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From software programs such as screen magnifiers, speech-to-text, closed captions, speech recognition, screen readers, and educational games to hardware such as braille keyboards, robots, interactive handheld devices, and VR and AR headsets, assistive technology is being used by teachers in classrooms to help students with disabilities participate in classroom activities more independently.
Incorporating these assistive technology resources in classrooms has been slow due to lack of teacher training, unawareness of resources, and social stigma. Training with assistive devices seems to be limited, most of the time, to teachers who currently have students with disabilities in their classrooms, and because of that, awareness of these by a large number of educators is minimal. Efforts on the part of special needs educators, trainers, and administrators must be made to bring awareness to these resources because when teachers know about resources in their school system, they can collaborate and create extracurricular or social activities where accommodations to include students with disabilities can be made with minimal routine disruption (Atanga et al., 2019).
In today's schools, students with disabilities have laws and regulations that protect their rights to equal access to education, and even though educators plan and provide modifications and accommodations, the social stigma that students with disabilities face is still evident in some school cultures. Peers' perceptions of their intelligence, ability, and future potential can lead to negative stereotyping and exclusion from social activities. Also, the idea of this possible marginalization, in several cases, makes students with disabilities refuse to use assistive technology that can help them keep up with content, perpetuating lower achievement related to disabilities (Scior et al., 2020).
Looking toward the future, the development of new technology and the future of assistive technology (AT) in education seems very promising and exciting. With the advances in artificial intelligence (AI), integrating AT tools in the classroom and daily school routines will become more accessible and mainstream. Smart classrooms with interactive technology will facilitate communication between classroom devices while collecting and analyzing data to provide individualized programs for students based on their needs. Educators can create smart content and differentiated activities that allow students to demonstrate knowledge acquisition and application in various ways using different platforms. (Perri, 2023). VR and AR technology will create immersive learning experiences that will allow all students, including those with disabilities, to interact with content in new ways while promoting trial and error in safe environments that, in some cases, would not be possible in the real world (Köse & Güner-Yildiz, 2020). Wearable technology such as communication devices, alerting devices, health monitors, mobility aids, sensory bracelets and wristbands, and smartwatches, among others, will help support the individual needs of students with disabilities, giving them more independence while they participate in learning activities (Almusawi et al., 2021).
The use of assistive technology in the classrooms of the future will help create inclusive learning environments where all students, independently of their needs or disabilities, will have the ability to learn, grow, and develop their skills and abilities based on their strengths and interests.
References
Almusawi, H. A., Durugbo, C. M., & Bugawa, A. M. (2021). Innovation in physical education: Teachers’ perspectives on readiness for wearable technology integration. Computers & Education, 167, 104185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2021.104185
Atanga, C., Jones, B. A., Krueger, L. E., & Lu, S. (2019). Teachers of students with learning disabilities: Assistive technology knowledge, perceptions, interests, and barriers. Journal of Special Education Technology, 35(4), 236–248. https://doi.org/10.1177/0162643419864858
Castelo, M. (2023a). Assistive technology in the classroom empowers students with disabilities. Technology Solutions That Drive Education. https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2020/03/using-assistive-technology-empower-students-disabilities-perfcon
Chambers, D. (2020). Assistive technology supporting inclusive education: Existing and emerging trends. Assistive Technology to Support Inclusive Education, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1108/s1479-363620200000014001
Köse, H., & Güner-Yildiz, N. (2020). Augmented reality (AR) as a learning material in special needs education. Education and Information Technologies, 26(2), 1921–1936. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-020-10326-w
Sawant, R., Prabhav, Shrivastava, P., Shahane, P., & Harikrishnan, R. (2021). Text to braille conversion system. 2021 International Conference on Innovative Computing, Intelligent Communication and Smart Electrical Systems (ICSES). https://doi.org/10.1109/icses52305.2021.9633940
Subhashini, P., Siddiqua, R., Keerthana, A., & Pavani, P. (2020). Augmented reality in education. December 2020, 02(04), 221–227. https://doi.org/10.36548/jitdw.2020.4.006
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