Tech for Understanding: An Introduction to Assistive and Instructional Technology in the Classroom

This paper examines the different types of assistive and instructional technology available to students who are classified with one or more of the thirteen disabilities outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (referred to as, IDEA). While the roles of assistive and instructional technology are different, there are many instances where their uses may overlap. Thus, while these two categories will be discussed separately, it should be noted that some information may be applied to each category and more than one piece of technology. The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction to the world of assistive and instructional technology for those who may be new to its concepts, particularly parents who have recently learned that their child may benefit from extra assistance and future educators who are interested in learning more about the devices they will be using to reach their students. Each of the thirteen disabilities will be discussed briefly, and then each disability will be assigned several types of assistive and instructional technology that serve it well. This will by no means be an exhaustive list of all types of technology available to teachers, parents, and students. However, it will attempt to provide a varied glimpse at some of the options that are available and how they may help children who are struggling to access the curriculum

How do technologies meet the needs of the writer with dyslexia? An examination of functions scaffolding the transcription and proofreading in text production aimed towards researchers and practitioners in education

Technological reading and writing tools can help students with dyslexia improve their writing, but students do not use reading and writing functions as much as expected. However, research addressing relevant technological functions is scarce. This study explored the needs of writers with dyslexia and how technological writing tools developed for three Nordic languages meet these needs. Snowball sampling was used to identify different technological features, spellchecker, word prediction, auto-correction, text-to-speech and speech-to-text functions available in nine widely used programmes were investigated. The results indicated that students with moderate spelling difficulties can now achieve accurate spellings using the most sophisticated spelling aids; however, most of these features require time and attention, and this can disturb writing fluency and hamper text production. The implication of this study is that the underlying conflict between spelling accuracy and writing fluency must be actively managed, which necessitates competence in the use of technological tools for both students and teachers in school. Also, further development of tools for scaffolding transcription must consider the dilemma of achieving both writing fluency and spelling accuracy. Further, the accuracy of the aid for students with severe spelling difficulties remains unclear and must be investigated.publishedVersio

How High School Students With Dyslexia Use Assistive Technology; A Teacher\u27s Perspective

High school teachers of students with dyslexia face unique instructional challenges. Students’ with dyslexia experience levels of difficulty in reading and writing tasks that have now transmigrated into the digital realm. These teachers are working to collaborate with and teach students that are dyslexic, using technology tools. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain an understanding of how these teachers are using technology to support the learning of students with dyslexia. Two research questions guided this study: How do the teachers of high school students with dyslexia perceive the use of digital technology to assist in the learning process? What are the experiences of teachers who use digital technology to teach high school students with dyslexia? The sample was a purposeful sample consisting of 8 high school teacher participants. Participants taught a variety of subjects including English, mathematics, history, and science at a charter school in western North Carolina. The data collection instruments were face to face interviews, observations, and member checking sessions. The typological analysis model was used to analyze data collected from interviews and observations. The constant comparative strategy was used during analysis to effectively determine commonalities among these data. These strategies ensured data were being analyzed beyond the surface level. The key findings of this study were that participants view digital classroom technology favorably and are using technology frequently as a teaching tool for all students. The teachers expressed the need for professional development and training sessions to more fully develop technology skills as a way to specifically engage with students with dyslexia and their learning needs

Intelligent Learning Systems for Inclusive Education: A Focus on Dyslexia

Undergraduate thesis submitted to the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, Ashesi University, in partial fulfillment of Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, May 2022As children grow, they learn how to read and write. Reading involves recognizing, distinguishing, and understanding words and characters to make sense of a text. By the age of 7, a child should read and understand simple texts. For some people, it is not the case. They struggle to read and write. Reading is fundamental as it is applied everywhere; for instance, a person needs to read road signs to know their current location, read the operating manual for a new device they have bought, and many others. Some people struggle to read and write because of a learning disability called Dyslexia. It makes them unable to identify words and make sense of them. Some people can overcome Dyslexia by third grade, but others struggle even in university. Students are struggling to keep up academically because of this learning disability. This Thesis undertakes research to identify what students with Dyslexia go through and what strategies work best to help them study effectively and at a reasonable pace.Ashesi Universit

