eds 543 technology & inclusion mpp

8/13/2019 EDS 543 Technology & Inclusion MPP

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Assistive Technology promotes children’s learning and

development by allowing them to more effectively

participate in activities and routines within the

classroom. Most often, people assume that assistive

technology is some state of the art device that is quite

expensive. However, this is not true. There are both

low-tech (visual calendars, picture boards) and high

tech (powered wheel chairs, computers.) available.

As a preservice teacher learning about Assistive

Technology can teach and inspire me to integrate

technology into my own classroom. In essence,

Assistive Technology implements the principles of

Universal Design for Learning.

My research has allowed me to find outhow Assistive Technology can help and

be supportive to the developmental

learning of children with disabilities. The

research that I have come across

focused on the following Assistive

Technologies:

Microswitch clusters

Internet/Social Network

Intervention( WordRead V3,Dragon

Dictate & Video editing software.)

EAT (The Encyclopedia of Assistive

Technology) Video tutorials.



IDEA:

Defines assistive technology as “any item,

piece of equipment, or product system, whether

acquired commercially off the shelf, modified,or customized, that is used to increase,

maintain, or improve functional capabilities of a

child with disability” [IDEA, 2004 Part B, Section

612, (1)].



Two Children with Multiple Disabilities Increase Adaptive Object Manipulation and

Reduce Inappropriate Behavior via a Technology-assisted Program. (Lancioni, O’ Reilly, Singh, Sigafoos, Didden,

Olivia and Campodonico, 2010)

Research Study 1

Purpose of Study:

This study aimed to extend

the evidence available by involving

two new participants (children)

who exhibited inappropriate behavior

that had not been targeted before

(dystonic-spastic stretching of one or

both arms) and new cluster

technologies.

Implementation of Assistive Technology:

Microswitch clusters allowed smallmanipulations of objects to serve as

adaptive stimulation and it interrupted any

ongoing stimulation if one or both of the

participant’s hands were withdrawn from

the objects for two or more seconds.



Mi·cro·switchˈmīkrəˌswiCH/

noun: micro-switch

1. an electric switch that can be operatedrapidly by a small movement.

There are a variety of microswitches available for

both commercial and industrial use.

What are microswitches used for?

Utilized to detect chance of

state

Contact with an object

Causes “on” or “off” action

Converts mechanical energyinto electrical output



Dystonic-spastic stretching of one or both arms

Movements are stiff and jerky, especially in the arms, legs, and back.

Walking can simply look awkward, or be so severe that the use of a wheelchair is required.



The image on the right demonstrates how microswitches

are used to cause stimulation. This study slightly used a

different method of presenting positive stimulation to

both participants. Researchers placed objects that are

common in the daily life of participants, such as plastic

toys. Objects were connected with a microswitch cluster

that was connected to a battery-powered electroniccontrol system.

When an object was picked up with both hands it

activated optic or tilt response and caused positive

stimuli. As soon as participant removed one or both

hands from the object for more than 2 seconds it will

interrupt the desired stimuli.



Participants

Both participants were diagnosed with

encephalopathy that was due to premature birth

and perinatal hypoxia.

Glen & Hugh were 5.6 and 9.9 years old when

study was conducted. Both participants fell in the

severe to profound range of intellectual disability.

* Glen has had the opportunity to use

microswitches prior to this study.

In addition, participants spent most of their time in

wheelchairs.

Findings

The intervention and use of microswitches prove to

be effective in decreasing participants display of

inappropriate behavior.

Researchers believe that the use of microswitches

could be extremely beneficial for children with

visual impairments, since it would rely onrecognizing positive stimuli.

Finally, the use of microswitch clusters gives

children the opportunity to learn how to control their

behavior.



Even though research studies involving the use of microswitches is

minimal, as a classroom teacher I find this study informative and

beneficial. The use of this Assistive Technology is uncommon in the

classroom, but I could talk with school officials and share this particular

research study. If there are any students in my school who have a severe

intellectual disability, an Assistive Technology like the microswitch clusters

may help them gain control of their own behavior. As a teacher I deem

important to seek knowledge about the latest assistive technologyavailable to help students with disabilities.

Furthermore, I would share and inform the parents ofthe child about this Assistive Tool. Parents may

become interested in seeking on how to learn more

about microswitches to possibly use within their own

home.

I hope that the children

in my classroomregardless of his or he

abilities, will feel

successful when they

are permitted to use

their abilities to work

around their

disabilities.



What do you think of

influencing/ controlling a

child’s behavior through

positive stimulation? Please

explain whether or not you

agree with it or not?

Would you recommend parents to seek an Assistive

Technology such as microswitches to help their child with

a disability (only if disability is mild-severe) ? Please

explain and share you’re ideas and views on this kind of

experiment.

Did you know what microswitches

were before I introduced this study?

