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Two students with disabilities were crowned king and queen of
the prom this past spring for the first time in the history of
East High School in Lincoln, Neb.
One normally wouldn't chalk this experience up to assistive
technology, but Eloise Hiatt did. Hiatt is the head of assistive
technology for Lincoln Public Schools.
Both students use wheelchairs and are nonverbal. They each have
a device called a liberator that uses recorded speech to talk
for them. The device enables them to attend mainstream education
classes and socialize with other students.
"Their whole lives have opened up now because they're in classes
with regular students. Their friends are now regular kids," Hiatt
says. Roxanne "Roxy" Bullock, the prom queen, who has cerebral
palsy, "is going down the hall in her wheelchair with pictures
in her hand from the prom. How much more of a teenager can she
be? She's all smiles. She's just on top of the world."
Bullock, 18, and her date are not alone in their appreciation
of assistive technology -- the computer hardware, software, and
devices that help students with disabilities use everyday equipment.
The innovations -- which can be as simple as replacing a pencil
with a keyboard so a student with physical disabilities can take
notes -- have enriched the lives of hundreds of thousands students
with disabilities from kindergartens to high schools nationwide,
assistive-technology experts say.
The trouble with miracles
Some assistive-technology applications sound almost miraculous:
reading text to a student who can't see, taking dictation from
a student who can't write, or replacing words with pictures for
a student who can't read. But the miracles are not problem-free.
Some students find assistive-technology products difficult to
learn and use, so support services are crucial. Educators recommend
starting students with low-end technologies; lending them technology
on a trial basis; following up to ensure proper use of the technology;
and offering ample training for teachers, parents, and students.
Teachers also need to give students with disabilities more time
than other students to complete work, even with assistive technology.
"Having the devices does not translate into learning more," says
J. Emmett Gardener, an education professor at the University of
Oklahoma in Norman. "The student, the teacher, and the parents
need to understand how the student can best use the devices. To
spend X amount of dollars to equip a computer with devices is
a disservice if the student doesn't know how to use the devices."
Despite glitches, assistive technology is worth the effort.
"Assistive technology has given students with disabilities access
to the full range of educational opportunities," says Dave Medearis,
a teacher at the Madison Metropolitan School District in Wisconsin.
"The technology is there so anyone can do almost anything."
Recognizing the potential of assistive technology, many school
districts have established referral procedures for acquiring devices
and programs. Referrals go to a team that evaluates each student's
needs, helps students borrow needed technology, trains students
and their parents and teachers, evaluates the students' progress,
and then determines whether each student should use the technology
regularly. (State technology initiatives and local school districts
offer lending libraries for products, and Medicaid will pay the
cost of buying some assistive technologies for regular use.)
In addition, some districts have set up assistive-technology
plans to ensure equitable delivery of the services. In Rockville,
Md., for example, the Montgomery County Public School District
has begun equipping special education classrooms with standard
devices and programs, says Denise DeCoste, who coordinates the
district's effort. So far, 140 classrooms have received
new computers with office productivity software, a color printer,
portable augmentative communication devices, a software program
of picture symbols, and an expanded keyboard program. Each package
costs about $2,200.
In Madison, the school district plans next year to equip each
career resource center in the high school with an accessible workstation,
Medearis says. Each workstation will include an adjustable computer
desk and a computer with an interface for alternative keyboards
and two software programs. One uses a sound card to read information
on a computer screen. The other recognizes speech for controlling
computer applications, such as word processors and web browsers.
The district also is working on a plan to provide special education
departments with workstations and devices to lend, such as portable
spell checkers and word processors. Workstation computers will
have a software program that speaks to students and one that predicts
what word a student wants to type on the basis of the first few
letters.
"We're trying to provide more technology that will teach a wider
variety of students," Medearis says. "The district's goal is to
provide equity with assistive technology among programs."
Paying for miracles
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was passed
in 1975 to give children with disabilities the right to a free
public education until they are 21. Reauthorized in 1997, the
act requires school districts to consider assistive technology
when developing an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for students
with disabilities. Federal legislators also have allocated millions
of dollars for assistive technology, including money for initiatives
in each state.
