A recently launched project at Mississippi State will work with area school districts to develop assistance for students with communication disorders. The university's T.K. Martin Center for Technology and Disability and the College of Education are collaborating with schools in Starkville, Tupelo, West Point, and Webster County in a project that designs technology-based approaches to allow the students full participation in the classroom. Schools in Louisville and Choctaw County will participate during the second year.
Assistive technology can be a vehicle to help students meet their goals and improve literacy skills.
Part of our project will involve training for teachers to help match the appropriate technology for reaching educational goals. Often, students with language-based disorders do not have access to the subjects taught in a general school curriculum, the two researchers say. The project will develop a process that can be replicated at other schools to identify communication goals, select appropriate technology, and teach students to use assistive technology effectively to expand educational opportunities, they said. Our goal is to increase access for individuals with expressive communication impairments to educational, vocational, recreational, and social opportunities. The project is expected to provide assistive technology to more than 500 students over two years.