Assistive Technology for Student Accommodations

Student Group	Technology Accommodations	iPod/iPhone Apps
Students with Cognitive Difficulties	1. For students who have difficulty or discomfort with reading comprehension, use of text-to-speech software can greatly improve comprehension and comfort level when reading. Student products in this theme support this through recorded narration of final eBook products. You can also install additional tools such as the free Natural Reader for converting other digital texts to speech. Fortunately, this unit is designed to be truly multimedia and does not have a strong reliance on text alone, but one area a text-to-speech reader could prove useful is in reading the project directions and rubrics, primary historical accounts, and ePal emails or posts on the social networking site. 2. Video-based materials can help with acquisition, maintenance, and transfer of functional and community-based behaviors. The video resources in this unit provide a start, but could be augmented with teacher-created video tutorials and procedural demonstrations.	There are a variety of apps that assist students with cognitive needs, especially those related to communication. Talk allows a user to enter a sentence and the iPod/iPhone uses text-to-speech to verbally speak the sentence. For students who may be too young or too challenged with writing to make use of such a text-to-speech tool, apps like iConverse and Look2Learn allow the user to communicate basic needs and requests using an intuitive visual interface. While these apps are not directly related to this thematic unit, they are invaluable tools for helping speaking-impaired students in any classroom communicate with teachers and peers.
Students with Physical Difficulties	1. Physically disabled persons may be handicapped in their ability to interact with a computer via primary systems -- generally pointing (mouse) and text input (keyboard). There are a variety of mouse alternatives to be used as pointing devices, and even head-mounted infrared pointing systems. For text input, one effective solution may be to use voice recognition software such as Dragon Naturally Speaking. These tools would make multiple activities in which pointing/navigation and text input are critical accessible to physically handicapped students. Examples of this are use of Google Earth, creation of eBooks, and use of math/science simulations. 2. What if a student is physically paralyzed entirely... does this mean they cannot interact with a computer? No! Amazingly, there are now non-invasive consumer-level brain-computer interfaces which can manipulate your computer via EEG. The Emotiv could be used for pointing, moving, and navigating around many of the interactive tools used in this (and other) multimedia units. The Intendix aims to extend this one step further, converting EEG brain signals directly into text!	Mobile devices can be used for voice-to-text input much like computers can -- with the added benefit that they may be more portable and do not require access to a computer. Mobile versions of speech-to-text software such as Dragon Dictation could be invaluable to allow students to contribute to ePals, MixedInk, and eBooks in this unit -- especially if they don't have a computer or Naturally Speaking software
Students with Sensory Difficulties	1. Fortunately, units such as this one - designed to be multimedia from the start - exemplify "universal design" that allows for benefits and inclusion to wide varieties of users. Tools such as videos, student-narrated articles, and multimedia collages and scrapbooks mean that users that are either visually- or hearing-impaired would still be able to use and benefit from provided resources. Flash-based resources (such as the STEM simulations and timeline and mapping tools) can also be used to great effect to allow control over visual and audio options. Unfortunately, as noted in my reviews of STEM simulation sites, many developers do not take such accessibility and accommodation into full consideration when developing their applications. Adobe's Accessibility Guide can serve well both as a resource for developing such tools as well a guideline for choosing appropriate apps to use with your students. 2. Although not directly noted in this unit's plans, I highly advocate use of a document camera (such as by AVermedia or Elmo) in every classroom. Combined with a large TV/monitor or projection system, this tool is another example of "universal design" to make education more accessible to everyone. This tool extends upon the capabilities of the traditional overhead projector by allowing the teacher to place science demonstrations, historical or cultural artifacts, realia, and other physical objects directly in view of the camera -- and being able to zoom in on them helps both the visually-impaired as well as every other student in the room. This will prove invaluable for real-life scientific demonstrations related to transportation technologies, as well as showing real-life examples of documents such as current or historical advertisements.	There are a variety of apps available that cater to the vision- and hearing-impaired. With the abundance of multimedia resources on the web and in this thematic unit, a sound amplifier/regular such as soundAMP R would be universally beneficial, but could prove especially helpful for hearing-impaired students. For blind or visually-impaired students, text resources such as the primary source documents could prove a challenge; using a Web Reader app, like the text-to-speech tools on the computer, can eliminate that problem.
At-Risk Students	1. Although at-risk students are not "disabled" in the legal definition, many studies have shown they have much to benefit from the hands-on involvement and motivation technology can bring. Perhaps the strongest support for these students in this unit is the lesson planning itself and its incorporation of multimedia resources and hands-on creative tools. Since attention and motivation may be factors in this demographic, the most valuable tools may be the video resources and hands-on STEM simulations. 2. Another factor for at-risk students may be a fear of failure or level of discomfort in taking on independent tasks. Thus students should prove to be more motivated and comfortable through use of tools like social networking via Ning and collaborative/group writing using MixedInk	Often, a key component that is missing from an at-risk student's school life and would prove extremely beneficial is the idea of organization and prioritization. An iPod or iPhone could prove invaluable as a portable organizer, to-do list, and task/progress tracker for at-risk students to manage their time and feel good about their progress. One such tool is Toodledo. Extending this idea and making it more fun is iReward -- this virtual version of the tried-and-true "stickers" and "star charts" can help motivate students by giving them virtual rewards for successful completion of tasks.
GATE Students	1. This thematic unit truly allows room for independent growth and exploration required by GATE students. Roblyer (p. 419) points out that Heward (2000) and Howell (1994) indicate three key strategies: electronic communities, research, and interactive/multimedia presentations. This unit meets all three of these, especially through adopting an open-ended, problem-based learning scenario (predicting/inventing future transportation) and through use of communication tools such as ePals and production tools such as eBooks. 2. It is possible to further extend the breadth, variety, and creativity of GT student learning via Odyssey of the Mind style projects. Although Odyssey of the Mind is not strictly technology-based or computer-driven, the types of creative and problem-solving tasks presented can often be enhanced through computer tools such as Google SketchUp for architecture/engineering or Adobe Creative Suite for visual media presentation including photo editing, animation, and digital video production. Extension activities related to transportation include creating video or animated public service announcements or urban-planning cities or towns to incorporate innovative transportation systems, using 3D CAD tools.	Although much attention and funding gets focused on assistive technology for students with disabilities, there are actually many apps that would prove beneficial from the perspective of universal design -- these tools would be useful to any student. Many such tools specifically speak to the extended research, synthesis, and production goals of GATE education. Such tools include mobile accessibility of online research, such as through Wikipanion. Other tools allow the student to extend the capabilities of their mobile device to function like other specialized technology tools, such as a graphing calculator (invaluable for determining statistical connections and trends viewed in transportation usage over time) Other apps that are truly innovative combinations of fun, creativity, and productivity include art and music tools. For this thematic unit, students could create musical advertising jingles using just their voices and a set of apps such as Drum Kit, FingerPiano, and/or GrooveMaker