While there is so much buzz going around about how to integrate technology into a Foreign Language class or an Art class or an English class, I thought I would take some time to focus on how technology can help our Special Needs Class. You may not think technology can play a big role in this class but the truth is it can! Students who suffer specific learning disabilities, speech impairments, mental retardation, emotional disorders, hearing or visual impairments, and many other disorders can benefit from technology. However, while this is great news there is a downside; The Federal Government is only covering about 15% of the cost of educating a special needs child. I believe that if we brought more awareness to this problem that this can change and we can get the technology needed in the Special Needs classrooms.
Thanks to modern technology, children who suffer from different disorders have found new ways to express themselves. Some technologies that can be used to help these students include digital textbooks which offer high quality images and audio capabilities, voice recognition technology for the students who have trouble using keyboards, text-to-voice which reads a text back to a student who needs audio reinforcement, and many others. For the visually impaired, there are screen readers, descriptive video services and computer screen magnifications. For the hearing impaired there are captioned televisions, hearing aids and infrared systems. There are different technologies for different disorders so I understand why it would be extremely expensive to supply Special needs classrooms with all of this technology but can we really put a price on education in today’s society?
I know that the cost of all this does not seem practical, but if you had a friend or family member who suffered from one of these disorders, would you change your mind?
Unfortunately I must admit that I have never given much thought to using technology for special needs students, but after heaving read this post I realize that special needs students, particularly with the disabilities you mentioned, can stand to be the ones who benefit the most from implementing technology in their instruction. With technology, visual, auditory, or physical impairments no longer have to be such a difficult obstacle to overcome when it comes to learning, and if the government is willing to pay to have special needs educators in the classroom to best help special needs students along, then I believe if they were made aware of the benefits of technology in special needs education than they would completely be on board. So it might be worth a shot to develop some way of getting the government to realize just how important technology to special needs students could be. I think you're on to something. Well done.
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