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How To Implement 1:1 (One-To-One) Technology In The Classroom

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Read this article to learn how to use 1:1 (one-to-one) technology in the classroom and discover why this is something all schools should be implementing.

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How could the use of technology help students with disabilities interact with their peers?

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How could the use of technology help students with disabilities interact with their peers?

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Technology Solutions That Drive Education

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This is just one example of how technology can give students who think and learn differently a more personalized and accessible learning experience.

Referred to as assistive technology, these tools are "any type of equipment or software that helps people to work around the challenges they have, whether that be with learning, communication or mobility," explains Kara Ball, an elementary science and STEM education specialist for Baltimore City Public Schools and a special education expert at Understood, a nonprofit organization providing support for people with disabilities and their families.

But what types of assistive technology tools are out there? And how can educators best use them in a modern learning environment to help students of all abilities reach their full potential?
MORE ON EDTECH: Read about the 2020 ed tech trends that focus on equity and tech accessibility.
Examples of Assistive Technology in the Classroom

Nearly 7 million students in the U.S. - almost 14 percent of all students - received special education in the 2017-2018 school year under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Department of Education.

To ensure those services are provided and that instruction is inclusive of all learners, school districts are increasingly integrating assistive technology tools in general education classrooms.

Ball categorizes them into two areas: high tech and low tech. High tech refers to devices or equipment with digital or electronic components, such as augmentative communication devices, alternative keyboards and power wheelchairs. It also includes software or built-in accessibility features on devices such as text to speech, word prediction and optical character recognition. Low tech refers to simple adaptive tools such as timers, graphic organizers and flexible furniture.

"Assistive technology really gives students the ability to access grade-level content and allows them to be independent," Ball says.
Discover how immersive technology sparks critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity.
Adopting Assistive Technology in a Modern Learning Environment

As schools increasingly embrace modern learning environments and integrate technology into classrooms and the curriculum, they must also be mindful about potential barriers of technology in special education.

Here are a few ways educators can use digital tools in the classroom to meet the individual needs of their students and help them through learning challenges:

For students who are blind or visually impaired: Today, many devices such as Google Chromebooks come with audiovisual assistance. For example, Chromebooks have a built-in screen reader called ChromeVox, which reads content out loud for users on the Chrome browser. Chromebooks also have features that make on-screen content easier to read, such as screen magnifiers, high-contrast mode and select-to-speak. Teachers can also plug in or pair a Braille keyboard with Bluetooth if students need Braille support. Popular cloud-based applications such as G Suite for Education and Microsoft Office 365 also have dictation capabilities, allowing students to type by using their voice.

For students who are deaf or hard of hearing: Ball says she uses FM systems - wireless devices that directly transmit sounds to a hearing aid - to communicate clearly with students who have hearing loss, even in a noisy classroom. For teachers using video technology in the classroom, there are educational apps such as Flipgrid with closed-caption features, as well as videoconferencing tools such as Microsoft Teams, which comes with live captioning and subtitles.

For students with speech disabilities: Speech-to-text software and word prediction tools can assist students with speech disabilities in communicating with their teachers and peers. For example, Office 365 applications have Dictate, an AI-enabled add-in that allows students to speak into a microphone and have their speech converted into text on the computer.

For students with learning, cognitive and developmental disabilities: Besides creating VR experiences for students with autism, tools such as memory aids, audio books and text-to-speech systems are especially helpful for students who need assistance with learning, attention and organization. One particular tool is Microsoft's Immersive Reader, which was specifically designed to support students with dyslexia and dysgraphia. With the Immersive Reader, students can have text read out loud and broken into syllables - even in other languages. Microsoft's Tell Me feature allows students to access commands on Office 365 applications without having to remember them. There are also downloadable fonts such as OpenDyslexic, which can enhance readability and reading speed for students with dyslexia, Ball says. Plus, there are handy smart tools such as the Livescribe Echo Smartpen, which acts as an all-in-one microphone, speaker and storage device.

