EDUC25738 Educational Assistive Technology

What are the assistive technology and assistive devices?

According to World Health Organization's website (World Health Organization: WHO, 2024), Assistive Technology is an umbrella term for assistive products and their systems and services. It is to help maintain, improve an individual's functioning related to their abilities. Assistive Technology will improve an individual's quality of life and increase participation that will lead to independence.

There are many products and tools available.   

For example, there is a great advantage using Assistive Technology like Text-to-Speech software in an educational setting. It helps reduce cognitive strain and sustain attention for students with exceptionalities for reading tasks. It also supports students whose English is not their first language. Assistive Technology is available for all learners. The SETT Framework is considered to choose your Assistive Technology among the TEAM. Students use multiple Assistive Technology/Devices across different settings and situations.  

The SETT stands for...

• Student (Depends on their Goals, IEPs and families)

• Environment (Think of places where they complete their tasks such as School, Home, Community and their available resources and support) 

• Task (Things they need to complete)  

• Tool (What's best for the student to complete tasks)   

From the ES program and my own experience working as an emergency ERW, available resources can be limited and we need to be flexible and might make do with what we have at the moment. 

These Assistive Technology/Devices are convenient, however, it can be expensive. I would like to learn more about these tools and think of ways to improvise using what we have in class. Learning about Assistive Technology gave me an opportunity to reflect on what I can do for students.