For instance, if the teacher writes a reminder on the board to bring a book to class the following day, the student adds the task to his to-do list. The following day, when he checks his list, he goes to his locker for the book. The book makes it to class, the student doesn't have to miss class time running to his locker at the last minute, and best of all, the student has accomplished this series of tasks on his own, without needing or asking for help. In algebra, the Palm becomes a graphing calculator. In physical education, it's a stopwatch.
Most students use a Palm keyboard to take notes, but they also use the stylus and their fingertips.
Instead of being looked down upon by the more traditionally functioning students, the Palm users seem endowed with a certain superiority. The special ed students are showing that they can keep up with their schoolmates and be cool at the same time. The students take notes directly into the Palm. Even when a student misses a class, if someone else takes notes on a Palm, the notes can then be beamed into the student's Palm. It's just like having a classmate take notes for you, except that the notes go directly into the format you can use on the computer.