For students who need mobility assistance: One way teachers can optimize their classrooms for all students is by adopting flexible furniture, a key component of a modern learning environment. Standing desks, wobble stools and even exercise balls give students more freedom and comfort to move around in the classroom, Ball says. Another example is having students use interactive displays or touch-screen monitors if they aren't physically able to use a keyboard or computer mouse.

With assistive technology, schools can create more inclusive classrooms and empower students with disabilities to participate in the general education curriculum.

"If I'd had any of those options available to me, I probably would have been a very different student," says Ball, who has dyslexia and dyscalcula. "Being able to give students these resources to help them be independent is really the benefit of these technologies."

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Assistive Technology in The Classroom Empowers Students with Disabilities

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Assistive technology (AT) is available to help individuals with many types of disabilities. Learn how assistive technology gives students a voice in their education.

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Technology benefit students with disabilities academically, socially, and emotionally

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Technology benefit students with disabilities academically, socially, and emotionally

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Assistive Technology to Help Students with Behavioral Disabilities Succeed Academically

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Spread the loveBehavioral disabilities can be challenging for educators because there seem to be very few aids available. The struggling students can be very disruptive to the classroom experience, making it hard for others to learn. As edtech begins to play a more prominent role in our school districts, teachers may want to consider that assistive technology could help.

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More than 7 million children with disabilities received special education services across the United States in 2014, and this number continues to grow. As technology advances so does the ability to create better assistive technology to increase engagement and inclusion for our students with learning disabilities in the general education setting.

Positive Outcomes Academically and Socially

Before iPads, Smartboards and Chromebooks, students with disabilities were trapped to their assistive devices that kept them isolated from their peers and not included in the academic instruction. A special educator would gather his or her students with assistive technology (AT) needs and march them out of the classroom to an alternative setting. There, they could work independently on the same task as their peers without the collaboration and engagement option. Often, the task would be altered to fit the technology and not the students' academic abilities.

The students become more reliant to the device and grow to be independent learners rather than collaborative and active members of the classroom. Yes, supports are great and so are programs, but we can't forget the most important role of AT for our struggling learners. It is to create independence while allowing a student to access the learning at the same level as their peers We no longer need to exclude our students with AT needs; we can incorporate the technology in our learning communities.

AT refers to the devices and services that are used to increase, maintain or improve the capabilities of a student with a disability. Tracy Gray, director of PowerUp What Works, the National Center for Technology Innovation and the Center for Implementing Technology in Education explained in EdTech, "Students now have access to assistive capabilities on technologies that are smaller, more mobile, more integrated and inexpensive. They're mainstream, too, so that makes them cool. All students want to use them." With the access to AT, students can demonstrate their skills while feeling included in the classroom activities and discussions.

As educators, we know how important it is to keep a student's integrity while supporting the challenges they face every day with the academic rigor and pace of the general education setting. Programs that read audio books to our struggling readers, for example, allow them to listen to the story while others are reading, so they have the same access to the information without a student's decoding and fluency skills to hinder them from comprehending the story or novel.

Lizzy, a student who needs AT for both her writing and fine motor skills, can actively participate in her social studies class because her teacher provided the technology as part of the classroom routine. Every day, the teacher projects her civic question on the Smartboard while one member from each table writes the question down. Lizzy takes a snapshot of the question and becomes the secretary of her group using both her word prediction and speech-to-text applications. Her group, just like the other students, then send their responses to be displayed on the Smartboard. This is a great way for Lizzie to be engaged and a valuable member of her social studies group. She can build confidence and grow as a learner.

Universal Design a key component when planning activities and lesson that incorporate AT needs. That is why it is valuable to have all the stakeholders in the planning process, working closely with both the district AT and Learning Behavior Specialist to plan and evaluate the best AT resources for the lesson or activity.

