Helping Students Reach Their Goals With Assistive Technology

NOTE: The following is a feature story about assistive technology in Nova Scotia public schools.

Many people may not know what assistive technology is, but for one person who deals with it daily, it can be summed up in four words -- now I am normal.

Put simply, assistive technology supports students with special needs in the classroom.

"Envision a student with cerebral palsy, confined to wheelchair, his head and left arm with limited mobility," says Cheryl Whytock, assistive technology specialist at Halifax Regional School Board. "With a key-guarded laptop mounted on his wheelchair, he calls me over to whisper in my ear –- 'Now I am normal.'"

Students with access to assistive technology can take their own notes, their own tests, write their own papers and use the Internet to do their own research. Most importantly, they can be independent.

Darcy Lucas just completed Grade 3 at Brookhouse Elementary in Dartmouth. He is a non-verbal, wheelchair-bound student with cerebral palsy. He uses a device called Tango for communication, and has a computer at his desk to access his classwork through programs such as Classroom Suite, Cloze Pro and Start to Finish books. His mother Patricia Lucas describes what assistive technology has done for her son, saying, "technology has given Darcy a voice."

"It is amazing how technology is being used all across the province to improve learning," said Education Minister Marilyn More. "Government works hard to make life better for families and students in every region. All our school boards are taking advantage of resources to help students get the most out of their education experience."

Recently, the Department of Education's student services division produced a video featuring case studies about how various forms of assistive technology are being used to help students in the province's eight school boards.

The video, Assistive Technology - Supporting Student Success, won the Canadian Network on Innovation in Education award for K-12 Excellence and Innovation video. The award was presented to the Department of Education at the 2010 CNIE conference in Saint John, N.B., in May.

The video offers speedy, context-rich, authentic learning for teachers.

It was developed to help implement Assistive Technology: Supporting Student Access, a guide to develop, implement, and evaluate programming for special needs students when assistive technology is involved.

"Viewing teachers in classrooms, supporting students, is assistive technology as it should be -- not blinded by the instrument, but collaborative and inseparable from actual character, contextual and social effects," says Whytock. "The video helps train teachers through presentation of assistive technology support of students with special needs in actual classrooms."

For more information on assistive technology, visit www.ednet.ns.ca/pdfdocs/studentsvcs/assistive_technology.pdf .