If no, could you explain what youthought microswitches were?



I could never do that before’: Effectiveness of a tailored Internet support intervention to increase the social

participation of youth with disabilities. (Raghavendra, Newman, Grace and Wood, 2013)

Research Study 2

Research Question

What is the effectiveness of interventions (i.e.

providing appropriate interface adaptations,

training and support) to increase the social

participation of youth with disabilities through the

Internet ?

Implementation of Assistive Technology:

Now more than ever, youth use the internet fora variety of purposes, especially for social

interaction. However, youth with disabilities are

limited in their social networks and friendships

with peers. Programs like Dragon Dictate

(speech recognition software) or WordReader

V3 (Screen reader) can assist individuals with

disabilities to help them create positive

interactions with other via web.



Assistive Technologies &Social Networks

Mentioned and used in this

study



Social interaction for children with disabilities can be a positive

factor for their personal growth.

Even more, they can learn a number of ways of how to interact

positively with others, including role modeling, role-playing and

interpreting interactions with others. Using social networking canincrease the student’s experience and motivation to improve his or

her social life, and seek advice about social issues that their peers

can explain.

By teaching students

with disabilities how to

successfully usesocial networking can

increase their

confidence to work

more independently

or with support from

others.



Participants:

Researchers sent 123 invitations to participants

who were recommended by either their parents

or staff from the Novita Children’s Services.

Novita Children’s Services is an organization

that provides support and services to children

with disabilities until the age of 18 in the state

of South Australia.

Out of the 123 possible candidates a

total of 22 participants responded.

However, shortly after 4 participants

withdrew and this left a total of 18 youth

participants.

Primary Researcher:

is a speech pathologist who has

extensive clinical experience with

youth with disabilities and research

background.

Location of study:Most of the youthparticipants had minimal

physical disabilities and

showed signs of

communication abilities.

However, 5 youth

participants had mild-

severe disabilities and had

complex communicationneeds.



Findings:

Youth participants and their parents were very pleased to have been part of this

study. Participants feel much more confident in utilizing the Internet as a tool to their enhance

social interaction. The disability appropriate software programs introduced to each

participants helped meet their individual needs.

Furthermore, youth participants felt much more confident and increase in feeling

independent with social participation. The intervention and training helped some participants

learn how to maintain their own email without parental or sibling help.

While researchers felt that this student showcased the advantages of having an

intervention program like this one, they wished they would have found ways in which youth

participants could apply what they learned at home through the intervention to use effectively

while in school. Research focusing in social networks and schools is quite limited.



I love research, and find it interesting and exciting. As a teacher I would reference this current research

study and try to pick up where researchers left off. I

would like to see how I can implement and instruct

students how to utilize the Internet to enhance their

social interactions with each other. This would also

give me the opportunity to research and learn about

other disability appropriate software that serve as a

useful tool in my classroom.

Furthermore, if I were to have a student with and IEP I can share

with the referral committee this research study. Perhaps using someof the software program mentioned in this study may help the

student perform well in class. The programs could extend their use

for social participation to homework assistance, class participationetc.

I would definitely love to incorporate the use of social

networking into my own curriculum. I would use Blogger

or create a classroom website so that students gain man

skills. I can use these social websites to get them to be

enthusiastic about writing. Even more, students may

become inspired to become better and more expressive

writers. Using digital software can also help students with

disabilities feel welcome to join in on this classroomexperience.



Would you utilize social

network in your

classroom? Why or

why not?(What are the

advantages or

disadvantages or

incorporating this

mechanical media

into yourown classroom?

If you were to have

several students withdisabilities in your

classroom, what

resources would you

seek to help assist

you in engaging

them to build a good

rapport with their

peers and havepositive interactions

with others?

I believe that social networking can be both inclusive and non-

inclusive. On one hand, social-networking can be great for students

with disabilities because it removes some of the barriers faced by

whose who want to socialize in person. Some people fear

communicating and build anxiety when being around others. On the

other hand, some students may not like the idea of social-networking

because they can be difficult to use. For example, Facebook has so

many options and features on its home page. The design and layoutis more complex than traditional websites. It requires a lot of mouse

movement to access common functions. This is a big issue for

students who take longer to understand the computers functions. My

question for you is, What side of the argument do you stand and

why? What have to personally experienced or have witnessed to

support your stand?



The Effectiveness of Video Tutorials for Teaching Preservice Educators to Use Assistive Technologies. ( Laarhoven,

Munk, Zurita. Lynch, Zurita, Smith and Chandler, 2009).

Research Study 3

Purpose of study:

To establish the effect of the EAT [ The

Encyclopedia of Assistive Technology] on the

knowledge and perceptions of Preservice

teachers and their ability to use AT [Assistive

Technology]

Implementation of Assistive

Technology:

It is common to see in many classrooms

teachers incorporate eLearning in their

instruction. With all the cutting-edge ,

and eye catching programs out there it

makes it much easier for teachers to

grab their students attention. Video

tutorials is an instructional multimedia

that is becoming more popular, perhaps

more so than the use of traditionalbooks.



