Elana+Harris



Hello there and welcome to my individual home page. In this space, I will provide information for other current and future educators regarding the importance of integrating assistive technology into the classroom for children with disabilities. As I am still an assistive technology learner, I will also document my ongoing learning regarding the use of assistive technology in various educational setting to allow children with special needs access the curriculum. I hope that others can learn from my documented expansion of assistive technology knowledge.

In today's educational environment, technology is everywhere. It is used to assist the learning of children of all abilities. Integrating technology into the curriculum is vital to the successful education of children with disabilities. Where a child might have difficulty accessing the curriculum presented in a traditional manner, he or she might be able to fully participate in the learning process using assistive technology. And for those children who, due to their complex needs, require a completely individualized learning plan based on daily functioning goals, assistive technology can help them reach their potential for independence. For example, nonverbal children have the potential of being taught to communicate using various assistive communication devices. Without these technologies, nonverbal children would have little chance of becoming independent. The assistive communication devices allow these children to gain some control over their own lives, thus reducing the need for adult assistance.
 * Philosophy of Technology Integration**

I believe that the integration of technology for children with disabilities is one of the most important aspects of the learning process. Each child in a classroom should be assessed in order to identify his or her learning needs. Then, the educator can research and integrate technology appropriate for each individual. Assistive technology is not one size fits all. If a system works for one child, it does not mean that it will work for another. The special educator's job is to individualize the learning process, including the technology used, for each child. I also believe that in classrooms with diverse learners, the teacher should create a curriculum as accessible as possible to each child without further modifications. This Universal Design for Learning requires the teacher to plan lessons with each child's needs in mind, and integrate useful technologies into the original lesson plan. Hopefully, this can reduce the need to single out individual students for accommodations, as the curriculum will already be accessible to each child.

While the integration of assistive technology in the classroom is vital to the education of children with disabilities, it can only be successful if teachers are proficient in the use of these technologies. As a future educator, one of my goals is to increase my knowledge of and proficiency in the use of a wide range of assistive technologies. For the past few years, I have worked as a teacher's assistant with children with autism. Through my experience, I have come into contact with many technologies used to enhance various aspects of the children's learning. While I am familiar with adapted toys and utensils, sensory processing aids, and icon producing softwares, most of my knowledge is in the area of augmentative communication systems. I have utilized several low, medium, and high tech communication systems when teaching children with disabilities. Some of these include simple picture exchange communication books, voice output devices such as the Bluebird, and high tech systems such as the Dynavox. I feel completely comfortable integrating assistive communication systems into my teaching. However, as much of my experience has been with children with more severe needs, I am less familiar with assistive technologies that can allow children with mild impairments access the general curriculum. I plan to icrease my knowledge of these technologies by attending the remaining sessions of this assistive technology course. Through this course, I will be exposed to software that will enable me to educate children with various learning disabilities. I will learn about and practice using text to speech systems, web mapping tools, and organizational devices. My expansion of knowledge on assistive technology will not end here. I also plan on taking advantage of the knowledge of my fellow classmates. As I know several of my classmates have worked in resource classrooms, I will pick their brains on technology that can assist children with learning difficulties. I also plan on attending teacher workshops explaining newly developed assistive technologies throughout my career.
 * Professional Development Plan**


 * Assistive Technology Websites**

[|**http://atto.buffalo.edu/registered/ATBasics/Foundation/intro/index.php**] This module provides an overview of assistive technology (AT) used by children with disabilities ages 5-11: what it is and how it can be used to promote independent participation in elementary classrooms. As educational reforms include the application of technology to support and expand classroom curricula, assistive technology can provide both routine and customized access to the general curricula for students with disabilities. Although AT increases independent participation in home, school and community environments, we will focus on its impact in the classroom.

http://www.startechprogram.org/technology/usingtech.html This website is designed to help educators understand and implement assistive technology into the classroom curriculum. In order to do so, it provides an overview of low-, mid-, and high-tech tools, vingettes of teachers using technology in the classroom, and links to articles and websites about assistive technology integration.

