Much like an accommodation in a student’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP), that helps brings students to a level playing field to access curriculum, assistive technology serves the same purpose.  When I was teaching, I had students in my class with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities.  Roblyer and Hughes (2019) mention that students with mild and moderate disabilities do not necessarily have issues with physically accessing technology rather they struggle with their ability to read, write, or retain information.  Several assistive technology devices were used in my classroom.  Taylor et al. (2020) explain that assistive technology is one support that must always be considered for a student with a disability and often included in many IEPs.  In my classroom, GoTalks were often used for students who had communication needs and could not communicate their wants and needs or answer questions on their own verbally.  GoTalk was an AT device that we would preprogram with different words and the students would press buttons on the GoTalk to communicate with me, their peers, parents, or different people within the school building.  This provided the students with the capability to communicate and be a part of the classroom.  My students also used the Text-to-Speech AT device on their Chromebooks.  This allowed students to highlight certain areas or passages on their computer and the computer would read it for them out loud.  This was beneficial for students who had a reading deficit, but it allowed them to access the curriculum in real time as their peers in the classroom.  I also have had students use screen magnifiers if they had a visual impairment that would enlarge the screen or fonts on the screen to allow them to be able to read it at a much larger scale that what was provided on the computer.  Assistive technology was a beneficial tool used in the classroom that provided student an opportunity to access the curriculum as well as be an integral part of the classroom.

References

Roblyer, M. & Hughes, J. (2019). Integrating educational technology into teaching (8th ed.), Pearson.

Taylor, M. S., Lohmann, M. J., & Kappel, A. (2020). Using assistive technology to support

science instruction in the inclusive elementary classroom. Journal of Special Education

Technology. https://doi.org/10.1177/01626434209947826