Before the federal mandate, IEP teams sometimes would overlook
assistive technology, particularly if no one on the team knew
much about it, says A. Edward Blackhurst, an education professor
at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
"There's a tendency in many school districts not to raise the
question of assistive technology because of the expense involved,"
Blackhurst says. "Now, the IEP teams must consider assistive technology."
IDEA also established formula grants for states to use in educating
students with disabilities and discretionary grants for states,
universities, and schools to use in research and education benefiting
students with disabilities, says Dave Malouf, a project officer
for the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education
Programs. In fiscal year 1998-99, the federal government gave
more than $4.5 billion in formula grants and $279 million in discretionary
grants.
A $100,000 IDEA grant in 1992 helped the Albuquerque (N.M.)
Public Schools start buying state-of-the-art assistive technologies.
Today, the district is among the leaders in the field. It received
$300,000 in IDEA funds for fiscal year 1998-99, says Sandy Damico
Nettleton, the district's director of assistive technology.
But federal funding for IDEA has never met the official goal
of paying for 40 percent of educating students with disabilities.
The Technology and Media department of the Reston, Va.-based Council
for Exceptional Children (CEC) is lobbying federal legislators
to increase funding for support areas and training in assistive
technology, says Brenda Heiman, a member of CEC's executive board.
Another source of funding comes as a result of the Technology
Related Assistance Act for Individuals with Disabilities, a 1988
federal law that established funds for statewide technology initiatives
and outlined the rights of students with disabilities to receive
assistive technology. When it was reauthorized last year, the
law was renamed the Assistive Technology Act, or Tech Act, as
it's commonly called.
Funding has grown with the law. Nine states received money for
assistive technology the first year, and by 1995, all 50 states
were receiving federal dollars. During the 1998-99 fiscal year,
states received $30 million as a result of the Tech Act, says
Judith Fein, a program officer for the education department's
Office of Special Education.
States use Tech Act money for several purposes: lending, exchanging,
and recycling equipment; providing low-interest equipment loans;
helping rehabilitation agencies acquire equipment; and establishing
assistive technology initiatives that provide schools and other
consumers with advice, training, and support.
In Nebraska, the state technology initiative gave Lincoln public
schools a $29,000 grant last year to help establish assistive-technology
teams in every school. The district is using the money to develop
models to train assistive-technology specialists for the IEP teams,
says Mark Schultz, the initiative's director.
Supporting miracles
Despite all this money and effort, assistive technology is valuable
only if support services are strong. Finding the right equipment
is the first crucial step. Experts recommend starting students
with low-end technologies that are inexpensive and easy to use.
A pencil grip, a thicker pencil, or paper with wider lines can
make writing easier for students with disabilities. A spell checker
or a simple word processor also can help.
"School board people need to know about the continuum of devices
so they can avoid spending lots of money on technology that some
students find difficult to use," Blackhurst says. "When a need
is identified, they need to start at the low end of the continuum
and work their way up."
Once a district determines the device or program that best suits
a student's needs, it should follow the student to ensure that
the technology remains useful. Sometimes a dead battery can be
enough to stump a student. Data maintained by the Albuquerque
Public Schools show that following up two to three times a year
will keep 75 percent of students on track with assistive technology,
says Damico Nettleton.
"You need to look at kids in the context of their environment,"
says Sharon Keller, supervisor for student services at Colonial
Public Schools in New Castle, Del. "When you're doing an assessment,
you have to look at it as a process, not as an event. The tasks
students do from year to year change, and so does their environment.
It's an ongoing thing."
Students, parents, and teachers also need continual training.
Training can come from local school experts, state initiatives,
or national conferences.
"Assistive technology provides people with disabilities a communication
tool," says Megan Turek of Closing the Gap, a Bloomington, Minn.-based
organization that provides information and training about technology
for special education and rehabilitation. "It gives speech to
the nonverbal. It gives access to information to those who can't
access their environment. All of a sudden, they have a voice and
they can control their lives. It's a life-changing tool."
Kimberly Garcia
is a freelance writer in Austin, Texas.
