Assistive and Adaptive Technology - Helping Students
Determine Their Needs on Their Own Terms
Co - Authored by Maureen Haig, Educational Specialist, Learning
Disabilities Program,York University and Carren Tatton, Adaptive
Technologies Specialist, Learning Disabilities Program, York University
Assistive and adaptive technology (AT) can have an incredibly positive
impact on the life of students with learning disabilities (LD).
As both service providers and actual users of AT, we have seen how
it truly can enhance the lives of university-level students with
learning disabilities. Through the use of AT, students with learning
disabilities have the opportunity, often for the first time in their
academic careers, to become more aware of their needs and how to
provide support for themselves.
It is especially true at the university level that the range of
possibilities for technological support widens exponentially. Students
who previously may have had access only to word processing programs,
may arrive at the university to discover software that can assist
with the planning process in writing, allow students to visually
map their ideas, assist them with vocabulary development and study
skills, teach them to become more effective writers and editors
of their own work, dictate documents for instant transcription and
have print material read aloud to them. While this software could
have been available at other levels of the students' education,
it often is only at the university level that they become aware
of the range of possibilities for technology. This may be the case
because funding has become available for these resources and because
the level of academic tasks being performed can truly benefit from
the use of these technologies. These technologies are effective
tools that are not meant to replace other support services or academic
accommodations currently in place for students, but should be used
to augment the current level of support. The AT allows for more
rapid personal academic development and independence that traditional
supports might not provide at the time that the student most requires
it. For example, technology can be present at 10pm in the evening
as a student is completing a piece of work while a tutoring session
could not occur at this time. Technology also allows students to
do research and have the software program read library articles
that were found today in time for tomorrow's class. The immediate
support that technology can provide allows students with learning
disabilities to interact more effectively in peer group settings
as they can integrate the necessary academic material more readily
at a pace consistent with their classmates.
AT can also extend both the academic independence and academic
options for a student. Technological supports can not only be present
in environments where traditional supports might not be as readily
available (e.g. in a group project meeting) but they also allow
the user to be the one to actively determine when and how that support
is used. Finally, AT can follow the student through the transition
from the academic to the professional work environment. This helps
facilitate a situation whereby the employee with learning disabilities
can be as productive as other employees by using "different
methods of producing".There are some caveats to encouraging
students to use AT. Students need to understand that there definitely
is a learning curve when it comes to using and mastering these supports
effectively. Students need to have adequate learning and trial periods
with new software. They also require ready access to individuals
who can assist them when they run into technical difficulties and
who can help with customizing the use of the software to their individual
needs. Without this type of support, students tend not to use the
technology to its full potential
AT is now more accessible to students with learning disabilities
because the technology has become more commonplace in recent years
and is more attainable economically. These technologies can be more
student-driven than traditional supports and in many ways encourage
more effective use of the traditional supports.
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