We have a middle school student that has difficulty with written work and reading difficulties. We would like to get some of the voice-activated software for him. We also wanted him to start using the computer and learning keyboarding but there may be some fine motor weaknesses. He is embarrassed by his difficulties and does not want to appear different to the other children. Do you have any ideas for how we might get him to use assistive technology tools and feel less singled out?
Using assistive technology tools can be a challenge for students as they enter middle and high school. Many kids that age are incredibly aware of how they look, and what their peers are doing, and want nothing more than to blend in with the other kids. Using a device or “different” technology tool than the rest of the class can certainly make a student feel that they stick out.
One solution is to make all technology “assistive” technology in your school. Creating a creative technology environment in your school can help students remove the separation between “regular” technology and “special” or “assistive” technology. Learn more about various technologies that support the writing process in the article, Using Assitive Technology to Support Writing.
This is one benefit to using technology to differentiate instruction in your school. If all students are using a computer to write an essay, then it isn’t all that noticeable that some students are using word prediction software, others are using text-to-speech software, and others are using voice-recognition software. Technology is just something that everyone is using. For example, every student in your class could be using a literacy software package (see several compared in the TechMatrix).
Strong writers could be using the built-in word processor and spell checker, struggling writers could be using text-to-speech to edit or word prediction to help them compose, other students may use the graphic organizers or the audio notes. Each student is using the same program, but different students make use of different features according to their needs.