Mary Moore, a third grade teacher at Jason Lee Elementary in Richland, WA, is using technology to actively engage all of the students in her diverse classroom. She has students with a wide range of characteristics with respect to hearing abilities, health, learning, and English language proficiency. For some students, these differences qualify as disabilities; for others, English is their second language.
Kellie Rhodes, a high school science teacher from Orofino High School in Orofino, Idaho, strives to make her labs accessible to all students. With the support of lab equipment obtained through funding from an AccessSTEM Minigrant, students with and without disabilities are finding science in Ms. Rhodes' class to be more hands-on.
George Landle is a science teacher at Garfield-Palouse High School in Palouse, Washington. Having a student who uses a wheelchair made him aware of difficulties experienced by students with mobility impairments as they attempt to access standard science lab stations. The stations in his lab were all built at a height that required students to sit on stools or stand to use them.
The National Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC), at the American Printing House for the Blind, is a central repository for National Instructional Materials Access Standards (NIMAS) files. In addition the Center acts as a conduit through which the files are made available to authorized users to convert the files into fully accessible textbooks for students.
NIMAS refers to the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard. It is a provision of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and was endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education as the preferred approach for publishers to provide accessible curricular materials to students in grades K-12.
Speech impairments alone generally do not interfere with most computer use. However, advanced computer-based speech synthesizers are close enough to human quality to act as substitute voices and thus provide a compensatory tool for students who cannot communicate verbally. Students with portable systems can participate in class discussions once adapted computers provide them with intelligible speaking voices.
The Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards, developed by the Access Board as required by the 1998 amendments to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, apply directly to federal agencies. Increasingly, they are being used by other organizations, including educational entities at all levels, to assess the accessibility of their information technology.
Like most school districts across the country, Blue Valley USD 229 strives to integrate technology into its schools and classrooms. Every summer, the information technology (IT) department worked hard to update computer systems, while the assistive technology (AT) department created programs to allow all students to access the technology that is being integrated into the classes.
Originally applied in the field of architecture and later to information technology, applications of universal design in education (UDE) are relatively new. UDE provides a philosophical framework for the design of a broad range of educational products and environments. These include:
Yes. For example, MathTalk, a software program that can be used with Dragon Naturally Speaking speech input products, allows students to input via voice math expressions, formulas, and even graphs. MathTalk can be used at basic and advanced math levels and for scientific applications. Its capabilities are useful to students with disabilities who cannot use a standard keyboard.