A Cyber Hand for the Destitute

       Assistive technology is a resource that all schools should implement into their classroom settings. With the vast improvements made in technology today, students of all types of learning demands can surely benefit from it. This video, Assistive Technology: Enabling Dreams, demonstrates the possibilities for learning in today's modern age of technological advancement. Students like Susanna Sweeney and Lukas Bratcher, who suffer from severe physical impairments, are two of the many students that have greatly benefitted from assistive technologies. Teachers should consider the positive experiences shared from this video to look into innovative ways to help students learn with assistive technology.

     Considering the video's touching example of helping students with severe impairments to experience learning the best way possible is something I definitely want to use for my future students. Unfortunately, Director Sheryl Burgstanier of Washington's DO-IT University remarks, "Even though there's a lot of technology available for people with  disabilities, it isn't implemented that much in our school systems today and there al lot of reason for that " (Burgstanier, 2005). The irony of her statement reveals a need to expose students with the educational aspects of assistive technologies, especially those found on the Internet. The reason why assistive technologies are not available for all students would fall on the idea that schools do not have an appropriate budget to support such aids. Teachers can offset this by introducing the assistive technologies found online.
     Assistive technologies, which are offered freely online, can help teachers promote an effective learning environment for their students with learning disabilities. Some Internet sites that offer additional assistance for disability users include TVOkids.com, Moodle.com, and Wiggio.com. These sites offer students with disabilities to learn on their own pace or in their preferred environment. The Internet also contains a surplus of free downloadable programs that utilize speech recognition-base software, which students like Susanna can benefit from.

     Thorough exploration of the Internet can help teachers easily implement assistive technologies in the most affordable way. As an aspiring English teacher, I will definitely modify my lesson plan to include assistive technology. By way of using assistive technology in my classroom, I will be providing all my students with the most efficient learning environment. Assistive technology is without a doubt a modern convenience that equalizes the opportunities for all students to have the best education.  On a positive note, Diane Curtis (2005), author of the coordinating article of Assistive Technology: Enabling Dreams video, writes, "All over the country, what is known as assistive technology is opening the way for disabled students to do what their counterparts of years gone by could not even have imagined." Here, Curtis justifies the revolutionary importance assistive technologies are for students with disabilities, which provides such students with the opportunity to achieve at their highest learning potential.

References

Curtis, D. (2005). Disabled bodies, able minds: giving voice, movement, and independence to the physically challenged. Edutopia. Retrieved from 

            http://www.edutopia.org/assistivetechnology

Ellis, K (Producer). (2005). Assistive Technology: Enabling Dreams. Available from

            http://www.edutopia.org/assistive-technology-enabling-dreams-video