Benefits of technologies include the following:

Increased independence

Personalized learning

Engagement with peers

Reduced anxiety

Confidence building

Improved academic skills

Assistive Technology Resources and Ideas

Reading, Writing and Dyslexia

The following tools can help you with students struggling with reading comprehension or with students falling behind in writing.

OneNote software aims to help students with dyslexia.

Immersive reader is afree tool by Microsoft that supports students in reading and writing deficits.

Spell Better app is a free iPad app (upgrade for $9.99) that provides word prediction capabilities with read-back and text-to-speech capabilities. The upgrade provides export options and additional notes.

Text-to-speech lets kids see text and hear it read aloud at the same time.

Audiobooks and digital text-to-speech books allow kids to hear books read aloud.

Optical character recognition (OCR) reads aloud text from images and pictures.

Graphic organizers are visual representations, like diagrams and mind maps, of ideas and concepts. Kids can use graphic organizers to take notes while reading, which can help with comprehension. Graphic organizers can be digital or pen and paper.

Annotation tools let kids take notes and write comments while reading. This can make it easier to retain information. Annotation tools can be found on certain software or apps, or they can be traditional pens, markers and sticky notes.

Dictionaries and thesauri allow kids to look up words they don't understand when reading. A picture dictionary is a popular tool that uses images to define words, and a talking dictionary reads definitions aloud.

Math

The following tools can help you with students struggling with math skills.

Calculators that are downloadable or large key calculator for students with fine motor difficulties.

Math notation tools for writing out equations by hand, which can be challenging for kids who have trouble writing numbers and symbols.

Graph paper has a grid to make it easier for kids to line up numbers and symbols in math problems.

Graphing and drawing tools are typically digital tools that help kids graph the path of an equation and draw shapes.

Equation-solving tools are digital tools that help kids work with equations. Unlike calculators, equation-solving tools don't solve a problem.

Manipulatives are objects that help kids solve math problems in alternative ways. Manipulatives can be physical objects or virtual objects on computers.

Graphic organizers help kids break down and lay out the steps for solving math problems. Graphic organizers can be digital or pen and paper.

Learn About Assistive Technology in the Classroom

Interested in learning more? Advancement Courses offers K-12 educators over 200 online, self-paced professional development courses covering both foundational topics and emerging trends. Here are a few that can help you move from surviving to thriving:

Using Technology to Support Students with Special Needs: Develop strategies for incorporating assistive technologies to help all students access curriculum, how to use technology to differentiate instruction and motivate students with disabilities. In addition, you'll explore methods for choosing the right technology-based tools for your classroom and for finding funding to help ensure that your students with special needs get the resources they require.

The Role of Technology in the Inclusive Classroom: Using Universal Design for Learning principles, you'll learn how to plan instruction that will motivate a wide variety of learners, and how to stay organized and efficient while managing a scaffolded, individualized curriculum. In addition, you'll explore digital tools (including assistive technology) that you can use to present core content so that all students can access the curriculum according to their specific needs.

Supporting Students with Learning Disabilities in the Inclusive Classroom: Cultivate resources designed to maximize learning for students who have learning disabilities. You'll develop concrete strategies for creating flexible assignments that allow for choice and meet a variety of needs, and for creating a positive classroom culture that encourages students' academic success and desire to learn.

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How Assistive Technology Supports Special Education Students | AC

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More than 7 million children with disabilities received special education services across the United States in 2014, and this number continues to grow. As technology advances so does the ability to create better assistive technology to increase engagement and inclusion for our students with learning disabilities in the general education setting.

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How could the use of technology benefit students with disabilities?

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How could the use of technology benefit students with disabilities?

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The Use Of Technology In Special Education: Application And Solutions

In the modern world, we're witnessing the gradual erasure of borders. This process is related not only to business or politics. Nowadays, almost any person despite their citizenship of physical state can get medical or educational services all around the world. To regulate such relationships between a person and international organizations, there are dozens of specialized commissions creating laws and standards.

