14-02-2013, 04:06 PM
Use of Computer Technology to Help Students with Special Needs
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Abstract
Millions of students across the United States cannot benefit fully from a traditional
educational program because they have a disability that impairs their ability to participate
in a typical classroom environment. For these students, computer-based technologies
can play an especially important role. Not only can computer technology
facilitate a broader range of educational activities to meet a variety of needs for students
with mild learning disorders, but adaptive technology now exists than can
enable even those students with severe disabilities to become active learners in the
classroom alongside their peers who do not have disabilities.
This article provides an overview of the role computer technology can play in promoting
the education of children with special needs within the regular classroom. For
example, use of computer technology for word processing, communication, research,
and multimedia projects can help the three million students with specific learning and
emotional disorders keep up with their nondisabled peers. Computer technology has
also enhanced the development of sophisticated devices that can assist the two million
students with more severe disabilities in overcoming a wide range of limitations that
hinder classroom participation––from speech and hearing impairments to blindness
and severe physical disabilities. However, many teachers are not adequately trained on
how to use technology effectively in their classrooms, and the cost of the technology is
a serious consideration for all schools. Thus, although computer technology has the
potential to act as an equalizer by freeing many students from their disabilities, the
barriers of inadequate training and cost must first be overcome before more widespread
use can become a reality.
INTRODUCTION
Today’s children are the first generation of the “digital age.” They are
being raised in a society that is changing rapidly as a result of the
influx of new computer-based technologies that provide more pervasive
and faster worldwide links to commerce, communication, and culture.
The dramatic changes over the past decade have prompted the
Presidential Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology,1 the U.S.
Office of Technology Assessment,2 and high-level government officials3 to
state that it is incumbent upon the public school system to prepare all students
to use technology in ways that will allow them to compete in the increasingly
complex technological workplace. Many people applaud the
integration of computer-based technologies into the classroom for typically
functioning students. Fewer individuals recognize the great number of benefits
that computer-based technologies may afford children with disabilities.
This article focuses on the role that computer technology can play in
promoting the education of children with special needs within the classroom.
It begins with an overview of children’s different types of disabilities
and special needs, and an introductory discussion of how technology can
help meet those needs. Several more detailed sections follow, describing
how particular computer applications and devices make it possible for students
with disabilities to be educated in a regular classroom alongside their
nondisabled peers. The final section provides a discussion of the barriers to
more widespread use of the promising technologies––barriers that must be
overcome if schools are to provide greater opportunities for students with
disabilities to learn more effectively in regular classroom settings.
Children with Special
Needs—Who Are They?
Over the past 20 years, the number of students
with disabilities has been steadily
increasing at a faster rate than both the general
population and school enrollment.4
Today, approximately one of six students in
schools across the United States cannot benefit
fully from a traditional educational program
because they have a disability that
impairs their ability to participate in classroom
activities.5 Federal law defines students
with special needs as those who, because of a
disability, require special education and
related services to achieve their fullest potential.
6 According to the most recent government
statistics, more than 5 million students
ages 6 to 17 were receiving special education
services during the 1997–98 school year.7
Word Processing Software
The attributes of word processing that lead
to its effectiveness as a learning tool for children
with special needs are generally the
same attributes that make it effective for children
in general. For example, the ease of
revising text, producing clean and readable
text, and feeling a sense of authorship are
frequently mentioned as attributes of word
processors that lead to improved writing.
Researchers have found that students are
more willing to edit their work and to make
necessary corrections on a word processor
than on handwritten drafts. In addition, the
word processor frees students from the more
tedious duties related to the editing process,19
enabling them to spend more time on the
content of their written products.
Word Prediction Software
Word prediction software isanother example
of a computer-based technology that can
help students communicate with written language
more easily. This software, when used
in conjunction with traditional word processing
programs, reduces the number of
keystrokes that are required to type words
and provides assistance with spelling for students
of various ability levels. For example,
in one application, a list of words appears
that begins with the letter a student presses
on the computer keyboard. As additional
letters are added to the sequence, the list is
updated to limit the words to the sequence
that has been entered. When the desired
word appears on the computer screen, the
student simply selects the word to insert it
into the written text. Some applications
require that students be able to select the
desired words from a list displayed on the
computer screen; other applications enable
the computer to read the words aloud. In
addition, some word prediction programs
provide words solely on the basis of the
sequence of letters entered; others give consideration
to the grammatical aspect of the
words already present in the sentence. Still
other applications limit the words provided
to those that the student most often uses.
Hyperlinks
The concept of hyperlinks is not new––in
fact, speculation about such devices dates
back more than 50 years.29 Text with hyperlinks,
or “hypertext,” enables users to access
electronically linked resources with the click
of a mouse, leaping through vast amounts
of textual information in a nonsequential
manner. Hypertext is a web conceptually
––somewhat like a dictionary or an encyclopedia––
with complex interdependencies
among units of information that users can
jump between in ways that are similar to the
way the human mind thinks.30 Hyperlinks
enable students to jump to electronic units
of information with the speed and freedom
of human thought, creating meaningful
learning experiences through quick and
easy links between new and previously
learned information.