Just recently Apple announced their very new series of iPhone and apple watch. And it wasn’t a surprise anymore that it became the most trending topic on the internet worldwide up to this day!
Incredible. Brilliant. Powerful. That’s technology!
We all have our own experiences with technology, good or bad, it’s hard to admit but it influences our lives in so many ways – in the house, workplace, and school.
The National Center for Education Statistic states that the number of students served under IDEA between 2011-12 and 2015-17 increased from 6.4 million to 6.7 million, or 13 percent of total public school enrollment. Not all students are the same and with these numbers and diversity of types of disabilities, finding one that perfectly suits and address the needs of students might be quite challenging!
(Source: NCES Website)
The good news is technology has its amazing ways to help our special education students achieve their highest potential in learning. It is believed that the integration of technology in special education can provide a multi-modal approach – visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile for optimum success. Also, technology gives students the freedom to choose and learn at their own pace.
Teachers and educators can also benefit from utilizing technology in teaching. PowerSchool, a leader in eLearning solutions shared that:
“Technology can help school staff improve IEP compliance necessary for state and federal guidelines as well as ensure adequate and timely funding is procured. Special education management solutions can verify the correct services are not only being offered to all appropriate cases but also tracked and reported on to maximize reimbursement.
With the right technology, educators can develop and manage compliant, high-quality special education documents using intuitive guided actions and business rules aligned with IDEA and other federal and state laws. Reporting functionality can help manage compliance, identifying timelines and which teachers are on track or which teachers have fallen behind. Technology can also help educators run required state and district reports, and if allowed, send data directly to relevant government agencies.”
How about you? How does the integration of technology help you in teaching your students?
Here are some interesting stories shared by other educators, discover what types of technology they use and how it helped their students with different disabilities.
- The Use Of Technology In Special Education by elearningindustry.com
- Teaching with Tech – an infographic by special-education-degree.net
- How Technology Helps in the Education of Special-Needs Students by mastersed.uc.edu
- How Can We Use Technology To Raise The Bar in Special Education classrooms? By teachercast.net
- Impact of Technology in Field of Education: A special report by prodigitalweb.com
- How special education technology improves learning by iste.org
- Smart Glasses Find New Use in Special Education Technology by edtechtimes.com
We are not affiliated with any organization or bloggers mentioned in this article but we thought that this would give you an idea of what other educators use and do to integrate technology in special education. It is true that there are many proven effective strategies in a special education classroom. It is up to the special education teacher to ensure that appropriate learning strategies are being used to assist individual learning modalities and allow all students with special needs to succeed.
