In this educator session, Robin Shobe, Assistant Special Education Director – LEEP from the Clackamas Education Service District looks at EdTech lessons learned from an assistive technology lens. How are we using technology to improve learning for our special needs students?
According to Shobe, “Oftentimes when I ask people about access, they immediately start talking to me Internet access, so it depends on the context you're in. When we talk about access and we're talking about the students that we serve in LEEP, we're really talking about a very wide range of what we mean by accessibility. The internet being a huge piece of that. We have many students who have struggled to connect because of Internet or reliable Internet or access to devices, or even if we get access, even if we get devices to them understanding how to use those devices consistently and reliably.
“We've built tremendous infrastructure just around how to support families and students with tech problems. I think that the pandemic has magnified this access issue for our students. Our students need access in terms of close captioning. They need access in terms of braille, they need access in terms of a touch screen. They need access in terms of text to speech or speech to text, or even being able to use picture communication symbols instead of words. Many of the kind of the off the shelf programs do lend themselves to some of that modification. And so, we've definitely been on a journey looking for the pieces of technology that can support this sort of bigger access, if you will.”
Don’t believe everything you read. There is much good news for our special needs learners, and the focus on technology has done wonders to not only maintain, but improve the learning situation for this population. You’ll want to watch every minute of this very special session, and share the good news in your own school or district.
