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 children."
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.
Categories of disability recognized by school districts are learning disabilities; deaf/hearing impairments; speech or language impairments; visual impairments; other health impairments; orthopedic impairments; mental retardation; emotional disturbance; autism; and traumatic brain injury.
Students with Learning Disabilities
More than half of the students who receive special education services have learning disabilities.
Assistive or adaptive technology devices modify or customize hardware and other pieces of equipment to make them usable by persons with disabilities.
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.
Programs such as Simon Sounds It Out in reading, Write:OutLoud in writing, and Making Change in mathematics can help students with special needs.
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.
Students with low vision and students who are blind can be assisted through computer tools.
Advanced screen magnification programs such as ZoomText or inLarge can be used with students who are visually impaired.
Optical character recognition software can convert printed documents into electronic format documents, which can be read using a speech synthesizer.
Speech synthesis is helpful for the visually impaired computer user who can have the computer read a textbook, encyclopedia, or typed paper.
The Internet is more accessible to students with low vision or who are blind, because of screen reading programs such as Home Page Reader or ViaVoice Outloud and online, free text-to-speech applications.
Text-to-speech products like Cast eReader read content from word processors, the Internet, and scanned and typed text, which helps users read Web page elements and e-mail.
Voice recognition systems, which convert binary patterns that are computer recognizable and understand human speech, show the most potential for growth in the computer industry.
The user can enter data or issue simple commands through the system simply by speaking.
The speech recognition systems require the user to train the system to recognize the user's pronunciation of words by saying each of the words that will be used, as the system develops a pattern for these words and stores them.
The voice recognition system recognizes what the user is saying and performs the user's commands.
voice recognition systems improve, the blind will have complete accuracy when they dictate to their computers.
Voice recognition software can be operated through handheld devices to create documents, browse the Web, use e-mail, and navigate the desktop.
Blind students can use Braille printers, standard keyboards with Braille key labels, or a refreshable Braille display.
For the student who is deaf or hard of hearing, there is visual output on the screen instead of sound.
Software programs for the hard of hearing should have captions for spoken elements of the program.
Hearing-impaired people can learn to speak by matching words displayed on a screen with sound waves for each word.
With the growth of the Internet, more hearing-impaired individuals use online mail programs instead of specially designed telephones for the deaf (TTY).
Web caption editors such as MAGpie are being developed, so the hearing impaired can write video captions in different formats.
Students with health problems can access their teachers through the Internet; communicate through a range of ways from a videocamera to e-mail; and do not have to leave the house or hospital, in order to send and receive information.
The Special Education Student and the Computer
For persons with disabilities, the computer setup can be rearranged, the hardware redesigned, and special software used through adaptive or assistive technologies devices which are "any item, piece of equipment, or product system . . . that increases, maintains, or improves functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities" (The Technology Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act).
More than 50 million Americans have some kind of disability, necessitating adaptation of hardware or software for them to use computer technology.
The distinction between adaptive or assistive technologies and conventional technologies is blurring, as more products are being designed for universal use.
The keyboard, monitor, work material, and other peripherals can be repositioned for easier access by the disabled person.
Many possibilities exist for keyboard redesign, including moving keys farther apart, a simplified arrangement, larger keys, a left and right keyboard, an onscreen keyboard, a repeat key, and creating sticky keys.
Keyboard emulators can be used which allow the student to make a choice with one movement, use a mouse or joystick, or generate a sequence of keystrokes.
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.
The TouchFree Switch is an input device that lets students trigger a mouse click without applying any pressure and can be used in conjunction with a digital camera that recognizes any movement as a mouse click.
The Discover Switch attaches to the keyboard, so that the computer user does everything that a standard keyboard and mouse can do.
IntelliKey is for people with a wide range of disabilities who require a keyboard with a changing face and can be used with Macintosh or PC compatibles.
Talking keyboards such as Discover:Board allow the student to press keys for sounds and speech while working.
The touch screen, which comes in two types, is a pointing device on which users place their fingers to enter data and make selections and can be found in airports, supermarkets, and museums.
One type of touch screen is designed with a pressure-sensitive panel mounted in front of the screen such as Touch Window.
A second type of touch screen is designed with a special, touch-sensitive monitor, such as the IBM Info Window System.