Assistive technology restored a voice Lizie Garcia had lost
for years. When she was 2 years old, Lizie contracted a bacterial
infection that left her unable to speak or sit up. Until last
fall, Lizie communicated by blinking her eyes if someone questioned
her. Initiating a conversation was too much work: People sometimes
asked her hundreds of questions without guessing her message.
Now a second-grader in Montgomery County, Md., Lizie has lots
to say -- thanks to a portable device called DynaVox, which uses
recorded speech to talk for her. She operates the device with
a head switch that scans through categories, allows her to choose
pictures within the categories, and then reads phrases aloud.
At home, Lizie uses DynaVox to talk about going to bed, eating
out, talking on the telephone, and playing with toys. At school,
the device helps her with math, spelling, and reading. It also
enables her to attend mainstream classes for science, social studies,
and reading. Since she started using the device almost a year
ago, Lizie has been amazing her family.
"She comes up with stuff that just blows our mind, like now
she wants to sleep with a pillow behind her back," Lizie's mother,
Carol, says. "She may have wanted that for three years, and I
didn't know it. She would have never even attempted to say anything
to me before."
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A
"jelly bean" switch at his knee lets Jason Brown
operate the on-screen keyboard on his Macintosh computer.
Assistive technology specialist Barbara Brooks has customized
Jason's computer with one-click functions to complete common
tasks, such as automatically adding his name, date, and subject
on a document. |
In New Castle, Del., Jason Brown is also determined to harness
technology to achieve his educational goals, says Pam Ingram,
a paraprofessional who works with him. A 19-year-old with cerebral
palsy, Brown has little muscle control and has difficulty making
himself understood. He uses a program called Discover:Kenx, which
provides a keyboard on a computer screen. Operating a knee switch
allows Brown to move the cursor on the screen.
More recently, Brown has also been using a quicker word processing
method called Co:Writer. Brown types a letter, and the program
lists the most commonly used words that start with that letter.
He then highlights the word he wants to use.
Brown has used both programs to his advantage. He wanted to
attend all mainstream classes by his senior year and go to a local
community college. Assistive technology has helped him achieve
both goals.
"He's really on a roll with computers," Ingram says. "He's on
the edge of what technology has to offer. He knows the better
he becomes on computers, the more independent he'll be and the
easier college will be. Already, he's much happier and more independent."
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John
Chisholm completes school work using an assistive writing
system that recognizes his speech, but he and his mother,
Kay Brown, hope for improved technology that will make things
easier for him. |
Assistive technology has opened worlds for Lizie Garcia and
Jason Brown, but it can be frustrating. John Chisholm, 15, is
a seventh-grader in Albuquerque, N.M., who has difficulty writing
and is partially visually impaired. He uses a speech recognition
program called DragonDictate but finds it slower than writing
the words out. And because the program is not compatible with
Internet access, he has had to learn another program, TextHelp,
to read online material to him.
Even so, the technology allows John to do his homework on his
own, and his frequent use of the computer has improved his reading.
He also appreciates the e-mail and adaptive desks provided at
school. Still, John and his mother are eager for further technological
advancements.
"These programs have been a lot of effort," Kay Brown says.
"Unfortunately, it's not like 'Star Trek,' where you just turn
something on and it works. We're looking forward to improved technology
that will make things easier for John in the future." -- K.G.
SELECTED PRODUCTS
Wondering what kind of assistive technology to put in your shopping
cart? Here are some of the most popular products used in schools
today:
* AlphaSmart
2000 from Intelligent
Peripheral Devices Inc. Students who have physical difficulty
in writing can use this device to take notes in class or do homework.
The size of a keyboard, this portable word processor weighs under
two pounds, runs on AA batteries, and has a small built-in screen.
Students can download their work to a desktop computer.
* Braille
'n Speak from Frontier
Computing. This handheld device allows visually impaired students
to enter text using Braille, which is then spoken aloud using
a built-in speech synthesizer. Students can store and edit up
to 800 pages of Braille on the device, which can be connected
to a computer for printing, faxing, and online functions. Clock,
appointment calendar, and calculator functions are built in.
* Co:Writer
from Don Johnston Inc.
