1. Working with Students with Special Needs Assistive Technology and Instructional Practices for Special Needs Students Presented By: E. Goode

2. Students with special needs A student with special needs is a student who has a hard time learning and/or functioning in the classroom environment due to some type of disability or disorder such as: learning disabilities attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) emotional disorders cognitive challenges autism hearing impairment visual impairment speech or language impairment developmental delay Source: KidsHealth from Nemours Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/learning/iep.html 3. Who I work with? In my math classes, I have three students that have been diagnosed withADHD, one with an auditory disability who requires a special device in order to hear. I also have a few students that have mild learning disabilities that impact all of their academic areas but especially in reading and writing. 4. How can the students be helped? There are several different assistive technologies (any item, piece ofequipment, or product system used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities (Cennamo, Ross, Ertmer, 2010) and instructional practices that are helpful for these students. I will discuss some of the different resources available for the students. 5. Students with ADHD Assistive Technology for Mathematics Electronic math worksheet software Talking calculatorsThese software packages allow students to organize their work and complete their problems on a computer. The information on the screen can be read aloud for the students.These calculators actually speak the numbers, operation, and/or symbol that the student presses and the answer.Resource: MathTalk.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded &v=_Y4nydxCVywSource: http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/6585.html 6. Students with ADHD Instructional Practices for Mathematics Magic minute drillsStudents perform fast (One minute) drill every day to practice their basic math facts. It is also important that the students track their performance from day to day. Real-life examples of word problemsStudents can create their own word problems that will provide practice on specific math skills. Students may be link the problems to their real life. Guiding questions for wordproblems Students with ADHD need to be asked guiding questions when solving some word problems. Some of those questions are: What is the question asked in the problem? What information do you need to figure out the answer? What operation should you use to compute the answer?Source: http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/adhd/adhd-teaching-2006.pdf 7. Students with Auditory Disabilities Assistive Technology for Mathematics Sign language for the classroom Speech to Text SoftwareSome students need information to be signed to them. There are special signs that are needed for mathematics for students and technologies that help educators with that accommodation.There is technology that allows teacher speech to be translated into text for students with auditory disabilities.Resource: http://www.needsoutreach.org/Resource: http://icommunicator.com/productinfo /index.htmlSource: http://thejournal.com/Articles/2008/06/26/Students-with-Disabilities-Software-and-Learning-Support-for-MathPart-2.aspx?Page=4 8. Students with Auditory Disabilities Instructional Practices for Mathematics Use Hands-on Materials to Improve Provide Step-by-Step Models ofThe use of manipulatives that the students are familiar with allows them to practice basic skills. Students can use flash cards or online software to practice concepts repetitively.Students with auditory disabilities can benefit from having problems broken down with clear and precise step-bystep models that allow students to understand the methods.Students Math ComprehensionProblem SolvingSource: http://learningdisabilities.about.com/od/instructionalmaterials/tp/langprocessing.htm 9. Students with Mild Learning Disabilities Weakness of Reading and Writing Assistive Technology and Instructional Practices Graphic Organizers &Outlining ProgramsExample: Inspiration Software http://www.inspiration.com/InspirationIn order to help students with their writing skills, graphic organizers and outlining helps students to organize and outline their information. Students are able to place their information and the program helps them to organize and structure the information.Source: http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/assistive-technology/702-assistive-technology-for-kids-with-learning-disabilities-an-overview.gs 10. Students with Mild Learning Disabilities Weakness of Reading and Writing Assistive Technology and Instructional Practices Audible TextFor help with reading, audible text (printed text in an auditory form) allows students to read along with the auditory form.Source: http://www.daddcec.org/Portals/0/CEC/Autism_Disabilities/Research/Publications/Education_Training_Development_Disabilities/2005v40_Journals/ETDD_200509v40n3p320331_Assistive_Technology_Students_With_Mild_Disabilities_Whats_Cool.pdf 11. Students with Mild Learning Disabilities Weakness of Reading and Writing Assistive Technology and Instructional Practices Note takingExampleStudents that have difficulties with reading comprehension and writing would probably benefit from a note taking guide in which students fill in some of the information. Teachers create the guides, print, and give them to the students prior to the lesson being taught.Source: https://www.teachervision.com/assistive-technology/teaching-methods/3791.html 12. Conclusion This brief overview only scratches the surface of all of the assistivetechnology and instructional practices that are available for students with special needs. It is important that supports are chosen for each student based on their individual needs. 13. Thank you for your attention. Good luck in your quest to serve your students by selecting instructional practices and assistive technology that suits their individual needs.