10 simple reasons why Video Tutorials are Effective

1. Scheduling flexibility The learner learns at his or her own pace.

2. Attention holding learner’s attention will be engage in the video tutorial.

3. Visual learning Give’s the learner a visual lesson. In essence, it teaches them how to do

something.

4. Reviewable Video tutorials simplify things by explaining and demonstrating it.

5. Focus & emphasis Tends to focus on topics that need more emphasis and attention.6. Content is consistent Video tutorials say the same thing every time. This ensure that every

learner is exposed to the same information and receives the same learning experience.

7. Engaging Video tutorials can present a speaker or ideas that learners can connect to.

8. Inexpensive & affordable: Video tutorials can be cheap to create, and once it’s recorded it can be

shared on multiple websites such as YouTube.

9. Popularity Technology based learning is more popular than ever before.

10. Fun ! Video tutorials are stimulating and very relevant within our culture.



IDEA

Students with disabilities are guaranteed access

to assistive technologies (AT) by provisions ofthe Individuals with Disabilities Education

Improvement Act



Participants:

A total of 188 Preservice

special and elementary

education teacher

candidates participated in

this study.

This study was conducted in theCollege of Education at Northern

Illinois University during the

spring and fall semester of 2006.

Candidates used the video tutorials

in the assistive technology lab while

class was in session or outside of

the classroom. In addition,

they were also required to engage

in hands on activities that allowed

them to see the functions and useof technologies assigned to their

class.

Teacher candidates

evaluated the EAT

tutorials through a

series of surveys.

A prototype DVD comprised of

written and video tutorials for

using various

Assistive Technology software

and devices, was created

At NUI and given to faculty

members to use in their classes.



Findings:

Results indicated that teacher candidates see

the EAT video tutorials as an effective tool

that helped them become familiar

and comfortable with the use of Assistive

Technologies.

Also, candidates displayed positive attitudestowards the implementation of the EAT within

their education courses.

On the whole, researchers believe that their

findings suggest that the content provided by

the EAT video tutorials are thorough enough

that teacher candidates felt prepare to pursue

use of Assistive Technology.

Some of the teacher candidates comments about the

EAT video tutorials:

“The information

presented in the tutorial

was very clear and

easy to understand.”

“The tutorials

were really boring

to watch.” “The

sound of themouse clicks

drove me nuts.”

“Can you put these

online? It would be

great to have access

to then outside oflab.”



As a Preservice teacher I would definitely feel more confident enteringthe field if I have the opportunity to gain knowledge and

understanding of various Assistive Technologies. I feel that it's a great

disservice to our students if we as teachers are not prepped or ready

to seek the best techniques, practices and theories to help meet their

educational and personal needs. It's not known when a student with a

disability may enter one's classroom. Therefore, having background

knowledge of what kinds of Assistive Technology is available willplace me in the right path.

As I get ready to enter the field of education something that is now

becoming more familiar to my ears is the different types of "Professional

Development" available for educators. As I mentioned before, I loveresearch and I think attending workshops or conferences that talk about

Assistive Technology would be extremely beneficial for not just for

myself, but all teachers.

Also I love the idea of having a videotutorial much like the EAT being part o

a requirement for one of our

educational technology courses for our

graduate program here at Plattsburgh

State.



How do you feel about Assistive

Technology and using it in your future

classroom if needed be? (Please also

indicate whether or not you also have used

1 or more Assistive Technologies). If you

have use Assistive Technology, what was

that experience like?

We have 2 required Educational Technologycourses for the B.A./M.S.T. program here at

Plattsburgh State. For those of you who have

completed both courses of “ED Tech” can you

share what kind of assistive technologies did

you learn about?

How was assistive technology presented to

you?Given from what you learned in class would

you feel comfortable using an assistive

technology tool without being familiar of it’s

functions before hand?



References

Lancioni, O’ Reilly, Singh, Sigafoos, Didden, Olivia & Campodonico. (2010). Two

children with multiple disabilities increase adaptive object manipulation and reduce

inappropriate behavior via a technology-assisted program. Journal Of Visual Impairment &Blindness, 104, 714-719.

Raghavendra, Newman, Grace & Wood. (2013). ' I could never do that before':

Effectiveness of a tailored Internet support intervention to increase the social participation of

youth with disabilities. Child: Care, Health & Development, 39 (4), 552-561.

Laarhoven, Munk, Zurita, Lynch, Zurita, Smith & Chandler. (2009). The effectiveness of

video tutorials for teaching preservice educators to use assistive technologies. Journal of

Special Education Technology, 23 (4), 31-45.

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