The approaches used to address the
difficulties faced by students with learning disabilities fall into two general
categories - remedial and compensatory. Remedial approaches seek to alleviate a
specific deficit or improve an area of weakness. Compensatory approaches try to
work-around or bypass a deficit. If a child is having trouble learning to read,
a remedial strategy might focus on phonics to improve reading skill. In
contrast, a compensatory strategy might provide a book on audiotape or an Optical
Character Recognition system so the child could hear the text spoken aloud. However,
the two approaches are not mutually exclusive, and providing assistive
technology doesn't mean that an
individual can’t also receive remedial instructions.
Assistive technology is a compensatory
approach. Compensatory approaches are important for those who may not have the
time to invest in remediating a specific difficulty like a college student, for
example, faced with several hundred pages of text to read in a short period of
time.
There are also some overlaps between
these two categories, with compensatory technologies sometimes having remedial
functions. There is evidence that students, who use speech recognition systems
that convert spoken language to text on a computer screen, may also improve
their reading comprehension and word recognition skills through use of the
system.
It is imperative to make sure that an assistive tool works towards an individual's
strengths. For instance, if
someone has problem writing,
their spelling and grammar maybe poor, however, he or she may be an articulate
speaker. Instead of simply providing them a standard word processing program,
they might be better off with speech-recognition software, a program that
converts the spoken word to text. In another example, if a child is having trouble
reading but can
easily understand spoken words, then an Optical Character Recognition system
with computerized speech that can read a book out loud for them could provide a
great deal of benefit.
There are four components to be
considered in finding the most appropriate assistive technology for someone
with a learning disability. These are:
1.
The individual
who needs the technology and their specific strengths, limitations, skill sets,
knowledge and interests;
2.
The specific
tasks or functions the assistive technology is expected to perform (such as
compensation for a reading, writing or memory problem);
3.
The setting where
the assistive technology will be used (school, home); and
4.
The device
considerations such as ease of operation, reliability, portability and cost.
Keep in mind that assistive technologies
are not a remedy for all deficiencies but are merely part of the approaches on
how to deal with a learning disability issue. And if you’re a parent trying to
find something to help your child, it is important to include your child in the
selection process making sure that the technology really addresses their needs,
that they are comfortable with it, and that they know how to use it properly.
Finally, an assistive technology should
help the individual with a learning disability to function at a level that is
commensurate with their intelligence. There are many tools for learning that
are available; the challenge is to find one that works best for each specific
individual's needs.
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