Special Education Technology

Adapting the educational process for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) involves a personalized approach to both educational content and the teaching strategies implemented by educators in instructional practice. Personalization requires the creation of a learning environment that encourages the development of academic, social, and emotional skills while considering both the students' needs, for which compensatory elements must be identified, and their strengths, which may serve as anchor resources for the further development of abilities. This article addresses the adaptation of teaching strategies for students with ASD through prompting techniques, reward systems, and visual supports.

Last month I was asked to testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee on the future of educational technology. Since my testimony was almost exclusively about special education technology, and very related to the issues of this column, I thought I would print my remarks in this journal. What follows is the actual written version; the oral remarks were slightly different in delivery (I flubbed up in a few places due to stage-fright) but not in substance. My name is David Rose and I am the co-executive director of CAST, the Center for Applied Special Technology. I welcome the opportunity to speak with you today. The fact that I have been asked to testify on the educational technology needs of disabled students demonstrates that the Congress understands how essential new educational technology is for ALL students. Members of this committee were central in the passage of numerous pieces of landmark legislation over the past 30 years. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 1975, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1988 and 1998 and the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 are all landmark pieces of legislation. Because of these laws, many things formerly thought to be impossible for individuals with disabilities are now not only possible, they are commonplace. Among those commonplace results is the fact that individuals with disabilities now have a right to a free appropriate public school education, and can expect to find educational buildings that are physically accessible to them. It remains a tragedy however, that the curricula -the materials and methods for leaning inside those buildings -are too frequently NOT available or accessible to students with disabilities. At this moment in history, when innovative new educational technologies are being designed and distributed to classrooms, there is a unique and urgent opportunity to right this injustice. If this opportunity is seized, the future will see disabled people making contributions to our society that were envisioned with the passage of these landmark pieces of legislation. Moreover, the strategic appropriation of funds at this time will result in more effective use of educational dollars and a subsequent reduction of people having to go onto SSI and SSDI programs because they are not qualified to work in the jobs of the future. The overall benefits will be shared not only by children with disabilities, but by ALL children.

Aaron Doering, and Dr. Charles Miller. Simon was my first contact with the Learning Technologies program, and I began my program with him as my advisor. Dr. Hooper is an amazing person who generously offered his time, effort, and support, as well as telling me that the work I wanted to do was important. Dr. Doering took over as advisor when Simon left, and he and Dr. Miller provided insight and opportunity for me through the long years of writing my dissertation. I would also like to thank my committee members, minor advisor Dr. Frank Symons and Dr. Bic Ngo. Your insights were both valuable and sincerely appreciated. I learned a lot from working with both of you both in my coursework and during the dissertation processs. To my mother, Diane Peterson, who has believed in me, supported me, and encouraged me throughout my life, I owe a debt of gratitude that cannot be repaid. Plus, she helped transcribe my interviews. I would not have made it without her help and support. To my children, Lexie, Alex, Nik, Ellie, Colton, and William, your love, support, understanding, and never ending grief helped keep me going through the whole process. And finally, I want to thank my beautiful wife, Lara, for not only her support and love, but for putting up with my absences, picking up the pieces when I was too engaged in this work, and for always being there for me. She is the most amazing thing to ever happen to me. To my father, David Peterson, who taught me so much about love, life, and the value of diligence and perseverance.

Present article aims to explain the basis nuances pertaining to the concept of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and its possible application in inclusive class room setting. UDL is an instructional approach with flexible, interactive, proactive and multiple means of engagement in content delivery, students' reactions and assessment mechanism during the teaching and learning process. It incorporates the philosophy of need-based shifting of pedagogical aspects from text to audiovisual , traditional to blended & OER, one size fit curricula for all to need based varying, passive to interactive, mono content delivery & assessment system to multiple one. It also envisages for providing equal learning opportunities to all types of learners with regards to their varying abilities. Removal of architectural, pedagogical and curricular barriers from academic institutions is the fundament and inherent aspects of UDL. It addresses one's right to access the quality education as per his learning styles and approaches. However, inclusive education is also regarded for providing equal learning opportunities but with the limitations of not offering much options regarding pedagogical aspect of teaching and learning as UDL supposed to provide. In true sense, UDL has the potential to meet out the diverse need of learners of inclusive classroom setting and it may be regarded as the paradigm shift in inclusive education.

In the “A me gli occhi” project, a virtual reality game addressing spatial perspective taking is used with a group of primary school children (ages 8-10) with the aim of supporting the development of visual thinking. Several studies have demonstrated a strong correlation between spatial reasoning and success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Visual thinking skills predict a young person’s achievement in STEM areas; people with good spatial abilities are more likely to engage in STEM studies and later in STEM related jobs. There are great differences among people in spatial reasoning abilities; nevertheless, they can be trained with long lasting improvements affecting STEM results. An intervention to increase spatial abilities at an early age may have positive effects on the person’s future. We have developed a virtual reality game specifically designed to make the player feel as if the virtual world were real, with a special attention to its usability for ...

An alternating treatments design with a best treatments phase was used to compare two active student response (ASR) conditions and one on-task (OT) condition on the acquisition and maintenance of social studies facts during computer-assisted instruction. Each week for six weeks, five students were provided daily computer-assisted instruction on 21 unknown facts divided randomly into Clicking-ASR (active responses with computer mouse), Repeating-ASR (active oral responses) or Listening-OT (on task or passive responses). For all five students, Repeating-ASR resulted in more facts correct on same-day, next-day, and one-and two-week maintenance tests. During weeks 7 and 8 with implementation of the best treatment condition, Repeating-ASR produced higher scores than all conditions (including Repeating-ASR) during the first 6 weeks.

This study investigated the extent of assistive technology (AT) utilization among teachers in inclusive classroom settings and examined its relationship to learners' reading comprehension and writing performance. Data were gathered on teachers' perceptions, frequency of AT use, and perceived learning impact, alongside pre-test and posttest assessments of learners' literacy skills. A pre-test-post-test design measured changes in learner performance, while correlation analysis determined the association between the extent of AT use and literacy outcomes. Results showed that teachers held highly favorable perceptions of AT, recognizing its capacity to enhance learner independence, engagement, and academic growth. Despite this, actual AT use remained limited, with teachers relying mostly on low-tech tools such as visual schedules and audiobooks and seldom implementing more advanced technologies. Learners demonstrated significant improvements in reading comprehension and writing skills from pretest to post-test, indicating the effectiveness of the instructional intervention. However, correlation analysis revealed no significant relationship between the extent of AT utilization and post-test literacy performance, suggesting that gains were primarily attributable to instructional strategies rather than AT use. The study concludes that although teachers maintain highly positive attitudes toward assistive technology, its integration into classroom practice remains limited and predominantly low-tech. An intervention plan emphasizing systematic integration, teacher training, and strong institutional support is recommended to optimize the impact of AT on literacy outcomes in inclusive educational contexts.