There are approximately 1.5 million people living in the UK with a learning disability. Almost 2 million people are living with a visual impairment. Within those figures, 25,000 children are living with sight loss, and 286,000 children that have a learning disability. With those figures in mind, students with a learning disability mostly require adaptive or assistive technology to support their education.
Scottish charity, Royal Blind who run a blind school and care homes for the visually impaired, explore what technologies there are to assist those pupils with complex disabilities, through their education when additional support needs are required.
The education learning system has been transformed for pupils with and without disabilities because of technological advances. Technology has given those who struggle to pass the barriers due to their disability, the opportunity to get the most out of their education. Assistive technology allows students with learning disabilities to work around their struggles.
How are they at helping?
There are many different ways in which assistive technology can be used to support and address different learning difficulties, to help improve the education experience for the student and also, the teacher. There are tools within assistive technologies that can help those with disabilities, who struggle with reading, writing, maths, listening and organisation. Whether the student is dyslexic, visually impaired or struggles with any other disability that causes skill deficits, assistive technology can be applied to the education processes to help. There is actually research, which has proven that assistive technology has improved certain skill deficits, such are reading and spelling.
The usage of assistive technologies is not intended to give an unfair advantage, but instead give the students independence to learn in an environment that allows them to use their strengths to overcome their challenges. Adaptive devices are helping students by increasing their participation, achievement and independence. It does this by giving them better access to the same general curriculum as other students without disabilities.
What different technologies are available?
There are different disabilities that require different AT tools to support the needs of the student. Some technologies may work better for certain students but not for others though. There are around 20 per cent of young people with visual impairments who also have additional special educational needs or disabilities, and a further 30 per cent having complex needs within the education system. AT offers support. In general, the term assistive technology is applied to technologies that are used to support children with learning difficulties. The most common are electronic devices, computer hardware and digital tools that are available on the Internet.
The education process can be completely transformed for the visually impaired. They give students access to educational assets in a larger format, both in digital and print. For many students with a visual impairment, having access to digital technology allows them to learn in mainstream schools. This is because text can be enlarged, and other senses can be used to aid the learning process, such as touch and sound. There are around 60 per cent of students with visual impairments who are studying in mainstream schools, and assistive technology is supporting their learning needs, and also allows the students to learn at their own pace. There are more highly qualified teachers of the visual impaired that offer further support to the students as well.
Alternative keyboards have been developed to help students engage in their work when overlays are used to customise the appearance of the keyboard to encourage production. Not only do these keyboards help students with visual impairment that might need braille or larger keys, the keyboards can also be customised to help students who struggle to type, because the keyboard overlays can add graphics and colours to help. It doesn’t stop there either there are tools such as electronic math sheets, talking calculators, talking spell checkers, electronic dictionaries and braille technology. Assistive technology makes schools a comfortable environment for students with learning difficulties.
How to find the right AT for your student’s needs
Every child that is living with a learning disability or has a visual impairment has unique learning needs which means that any AT used to support their learning is also going to unique too. AT offer students to take control of their learning experience, and gain some independence in their education, so finding the right AT for the student can be difficult as the needs amongst students with disabilities will differ to each other. In order to find the right tool to support their education, establish the best tool that addresses a child’s specific needs and challenges, also determine which tool will help them overcome their barriers, and the assistive technology tool must also be used to the student’s strengths, be easy to use, reliable and portable.
The student must have the knowledge and be capable of using the tools available to them otherwise, they won’t receive the support and engagement they need which is the whole aim of assistive technology is. Make note, that a tool that one student can use, doesn’t mean that another student can use it too. Each person, and their disabilities will be different, and whilst two pupils might both have a visual impairment, their requirements could differ significantly.
Sources
http://www.rnib.org.uk/professionals/knowledge-and-research-hub/key-information-and-statistics
http://www.ukvisionstrategy.org.uk/get-involved-ways-get-involved-across-uk/sight-loss-statistics
https://edubirdie.com/blog/learning-disabilities
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/assistive-technology-kids-learning-disabilities-overview
https://www.teachingvisuallyimpaired.com/assistive-tech.html
https://www.teachingvisuallyimpaired.com/types-of-vi-at.html
https://www.teachingvisuallyimpaired.com/overview-of-assistive-technology.html