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Integrating Assistive Technology into the Classroom

When teachers prepare their lessons, they consider the student, the curriculum and instruction, and the resources that will be used to support the material included in the lesson. Similarly when integrating AT into their classes or lessons teachers consider, the student, the curriculum, and the potential AT adaptations needed (Bryant & Bryant, 2003).

The Student

Before including any AT intervention in a lesson, teachers should be familiar with the student’s personal, social, and academic needs as well as the student’s previous experience in other schools, and the student’s actual academic level as determined by psycho-educational testing. This information will produce a more comprehensive picture of the student, and will allow for the identification of functional assets and limitations needed for the determination of AT adaptations.

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Case Study: Matt

Matt is an 8th grade student in your Social Studies class. Evaluation reports and your observations suggest that he has a visual impairment. He uses eye glasses for vision correction, but still needs adaptations such as large print material and tape recorded readings to succeed in class. Psycho-educational testing indicates that Matt has average intelligence and although his reading level is that of a 5th grader, his comprehension is quite good. Matt’s difficulties are also related to the fact that he experiences some problems in structuring sentences, generating written products, use of vocabulary, and editing written material.

Think about Matt. What can be done when developing instructional strategy to best include Matt? What are Matt’s needs and abilities? What technology can be used to assist Matt and similar students to be successful in class?

Keep this case study in mind while reading the rest of this section.  It will be addressed again near the end of this module.