The new requirements in IDEA '97 to consider assistive technology devices and services for all students with disabilities are resulting in a significant shift in how educators view assistive technology. The following is a list of broad categories which can help identify education-related technology that could be used to assist students in the classroom.
Sensory Enhancers help a student with sensory deficits access and interact with their environment.
Examples of assistive technologies in this area include augmentative devices, scanners with speech synthesizers, Braille writers, magnification devices, and voice analyzers, etc. Keyboard Adaptation and Emulators offer various alternatives for a student to interface with a computer. This category of AT would include such items as touch screens, joy sticks, switches, alternative keyboards, mouse adaptations, etc. Instructional Uses of Technology enable a child to participate in an educational environment through the use specialized computer software. There is a wide variety of software available to address a continuum of educational objectives such as simple cause and effect training to computer assisted web-based instruction.