Can special ed students benefit from technology?

The claim

Students with disabilities do not benefit from the use of technology in the classroom.

The facts

Many teachers adhere to the common myth that students with disabilities cannot benefit from the use of technology in the classroom. In fact, the opposite is true: Students with disabilities can not only benefit from the use of technology, but they often thrive on it. Research shows that incorporating the use of technology in the classroom helps students with all kinds of disabilities.

One of the reasons offered for this common misconception is that students with disabilities don’t have the ability to use the technology themselves or to understand it. As a result, they cannot benefit from technology. However, this assumption is itself a myth: Research shows that most students — even students with disabilities — are typically far more technologically skilled than their teachers. Often, teachers simply underestimate their students’ ability to use the technology. When this happens, a critical opportunity for these students is lost simply because their teachers underestimate students’ abilities. It is important to note that not all students with disabilities will benefit from the use of technology: Students with more severe disabilities might lack the ability to benefit from particular technologies. But overall, the use of technology should not be dismissed so quickly.

Technology in the classroom has a variety of applications. It can be used to help students improve their writing skills, reading skills, and overall academic motivation. Students with disabilities can use technological tools to help improve their reading and writing skills just as easily as their typically developing peers. Here are some helpful ways to incorporate technology in students’ writing.

LEARN NC

LEARN NC has a terrific set of resources for teachers to explore on a wide variety of subjects. One of LEARN NC’s collections, “Best of the Web,” provides links to web resources that have been reviewed for quality and educational appropriateness. On the LEARN NC home page, click on “Best of the Web” in the left sidebar, and then click on the “technology” link listed alphabetically in the tag cloud. The search results consist of a massive amount of resources covering all types of material and subjects. You can browse keywords like biology, engineering, art, even North Carolina. This is a great resource for teachers linking technology and content in the classroom.

Word processing software

Technology as simple as a word processing program is often overlooked in discussions of educational technology, but word processing software can help students by providing immediate feedback on things like misspelled words and grammatically incorrect sentences. In addition, this technology can be used to provide ways for students to substitute alternative methods of writing.

VoiceThread

VoiceThread is a free software program that captures voices, photos, and links while sharing information and opinions on a particular topic. It offers a technological substitute for typical written papers. VoiceThread allows students the freedom to design their own projects and narrate accordingly.

Bubbl.us

Bubbl.us is a terrific technology that helps students organize their thoughts graphically and electronically. It can be used to help brainstorm ideas or even organize papers. It is easy to use and helps engage the students in the content of the assignment.

Prezi

Prezi is a great technology for presenting information to the class or even for students to use themselves. It is an alternative to the more-commonly-used PowerPoint presentations. I find it more engaging than the typical presentations as it creates a sense of adventure for presenting the material.

PBworks

PBworks is a hosting service that allows users to set up personal wikis. Wikis are simply collaborative web pages used to display and edit information. They also offer a very handy way for teachers to display lots of information in one space. You can set up a wiki for each teacher or even for each class in a school. This allows students to log on and access all of the available course information. Students can also interact with the teacher and with each other by posting messages or concerns.

Wordle

Wordle is a creative website that helps classes brainstorm or develop a graphic display of associated words in specific contexts. You create this graphic by typing or copying a specific paper, paragraph, or series of notes into Wordle. The website produces a sort of collage of the most common words in the highlighted text. It is a great resource for presentations or to get students started with assignments.

Conclusion

This week’s claim is almost certainly fiction. Although there are some circumstances where a student’s severe disability might negatively affect his or her ability to use technology in the classroom, most students with disabilities absolutely can and do benefit from technology. Incorporating technology in the classroom increases students’ motivation to learn and gives them ways of displaying their knowledge that is innovative and effective.