As I watched "Assistive Technologies for Vision and Hearing Impaired Children," I believe that assitive technologies can enhance learning, remove barriers, push boundaries, give hope, and challenge the way we think. Imagine trying to learn in an environment that looks blurred or a classroom that is silent. For most of us it is hard to image. Many students have to deal with being blind, deaf, or both every day of their life. With assitive technologies, every student can feel confident in themselves. With text to speech devices, speech to text devices, sensory aids, note takers, screen magnifiers, iPhones, iPads, and talking calculators, every child with a vision or hearing disability will be able to perform the same educational functions as one who is not hearing or vision impaired. When teaching students who are vision and hearing impaired, the learning must be personal. Do you have what it takes to teach with assistive technologies?
Professor Art Karshmer has developed a device for the visually impaired student to be able to perform math skills just like the sight students. Professor Karshmer has developed this system that allows the student to be able to add numbers by placing them above one another just like the sight students write them. It is very hard for a student to understand math by braille, so this device allows the students to put a numbered block in the correct space, and scan that block so they can hear the number that is on the block. I believe math is a hard subject for many students in general, and I think the visual impaired student will be able to understand math a whole lot better by using this device. Again, I do not know if this device is available in the Mobile and Baldwin County School systems, but if it is not, I believe it would be a great tool for teachers to look into for those with visual impairments.In this video, "iPad Usage for the Blind,"Wesley Majarus is blind, and he talks about the use of iPads to help those students who are visually impaired. I know that Baldwin County has iPads for their students as well as some classrooms in the Mobile County School System. I know that iPads are available to teachers now, and when I become a teacher, I will definitely use them to their full advantage to help those students who are visually impaired. Mr. Majarus shows us that by using the voice over on setting of the iPad, you know exactly where you are and what you are doing. iBooks is another very important app for the blind. The iPad has endless opportunities for those that are blind, and I will take full advantage of the iPad when I become a teacher.
I plan on getting my Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education, and then advancing to get my Masters in in a program that works with students that have disabilities like the hearing and vision impaired, or those with learning disabilities such as ADHD. By watching these videos, it has made me more interested in working with students who have disabilities. When I get to that point in my career, I want to be able to supply these children with some of the devices I have learned about through watching these videos. It is absolutely amazing how students with visual or hearing disabilities can learn just as well as those that are not visually or hearing impaired. I hope to one day be able to make a difference in these students lives by becoming a personal teacher and mentor.
Savannah, this was a really good blog post! I too feel that it is important to accommodate those that are visually impaired and hearing impaired so that they can learn with the rest of the class. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteSavannah, you did an awesome job on this post. You seem to have a clear understanding about the technologies used for the vision and hearing impaired. I think that it is great that you want to specialize in students with disabilities. It is a very important job.
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