Assistive Technology Essay -- A Level Essays

Assistive Technology Abstract: Assistive technology is one way that individuals with learning disabilities have been able to overcome the difficulties with comprehension that they possess. This form of technology comes in many forms, ranging from low to high technology devices. These devices, some as simple as a highlighter, help to organize and keep on track the individual with a learning disability. Assistive technology has many benefits to a student and helps individuals to compensate in their studies to be able to achieve all that they can in their school career. Assistive technology is often used by individuals with a learning disability. A learning disability â€Å"describes a neurobiological disorder in which a person’s brain works or is structured differently† (Lee1). A person’s abilities can be severely affected from a learning disability. They may listen differently, talk differently, write, spell, organize, and work with school subjects in a different way. Learning disabilities also affect people’s individual and personal lives to a great extent. According to the National Institutes of Health, one in seven children has a learning disability. The disability manifests itself when the child shows difficulty in reading, writing, spelling, and conversing with others. The added time they need to process information may make them seem less intelligent then others around them, but this is not the case. Individuals with learning disabilities are just as smart as anyone else; they just need to learn in a different way . The earlier a learning disability is noticed and detected, the earlier a child may be able to learn how to deal with or compensate for it (Lee 1). This is where assistive technology comes into play. Assistive... ...g database. Pisano, Leonard. (2004). How to Support Students with Learning Disabilities. Learning Disabilities Online. 1-8. Retrieved November 2, 2004, from the LD Online database. Warger, C. (2002). Helping students with disabilities participate in standards- based mathematics curriculum. ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education, Council for Exceptional Children. 1-5. Retrieved October 3, 2004, from ERIC Digests full-text database. Warger, C. (2002). Helping students with disabilities succeed in state and district writing assignments. ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education, Council for Exceptional Children. 1-5. Retrieved October 3, 2004, from ERIC Digests full-text database. (2003). Assistive technology guide. Schwab Learning. (3), 5-31. Retrieved September 27, 2004 from The Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation database.