How Assistive Technologies Create an Inclusive Learning Environment
Everyone deserves access to education.
Unfortunately, not everyone has access to education. There are various reasons for this: location, economic status, values, family complications—and, of course, disability.
Simply put, students with special needs are often at a disadvantage. Educators worldwide run the risk of failing to meet these students’ needs and disabled students are more likely to get left behind. A US study by the Institute on Disability, shown below, indicates the disparity in education levels between people with and without disabilities.
Image sourced from disabilitycompendium.org. The graphic shows indicates the disparity in education levels between people with and without disabilities.
It goes without saying that there is a huge issue in education accessibility and this disparity has serious repercussions for disabled students’ futures, affecting their future employment.
That’s where assistive technology comes in. A relatively new area of development, it seeks to aid students with Special Education Needs. With assistive technology, creating a more inclusive learning environment can be as simple as using a call center service or as fun as gaming with VR.
What is assistive technology?
Children with special needs haven’t always been considered when it comes to education, but there are signs of improvement.
In June 1994, the world’s first conference on Special Education Needs (SEN) gathered in Salamanca, Spain. UNESCO representatives from 92 governments discussed a framework by which education should be available to all. The Salamanca statement declared:
Regular schools with this inclusive orientation are the most effective means of combating discriminatory attitudes, creating welcoming communities, building an inclusive society and achieving education for all; moreover, they provide an effective education to the majority of children and improve the efficiency and ultimately the cost-effectiveness of the entire education system.
Since then, many countries have adopted SEN programs that have improved students’ access to education. As we understand more about students’ unique needs, more advanced tools become available to further this push for equality.
Assistive technology is a crucial part of this. It’s a special needs technology developed specifically to aid students with a wide spectrum of needs. It allows these students to feel empowered and included as well as giving them the right tools to keep up with their studies. Much as AI is revolutionizing UX design for websites, assistive technology can transform the experience of disabled students.
Examples of assistive technology
Whether play-based or practical, assistive technology comes in many forms.
AAC tools (Augmentative and Alternative Communication)
AAC tools work to benefit children with audio or visual impairments, as well as those who experience problems communicating either verbally or in written language.
Assistive listening devices
These devices capture a sound and translate that sound to a student’s listening device. In an educational setting, this sound might be a teacher talking to a class or other students communicating.
Assisted listening devices work by using a transmitter that connects to the receiver inside a hearing aid or cochlear implant. These transmitters can transmit across radio frequencies, infrared light waves, or audio frequency induction loop systems, offering aid that works with different types of listening devices.
Wearable sensory/tactile devices
These devices usually come in the form of a wristband. They provide tactile feedback by giving off vibrations when a sound is present that the user can’t hear. Essentially, they become a sensory substitution for sound to help the wearer better interpret the space around them.
Communicators
Students might struggle to communicate verbally due to neurodivergencies, language processing issues, or hearing impairments. This can deprive them of important social-emotional learning skills.
Communicators aid by generating speech, which allows students to process and convey their thoughts to teachers and peers. Here are some examples:
Text-to-speech device: Ideal for students who struggle to verbalize their thoughts, these devices translate typed words into speech.
Voice output communication aids (VOCAs): These work similarly to text-to-speech devices but are beneficial for people who also struggle with written text. These devices pair words or whole phrases with visual cues on a pad or touchscreen. When the user presses a button or key, the device generates speech.
Tactile symbol communicators: Useful for students who are visually impaired, these devices have bright lights and/or tactile symbols that can be pressed to communicate certain words or phrases.
Speech synthesizers
These are a type of screen reader that translates written words to speech. Speech synthesizers are useful for students who have dyslexia or otherwise prefer to listen to words rather than read them. They can aid in reading books and classwork as well as being able to read students’ work back to them to check for mistakes.
Recording and transcribing tools
Tools that record and transcribe can aid students with hearing or visual impairments, students who struggle to pay attention in class, or even those who can’t attend in-person classes due to health issues.
