What AT supports have you noticed in our placement classroom? If you haven't noticed anything, ask your cooperating teacher about it (ask how they accommodate students with IEPs or special needs). Do you recall AT supports in your elementary, middle, or secondary classrooms? What tools do you find helpful?
In my placement classroom, I have noticed every student has a tablet that they complete reading and math on daily. The tablets allow the students to complete homework assignments on them and even complete in class work. The students are also able to listen to stories on the tablets. When the students on working on phonological work, the teacher has allowed students to use chips that help them sound out the letters and determine the word when the letters are put together. The classroom also has a whiteboard that the students are often learning from. The students also like using highlighters when they are working on reading new words where they have to identify specific sounds throughout the reading. The school has an elevator, which is helpful for staff and students that may be in a wheelchair or on crutches.
In my high school, the room number plaques on the outside of the classroom each had braille to assist individuals with locating rooms. The school also had ramps to assist individuals that were on crutches or in wheelchairs.
When I was younger, I would always use pencil grips as I felt they helped me with any discomfort I would have and control of the pencil.
How can 3D printing and modeling be used to create tactile teaching aids for students with visual impairments, and what are the potential benefits of such tools?
3D printing and modeling is a great way to incorporate full inclusion learning with specific assistance to students with visual impairments. The printing can be made into maps, graphs, objects, and much more that are relevant to the curriculum. Creating tactile teaching aids from 3D printing and modeling will allow students with visual impairments to have hands-on experiment and interaction with the content that is being taught.
What are the challenges classroom teachers face with assistive technologies and universal design? What are the benefits?
A challenge that teachers may face is the funding for assistive technology that they might want or need in their classroom. It could also be difficult for teachers to implement assistive technologies and universal designs into their classroom due to additional training or resources needed.
By incorporating assistive technologies and universal designs the teacher will be able to meet the needs of their students and enhance the learning for all of their students.
What do you think your role is in in terms of implementing assistive tech and universal design?
As a teacher, it is our responsibility to assess our students to know what accommodations would help their learning. We need to make the room as assessable as we can for all individuals that come into our classroom. It is also important that we collaborate with colleagues, parents, and medical individuals to ensure we are supporting the student the best way possible.
Have you tried any Chrome extensions (look under accessibility, well being, and education) yourself? What did you try and what did it do?
I have not tried any of the Chrome extensions, nor I had heard about it until we spoke about them in class.
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