Exploration of Augmented Reality as an Assistive Device for Students with Dyslexia

Gemstone Team ARTAugmented Reality (AR) is a rapidly emerging technology, and its potential has not yet been fully explored. As members of Team ART, we aim to explore the use of AR as an assistive device platform for people with dyslexia, with the hopes that we could take advantage of the seamless integration of reality and computer-generated images and the attractive novelty of this up and coming platform. We began our project by surveying experts and members of the dyslexia community to determine the most helpful features and user interface for an assistive device to provide real-time feedback to users with dyslexia. Then, we developed an application on the Microsoft HoloLens to analyze users' handwritten spelling of words to provide immediate feedback. We tested the application on 19 participants in grades two through six and found that all of them improved their spelling as a result of using our device. 64.2 percent of users perceived the device to as motivating, significantly greater than the percentage of users who disliked the device. There was no significant correlation between improvement in spelling accuracy and increased motivation in regards to our device. Our novel study demonstrates that with further improvement and implementation, our application can provide assistance not only to people with dyslexia, but also to children in general

Assistive Technologies and Academic Success for Students with Dyslexia: A Literature Review

According to research, one in ten school-aged children is diagnosed with dyslexia (Shaywitz (2008) as cited in Wang et al. (2018)) and “15-20% of the population as a whole may have symptoms of dyslexia” (Cowen, 2016). With so many students impacted, what does research provide about the assistive technologies available to aide students diagnosed with dyslexia in academic success? This literature review was conducted to determine affordances for students of all ages who could use modern technology to become more successful at reading, writing, spelling, and language comprehension. Helping students succeed in compulsory education could afford students with dyslexia the opportunity for successful academic attainment in higher education. Research indicates “people with dyslexia are vastly under-represented in universities” (MacCullagh, Bosanquet, & Badcock, 2017). The opportunity for all students to have an equitable education should be a fundamental right and the following literature review analyzes the assistive technologies available to allow students with dyslexia to thrive in an educational setting

Lived experiences of everyday memory in adults with dyslexia: A thematic analysis

Dyslexia-related difficulties with memory are well documented under laboratory conditions and via self-report questionnaires. However, the voice of the individual with dyslexia regarding the lived experience of memory across different memory systems and different daily settings is currently lacking. To address this gap in the literature, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 adult female university students with dyslexia. Questions probed different memory systems and experiences across different settings, with interviewees also being asked about their use of technology to support their memory. Two overarching themes were identified in the subsequent thematic analysis. The theme of fallibility of memory had two sub-themes of i) a lack of trust and confidence in memory and ii) factors contributing to memory failure. The second theme, facilitators of memory, also consisted of two sub-themes, relating to i) a preference for traditional tools to support memory and ii) the use of digital tools to support memory: benefits and limitations. The current study gives insights into the rich and complex extended and distributed cognitive systems of adults with dyslexia. The implications of the findings for dyslexia theory, support in educational and work settings, and assistive technology development are considered

Inclusion and online learning opportunities: Designing for accessibility

Higher education institutions worldwide are adopting flexible learning methods and online technologies which increase the potential for widening the learning community to include people for whom participation may previously have been difficult or impossible. The development of courseware that is accessible, flexible and informative can benefit not only people with special needs, but such courseware provides a better educational experience for all students

Multilingual Children with Dyslexia: A Further Study of the Multi-sensory Approach using IT

This study is about the difficulties that multilingual dyslexic children face and whether the enhancement of the multi-sensory teaching techniques using the Orton-Gillingham (O-G) Method could increase the effectiveness of Information Technology in helping these dysiexics children. This project was conducted to overcome this problem since most software is designed for monolingual children and to This done by conducting a study on improving on the multi-sensory level by further adding and manipulating the senses to the courseware which already uses ttte Orton-Giiingaham method as a baseline and testing it to dyslexic children. The result overall will shows that the OGmethod does help a lot in teachingdysiexics,but prove to be less effective with dysiexics~with auditory skills