech-to-text software could be utilized to transcribe what either the student or the teacher is saying. This way, the student would still be able to take notes in class by recording the teacher's lecture. This tool could be included in a speech recognition software that would also control the computer just with the student's voice so they could complete web searches (Wikipedia, 2011).
And finally, there is technology available that would benefit a student who has a non-communicative form of autism. From what I could understand, this form of autism means that a child would have difficulties expressing themselves through speech or writing. So a tool that I would try and suggest for this student would be a speech recognition software that could take down what they are saying without having to worry yet about how the writing is coming out grammatically and spelling-wise. Perhaps with less pressure on how they are writing, they may be able to take a step towards expression.
Wikipedia. (2009). Assistive Technology in Education/DAISY. Retrieved from DAISY Wikipedia
Wikipedia. (2010). Assistive Technology in Education/eBook. Retrieved from eBook Wikipedia
Wikipedia. (2011). Assistive Technology in Education/Speech Recognition Software. Retrieved from
Speech Recognition Software Wikipedia
Post was good... however,for your suggestion with the student with autism... a text-to-speech program would not be appropriate because the student is non-communicative. They would not be able to speak- or their speech would be difficult to understand. Therefore that software would not help. The wikibook did offer some suggestions for devices specifically for students with autism.
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