"Assistive Technologies for Reading"

A. Gustaveson
3/22/08
"Assistive Technologies for Reading" by Ted S. Hasselbring and Margaret E. Bausch

For my last article review, I will discuss and react to an article on pairing disabled learners with technology to enhance their educational opportunities. This article can be found in the magazine Educational Leadership.

Overview
Hasselbring and Bausch, two University of Kentucky Professors of Special Education, tout the benefits assistive technology can provide for disabled learners. Technology is so prevalent in today's classrooms, they argue, it is only natural this trend extend to special education learners as well. Assistive technology has not only improved learners' skills in the area of literacy, it has freed students from the stigma of individual attention as they struggle with decoding and understanding text.

Reference Points

1. Technology can help teachers educate disabled learners more effectively.
2. "Assistive technology" (AT) refers to anything that helps students with disabilities maintain or increase their capabilities. Pencil grips, positioning devices, and computer screen-reading technologies all fall into this category.
3. AT is used more often in special education classrooms. Regular education teachers tend to be uninformed of the potential technologies that exist and rely almost exclusively on special ed teachers for information.
4. AT is especially helpful in increasing literacy. It does this in two ways: a) through reading support and b) through reading intervention.
5. Reading support helps students "access grade-level text as they read" (73). For instance, this could mean a synthetic voice reads aloud an essay to help the student hear when they have left text out or noun-verb disagreements occur. If incorporated into statewide testing, students do not have to rely on a teacher to re-read parts of the text for comprehension purposes.
6. Reading intervention programs help students improve their reading skills. They are geared toward a student's specific ability level and needs. One program, READ 180, gives students a video to watch before reading an essay. The purpose is to provide the relevant contextual information learning disabled students often lack. This program then takes the student through vocabulary and comprehension activities. Once the student can pass these, as well as read the passage accurately and fluently, they can move to the next lesson.
7. Don't forget: success doesn't depend on technology, it depends on the teacher!

Reflection and Significance

One thing that really bothered me about this article is the authors seem to dispute their entire point at the end. They spend the time to hype up assistive technologies and all the good they can produce, only to backtrack at the end: "ultimately, it is not the medium, but the quality of instruction that makes a difference." So is your point then, that investing in these technologies should only be a priority when the teachers have failed to do their job?

I choose to focus on the message of the rest of the article, that assistive technology can be a huge help in the classroom, especially when long-term individual attention may not be a realistic alternative. I especially like the freedom it offers disabled students - they are no longer at the mercy of a helper for text access or instant feedback. Hasselbring and Bausch make a strong case for AT's presence in the general education classroom, where more SPED students find themselves as inclusion, not pullouts, become the dominating model in education.

This year I have had two visually impaired students in my classroom. I don't know how I would survive without this technology. It is unrealistic for myself or another student to pair with them for every activity. AT allows them independent access to the text. It also gives them a way to record their thoughts and reactions in written form, allowing me to use the same assessment tools I rely on with my other students (well, most of the time).

Without AT, it would take me multiple hours each week to provide instruction and assessment equal to the rest of their classmates. I agree with Hasselbring and Bausch - we need to get the word out to regular educators on the amazing potential AT can mean for special education students.