Assistive/adaptive technology

There is no limit to how much money you should spend to increase a child's standard of living. The money spent on assistive learning would be more than worth it if one child's life was changed. A disability should not slow a child down just because the environment around him/her does not support their disability. With the technology today almost all disabilities can be put aside and children can learn to communicate, work, and learn with little trouble. Blind people don't have a disability if they have the proper tools around them, but if the tools are not provided they are starting out way behind. Braille embossers can alter text on the computer into embossed Braille. They can completely erase the fact of blindness in the sense that the kid would then have equal opportunity to read and write and see what was being done in the classroom.

All in all I don't think the question is how do you justify spending money on adaptive/assistive technology, I think the question is how can you justify NOT. The possibilities for assistive technology are almost limitless and each child's individual learning style can be addressed with a new device designed just for their style or even with just a tweak of an existing program.

CITATIONS:

Types of Assistive Technology Products; http://www.microsoft.com/enable/at/types.aspx

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES http://dakotalink.tie.net/content/library/atiniepguide.htm#ATfor%20Students

http://www.disabilityinfo.gov/digov-public/public/DisplayPage.do?parentFolderId=109

Technology in Schools

I think that technology in schools is important to help teachers teach by keeping children's attention with the colors, movies, and games they can play. The programs can also help teachers when a subject is not their area of expertise or they just need a hand to explain an idea or concept. Also, technology is everywhere in our society today and kids are already learning to use it when they are young and so you aer teaching with something they can understand and relate to.

Computers can also hold a lot of data in a small space and an efficient order, like grades, papers, or attendance records. They are great for teachers because they save space in the classroom, which doesn't have much storage for stuff anyway, and it is much quicker and easier to find something with a mouse than digging through boxes and boxes of papers.