Techtalk: Assistive Technology (2007)

Assistive Technology (AT) offers students with a disability access to an education. Over 11% of undergraduate students in 2004 were identified as disabled and requested AT services (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2005). Although AT can help students with many types of disabilities, our discussion will focus on technology designed for those who are struggling with reading, writing, math, and study strategies. To learn more about AT for other disabilities we recommend Johnson, Beard, and Carpenter (2007).For students challenged by reading, AT devices can scaffold students with disabilities (Swd) and also poor readers without disabilities; what Stanovich (1988) calls nondyslexic, garden-variety poor readers. AT can accommodate Swd whenever needed; it can also act as a temporary scaffold for poor readers, allowing both to succeed with print, learn content, and perhaps learn how to develop reading abilities and skills through modeling.This first column introduces legal requirements mandating AT, instructional design to integrate the technology into teaching and learning support, and representative hardware and software devices available for access to and for the development of reading. In the next column, we'll discuss AT for writing, math, and study strategies.AT LegislationBeginning in 1973, federal legislation provided Swd basic civil mandating access to buildings, services, and schooling through Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (1998). In 1998, these rights were expanded, requiring access to electronic and information technology through section 508, the Assistive Technology Act (1998). This second act required certain access standards be met in order to procure any technology through federal funds. Access can be as simple as providing alt tags on web pages or as sophisticated as computer screen readers, auditory assistive devices, or writing assistance programs.Instructional Integration of ATWhen the Assistive Technology Act (1998) was reauthorized in 2004, legislation mandated Universal Design for Learning (UDL), an instructional design procedure based on three principles: accommodate instruction for Swd by providing multiple representations of information to be learned, multiple means by which they can express knowledge gained from that information, and multiple ways to engage them in developing this knowledge (cf., Higbee, 2003). That is, UDL mandates differentiating instruction to all diverse student populations including Swd in developmental education classrooms and learning support services. Unfortunately, UDL is often misinterpreted and thereby may actually limit diverse students to only one source of information or one means for demonstrating knowledge because they have a learning preference (cf., Dembo & Howard, 2007). Instead, UDL is intended to support good instruction whereby all students learn and demonstrate knowledge through multiple sources.AT DevicesAT is a continuum of high-tech, light-tech, or no-tech devices and services (Vanderheiden as cited in Johnson et al., 2007). High-tech AT is typically electronic (e.g., computer screen readers that assist poor readers by pronouncing words during composition). Light-tech AT is generally inexpensive, not electronic, and is as simple as a magnifying glass to improve vision or a note card to follow lines of print. No-tech AT is determining when and where technology is best suited. For example, Swd can sometimes develop to a point where a spelling checker is not needed for certain, oft-used words. It is important to view AT as a scaffold supporting Swd to extend their access to information, their abilities to convert that information to knowledge, and their communication of this knowledge to others. In this application, technology can truly assist students as opposed to being intended as a cognitive prosthesis to fix them (Cavalier, Ferretti, & Okolo as cited in Alper & Raharinirina, 2006). …