Working in a classroom that has a lot
of assistive technology, I found this week’s topic of funding interesting and informative. Time
is not our best friend here as technology advances at a rapid pace, It is
essential to have funding in place in order to have our students technology up
to date. The benefits of having up to date technology are critical in order to
build confidence and mastering the technology for the student. As the article, Assistive and Universally
Designed Technology, discusses "technology making things
possible." For some students technology plays a critical role in their
education and in their daily form of communication. Without this technology,
school and life would be near impossible. The use of technology allows these
students to focus on the “possible” instead of focusing on the ‘impossible.”
Without funding none of this is possible.
I have seen in my classroom DynaVoxes
become quickly out of date or in need of repair. Getting a new AAC device or
the device updated is a time consuming process. With these pieces of equipment
being extremely expensive, as the article Funding Assistive Technology points out the difficulty with
funding is finding appropriate funding and ensuring that their is no cost to
the parents. Funding can be difficult to come by because not all funding
sources will approve the technology or approve the newest technology.
It is essential to have a paper trail
when developing a plan to incorporate technology into a student’s life. The
article, Building an Initial Information Base, goes into detail talking
about developing an appropriate educational plan for a student. Perhaps the
most critical element to building a paper trail is getting the assistive
technology onto the students IEP, that way it would fall under IDEA. From the
IEP’s I’ve read and written the assistive technology needs to improve “functional
levels” for the student with a disability.
No matter the amount of work that it
takes to get approval for a piece of assistive technology, it’s definitely
worth it. As an educator we owe it to our selves to make our students way of
life easier and more effective.
Dale,
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if you had any experience with funding and iPads. I know that before it was near impossible to justify getting funding for an iPad, even though they are significantly cheaper than any version of a DynaVox. They have many of the same capabilities, with the iPad have even more options. However, the thought was, and still might be, that the iPad is not a communication device and cannot necessarily improve the functional levels of a student. I have seen families with the means purchase iPads for their children and that the students prefer the iPad over the Dynavox. It is also less likely to be a stigma since many people have iPads.
I was also wondering if your students go home with their Dynavoxes. We had a few students who would leave their devices at school to ensure they did not get damaged when they are at home or on the ride to or from school.
Dale,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree how important it is to get assisitve technology written into a students IEP. Once that is done the student can not be denied the use of that technology. I also agree with how frequently technology is changing as educators we can't always keep up. With the process of funding taking a long time there is often a lot of new and possible different technology that could help the students better than what we originally thought would help the student. I have not had any use with the Dynavox but it sounds like in your classroom setting is a major help.