Assessing Student's Needs for Assistive Technology (ASNAT)

Chapter 5 – Assistive Technology for Reading, Studying, and Math
Assistive Technology and Reading
In this section we will try to address how assistive technology might be used to support students in
developing literacy. In this first continuum we will focus on students with mild to moderate disabilities
with reading difficulties. Later we will broaden our focus to the development of literacy for students
with more severe disabilities.
♦ Highlighting Important Words
In the continuum one of the first suggested alternatives is to experiment with highlighting important
words and phrases. You can, of course, do this with a highlighter pen. You can also use Highlighting
Tape to make specific letters or words stand out. Highlighting Tape comes in six colors (orange, yellow,
pink, blue, purple and green) and has a large number of uses. It is especially useful in library books or
other books that you do not want to permanently mark. You might highlight new vocabulary, key words,
dates, important people or facts, definitions, a sequence of steps or events, or concepts pointed out by
the teacher as being important for a test. You could cover all new words with Highlighting Tape and
then record those words on EIKI Language Master cards. If the student cannot pronounce the words,
they can run the card through the EIKI Language Master to hear it pronounced. Different colors can be
used on the same text for different things. Lee Products Company makes Highlighting Tape.
We have also found it helpful to place a strip of Highlighting Tape on a two inch strip of clear plastic
transparency (the kind used for overhead projectors). The child can then use it to move down the page,
highlighting the line being read.
♦ Changes in Text, Spacing, Color
One of the most powerful low tech adaptations is the use of colored overlays to change the color of the
background. Many children experience a significant improvement in their ability to read when the white
background is changed. Experts in the field recommend trying out different colors and combinations of
colors to see if any of them make a difference. If you get two copies of the same page of text and place a
different colored overlay on each, you can then ask the student to tell you which is better. Continue
trying different colors until the student finds one that makes a difference. If this is going to work, it will
work immediately. The student will often describe the effect as, “the letters don’t move”, “the words are
bigger,” “the words are brighter,” “I can see the spaces,” etc. Different children are helped by different
colors. Blue, pink, red, green, purple and other combinations have all been known to work. Some
children benefit from two or more overlays being overlapped. Once the student finds a filter, have the
student read 10 or more lines first without the filter and then with the selected filter. You should be able
to tell the difference right then, if it is going to help (Sweeney, 2000). Once you have determined which
color works best for a particular student, it is easy to adapt word processing programs to have a similar
appearance by changing background and text colors. Be aware that the same color combinations may
appear different on the computer monitor due to the fact that the illumination factor of the monitor might
actually change how the brain and eye work together. It may actually be a different color combination
that works on the computer screen. Color overlays are available from See It Right Corporation or from
the National Reading Styles Institute. Colored reading strips sometimes called Reading Helpers or EZC
Readers ® are widely available. Transparent PostIt Notes can also be used to highlight specific words or
chunks of text, or math problems.
Assessing Students’ Needs for Assistive Technology (2004) 111