The touch screen is a natural and fast way for disabled students to enter data, make selections, and issue commands.
A touch screen is not useful for inputting large amounts of data or for pointing to a single character, is fatiguing to use for long periods of time, gets quickly finger marked, and may not be convenient for lesson plans that use more than one touch screen because of software incompatibility.
A handheld scanner, such as QuickLink Pen, helps students take notes, scans printed words, and prints Internet links, charts, tables, books, and magazines.
The AlphaSmart 3000 portable keyboard works with Macintosh and PC, has a word processor and spelling checker, has four different keyboard layouts, and prints directly to the printer and downloads files to the computer.
Building design, construction, and modifications are important, so that students with disabilities have full accessibility to facilities and services.
Software for the Special Education Classroom
Software for special education ranges from tutorials to drill and practice. See Appendix A for a list of software for special education.
There is a recent emphasis on software that aids students diagnosed with reading problems to improve their proficiency.
The series of Start-to-Finish books, which come with a computer book and teacher materials, motivate students who are struggling with reading; are high-interest, low-vocabulary books in a wide range of genres that help students who are two or more grades behind in reading or unsuccessful readers; and aid students with language disorders or dyslexia, English language learners, and those with spelling and writing difficulties.
Other titles that assist special education students with a range of reading skills are the Optimum Resources High School Reading Comprehension Series and the Edmark Reading Program Levels 1 and 2.
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, Clicker 4, Wordbar, and Aurora 3.0.
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.
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 Travel the World with Timmy! Virtual Lab Series, Inspiration, Buildability, Are You My Mother, Visual Voice tools.
Laws Affecting Special Education
Prior to 1949, no special education laws existed. School districts were not required to educate students with learning disabilities and were able to place mentally retarded students, who were often discriminated against, in separate schools or special institutions.
Parent groups organized to access a general education, and a movement evolved to educate students with learning disabilities.
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.
Laws were enacted to ensure that all students received optimal and equal educational opportunities regardless of their disabilities. See p. 337 for a table on special education laws and what they accomplished, beginning in 1973.
Federal law requires that schools have a free, appropriate education, with equal access to education through collaboration, mainstreaming, and inclusion.
Collaboration is a group endeavor that involves students, families, educators, and community agencies working together, with the school district providing resources and support, so that these agencies can work cooperatively and focus on students' needs.
Mainstreaming came about after the 1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act (PL94-142) and refers to partial and full-time programs that educated students with disabilities with their non-disabled peers, in which learning-disabled students could attend separate classes within the regular school or participate in the regular classroom.
Inclusion grew out of mainstreaming, shares many of its goals, and is based on the concept of least restrictive environment (LRE), requiring that all schools educate students with disabilities, regardless of the severity of the disability, as often as they can with their peers who do not have disabilities.
The CHIME Charter School, started by California State University Northridge, is a national model for inclusive and accessibility education, including deaf education.
Advantages of Inclusion
Research and experts cite the effectiveness of including special education students in regular classroom situations.
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.
Students in an inclusive classroom who do not have disabilities learn to be more sensitive to disabled students and aware of their needs.
Special education students in an inclusive classroom become known in the school community and are better able to handle themselves in the real world.
Problems and Issues
Schools have often disagreed with parents on the interpretation of special education laws, which has led to much controversy.
Regular teachers often feel overwhelmed when a student with special needs is placed in the classroom.
Parents of non-disabled students complain that disabled students require too much attention.
Being in a regular classroom does not guarantee that the special education student will acquire the skills needed to function in society.
Laws put extra financial demands on schools systems to ensure that all technologies are available to all students.
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.
Some parents have unrealistic expectations for their child, especially a child with severe physical and mental disabilities.
Software and hardware that requires extensive training is aggravating to the student with disabilities.
Technology can help special education students but is not a panacea.
Adapting Classroom Lesson Plans for Students with Disabilities
adapting classroom lessons, the teacher can meet the needs of students with disabilities.
The teacher should use pairs and small groups for peer tutoring and cross-age tutoring.
Teachers can use software such as Inspiration that provides auditory feedback, writing help, and other kinds of assistance.
See pp. 340-347 for lesson plans and lesson plan adaptations in several subjects.
