Assessing Student's Needs for Assistive Technology (ASNAT)

Chapter 5 – Assistive Technology for Reading, Studying, and Math
Students with physical disabilities may more easily manipulate foam or magnetic letters to make words,
or use Intellikeys ® overlays with the individual letters and IntelliTalk, or use a voice output
communication device such as one with dynamic screens (e.g. Speaking Dynamically Pro or
Dynavox). Another quick and easy way to allow a student with a severe physical disability to participate
in word making is to put possible word choices (along with some distracters that are not correct) on an
eye gaze frame and ask the student to indicate words by looking at them.
There are a variety of software programs that can be used to give students experience with making
words. For instance Bailey's Bookhouse and Reader Rabbit ® both contain segments that ask the child to
indicate whether the letters they have put together are “words.” WordMaker software by Don Johnston
Incorporated, is a program that offers activities to reinforce phonics instruction, phonemic awareness
and spelling. It was created based on Dr. Patricia Cunningham’s work, The Four Blocks Literacy Model.
(Cunningham & Hall, 2001). Students can manipulate letters to make words (guided discovery), sort
words into rhymes and use the rhymes to decode and spell new words (knowledge transfer). It also
includes a word wall of the words that the students have mastered.
Writing
Writing is an important part of 'reading' because literacy develops from a combination of reading and
writing activities. It is a multilevel activity by nature (i.e. students automatically write at their own
level). It is an important aspect of literacy and provides many opportunities for students to have fun and
create products of which they are proud. The teacher should model the writing process by writing short
pieces and allowing children to watch and edit. Students who write become better readers. Students
learn to write by experiencing writing themselves. They need standards and feedback about their
progress in the process of composition and the opportunity to see others write on a daily basis.
Students with physical disabilities may need low or high tech adaptations such as those described in the
section on writing in this manual. They will also be addressed here briefly, to highlight the match of
many of these assistive technology devices with the literacy level of the student. Some computer
programs such as Kid Pix ® 2 (Riverdeep, Inc.), or Kid's Time Deluxe (Great Wave) offer the opportunity
for students at the Novice Stage to interact with individual letters and become more familiar with them
and their sounds. At the Beginning Literacy Stage students can use computer authoring programs such
as Kid's Time Deluxe, Amazing Writing Machine ® (Broderbund), Stanley’s Sticker Stories ® (Riverdeep,
Inc.), and UKanDu Little Books ® (Don Johnston Incorporated) to begin to choose single words to create
stories and have them read. As the student moves into the Transitional Stage, word processing programs
such as AppleWorks 6 and talking word processing such as Write:OutLoud ® (Don Johnston
Incorporated), IntelliTalk II ® , (IntelliTools, Inc.), and The Talking Word Processor © (Premier Assistive
Technology) can be used to provide auditory feedback as the student begins to write with more words.
Students at the Functional Level can use many more aids as they write. Word prediction (e.g. Co:Writer
4000 from Don Johnston Incorporated) or voice recognition may be able to be utilized at this level as
well as low tech aids such as talking spell checkers, and portable word processors.
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