Chapter Outline

COMPUTERS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION

I. Students with Disabilities

1. Students who have physical disabilities, sensory impairment, behavior and/or learning problems, and students who are gifted or have special talents are referred to as "exceptional students."
2. The computer can help the exceptional student by functioning as a tutor, an outlet for expression, a motivator, and a source of confidence and self-esteem building.
3. The computer can speak for those who cannot speak, generate text for those who cannot move their arms, read to the blind, and help the visually and hearing impaired.
4. More than 50 million Americans have some kind of disability, which means hardware or software has to be adapted in order to use computer technology.
5. Assistive or adaptive technology devices modify or customize hardware and other pieces of equipment to make them useable by persons with disabilities.

II. Hardware

1. For persons with disabilities, the computer setup can be rearranged, the hardware redesigned, and special software designed.
2. The keyboard, monitor, and work material can be repositioned for easier access to the disabled person.
3. The computer industry has created alternatives to traditional computer devices for disabled persons, including a foot-controlled mouse, touch screens, onscreen keyboards, alternative keyboards, switches, touch tablets, voice controlled devices, and word prediction software systems.

III. Adaptive Devices for the Blind

1. Blind students can use Braille printers, standard keyboards with Braille key labels, or a refreshable Braille display.
2. The Internet is more accessible to blind students because of special software that is available for computer users who are blind or have low vision, with some programs utilizing text-to-speech synthesizers.
3. Talking books and Braille services are available online.

IV. Hearing and Speech Impairment

1. For the student who is deaf or hard of hearing, there is visual output on the screen instead of sound.
2. Software programs for the hard of hearing should have captions for spoken elements of the program.
3. Hearing impaired people can learn to speak by matching words displayed on a screen with sound waves for each word.
4. With the growth of the Internet, more hearing impaired individuals use online mail programs instead of specially designed telephones for the deaf (TTY).
5. Web caption editors are being developed, so the hearing impaired can write video captions in different formats.

V. Learning Disabilities

1. More than half the students that receive special education services have learning disabilities.
2. For the student with learning disabilities, the computer can read on screen print, create several drafts of work through word processing, or help with reading by producing large print, graphics, and speech output.

VI. Health Problems

1. Students who are hospitalized can access their teachers through the Internet and communicate through a range of ways from a video camera to e-mail.
2. Students who have health problems do not have to leave the house, in order to send and receive information.

VII. Software for the Special Education Classroom

1. Software for special education ranges from tutorials to drill and practice.
2. There is a recent emphasis on software that aids students diagnosed with reading problems to improve their proficiency.
3. Word processing applications are the most commonly used applications for learning disabled students and help students with a variety of problems to improve their writing skills, e.g., Write: OutLoud, Co:Writer 4000, Aurora 3.0.
4. Math programs use an arcade game format to aid students in math skills like adding and subtracting and provide drill and practice for learning disabled students, e.g., Access to Math, Number Concepts 1 with Oshi the Otter, Quarter Mile, the Math Blaster series.
5. Science, social studies and miscellaneous programs assist students in these disciplines and may assist in creative expression and voice output, e.g., Talking Walls, Edmark's Travels Around the World with Timmy! Deluxe, Virtual Lab Series, the DK Interactive series, Inspiration, Blocks in Motion, Are You My Mother, Visual Voice tools.
6. New technologies such as Virtual Reality and robotics may helps students with disabilities function better in the classroom.

VIII. Laws Affecting Special Education

1. Special education laws exist as a result of no special education laws existing in 1949, with school districts not required to educate students with learning disabilities and able to place mentally retarded students, who were often discriminated against, in separate schools or special institutions.
2. Parent groups organized to access a general education, and a movement evolved to educate the student with learning disabilities.
3. Other factors such as changes in economics, demographic shifts, discrimination, changes in family structure, substance abuse, and child abuse contributed to the rise in the need for special education.
4. Laws were enacted to ensure that all students received optimal and equal educational opportunities regardless of their disabilities. See p. 292 for a table on special education laws and what they accomplished, beginning in 1973.
5. Federal law requires that schools have to provide equal access to education through collaboration, mainstreaming, and inclusion.

IX. Reasons for Inclusive Education

1. Research and experts cite the effectiveness of including special education students in regular classroom situations.
2. Special education students in an inclusive classroom make academic progress comparable to and sometimes better than students who are segregated and learn from watching other students in the regular classroom.
3. Students in an inclusive classroom who do not have disabilities learn to be more sensitive to disabled students and aware of their needs.
4. Special education students in an inclusive classroom become known in the school community and are better able to handle themselves in the real world.

X. Problems and Issues

1. Schools have often disagreed with parents on the interpretation of special education laws, which has led to much controversy.
2. Regular teachers often feel overwhelmed, when a student with special needs is placed in the classroom.
3. Parents of non-disabled students complain that disabled students require too much attention.
4. Being in a regular classroom does not guarantee that the special education student will acquire the skills needed to function in society.
5. Laws put extra financial demands on schools systems to ensure that all technologies are available to all students.
6. Disagreement exists on how to teach gifted students, with a 1998 legislative initiative called "The Gifted and Talented Students Education Act" providing grants to states to strengthen services for gifted students.
7. Some parents have unrealistic expectations for their child, especially those with severe physical and mental abilities.
8. Software and hardware that requires extensive training is aggravating to the student with disabilities.
9. Technology can help special education students but is not a panacea.

XI. Adapting Classroom Lesson Plans for Students with Disabilities

1. By adapting classroom lessons, the teacher can meet the needs of students with disabilities.
2. The teacher should use pairs and small groups for peer tutoring and cross age tutoring.
3. Teachers can use software that provides auditory feedback, writing help, and other kinds of assistance.
4. See pp. 295-298 for lesson plan adaptations in several subjects.