Adjunct Instructor
EDSE 517
George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia |
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Student AT users Teach Teachers
In 2003 I was asked to
be the instructor of EDSE 517, "COMPUTER APPLICATIONS FOR SPECIAL
POPULATIONS," for Alexandria City Public School's George Mason cohort
for Master's in Special Education. As is often the case, I learned so
much while teaching!
This course is a
fascinating overview of Assistive Technology available for people of
many disabilities! It covers many technologies from low
tech to high tech.
- Low tech like pencil grips, slant boards, positioning devices;
hardware like special computer mice, track balls, joy sticks, switch
devices, and touch screens for students who have poor fine motor skills
and difficulty realizing that a button on the keyboard affects the
curser on the screen;
- To augmentative communication devices from one step talking
picture albums to two step communicators to sixteen, thirty-two and
beyond communicators and pocket computer augmentative devices for those
for whom communication is difficult or impossible;
- To refreshable Braille devices that enable people with low vision or no vision to access the Internet;
- And head mice and eye gaze systems that can enable a person
with movement of only one body part such as an eyelid the ability to
type a manuscript and control all the systems of a house!
- It also covers software from text to picture, word prediction,
text to speech for students struggling with writing, to expensive,
complicated multi task systems designed to scan, read, and manipulate
text and graphics.
- It also covers software for students with autism to help them
learn about their world in a non threatening way and it gives them ways
to show all the information they have stored in their minds!
The possibilities are
mind-boggling! EDSE just scratches the surface, but it brings
awareness of so many ways to help people!
While teaching
teachers about the devices, I train students to use them. Then I
bring the two populations together for a lesson for all that
can’t be duplicated in a book!
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These
guest speakers added real life aspect to the 517 experience. The 7th
grader and 3 4th graders spoke to the teachers about the Assistive
Technology they have been using in school. The demonstrated some of
their projects, gave lessons on using Alpha Smarts, Co:Writer,
Write:Outloud, PowerPoint, and other software. They answered questions
using technology and how it affects their school lives. The parents
added their perspective discussing the benefits and difficulties of
having and not having access to technology. |
EDSE 517 is a class
for teachers that can lift the burden of visions of grim futures for
their students and replace it with hope!
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