Lend Me a Handheld: Assistive tech is as close as your mobile device
RSSOur libraries are packed with assistive technology. The trick is finding creative ways to use the tools at hand to better serve students with special needs.
Begin by taking a quick mental tour of your library’s technology. You probably have some computers, but how about a document camera, a video or digital camera, or a handheld computing device like an iPod Touch or even an iPad? All of these tools potentially offer assistive functionality.
For students with visual impairments, for example, a document camera connected to a large monitor can become a magnifying device, making it easier to read standard printed materials. Look for a video input (often a round, yellow RCA plug) on your LCD monitor as well as VGA or DVI computer inputs, which lets you connect the document camera directly, without a computer.
In your browser menu, look for a zoom or text size feature. Also check the accessibility menus in your computer settings for additional magnification or screen-reading capabilities, or install a screen-reader program like NaturalSoft’s NaturalReader. A free version is available.
For users with autism spectrum disorders, there’s PowerPoint. The presenter screen, for instance, can be used to display the class schedule, helping prepare everyone for upcoming transitions. Or create a slide with two large buttons that allow an autistic student to communicate a choice.
With a digital camera, you can create brief visual narratives that demonstrate appropriate behavior and responses to various social situations. The Kansas Instructional Support Network’s Autism Spectrum Disorder website offers a large library of social stories.
For more intensive special ed communication needs, handheld devices like the iPod Touch and iPad are powerful and relatively inexpensive alternatives to traditional assistive devices like the DynaVox. While they may not fully replace a specialized tool, it’s worth testing our iThings to see if they work for a student before investing thousands of dollars on a dedicated speech device.
Communication apps that assist users who are unable to speak range from the free TaptoTalk, featuring simple synthesized words and phrases, to the more robust Proloquo2Go ($189.99). A new app, Predictable ($159.99), uses word-prediction technology for converting text entry to speech.
The free iOS Dragon Dictation app (pictured) transcribes speech to text with an Internet connection. Meanwhile, the $4.99 TouchPad app can turn your iOS device into a wireless keyboard or even a full-screen trackpad for controlling a computer via WiFi.
As the library’s role continues to evolve, it’s more critical than ever to meet the needs of all of its users, especially given the convergence of assistive and “regular” technologies. What better way to serve our diverse communities than to find new uses for the technologies we already have?
| Author Information |
| Christopher Harris (infomacy@gmail.com) is coordinator of the school library system of the Genesee Valley (NY) Educational Partnership. |
