Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Prof. D-r. Dragan Mihajlov,
Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering,Ss. Cyril and Methodius University,
1000 Skopje,Republic of Macedonia,
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Whatever you teach you have to consider people with special needs
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Assistive technologies have existed from the moment our prehistoric ancestors started using tools
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Assistive technologies
Purpose-built hardware or software,used by individuals in order to perform functions that would otherwise be difficult or impossible
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Mary Pat Radabaugh,
Director of IBM National Support Center for Persons with
Disabilities
"For people without disabilities, technology makes things easier.
For people with disabilities, technology makes things possible. ”
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
In Republic of Macedonia the use of assistive technologies
for children with special needs is in a very early phase
We have been developing many systems for different people, supporting different kind of activities
This system is different
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Macedonian Assistive Technologies System (MATS) for
children with special needs
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Children with special needs have been classified into
several categories:
• mobility impairment,
• sensory impairment (visual and hearing impairments) and
• intellectual impairment (difficulties in understanding, expressing or interacting with other people)
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Different classification:
Physical Disabilities
Visual Disabilities
Hearing Disabilities
Cognitive Disabilities and Learning Disorders
Communications Disabilities
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Different categories of children with special needs
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
MATS is a collection of
- conventions, - devices and - services
particularly chosen and applied for helping children with disabilities
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Some tools are very simple like cane for the visually impaired
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Other tools are very high technology
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Rules of Engagements or Disability etiquette
What have we done until now
First step
Sticks and stones may break my bones
but words will hurt forever
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Use respectful language
Examples
- Using the term “person without a disability” instead of “normal person”
- Never move a person in a wheelchair unless you have permission from that person
- Do not refer to people as blind, they are visually impaired
- Do not refer to people as deaf, they are hearing impaired
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Center for people with disabilities "Open the windows”
- adaptations (magnification, color, sound, keys and mouse speed, ...)
- developing tools that will be in Macedonian language (Braile printer, …)
- developing specialized educational software for students with special needs
. Macedonian alphabet to children with disabilities. First grade math. Macedonian speech synthesizer for visually impaired. Software for learning hand signs for hearing impaired
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
EU-funded project
AsTeRICS
(Assistive Technology Rapid Integration and Construction Set)
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Facilitate access for people with a physical disability to different devices
- personal computers,
- cell phones
- smart home devices
The core of the software suite is provided as Open Source
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
AsTeRICS contains about 100 plugins like
- speech recognition,
- environment control (KNX, FS20, IR-Trans),
- mouse/keyboard emulation,
- PS3 gamepad emulation
- ... ...
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Gerhard Nussbaum
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
We are proudly working on UNIX and Android implementations of AsTeRICS
Assistive Technologies System for Children with Special Needs
Teaching or helping child with special needs is like touching god