The educational standards claim that students with disabilities should be provided with opportunities to realize their potential. They should participate in education and training on the same basis as students without disabilities and that they are not subject to discrimination. Due to the progress in the IT industry, digital technologies are easily accessible and widespread which allows using them for providing students with new opportunities.

Here is how technology can simplify the educational process for people with disabilities.

How Modern Technology Helps Students With Special Needs

According to the National Center For Education Statistics, in 2015-2016, the number of students served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in the US was 6.7 million. This number is equal to 13% of all public school students. While the percentage of such students stays pretty much the same during the last years, the total number of them has increased by 0.3 million since 2011-2012. The percentage distribution of different disabilities types is presented in the National Center For Education Statistics website.

These numbers tell us that there can't be a single technological solution that would suit the needs of all students with special needs. Due to the high diversity of types of disabilities, the best possible outcome can be guaranteed by the use of custom-made solutions designed according to the requirements of a particular group of students.

Special technology allows increasing the independence of a particular student freeing him from the constant need for direct teacher involvement. As a result, a student can choose the speed of learning that is convenient for him which leads to more personalized learning. When a student doesn't inhibit the learning process for the whole group, it allows reducing the anxiety level which plays a significant role in education as well. Implementation of technologies in special education allows simplifying the communication and improve the academic skills of students with disabilities.

Edmentum, a company with deep expertise in the creation of eLearning solutions, notes the following advantages of using technologies in special education:

"Technology makes it possible for a classroom to be enhanced with individual learning events, allowing instructors to provide greater flexibility and differentiation in instruction. Teachers can use technology to offer a variety of learning opportunities and approaches that engage, instruct, and support special education students with a myriad of tactics designed to appeal to individual learners. No longer are students stuck in a classroom they don't understand, trying to learn at a pace they can't keep up with or participate in."

PowerSchool, another leader in eLearning solutions development also shares an important opinion:

"Technology can help school staff improve IEP compliance necessary for state and federal guidelines as well as ensure adequate and timely funding is procured. Special education management solutions can verify the correct services are not only being offered to all appropriate cases but also tracked and reported on to maximize reimbursement. With the right technology, educators can develop and manage compliant, high-quality special education documents using intuitive guided actions and business rules aligned with IDEA and other federal and state laws. Reporting functionality can help manage compliance, identifying timelines and which teachers are on track or which teachers have fallen behind. Technology can also help educators run required state and district reports, and if allowed, send data directly to relevant government agencies."

From common words, let's move to something more specific.

Applying Technology In Special Education: Breaking The Barriers

There are many ways of how technology can help students with special needs. For example, some kinds of disabilities don't allow students to use handwritten text that is an integral part of "traditional" education. Using technical tools intended for human speech recognition and synthesizing, you can avoid the necessity to use paper and pen during the lessons. Such technology would be also helpful for students with disorders that don't allow to process visual information correctly.

The adaptive computing technology allows using digital devices to bypass challenging tasks. Screen reader applications such as JAWS along with specially designed Braille keyboards allow visually challenged students to use the computer.

Augmentative communication systems help students with speech problems to overcome the communication barrier. Such systems use picture charts, books, and specialized computers providing functions of word-prediction for more effective communication.

Before applying for services of a company that develops technologies for special education, consider the following advice:

Pay attention to the cost of a given solution and its potential effect on the learning process.

Prefer a technology that is not difficult to master.

Make sure that the application you're going to choose is reliable and will naturally integrate into the educational process.

Focus on user-friendly and intuitive solutions.

Possibility to implement custom functionality that meets your requirements or customize the existing solution.

From Issue To Solution: Examples Of Web-Based Special Education Solutions

Modern software allows minimizing the effort required for taking a step towards the student with a disability. Web-based solutions help to participate in an education process to the same degree with other students.