http://www.4teachers.org/ 4Teachers.org works to help you integrate technology into your classroom by offering online tools and resources. This site helps teachers locate and create ready-to-use Web lessons, quizzes, rubrics and classroom calendars. There are also tools for student use. Discover valuable professional development resources addressing issues such as equity, ELL, technology planning, and at-risk or special-needs students.

http://www.educationworld.com/special_ed/assistive/index.shtml Assistive technology helps to level the playing field to allow both learning and physically challenged student to succeed in the "mainstream" world, creating normalcy and preserving self-esteem//.// Here you will find how technology helps create indepence and narrows the gap between disabled and typically developing students. There is also a link that provides parents of children with special needs resources for assistive technology.

http://www.washington.edu/accessit/ AccessIT promotes the use of electronic and information technology (E&IT) for students and employees with disabilities in educational institutions at all academic levels. This Web site features the [|AccessIT Knowledge Base], a searchable database of questions and answers regarding accessible E&IT. It is designed for educators, policy makers, librarians, technical support staff, and students and employees with disabilities and their advocates.


 * Student Websites**

http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/ Social Studies for Kids is a site with articles, subjects, and tons of links for all subjects of social studies. This site covers history, geography, economics, cultures, current events, holidays, religions, languages, archaeology, and much more.

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/ //**Science News for Kids**// is a new Web site devoted to science news for children of ages 9 to 14. Our goal is to offer timely items of interest to kids, accompanied by suggestions for hands-on activities, books, articles, Web resources, and other useful materials. Our emphasis is on making the Web site appealing by offering kids opportunities to comment on and grade the subject matter, get ideas for science projects, and try out mathematical puzzles. At the same time, we offer teachers creative ways of using science news in their classrooms.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids/ This website is a powerhouse of information regarding the president and the white house. It provides updated presidential news at a child's level of understanding. There are also links to presidential history and interactive features like an online journal.

Dynavox Boardmaker/Boardmaker Plus Writing with Symbols Tech/Talk 8 Bluebird BIGmack ChatBox40
 * Assistive Technology Devices and Software For Augmentative Communication**

http://www.startechprogram.org/technology/usingtech.html# This article, written by David Rose and Anne Meyer, discusses the history and concept of Universal Design for Learning. It educates its readers on Universal Design's beginnings in architecture and how it was translated into a concept in for education. I found this article to be of particular use as it differentiates between a retrofitted curriculum and a universal-designed curriculum. As future teachers, it is important for my colleagues and I to understand how to create a curriculum where learning is accessible to and pertinent to all students and not just apply accommodations to a barrier-ridden curriculm.
 * Articles**

http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/outprint/nd13txt.htm This article provides tips on how to become an informed consumer of such technology, offers a parent's perspective on assistive technology, examines federal legislation, discusses effective use of technology with young children and how to integrate technology into a student's IEP, and suggests a process for funding technology. The article concludes with a list of readings and organizations that offer additional information on assistive technology.

Wikispaces could be an invaluable tool to teachers of all grade levels. It can help teachers integrate discussions of curriculum topics through the use of the discusssions page. Some children may be more apt to express their thoughts through writing rather than class discussion, therefore Wikispaces can provide a means of expression for shyer students. As well, teachers can increase students' individual research skills by posting links to online readings and sites related to a topic. Finally, students of any age can create their own home page and include any interesting information relevant to the curriculum topic.
 * How Wikispaces could be used by the K-12 teacher**

Wikispaces is not only useful to students but is also a resource for teachers. I have learned much about assistive technology integration through the creation of my homepage. I plan on sustaining its usability by frequently updating links to relevant websites and articles. As I gain more experience, I will also post my successes of using technology in the classroom. Hopefully, as a professional, I can convince my colleagues to create a homepage of their own and we can share assistive technology information through this venue.
 * Plan to Sustain Homepage usability**