Reflections of Assistive Technologies

Reflections of Assistive Technologies

Fourteen year old student Elle O’Gormana was born with Cerebral Palsy which led to her being confined to a wheelchair. In addition to her medical condition, Elle needed a device that would assist her in communicating with her classmates and family.  For this reason, Elle’s team of experts were working diligently to find the best suitable technology to meet her needs. The teams working with Elle discovered that she could communicate effectively with picture boards. Elle went through a variety of speech-generating picture board devices and found that the Dynavox met her special needs. Elle interacts with the Dynavox by wearing a head mask that synch’s with her eye movements to activate the on-screen pictures that the device will generate into a speech format. In addition to this feature, Elle has the capability to communicate with her peers by email. This feature allowed Elle to stay connected with her peers and not feel alienated in group discussions. Notably, the Dynavox has extra storage space to add additional picture icons as needed. This feature is beneficial for Elle because as she progresses in her learning environment, she will need additional pictures along the way. Overall, Elle can be a normal student within the classroom because she can use her Dynavox as a means of communication. She has the capability to participate in class discussions and collaborate with peers as any normal teen would. Even though Elle is physically handicap, she is intellectually strong enough to handle looking at pictures to express her desires.  

In the same fashion, Mason a six year old first grader born visually impaired faced obstacles to find the appropriate assisted technologies that could meet his special needs. Because Mason was legally blind in the left eye and had partial vision in his right eye, posed a unique challenge to address his needs. Due to his poor vision, Mason needed special assisted technologies that could enlarge his text fonts to a resolution suitable for his visual impairment. In order to meet this need, Mason was given an iPad that was specially made with extra-large fonts. This iPad was equipped for Mason to view his spelling words in larger fonts and to hear the sounds of the letters he pressed. Another assisted technology device that was very accommodating was the class smart board.  Because of the large resolution the smart board could handle, Mason was able to view and interact with the device with ease. Along with these tools, Mason was given a Mount Batten Braille device to assist him in taking notes at school and at home. This assisted technology device was Mason’s paper and pencil to key important notes and correspond to audio files. In addition to taking notes with this keyboard, he was also able to learn how to read braille by this special device.  With all of these assisted technology devices, Mason was able to function in a regular classroom with his peers. These tools allowed Mason to be independent and confident in his learning environment. Mason does not have to rely on others to assist him in completing his daily task because the assisted technology provided gives him the necessary components to meet his special needs.

Thirdly, a first-year college student named Susanna Sweeney-Martini has cerebral palsy which affects her muscles movements. Even though she is confined to a wheelchair, she has some movement in her arms but not enough to handle a mouse and keyboard efficiently. Susanna needed a specialized computer that was voice activated to be successful in the classroom. In the beginning, Susanna had issues with getting the assisted technology she needed to be functional in school. However, with her parent’s persistence she was approved to receive a voice activated laptop. This laptop allowed her to speak her written assignments into the computer and translate her words into text form. This specialized laptop gave her the confidence to be an active participant in the classroom. Susanna was happy that she was approved and eager to complete her studies in college due to her speech to text laptop.