Web-Based Service For Distance Learning

Due to some forms of disabilities, students with special needs can face issues associated with moving over long distances. Web-based learning solutions allow providing educational services taking into account the interests of students and educational organizations. The task is to offer students an easy-to-use and intuitive tools for purchasing online courses, scheduling, and tracking the academical progress.

An example of such tool is Devengo, an integrated cloud-based service for online booking and payment:

Using this software, students can order one of the available educational courses online without leaving home. Also, there's the possibility to hire a specialist who has the skills required for teaching students with a particular form of disability.

Lightweight And Intuitive Video Chat For Online Learning

Neat and intuitive web-based chatting applications allow creating online classes that help students with disabilities to communicate with each other and the teacher. Such virtual classrooms allow both learners and teachers from different parts of the world to participate in live classes. Low cost of such an approach to the educational process is one of its main advantages. Students don't have to worry about travel expenses. All that is required is a laptop or tablet with access to the internet.

An example of a solution for all these issues is XB Chat - an intuitive web-based chatting app with the possibility to hold audio/video and text conversations. Chat rooms for up to five users allow reading lectures for small groups of students. In case of need for individual sessions, teacher or student can initiate a new person-to-person chat. Using the screen sharing feature, the teacher can demonstrate presentations to the whole class. The app also allows for recording the lessons. It means that the content remains accessible after being delivered.

Online App For Assessing Individual Academic Performance

Special education software helps students with disabilities to reach their potential. Individualized Education Program (IEP) Software simplifies the work with children that have learning issues caused by brain injuries, developmental delays, or intellectual disabilities. Response to Intervention software provide tools required for assessment of students' knowledge. Such solution helps to monitor the learning progress and visualize it as a set of charts. Also, it allows simplifying the reporting.

Online Staff Performance Management System is an intuitive and easy-to-use performance management tool for educators:

This application provides teachers with better insight into student progress. It allows tracking an educational plan for the student and making changes if needed. Educators can manage individualized education plans better which helps students to reach higher results.

Web-Based Solution For Workflow Automation And Compliance With Standards

Automated workflow and creation of a single database of all students can reduce the amount of paperwork and improve the efficiency of an educational organization. Web-based software for educators helps following the requirements of education laws and regulations with minimum effort:

It provides a bunch of predefined templates for completing forms. Also, the possibility to import and export data was implemented. All documents created with this module can be saved as a PDF file or printed.

Conclusion

The use of technology in special education helps break the barriers for people with disabilities and provide them with access to the most relevant educational programs. Properly designed software and hardware allow students with special needs to get modern education and achieve any required information online.

Technology helps provide students with individual learning events, enables reaching higher flexibility and differentiation in educational methodologies. With modern technology, teachers can adapt to the possibilities of a particular student with minimum effort and choose one of the dozens of available learning tactics designed to meet the needs of individual learners.

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The Use Of Technology In Special Education

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Wondering what's the Use Of Technology In Special Education? Check what you need to know about the Use Of Technology In Special Education.

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 Technologies I have used to assist students with disabilities

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 Technologies I have used to assist students with disabilities

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iPad

Kahoot

Touchscreen Chromebook

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Technology I have seen others use in a classroom to assist students with disabilities

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Technology I have seen others use in a classroom to assist students with disabilities

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Kahoot
Flipgrid
MathTalk

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Kahoot! question types and game options to level up class engagement

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Tailor kahoot dynamics to your lesson's goals, keep students on the edge of their seats and get them laser focused with our new question types and game options. With these recent additions, you can even teach a lesson with your kahoot!

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For students who are deaf or hard of hearing:
For teachers using video technology in the classroom, there are educational apps such as Flipgrid with closed-caption features, as well as videoconferencing tools such as Microsoft Teams, which comes with live captioning and subtitles.

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Flip works very hard to make sure all members' voices can be part of the discussion, regardless of how they share their voice. Read our Accessibility Pledge post!

Here is more information on how Flip strives to be inclusive of everyone:

1. Closed Captions - By default, all new Topics have Closed Captions turned on. Leads can turn off Closed Captions and all new videos will no longer be processed. Educators can edit closed captions and add closed captions to videos without audio within their lead account.

