Differentiated Approaches

Exploring Universal Design & Assistive Technology

Overview0 Over 50 million Americans reported having a disability at the

beginning of the 21st century0 According to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973,

students with disabilities cannot be denied access to education at any institution receiving federal funds

At the K-12 level, students with special needs may be eligible for an individualized education program (IEP)

At the postsecondary level, students with special needs can work with their institution’s office of disability services to secure resources that support them academically

How can institutions of

learning address this?

Understanding Students’ Needs

0According to kidshealth.org, an IEP sets academic goals for students (Barach, 2011)

0One or more special services are provided to address the student’s need(s) as it relates to reaching the outlined goals in the IEP

0Many students who have an IEP work with a team of professionals who work to evaluate the student’s progress

0At the postsecondary level, students have the option of whether or not to formally declare their disability

0According to SciTrainU, many students have difficulty transitioning from secondary to postsecondary schools because the level of assistance is much less personalized

0Most postsecondary institutions have an office of disability services that provide accommodations such as notetaking assistance, interpreter services, preferential seating in class, and alternative testing environments

Needs You May EncounterWhen Working with a Diverse Student Population

0 Attention-Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD): Student may be impulsive, hyperactive, unable to focus for long periods of time and their work may lack attention to detail

0 Vision Impairments: Student has some level of vision loss; according to CDC, vision loss indicates that eyesight is not corrected to a normal level (www.cdc.gov)

0 Hearing Impairments: According to kidshealth.org, “a mild or partial hearing loss can affect a child’s ability to speak and understand language” (Morlet, 2012)

0 Mild Learning Disabilities: Neurological disorder that may lead to difficulty reading, writing, spelling, reasoning or recalling information (http://www.ldonline.org/ldbasics/whatisld)

Universal Design

“Universal design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design." –Ron Mace, Founder, Center for Universal Design

0 A good approach to working with students with various abilities is to adopt Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which allows for adaptability in the ways learning goals are achieved

0 Utilize a variety of media and tools to present concepts and topics

0 Provide students options to demonstrate their understanding and learned skills

0 Assorted instructional strategies implemented to allow for classroom engagement through diverse means

0 Assistive technology utilized to make general education classrooms inclusive for students with special needs

Assistive TechnologyLeveling the Learning Field

“Assistive Technology promotes greater independence by enabling people to perform tasks that they were formerly unable to accomplish, or had great difficulty accomplishing, by providing enhancements to, or changing methods of interacting with, the technology needed to accomplish such tasks.”

-Wikipedia

Need Assistive Technologies

ADHD graphic organizers, PDA, digital pen, word prediction software, word dictation software, one-to-one communicator

Hearing Impairment hearing aids, FM systems, induction loop system, one-to-one communicator

Mild Learning Disabilities

digital pen, word prediction software, word dictation software, touchscreen computers/tablets,

Vision Impairment talking dictionaries, large print textbooks, large print & talking calculators, screen reading and text enlargement programs, provide audio recordings of lectures, OCR software, text-to-speech software

Review the online resources on the next slide to find out more about how these assistive technologies work for students.

http://www.additudemag.com/

http://www.asha.org/public/hearing/treatment/assist_tech.htm

http://www.catea.gatech.edu/scitrainU/modules/module1_1.php

http://www.clayton.edu/disability/accommodations

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/pdf/parents_pdfs/VisionLossFactSheet.pdf

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/

http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/learning/iep.html

http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/eyes/hear.html

http://www.ldonline.org/article/8088

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assistive_technology

http://www.udlcenter.org/

Online ResourcesBe Informed!

References

Accessible stem teaching 101. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.catea.gatech.edu/scitrainU/modules/module1_1.php

Assistive technology. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assistive_technology

Attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder (adhd). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/

 Bachrach, S. (2011, May). Individualized education programs. Retrieved from

http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/learning/iep.html Behrmann, M., & Kinas, M. (2002, February 01). Assistive technology for students with mild

disabilities. Retrieved from http://www.ericdigests.org/2003-1/assistive.htm Francis, N.J., Salzman, A., Polomsky, D., & Huffman, E. (2007). Accomodations for a student

with a physical disability in a professional physical therapist education program. Journal of Physical Therapy Education, 21(2), 60-65.

 Hearing assistive technology. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.asha.org/public/hearing/treatment/assist_tech.htm Help for young learners: How to choose at?. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.ldonline.org/article/8088 Kottak, C.P., & Kozaitis, K.A. (Eds.). (2012). On being different: Diversity &

multiculturalism in the North American mainstream (4th edition). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

 Morlet, T. (2012, May). Hearing evaluation in children. Retrieved from

http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/eyes/hear.html Vision loss fact sheet. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/pdf/parents_pdfs/VisionLossFactSheet.pdf