April 1, 2014Assistive Technology &Transition to College

Lauren Tucker & Bo Zamfir

Transitions

What happens after High School?

College? Workplace? Home? Community?

College

Lots of reading, writing, exams, presentations, lectures and note taking

Time management totally independent and ESSENTIAL to success

Necessary to stay super organized

But…

National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (NJCLD, 1990) defines learning disability as:

“a heterogenous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in listening, speaking, reading writing, reasoning, or mathematic abilities. Problems in self-regulatory behaviors, social perception, and social interaction my exist without learning disabilities but do not by themselves constitute a learning disability.”

AT Can Fill The GAP

AT can provide support for students to overcome academic and/or physical obstacles (visual, hearing, or physical impairments)

No IEPs in College…

IDEA no longer in effect

No right to college

Civil rights laws are relevant in higher education...

Civil Rights Laws

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act

Only pertains to colleges & universities with federal funding

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

ADA applies to all entities - public and private

Reasonable Accommodations

Under 504 & ADA, colleges must provide (at no cost) reasonable accommodations to make their programming accessible to students with disabilities

Where The Tech Comes In

Technology comes in: ADA uses the terms “auxiliary aids and services” to refer to devices & services to make school accessible

504: “are not required to produce identical result or level of achievement” for people with disabilities, but they must provide “equal opportunity to obtain the same result, to gain the same benefit, or to reach the same level of achievement” (US Department of Education, 1998)

Whose Responsibility?

Colleges:

Make sure qualified students have access to programs

Provide reasonable accommodations

Demonstrate good faith effort to provide student with meaningful access

Whose Responsibility?

Students:

Self identify as having a disability

Request specific accommodations

Follow agreed upon procedures for using accommodations

High School Transition

Two kinds of skills essential for students planning on attending college:

Assistive technology skills for independence

Self advocacy skills

QIAT - PS

Self-Advocacy & Self-Determination

Student Guidelines & College Guidelines (for college personnel)

7 Student Guidelines arranged by: quality indicator, questions students should ask themselves to evaluate the indicator, and other related tasks

Tasks and Accommodations

Note taking

Lectures

Test taking

Reading

Papers & Assignments

Accessing the Internet

Note Taking and Lectures

Livescribe Pen

AudioNote (Mac, PC, iOS, Android)

Text-to-Speech Products

Word Prediction

Speech to Text

Prewriting and Planning

Organization

Questions?

Resources

National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities Definition of Learning Disabilities: http://www.ldonline.org/pdfs/njcld/NJCLDDefinitionofLD.pdf

QIAT - PS: www.tcnj.edu/~technj/2010/QIAT-PS.htm

Livescribe: http://www.livescribe.com

AudioNote: http://luminantsoftware.com/iphone/audionote.html

Kurzweil: http://www.kurzweiledu.com

Voice Dream: http://www.voicedream.com/

ClaroPDF: http://www.claro-apps.com/ClaroPDF

Read & Write for Google: http://www.texthelp.com/north-america/readwriteforgoogle

Resources

Co:Writer: http://donjohnston.com/cowriter/#.UxxplSgzp8s

WordQ & SpeakQ: http://www.goqsoftware.com/

Read & Write: http://www.texthelp.com/north-america/ireadwrite

Apple Speech to Text: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT5449

Dragon Naturally Speaking: http://www.nuance.com/dragon/index.htm

iOS Siri: http://www.siriuserguide.com/siri-dictation-guide/

Window Speech to Text: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dictate-text-speech-recognition#1TC=windows-7

Resources

MindNode: https://mindnode.com/

Webspiration: http://www.webspirationpro.com

Bubbl.us: https://bubbl.us/

Evernote: https://evernote.com/

Microsoft OneNote: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/

Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/

Google Drive: http://www.drive.google.com

Wunderlist: https://www.wunderlist.com/en/