Blog Post #13

Special education is very important in the school system. Without this program schools would be completely different. Special education programs and children use technology in many different ways.

Special education teachers are one of a kind. You really have to love what you are doing. That is not a job you could just go and do every day. It is a challenge for you and your students. You have to come up with many different ways to teach your special education students. Maybe because they can't communicate, or many other reasons.

There are many different ways that special needs children use technology.
In Introducing iPods into Special Education, teachers use the iPods for many things. They use the iPods for communication between teachers and students, parents, or siblings. They do this by leaving voice memos. The family members can listen to the voice memos and leave one in return to give back to the teacher. They also use the iPods to help students at home. They record sign language used to teach the lesson. This lets the students work at home and even review. They also read book and put the sign language on the iPods. These are just a couple of the ways they use an iPod in Special Education.

In Technology in Special Education, they show actual reactions of student when they are asked about technology. Most of these students use technology to help them communicate with their peers, their parents, and their teachers. The students feel that technology has made their life so much easier. One specific instance, a student has a vision disability. There is an app that makes all the words appear larger. You can really tell that technology has helped them for the better.

In Assistive Technology, many different assistive technologies are used. One is a Seven Level Communicator. They use this to make different choices, retell stories, and also tell what they want. A Partner Four is similar to a Seven Level Communicator, but it has four buttons instead of seven. The example she showed has yes, no, potty, and all done on the Partner Four. She shows videos called "We Sign", even though she only has one child who is deaf. All children need to know this so they can communicate with the deaf child. Higher Function was another tool used. This tool is for children who can't communicate at all. It uses tech speak and pictures for the student to choose what they want ot communicate. She uses two forms of buttons, a Step-by-Step and a Big Mack Switch. The Step-by-Step is used to answer question, along with the Big Mack Switch. One difference is the Big Mack Switch actually has a visual with it.

How special needs students benefit from technology