Assessing for Development, Emerging Knowledge, Intervention, and Modification: Using Assistive Technology

Assistive technology provides devices for students/people with disabilities. Technology has created so many possibilities for disabled learners. Many years ago people with disabilities have been shut out of participating events and schools due to their disabilities ( Nielsen, 2011).Some were not even able to participate in classrooms due to the lack of accessibility or instructional problems. Today there thankfully has been developed technology to assist in the isolation of disabled students.

There are many types of assistive technology to aid in learning and attention issues.

1.      Audio players/recorders- helps the child listen to the recording as the teacher reads them on the pages. There are e-books, phones, and tablets with text to speech software that could be read out loud to the child (Nielsoen, 2011).These type of devices can be used for children 2 years of age through adults. It fosters ways of learning through reading and writing guidance.

2.    

Writing supports- Some children have trouble with writing. This could be used in a forms of writing utensils or a computer (Nielsen, 2011).Some writing programs come with features that help with spelling and grammar. Another think to look at is that if a student is having a hard time with thoughts, some software has word predictors. It would require the child typing in the first few letters and as the software will generate the word choices of what the child may be trying to use. This can be used for children 5yrs and up.

Assistive technology may or may not be culturally responsive. When involving families to assist with learning, educators would have to gather information such as strengths, needs and priorities. All of these needs have to be matched with the family’s cultures for that student to succeed. Consistency would be key for a family’s culture values.

Any technology can be considered bad technology if not used in the useful appropriate ways. For example; a child who has a difficult time writing may use the tablet frequently, but sometimes too much of the tablet can enable a child to not have strong enough fine motor skills practice to start writing without the tablet.

Reference

Nielsen, L. (2011). 25 incredible assistive technologies. Retrieved from http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2011/09/25-incredible-assistive-technologies.html

Assignment 2: Blog: Choosing the Proper Assessment Scenarios

presented below are two scenarios who requires intervention to determine their needs. intervention get's the child properly diagnosed so that the services get's provided in time. intervention involves assessing a child and it plays an integral part of teaching and learning Purposeful assessment affects a child's learning in more way than you know. The purpose of assessments is to let the teachers and parents know where their child is and where they are going Banerjee & Luckner (2013).

Addison is a 7 year old girl. Every day after school, Addison knows to come home to complete her 20 minutes of reading daily to complete her reading counts test. Addison has a hard time understanding why she has to read chapter books for her age and according to her lexile level. She goes through all other underage leveled books very quickly. When it comes to the chapter books, Addison complains, cries, but reads to get it done. She has difficulty reading some of the words, but overall she is an avid reader. It challenges her to be better at reading.

Addison’s mother had issues reading while she was in kindergarten, but tries to find resources to help her daughter get to the appropriate levels for her reading counts test. Addison’s father was a great reader and had lots of support from his teachers and reading tutoring while he was in the first grade.

Addison is the youngest of 3 siblings. Although her parents work full time they are very involved in making sure their children are successful with their academics. To encourage Addison to enjoy reading her parents encourages all other siblings to read with her at the family dinner table every night as they all take turns. They read fun, funny, and enjoyable stories that also relates to their home environment. She even gets to read to her dog. Banerjee & Luckner (2013) suggests that professionals are most effective when they collect and use data assessments to use as instruction. What assessment skills could be used to identify the lacking skills? How can I as an educator identify strategies for making reading more enjoyable?

Miguel is a 3^rd grader who enjoys playing rough with his friends and doing house activities with his sister who is 5 and brother who is 12. Miguel and his siblings reside with his aunt, uncle and mother. Miguel was placed on an IEP during kindergarten in which he was diagnosed with having a learning disability in academic difficulties. Miguel’s father had LD during his elementary years which Miguel’s mother found out through her ex- husbands parents, so Miguel’s grandparents. Miguel’s father died while he was a newborn.

Miguel is a well behaved boy and very respectful to his superiors. Miguel really tries his best to complete assignments on time and it’s even harder at home because Miguel lives in a house full so his homework does not get fully completed or looked over. This problem makes it even more difficult for Miguel to be on the appropriate level for his age. Miguel’s teacher often catches Miguel getting off task and remembering things. Miguel also show signs of not being organized.

There has been some conversations at parent teacher conferences between Miguel’s mother and teacher. He is constantly getting behind and needs educational support to stay on task. Miguel’s teacher recommended and suggested to the mother that specialist come into the classroom and work with him side by side. The teacher is thinking about what assessment tool would be best used to determine the help Miguel needs. What intervention assessment tool would be best used to assess and collect data on Miguel?

Reference

Banerjee, R., & Luckner, J. L. (2013). Assessment practices and training needs of early childhood professionals. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 34(3), 231–248