Scherer makes the argument that:
When a person feels anxious or self-conscious about the use of a device in public, his
interactions with others can become more strained, especially since assistive
devices signal a disability and often set a person apart as appearing different.
I witnessed this with one of my students last year who was receiving Resource support for writing. He had significant difficulties putting his ideas on paper. His writing was extremely messy and disorganized with many spelling errors and he always required much more time than other students in his class to complete written work. I assumed, especially because of the positive responses I'd gotten from other students using this type of technology, that a portable Writer keyboard with word prediction software installed would be perfect for "Jim". He could use this device at his desk and complete his written work quickly and with less frustration. My other students who were already trained and using these Writers raved about how cool it was to have their own "laptop". "Jim" surprised me with his negative reaction when I first presented him with this machine. His desire to fit in and do what everyone else in his class was doing overpowered his desire to accomodate his learning disability, if the accomodation meant that the other kids would notice he was different. For children with the more invisible disabilities such as a learning disability, assistive technology may conflict with the need for social acceptance and belonging, especially for individuals with low self-esteem. I think that it is critically important to consider the individual's milieu and to work with whole classrooms and schools to better understand these disabilities and to demystify the technology that may be used to support these students.
2 comments:
Helping students to understand learning disabilities and demystifying the tools our students may need to be successful is extremely important for success. I was reminded of this last week when one of my students, who as recently diagnosed as having Irlen Syndrome, received a special set of lenses which clip over his regular glasses. These lenses are colored and filter out certain spectrum of light which basically distract his brain. I have to admit I was going with the hopefully the students won't notice his lenses or make a big deal about them. I was afraid they would tease him. I was surprised to discover that his peers wanted to know about the lenses, how they work and how they would help him. He decided he would teach his class about his disability and how the lenses would help him. I was nervous about it..he was not. His peers were very receptive and I was reminded of an important lesson.
K.Pinard
I think we've all had experience students who are frustrated enough about their struggles to learn and be able to do what the rest of the class is doing that their frustration creates behavior issues, which only further impedes their learning. I'm sure this happens more often that teachers realize. We all know that most students are interested in learning and succeeding, and usually loose interest due to boredom or frustration. The possibilities for differentiated activities and support systems for students we've seen with such assistive technology programs as Kurzweil, Cloze Pro, Clicker 5, and Inspiration are only the beginning of the technology that will eventually change the way students learn, by helping to develop skills and share their ideas in new ways. Most of these programs would benefit all students, when properly matched to their skill sets and interests. How exciting for parents to be able to access programs to help develop their childs literacy and numeracy skills! Should we be educating parents about these programs in order to gain advocates for the funding?
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