Assistive Technology

In Tuesday night's class we learned all about assistive technology. What kinds of things were assistive techonologies, how they are used, when they are used, etc. It ranged from a gripper on a pencil to a talking calculator. We had discussions about the appropriateness of assistive technology in the classroom setting, when were various technologies appropriate depending on what was being tested. We discussed and learned a variety of information regarding assistive technology along with our readings for the class that night.

What I thought was most interesting from the lecture and the reading was what counted as assistive technology. To me, technology means something electric or battery-powered. Thus, I was operating under the assumption that technologies meant things such as keyboards, calculators, computers, iPads and phones. However, as our guest lecturer explained technologies can also be pencil grippers, raised lined paper, colored tape, etc. This came as a surprise to me because I had never thought of assistive technology as any of these things.

Although it was news to me, I now understand the broader context that assistive technology lies in. I understand that assistive technology pertains to anything that is a physical accommodation for assisting a child in the classroom. There were three subjects areas of assistive technology: reading, writing, and math. Reading were things like glasses, magnifying glasses, braille, highlighting tape, etc. Math technologies included things such as manipulative, talking calculators, calculators, or magnified calculators. The writing technologies included a wide range of objects: grippers, raised lined paper, keyboards, magnified keyboard, pens with erasers, talk-to-type programs in computers, etc.

I understand assistive technology is anything designed to help a student perform better in the education setting. It is any physical accommodation given to a student to help his or her performance.