Assistive Technology for EC?

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Permalink Reply by Ynez Peterson on July 27, 2011 at 1:15pm

As the AT person for my program, I would advise you to look at the needs of the students in the class.  Many of the AT devices used in the other grade levels will work for young students as well, if that is what the student needs.  It can be hard to pick items for a class without knowing what the needs of the students in that class are.  You don't want to get devices and then not use them. 

Without knowing your needs, there are a few things I could suggest.  These items work well for academic activities:  Check out the All-Turn-It spinner from Ablenet: www.ablenetinc.com and/or the Eggspert: http://www.eggspert.com/ for group activities.  Classroom Suite and the Intellikeys keyboard are good for making computer activities but these are very expensive.  Many activites and books can be made using PowerPoint.  Voice Output devices like the BIGmack, etc from Ablenet can help give students a voice.  Also, the Jelly Beamer (from Ablenet) can help students to attend to one object if the teacher holds it and presents it to the student at the appropriate time (and it has wireless control so no wires).

Some AT Teams in school districts will do a classroom assessment for AT needs (not only specific student evaluations).  Contact your school's AT Team or Coordinator to see if this is an option for you.  If you are doing this for a class, maybe you could visit a special education classroom in a school near you.

These are just quick thoughts, reply if you need more specific info.

Permalink Reply by Ynez Peterson on August 7, 2011 at 1:28pm

I found this website yesterday.  Maybe it will help you.  I have used many of the websites it links to,

http://www.techfortykes.org/favoriteWebLinks.html