2. Immersive Reader - Microsoft's Immersive Reader is built into Flip to help young members, members with dyslexia, and to translate text. The Immersive Reader helps members with features like reading text out loud, breaking text it into syllables and increasing the spacing between lines and letters. Learn more about Immersive Reader.

3. Member-Generated Transcripts - Members can include their own transcripts as an attachment link. The final step before submitting their video they can edit their display name, add a Title, and attach a Link. They just need a URL to a document with their transcript (Google Doc, Word Online, or something similar).

4. Text with Video - Members participate using video on Flip and they have a number of options to add text to their video submissions. In addition to attaching a text file, members can style their video with text or drawing. Additionally, members can upload a picture of their text transcript as a sticker to place alongside their video.

5. Accessibility best practices - We make sure Flip is navigable by keyboard, works with voice-over & screenreader technology, font sizes can be increased, and other best practices for accessibility.

You can find the latest Accessibility Conformance Reports by going here and searching for Flip - https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/industry-blog/government/2018/09/11/accessibility-conformance-reports/

Contact us with any questions or ideas on how we can improve our accessibility!

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Flip works very hard to make sure all members' voices can be part of the discussion, regardless of how they share their voice. Read our Accessibility Pledge post! Here is more information on how Flip strives to be inclusive of everyone: Closed Captions - By default, all new Topics have Closed Captions turned on.

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MathTalk, a speech recognition software designed for students with ADHD and physical disabilities that preclude keyboard use. An add-on to Dragon (the speech recognition software mentioned above), this software comprehends technical vocabulary and transcribes in mathematical notation appropriate for trigonometry, algebra, calculus and even PhD-level courses.

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Speech Recognition Mathematics Software

We provide a unique speech recognition mathematics software which allows the user to voice math.

MathTalk™ for Physically Challenged, Students, Teachers, Professionals

MathTalk™ (a software of Metroplex Voice Computing, Inc) is unique in the Education Industry.

Since 1997, MathTalk™ has enabled the voicing of math without the use of a keyboard. The physically challenged - as well as students, teachers and busy professionals - use MathTalk™.
MathTalk™ Speech Recognition Software for Voicing Math:
MathTalk™ has a vast library of voice commands. Our software initially worked with DragonDictate.

In 2018, MathTalk™ works with Dragon© NaturallySpeaking.

Benefits of MathTalk™

All students now have math accessibility.

Math work can be done faster.

No need for a keyboard (keyboard is optional)

Helps user learn the language of math.

Voicing math helps teach user to both focus AND formulate thoughts before speaking.

Can create interest for doing math in a bright - but bored - student.

Can give confidence to a slow learner.

Prints legible math work.

By using speech recognition, the user learns to speak more clearly and distinctly.

Based in Dallas Fort Worth, USA

MathTalk™ is locally owned and operated in the Dallas Fort worth, Texas area.

Superior Customer Service

Our owner was fortunate to grow up in a small Texas town with both sets of grandparents. Having learned at an early age the importance of family, community service and integrity - MathTalk™ provides personal value to client service.

MathTalk Training

MathTalk™ provides Dragon© NaturallySpeaking training.

MathTalk™ Dragon© NaturallySpeaking training for:

Professionals Training.

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Physicians Training.

Corporations throughout the world.

MathTalk Clients Include:

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* Shepard AFB
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* Teachers, Students
See MathTalk™ Demos
Questions? We are happy to assist!

Please call us at 817.265.8863.
Fax: 817.719.9207

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About MathTalk™ · MathTalk™ Speech Recognition Mathematics Software

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We provide a unique speech recognition mathematics software which allows the user to voice math. MathTalk™ (a software of Metroplex Voice Computing, Inc) is unique in the Education Industry. Since 1997, MathTalk™ has enabled the voicing of math without the use of a keyboard.