When students type a letter, this software program lists the most
commonly used words that start with that letter. Students then
highlight the word they want to use. The program helps students
with learning disabilities spell and saves keystrokes for students
with physical disabilities. Co:Writer also reads letters, words,
sentences, and documents, which helps students with visual impairments
and learning disabilities. Available in Mac and Windows versions.
* Discover:Kenx
from Don Johnston Inc.
This solution for alternate computer access makes communication
easier for students with physical disabilities by replacing the
regular keyboard and mouse. For students who can't read, Discover:Kenx
shows pictures for symbolic writing; for word-bank writers, it
shows complete words and phrases for constructing sentences; for
single-letter writers, it is a full keyboard. The program accommodates
switches, alternate keyboards, on-screen keyboards and other input
devices. Macintosh only.
* DragonDictate
from Dragon Systems Inc.
This voice-recognition software allows students with physical
and learning disabilities to use oral instructions on such computer
applications as word processors and web browsers. The student
trains the computer to recognize his or her voice by reading a
list of words into a microphone. The software will accept 35 to
40 words per minute, spoken with brief pauses between each word.
Dragon Systems also offers Dragon
NaturallySpeaking for Teens, which accepts as many as 100
words per minute and is billed as the first continuous-speech
recognition product specifically for teens; the software offers
special vocabularies and voice models to allow for the highest
level of accuracy for young speakers. Windows only.
* DynaVox
/ DynaMyte
from DynaVox Systems Inc.
These portable, augmentative communication devices use a synthesized
voice to speak for a student. The student presses pictures or
words to select a category and then chooses phrases from the selected
category. The unit's voice can be customized to match the student's
gender and age level. Other similar augmentative communication
devices include Adaptivation
Inc.'s VoicePal, VoicePal Pro, and VoicePal Max line of products.
* Fast
ForWord from Scientific
Learning Corp. Designed for at-risk students as well as those
in special education, this K-12 software program builds oral language
comprehension skills such as phonemic and phonological awareness,
auditory processing speed, syntax, and grammar. The program, which
combines CD-ROM and Internet technology with new findings in neuroscience,
uses acoustically modified sound and cross-training techniques.
Available in Mac and Windows versions.
* Franklin
Speaking Language Master Special Edition from Franklin
Electronic Publishers Inc. This handheld portable device for
students with learning disabilities speaks more than 300,000 definitions
and more than 500,000 synonyms. It includes spell correction and
three word games.
* IntelliKeys
from IntelliTools Inc.
This special keyboard features a membrane instead of keys to facilitate
typing for students with physical disabilities. Teachers can create
overlays to arrange the keyboard in different ways for different
students. For example, the overlay might have pictures, bigger
letters, or bigger keys. Compatible with Macintosh, PC-compatible,
and Apple II computers.
* JAWS for Windows
from Henter-Joyce Inc. This software
program for Windows uses a standard PC sound card to read aloud
text that appears on the computer screen. The program's speech
synthesizer supports seven different languages, and can be used
with the Internet to read web pages. APEL's
ULTimate Reader
is a similar product for both Macs and PCs. Arkenstone's
WYNN software
for Windows also reads text on the computer screen but adds the
capability for students with dyslexia to modify the display of
the page on the computer screen for greater clarity and reading
ease. Similarly, ZoomText
Xtra software from NanoPac
Inc. enlarges the display of information on Windows and DOS
computer screens for students with low vision, and also reads
the text on the screen aloud.
* Kurzweil Educational
Systems offers software solutions that allow a Windows PC
and scanner to read printed text aloud. The Kurzweil
1000 (for students who are blind or severely visually impaired)
and Kurzweil 3000
(for students with dyslexia or other reading difficulties) combine
optical character recognition and speech synthesis software for
reading magazines and books aloud. Arkenstone
offers a similar Windows-only software solution called Open
Book; in addition, Arkenstone also sells a complete stand-alone
hardware product called VERA
for reading printed text aloud.
* Write:OutLoud
from Don Johnston Inc.
This Mac and Windows software program speaks what a student types
and helps students with learning disabilities catch typing and
spelling errors. It also helps students with disabilities ask
questions and give reports in class. IntelliTalk
by IntelliTools is
a similar program available for both Mac and Windows.
HELPFUL WEB SITES
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