Here is a sample of what Assignment #7 should look like. This student has done an excellent job locating images of adaptive devices and incorporating them into the notes.She also used what we call in html a target or anchor. Look on her document where it says click here, it links to the bottom of the page. This was done directly in Word. You may also notice in Word that if you copy and paste a url most of the time it becomes a live link directly in the document.

(This document has been altered to work with html so that I can upload it as an example.)

There are many different kinds of adaptive devices available for use with your computer. What is normally referred to at "Assistive Technology" is available for many different disabilities. There are items that help "low" sighted, "Blind", deaf, movement impaired, and learning disabled persons. This technology can include adaptive hardware or software. From my research, I found that there are Federal Regulations that govern obligations of schools to accommodate students with disabilities. The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 are just two such regulations. Because of such legislation, numerous companies have developed adaptive devices to help the disabled.

People with vision impairment have many devices to choose from. There are speech synthesizers, which are hardware devices that are used in conjunction with a screen reader to convert screen contents into spoken works. There is Braille printers and Braille translation software. There is also a device with a row of Braille cells that change to reflect what is being presented on the computer screen. Click Here There are also speech recognition, input systems, to enable voice-activated commands and mouse movements instead of using keystroke equivalents. For the person that has "low" vision", there is text to speech software that will read the screen text aloud and screen magnification programs that will enlarge the printed text from textbooks and other reference materials on the screen.

For the deaf there is software that allows the deaf to communicate in sign language. The laptop computer, iCommunicator, uses digital video signs of American Sign Language (ASL) communication and makes it portable. The communicator signs the keyboarded word. These and many more devices can be found on the Internet.

For learning and movement impaired students or students that cannot use or control a mouse there are pillow switch controls, and sip/puff switches that can be used to trigger mouse clicks or answer phones. There are devices that allow users with limited range of motion who cannot handle a standard mouse. The before mentioned text to speech software can also be used by dyslexic students to help them read and write passages. This software will suggest the use of alternate words and explain meanings to new words.

There is so must information available for every different need. There are numerous voice recognition programs that allow a person to speak to the computer and the computer will type the spoken speech. There are other programs that enlarge the print on the screen for low sighted people (see arrow above)­ . Another software program allows a person with no speech to communicate using a computer. This program is based on the use of symbols or text depending of the literacy level of the user.

There are many sites on the Internet describing all these options. One good site to get information is http://www.abilityhub.com/ . This site answers questions about what devices are available for many different disabilities. Another site that lists both hardware and software products is http://www.zygo-usa.com/pcprod.htm . This site describes many products and their intended use. However, if you just want to know what companies deal in assistive technology devices, the people at Literacy Access Online, http://www.literacyaccessonline.com/Help/resources.html, have pages of linked websites that will lead you to companies that deal with assistive technology. This site is very good for researching products and prices and contains pictures and descriptions of items.

Return