Inte-GREAT-ion

     In the "Assistive Technology: Enabling Dreams" and "STEM and People with Disabilities" videos, we are reminded that there are people with different abilities who work just as well as us. These videos highlight that these people are humans as well and have dreams and talents just like we do. Their only hurdles are physiological limitations that prevent them from learning, participating, or communicating as well as an average functioning person. These videos take into account the rising tide of assistive technology and the ways that they can be integrated into "regular" academic life and how they are already being used.

Speech-to-text and Text-to-speech software is a milestone for AT development

     Susanna Sweeney-Martini, a college sophomore then when interviewed for the Enabling Dreams (Ellis, 2005) video stated: "Without [assistive technology] I could not exist as I am today." Born with cerebral palsy, it is difficult, nearly impossible, for her to move independently and without the assistive technology that her life encompasses, she could not do what she does. She is able to traverse soccer pitches when refereeing matches in her motorized wheelchair and is able to "type" out her assignments using the speech-to-text software on her laptop computer. Assistive technology bridges the gap between teacher, student, and classroom material, and supports the student in classroom instruction and assignment completion. Not only would it help students, like Sweeney-Martini in completing coursework or daily life, but it would also help them achieve and excel at expressive extracurricular activities like Lukas Bratcher's solenoid-rigging for his euphonium.

     As burgeoning teachers in our own rights, we should become familiar with the systematics of accommodating students with disabilities into the classroom. Some clear considerations for accommodations - that also seem in line with the Americans with Disabilities Act - come from the Stem and People with Disabilities video (University of Washington, 2011). Some of the considerations outlined include: "Physical access to [classrooms] and equipment for individuals with mobility impairments, alternative formats to printed text and visual aids for students with visual impairments, visual options for material presented orally for students with hearing impairments, and multiple learning and testing options which benefit people with learning and other disabilities." These accommodations are presented quite thoroughly through the content of both videos and show other students helping their wheelchair-bound peers look through a microscope or smooth ramps and automatic doors to allow access into a building.

The international sign for deafness and/or hearing loss

     With the topic at hand being assistive technology and integration of students with disabilities into the classroom, it brings to mind that my mother is a Special Education teacher and specialist at a public high school back home in Saipan. I have been exposed to some assistive technology that she uses in classrooms and some of the devices she would bring home to test would be extremely expensive, while others seemed to resemble toys. One particular device that I remember was a remote microphone for hard-of-hearing students. It could be hung around a speaker's neck and, as we tested it, had a range of almost one hundred feet, granted there were no radio wave obstructions. This particular piece of equipment also made itself useful for one of my classmates and allowed him to sit pretty much wherever he wanted and still hear teachers' presentations and lectures.

     Technology like this grants student with a need for accommodations the necessary tools to go about their daily school life. Granted that the islands do not have the population to really specialize in special education and accommodated education classrooms, we would still need to be ready to assist those students and community members in need. The hypothetical classroom that I would be teaching would be able to accommodate for all sorts of learning styles and be able to have the students, regardless of ability, a chance to learn and enjoy learning.


References:

Ellis, K. (Producer). (2005, February 2). Assistive Technology: Enabling Dreams [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/video/how-assistive-technology-enables-dreams

University of Washington. (2011). STEM and People with Disabilities. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIogBga8zgc