Blog #13 Assistive Technology

I have seen many teachers at Nicolet Elementary use assistive technology to help students learn.  Some of this technology is just basic things such as pictures, photographs, word cards and other objects that are used as manipulatives to better meet each student’s learning style.  For reading, some teachers use audio recordings, having students listen to the book as they read it, or talk into a microphone as they read so they can hear themselves read.  Large print books are another example of assistive technology that teachers use to help students learn to read.  Teachers also have highlighted film for students to use as a marker while they read.  The highlighted lines are on either side of the line that the student is reading so they can focus on that line and concentrate better.  Teachers may also provide different color film to put over the reading material.  This allows students to look at the print in a different color which helps some students read. 

For writing, I have seen teachers use a thin lid full of play dough so the students can practice writing their letters and numbers.  This helps students who have difficulty holding a pencil or forming legible handwriting because the play dough provides support for their pencil.  Teachers also use a table covered in shaving cream foam or finger paint to allow students to learn to write in a tactile way.  

For math, teachers use the rhythm of different songs to sing and learn the math facts.  For instance, they use the Old McDonald tune to sing and learn how to multiply by 3.  Teachers use different familiar tunes to help students learn their multiplication facts.  This works well because most of the songs are songs that kids already know; like the “Happy Birthday” song, “Twinkle, Twinkle little star,” “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and others.  Some teachers also have calculators with bigger keys to help students learn.

English Language Learners always need to have access to a dictionary.  There are great online dictionaries and translating devices to helps these students.  Some of these dictionaries can read the words back to the students out loud so they can learn the correct pronunciation.  There are also Smart pens for writing if you have difficulty taking notes.  These pens record what is being said as the student is writing notes.  Later, when the student needs to fill in their notes, they simply use their Smart pen and it reads the lecture back to them.  Another example I found is the Word Q and Speak Q Bundle.  This kind of technology is used to write and also reads what you write.

  There is a lot of assistive technology that can be used or be modified by teachers to help students learn.  Now we have a great deal of electronic technology that can be used but if that kind of technology is not available, we can also use simple things like the ones I mentioned above to improve the student’s learning.

-Marco Olson Guillén