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= Assistive Technology = ====Assistive Technology (AT) is a generic term that includes assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices for people with disabilities and includes the process used in selecting, locating, and using them. ====  ==Legal and Moral Requirements == The mandate to provide assistive technology to children with special needs is grounded in the moral concerns protected by the U.S. Constitution and its amendments. //The Education for All Handicapped Children Act// (P.L. 94-142) was based on the Supreme Court's 1954 //Brown vs. Board of Education// decision that separate education was not equal education under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. At the time the law was passed by Congress in 1975, nearly 2 million children were excluded from schools in the United States. With the legislation, the president and the Congress established a legal requirement for a "free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment" for children with disabilities and, as a result, the field of special education began to flourish for the first time in nearly seventy-five years.



==== Assistive devices can help you improve your quality of life and maintain your sense of independence. Well designed high quality assistive devices, or daily living aids, that support independent living for the handicapped and disabled, seniors, or those with a medical condition or injury should make life easier and safer for the aged and disabled. AT promotes greater independence by enabling people to perform tasks that they were formerly unable to accomplish, or had great difficulty accomplishing, by providing enhancements to or changed methods of interacting with the technology needed to accomplish such tasks. ==== ====Read more at: [] ==== = = = Types of Assistive Technology = · ** Alternative keyboards ** —featuring larger- or smaller-than-standard keys or keyboards, alternative key configurations, and keyboards for use with one hand. · ** Electronic pointing devices ** —used to control the cursor on the screen without use of hands. Devices used include ultrasound, infrared beams, eye movements, nerve signals, or brain waves. · ** Sip-and-puff systems ** —activated by inhaling or exhaling. · ** Wands and sticks ** —worn on the head, held in the mouth or strapped to the chin and used to press keys on the keyboard · ** Joysticks ** —manipulated by hand, feet, chin, etc. and used to control the cursor on screen. · ** Trackballs ** —movable balls on top of a base that can be used to move the cursor on screen. ** · Touch screens ** —allow direct selection or activation of the computer by touching the screen, making it easier to select an option directly rather than through a mouse movement or keyboard. Touch screens are either built into the computer monitor or can be added onto a computer monitor.

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= Things to Think About When Evaluating AT Products for a Child in Need… =
 * What are his/  her specific needs and challenges? In what academic skill areas does she struggle?
 * What are his/ her strengths? AT should utilize your child's abilities to help compensate for her disability.
 * What is his/ her interest, skill and experience in using technology? In what settings and situations will she use the AT tool? AT can help a child with LD function better at school as well as in other settings such as [|home], work, social gatherings and recreational events.

= Does it work for all types? =

AT can address many types of learning difficulties. A student who has difficulty writing can compose a school report by dictating it and having it converted to text by special software. A child who struggles with math can use a hand-held calculator to keep score while playing a game with a friend. And a teenager with dyslexia may benefit from AT that will read aloud his employer's [|online training] manual.

For more information on Assistive Technology in the classroom or at home please visit:

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