Software and Hardware for Special Education Students
Equal Access to Software and Information serves as a resource to the education community, providing information and guidance in the area of access-to-information technologies by individuals with disabilities...
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Equal Access to Software and Information serves as a resource to the education community, providing information and guidance in the area of access-to-information technologies by individuals with disabilities.
The uses of technology in schools for special education are discussed at Dreamms.
A talking browser for MACS with Netscape has been developed at Cornell. Several new software titles for both MACS and Windows have been announced by RJCooper. Speaking to Write is devoted to realizing the potential of speech recognition for students with disabilities.
Closed Captioning is a list of closed captioning resources for hearing impaired students to enjoy broadcast programs. CAST is a clearinghouse with sources of adaptive technology and career opportunities.
The Productivity Works (Prodworks) has developed a new version of its software for students with dyslexia or other visual impairments. It translates the content of Web pages into both speech and simplified visual displays with variable size text. This product runs on Windows and requires a speech synthesizer.
"Assistive Technology: An Introductory Guide for k-12 Library Media Specialists" by Janet Hopkins at Linworth Publishing covers this topic very comprehensively. Join the Alliance for Technology Access and you will always be uptodate. The Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access shows a broader view.
EnViSci network is a set of units for all students and teachers, both hearing impaired and hearing, in which the major content is presented by avatars using American Sign Language. The science activities are data-based. It is refreshing to know that all students can participate together in collaborative online study.
For students with ADD/ADHD, Grey Olltwit has created a number of software titles to take advantage of different learning styles, such as matching skills via music and games with popular characters like Winnie the Pooh and Lion King.
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Many commercial vendors offer special versions of their software titles. Microsoft's Windows (all versions) provides Accessibility Options in the Control Panel.
An accrual of research findings over 25 years in the artificial intelligence community has demonstrated positive quantitative and qualitative growth for many learning disabled students, using computing environments. While the causes, accounting for this success, are debated (e.g. one-on-one, lack of distractions,etc.), such an accrual would be difficult to contradict.
See also the description of Simulations Plus under our "New Modeling Tools" entry. It has been designed especially for physically disabled students.
