The Omaha Public Schools District web page has accessibility for special education students through Assistive Technology Team. The members of the team are special education supervisors and speech/language pathologists. Students are evaluated by the team, staff, and their parents. Then recommendations are made as need to help student success in the classroom through technology. Assistive Technology Team is also in charge of training of staff and the student on the technology needed to help in the classroom setting.
My personal experience with assistive technology has been AlphaSmart which is a personal computer system. When students come to R. M. Marrs Magnet Center the focus is on mathematics, technology, and economics. They have the opportunity to uses the computers in the classrooms to meet their educational needs.
Students who have difficulties in hearing may need an individual amplification for classroom lectures or small group discussions. The amplifiers are charged at night in either the nurse’s office or the homeroom of the student’s teacher.
The district web page has a lot of information packed into its web page which is not ideal for student use. It has student links but was difficult to maneuver through. As well as students would have to remember their username and password to proceed. Students have access to the library web page which is very student friendly. I do know the Library Specialist in my school reviews the site at the beginning of the year with all students.
The R. M. Marrs Magnet Center web page is very student friendly with links to teacher web pages. The teacher web pages are a place for students to view websites and email teacher with questions. My teacher web page is not complete. (Ops) Having taken this class has taught me to not fear but embrace the changes in the 21st century for not only myself by for the students I teach.
Heather, I have always considered Special Education to cover a wide range of students. You have your typical students who have the learning needs such as being able to comprehend things or needing more time because they are slower readers. There are also your students that you mentioned that might have speech issues or who may be hard of hearing. I have one particular student in my school who is a quadruple amputee. She has special needs as far as manipulating a pencil or typing. She has a partial thumb on each hand and she is able to grip things and do a lot more than people expect. I know in the past that I have seen her in the classroom struggling to use keyboards. I think that she has used a pencil to help her type. I was wondering if there any types of keyboards out there that would meet her needs. Do you know of such a thing?
ReplyDeleteI think it is great that students with special needs have these technologies to meet their individual needs. I also love the fact that the schools must provide them with NCLB (not that OPS didn't before). Do you think OPS is up to date on the most current assistant technologies for special needs learners?
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