Assignment - Assistive Technology for Visual and Hearning Impairments

- Assistive Technology for Visual and Hearning Impairments - Assignment ExampleIn addition, these devices are enabling learners with such low-incidence disabilities thrive academically and contribute a great deal to their communities, despite either setbacks that they encounter. Teachers today are wise to learn about such devices and become an agent for helping students decently apply the engineering science to their daily personal and academic lives. What follows is a description and evaluation of several such devices that are currently available and in use today. It is estimated that 24 million Ameri passels suffer from some form of hearing loss. For students, this net be particularly troubling because, if proper modifications are not employ, such individuals are placed at an academic disadvantage. It is important to use modern technology to support students in aim the playing field as such(prenominal) as possible. According to research, students who are hearing impai r corporation exhibit a low self-esteem, lose interest in many learning activities, fail to come in in social activities, and often have poor communication skills (DeConde-Johnson & Thibodeu, 2005). As such, looking incorporating assistive technology devices that help hearing impaired students perform better in school and become much loving with their peers can only serve to benefit the entire academic community. While there are many such devices on the market today, three particularly stand out for their effectiveness, even in the event of certain inherent challenges that must be overcome. ASL parcel is a readily available program that can be utilise on either a PC Windows operating system, or on a Macintosh. This software allows students to learn advanced sign language skills in an interactive environment, thereby allowing them to communicate more opening and freely with their peers and other adults. In essence, the program promotes literacy skills for the hearing impaired student in much the same fashion as phonics does for the non-disabled individual. This assistive technology device can be easily implemented into a traditional classroom setting. In addition, students can use the software independently at substructure or in other locations. The benefits are many, and the challenges minimal. One hurdle for the software is that the teacher will in all probability need to have some basic knowledge of sign language in order to assist the student in learning how to make full use of the program. That being said, such knowledge can only serve to sustain the student/teacher relationship, which in the end should prove beneficial itself. ACL software requires only 3-4 hours of training time for the student learn how to make proper use of it, and the IT department at any school should be able to assist with its installation. Such devices and software can be used to enhance math skills, promote literacy and spelling, focus on the advancement of sign language , improve visual perception, and strengthen memory skills. From this evaluation, the software should be considered in any environment where there is a hearing impaired student. The cost is minimal, with most packages running only about $35. Another device designed to help hearing-impaired student is the speech synthesizer. Depending on the age of onset for the disability, many hearing impaired students cannot communicate verbally. They do not know how to make certain sounds and cannot hear what they are saying. A speech synthesizer enables the student to type out information that they wish to say and