Week 5: Hardware and Software choices and catering for students with special needs

As a primary school teacher, I have a strong focus on developing the skills of my students in the four main academic areas of English, Maths, Science, and HaSS (Humanities and Social Sciences). Students with special needs experience difficulties in developing and acquiring new knowledge (Fernández-López, Rodríguez-Fórtiz, Rodríguez-Almendros & Martínez-Segura, 2013). Technology has the ability to assist students with special needs to become more independent learners, providing more inclusivity for these students (Pitchford, Kamchedzera, Hubber & Chigeda, 2018). 

At my school, students from Kindergarten to Year 2 have access to iPads, and students in Years 3 to 6 have access to windows laptops (one-to-one from Year 4). Some hardware and software are outlined below:

Microsoft Office 365 has a range of learning tools to support students with special needs. Their Learning Tools features include: Immersive Reader, which recognises text from images and files; Read Aloud, which highlights words while reading them out aloud; Dictate, which writes words as they are said with correct punctuation ("Learning Tools to improve reading and writing skills", 2018). Microsoft Office 365 is free for educators and students.





Dragon Naturally Speaking is dictation software available on all platforms, that converts speech to text. It is specifically an assistive technology (Roblyer and Doering, 2014) that assists children with difficulty writing to get their ideas on paper (p. 437).

BBC Bitesize and Softschools.com are fabulous resources for educators and students alike. Both sites offer interactive games and activities that teach and/or consolidate an educational concept. Providing students with online games and activities allows all students to work at their own pace, and repeat the activities as many times as necessary to internalise the concepts (Oszdamli & Asiksoy, 2016).

References

Fernández-López, Á., Rodríguez-Fórtiz, M., Rodríguez-Almendros, M., & Martínez-Segura, M. (2013). Mobile learning technology based on iOS devices to support students with special education needs. Computers & Education, 61, 77-90. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2012.09.014

Learning Tools to improve reading and writing skills. (2018). Retrieved from https://support.office.com/en-us/article/learning-tools-to-improve-reading-and-writing-skills-735fc6ea-21eb-401a-9293-4a481ef7e482

Ozdamli, F. & Asiksoy, G. (2016). Flipped Classroom Approach. World Journal on Educational Technology: Current Issues, 8(2), 98-105. Retrieved from https://doaj.org/article/13660055cd544706a9806df1a0ed1f02.

Pitchford, N., Kamchedzera, E., Hubber, P., & Chigeda, A. (2018). Interactive Apps Promote Learning of Basic Mathematics in Children With Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Frontiers In Psychology, 9. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00262

Roblyer, M., & Doering, A. (2014). Pearson New International Edition. Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching. Harlow, England: Pearson.