Personal Computers And Special Needs

Intended for Individuals That Work With the Handicapped & Disabled; Touches Upon Language Arts, Autonomy & Mathematics

The revolution in accessible computer technology was fueled by disability activism, the interactive nature of personal computers, and changing public policy. In 1974, not long after developing the first universal optical character recognition technology, Raymond Kurzweil struck up a conversation with a blind man on a flight. Kurzweil explained that he was searching for a use for his new software. The blind man expressed interest: One of the frustrating obstacles that blind people grappled with, he said, was that no computer program could translate text into speech. Inspired by this chance meeting, Kurzweil decided that he must put his new innovation to work to “overcome this principal handicap of blindness.” By 1976, he had built a working prototype, which he dubbed the Kurzweil Reading Machine. This type of innovation demonstrated the possibilities of computers to dramatically improve the lives of people living with disabilities. In Making Computers Accessible, Elizabeth R. Petrick tells the compelling story of how computer engineers and corporations gradually became aware of the need to make computers accessible for all people. Motivated by user feedback and prompted by legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, which offered the promise of equal rights via technological accommodation, companies developed sophisticated computerized devices and software to bridge the accessibility gap. People with disabilities, Petrick argues, are paradigmatic computer users, demonstrating the personal computer’s potential to augment human abilities and provide for new forms of social, professional, and political participation. Bridging the history of technology, science and technology studies, and disability studies, this book traces the psychological, cultural, and economic evolution of a consumer culture aimed at individuals with disabilities, who increasingly rely on personal computers to make their lives richer and more interconnected.

Use computer technology to complement and strengthen your special education program! This book provides practical information, case examples, theory, and a critical summary of applied research about how computer technology can be used to support and improve special education and related services. With Computers in the Delivery of Special Education and Related Services, you'll learn how technology can be used to facilitate an individualized and collaborative approach to learning. Topics of discussion include innovative instruction, consultation, family collaboration, curriculum-based assessment, and professional development. Computers in the Delivery of Special Education and Related Services is a valuable resource in which special services providers can find ways to use computers to enhance individualized instruction and the problem-solving skills of their students, as well as avenues of professional collaboration and support. Computers in the Delivery of Special Education and Related Services presents thoughtful discussions that examine: how computer software can be used in the assessment of students’progress within specific curricula how students can use the Internet to discuss class projects with experts in a process known as ”telementoring” how software can help a school-based consultation team through specific aspects of the problem-solving process, including data collection, intervention selection, team decision documentation, and follow-up ways to use the Internet to create new types of learning communities for students and professionals, extending Vygotsky's notion of ”zone of proximal development” (ZPD) to the community level the advantages and disadvantages of using email with the intention of complementing and strengthening face-to-face collaboration the aspects of home computer use that address a student's special needs the importance of understanding the family's values, expectations, and cultural background Computers in the Delivery of Special Education and Related Services reflects the editors’hope that creative applications of technology will soon transcend the nagging stereotypes of computers (they isolate students, they're too difficult to use, that they lack the flexibility to treat people as individuals). Then computers will be viewed as partners in the process of special education--machines that enhance current practices and open new vistas for learning and education.

Contains 191 annotated bibliographical listings.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs, ICCHP 2006, held in Linz, Austria, in July 2006. The 193 revised contributions presented were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the book. The papers evaluate how various fields in computer science can contribute to helping people with various kinds of disabilities and impairment.