Assistive Technology

Created Feb. 5, 2024 by Melissa Lander, Carole Butcher, Tammy German, Anne Sloboda, Marion Elliott


SUN West SchoolASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGYTO SUPPORT WRITING
VIDEOS & APPSVideos:APPs:
  • Common Sense Media – Database of apps and games related to communication, social interaction, organization, reading & writing, math and motor skills
    https://www.commonsensemedia.org/
  • Office 2019 – Includes immersive reader (available in Sun West Software Centre)
  • Dictate and Immersive Reader for MSWord (available in Sun West App Catalog)
  • Office Lens – Compatible with both iOS and Windows
  • OneNote Learning Tools
ARTICLESRESOURCE BANK RESOURCES		WHAT IS ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY?Assistive Technology (AT) is any piece of technology that helps a student with or without a disability increase or maintain his or her level of functioning.  Ex. Speech-to-text, text-to-speech and word prediction software.  Voice recognition technologies are woven throughout our daily lives.   For example, automated phone menus, voice activated dialing and hands-free devices are commonplace.  Many professions now rely upon dictation software.Benefits of Assistive Technology:
  • Helps people of all ages and abilities
  • Provides choice and freedom
  • Increases confidence and self-esteem, decreases anxiety
  • Enables success in different environments
  • Enhances performance by providing tools that increase function, independence, participation and productivity
  • Supports EAL learners
  • Boosts other skills including articulation, phonemic awareness, sound-symbol correspondence and spelling as bimodal presentation demonstrates the relationship between how a word looks and sounds
CONNECTIONS TO WRITINGAssistive technology can help with a wide variety of writing challenges.   Students with motor issues benefit from AT as do students who require supports for spelling, grammar, organizing and expressing thoughts.Voice-to-text:
  • Improved access for students with mobility challenges
  • Boosts writing production
  • Allows students to demonstrate wider range of skills and knowledge across a variety of subject areas
Text-to-Speech
  • Promotes revision and editing skills as students hear what they have composed
WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE IN THE CLASSROOM? IN GROUPS?Assistive Technology is best introduced as a TIER 1 / UNIVERSAL strategy and as a basic component of a well-rounded digital literacy program.  Implementing these skills as a universal strategy benefits all learners and helps to reduce the stigma experienced by students who rely on this to succeed in school.Teach and encourage exploration of a variety of assistive technology tools so that students develop broad skills that can be applied to a variety of devices, functions and environments. Voice-to-text activities:
  • Sight word practice
  • Oral reading for accuracy
  • Group work recording – create script of a short conversation


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