Assistive technologies are seen as any device, piece of equipment, or system that helps a person which a disability work around the challenges: Special Needs Assisting Assignment, PC, Ireland

Assistive technologies are seen as any device, piece of equipment, or system that helps a person which a disability work around the challenges so that they can learn or communicate better with others. Assistive technology is available to help individuals with differing disabilities. There are many different kinds of assistive technologies that will be discussed below which will assist children with physical, learning, or perhaps attention difficulties in the classroom.

For a child who struggles with maths, listening, executive functioning, reading, writing, or communicating assistive technologies can assist the child in learning in order to develop skills, confidence, and independence.

Before considering which type or method of technology is most appropriate for the child
with whom you are working there are a few points to consider:

What are the child’s strengths, and how are they performing in different areas of the curriculum maths, reading, writing, communication, and learning?

What specific learning difficulties does the child have?

What specific needs would the child have in areas such as mobility, vision, and hearing?

What current equipment are the child and class using

What level of learning is the class at what are they expected to do?

With a child with a physical / mobility issue for example even before computer technologies are decided upon the child’s positioning would have to be considered. So for example the child may need a height-adjustable table to use a laptop in class. They may need wrist or arm supports which would provide support while typing or working on the laptop.

If the child has a visual impairment thinking of the screen you are using will be important as you want them not to strain to read items. The child’s positioning and posture should also be considered as hunched position when working at the computer may have negative health issues such as causing digestion and stomach issues.

Just a point to remember when working with assistive technologies- computer or otherwise the role of these technologies is to assist and enhance the child’s learning NOT to replace the teaching of these skills. These technologies are an added assistance to the teacher and sna working with the child to allow the child to work more independently in class.

Assistive technology is a very broad area from the very low-tech devices such as the laptop stand to the medium-tech devices which are used to assist the child with some level of independence devices such as mice or keyboards being an example here. High-tech devices are specialized equipment with those using this equipment having little independent functioning or who may have little or no verbal skills for example.

When discussing computers for children with special needs we need to discuss the area under two main headings: HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE. Below are some examples of assistive technologies which are used in schools. Take time to research this topic as there are always new and more adaptations made for children with specific needs and it is important as the SNA to be aware and keep up to date with these changes.