Recording tools can be used on any internet-enabled device to record classes, tutoring sessions, or lectures. This allows students the ability to play back the recorded information, giving them more control.
Transcribing tools like speech recognition software work with both pre-recorded and real-time speech, using AI to transcribe that speech into text.
Adapted learning toys
In the wise words of Mr. Rogers, “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood”.
Free to use image sourced from Unsplash. The above picture shows a young boy wearing virtual reality goggles.
Toys can help teach all children important skills. But children with special needs can particularly benefit from toys that are adapted to suit their learning requirements. Adapted learning toys may include features such as bright lights, large buttons, and switches to facilitate learning through play. They encourage communication and help to strengthen motor skills.
AR and VR
For students who struggle to concentrate in class, VR headsets can reduce outside stimuli and allow them to focus on the task in front of them. For students who cannot attend class at all, a virtual classroom can be accessed via a headset that allows them to feel included.
AR and VR in e-learning also offer education through play, using games to teach students essential skills.
Alternative keyboards
Being able to use computers is vital in today’s world, and most students will be using computers at some point in their education. This is likely to follow them into their careers, whether they become entrepreneurs researching cheap domain names Canada, HR managers using people management software, or indeed web developers.
But devices tend to be designed and built uniformly, and a standard keyboard layout doesn’t work for everyone. People with poor motor skills, visual impairments, or physical disabilities can struggle with everyday keyboards. This can lead to students falling behind in their studies or even pain or discomfort as students try to use devices unsuited to their needs.
Luckily, there are alternative keyboards that suit different user requirements, including:
Compact keyboards: Smaller than standard keyboards, these work well for people who need to type one-handed or cannot reach very far.
Ergonomic keyboards: These keyboards are designed to reduce hand and wrist strain. They’re good for people with various motor function disabilities and are becoming common for those who develop pain and discomfort from frequent typing.
High-visibility keyboards: Ideal for people with visual impairments, these alternative keyboards have larger buttons or high-contrast colors.
Timers
Many students struggle with pacing, so timers are an affordable way to teach time management skills.
Certain neurodivergencies can make progress difficult. Students can be easily distracted, get stuck, and feel anxious due to a lack of productivity. Timers help to segment tasks into smaller, measurable periods that allow students to better focus on one thing at a time and get that thing done. This can prepare them for the stress of dealing with testing and assessments.
Device accessibility tools
Tablets and phones are ubiquitous in our world. From a young age, most children are exposed to mobile devices for entertainment purposes, communicating with friends and family, and learning. As they grow up, mobile devices will be a vital tool in many of their careers, whether they work in call center call monitoring, sales, or even architecture.
But for those with mobility problems, tablets and smartphones can be difficult to use. Device accessibility tools include things like mounts to hold devices, styluses that can be used with the hands or the mouth, and switches for scrolling.
Many devices themselves have accessibility tools built into them or available for download, such as eye comfort shields to block out blue light, a screen share tool, or ways to make the text on a screen larger.
Assessing implementation of assistive technology
As an educator, it’s essential to understand each student’s unique needs. Assessing each individual and their requirements helps educators choose the right assistive tools to aid them.
Sometimes it can take a little experimentation, so don’t be afraid to let students play and test for themselves to find what works and what doesn’t. Assistive technology is all about personalization, and the best way to personalize each education is by evaluating how individuals interact with the available tools. Chances are, what works for one student won’t work for another, even if they have similar conditions.
It’s also important that learning institutions are serious about SEN. Accessibility should be a part of everyday school life for both staff and students — from streamlining admin tasks with technology that resembles call center software, to equipping educators with skills in innovation in change through Master of Education programs.
The future is bright
Free to use image sourced from Pexels. The above picture shows a teacher signing to her students.
Education has come a long way, especially for those with unique needs. Gone are the days when every student had to fit a cookie-cutter mold. Today, we better understand individuals’ needs and the best educators continue to push the bounds of technology to more effectively aid their students.
Assistive technology is there to bridge the learning gap, to make sure no student falls behind, and to ensure that every person has access to a good education.