Why Do Special Education Teachers Use Intellectual Disabilities In Adolescents?

It is estimated that one in every sixty eight children will be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (CDC, 2014). In schools around the country these students are struggling in their classroom environment due to deficits in three areas; communication skills, social skills, and repetitive behaviors or interest (Marder & Fraser, 2012). Implementing the use of technology in the classroom like iPad, iPod, android tablets, e-readers, and computers is beneficial to students with autism spectrum disorder. It can increase communication skills, can help make their classroom experience more pleasant, and it gives them the best chance at success.

Instructional technology: instructional guidelines and training materials for technologies such as hardware devices and software applications (Blau & Peled, 2012).

In the educational world, there are countless programs, curricula, strategies, manipulates, and resources for teachers to pull from in order to aide in the teaching of concepts and learning of students. Whatever method(s) a school or district has deemed best practice, or adopted as their curriculum, tend to be the instructional practices or resources utilized the most by those teachers. Additionally, teachers will also have preference to teaching styles, resources, and materials they use for their students. While autonomy in any classroom is important to students’ academic growth, one must also be careful to select and implement instructional with great intention and purpose. Consideration to students needs is equally important as the mandate of teaching standards and demonstrating proficiency amongst students. Even when teaching non-disabled students, it can be time consuming and overwhelming to plan lessons so just how much more is involved when planning for students with significant disabilities (SD)? Better yet, what are appropriate instructional strategies to use for students with SD? Regardless of the instructional setting, these are considerations that must be given when teaching students with SD in order to maximize their learning opportunities to learn

Intelligences and Instructional Technology, 2nd ed. 2nd ed. International Society for Technology in Education, 2005. 185+. Educators Reference Complete. Web. 7 July 2014. This text book is an over view of Lessons and activities that explore use of digital technology in classroom and lesson plan materials. Writer compares and contrasts between intelligence theory and educational technology. This book discuss how effective cold be using technology in special education and multidisciplinary. In this book you will learn about new updated educational web sites and apps.

The XPRIZE article, “Students Build Apps for Peers in Special Education” by Joni Blecher, explains how students use the technology skills they have learned in school to help others in need of befitting from it. Allen Brooks is an entrepreneur turned teacher. During one of his days working at San Elijo Middle School in San Diego, he witnessed some students in need extra learning tools as they had disabilities that hindered them. When he saw these students in Mrs. Dudley’s class, he though of SMART Technologies’ SMART Tablet and how much it could benefit these students in need. He then put his computer students into groups of six to observe a class filled with disabled children. Brooks assigned his students to create an app that would help these

“UDL is a proactive strategy that helps teachers build differentiation into their lesson plans from the beginning, eliminating the need for most of the accommodations teachers typically make after the fact, and providing the flexibility and accessibility needed to reduce the barriers for students with disabilities” (Spencer, 2011, p.11). By planning lessons in this proactive manner and making them more accessible to students with special needs, teachers end up helping everyone in their class and providing improved access to the curriculum for all students. The goal of UDL is to challenge us as teachers to expand our thinking about instruction and lesson design so that we move beyond traditional lecture and worksheet teaching and begin integrating technology and flexible practices to create curriculum and instruction that is more appealing to all students. It is a win-win for all

The author provided a literature review of the popularity of use of the iPad in the classroom, among students with or without disabilities. The review found that students with disabilities had greater engagement and behavioral response rates when using iPads and teaching applications on the iPads as opposed to more traditional methods of teaching. Through this background knowledge, the author sets up her research proposal.

The use of technology in educating children with special needs has widely grown in the past few decades, and has since has changed the way people with disabilities live, work, and learn” (Winzer, 2002, p. 98). Individuals with special needs are unique and all have different areas in which they need assistance. Due to the advancements in assistive technology, computer programs, software, and other technology tools, have helped people to find useful and easier ways to become educated.

According to Pyle and Wexler (2012), students with disabilities are disproportionally represented in high school graduation rates. Millions of students with individual education plans (IEPs) lack a high school diploma which then in turn affects their ability to secure

The use of technology in educating children with special needs has widely grown in the past few decades. Individuals with special needs are unique and all have different areas in which they need assistance. Due to the advancements in assistive technology, computer programs, software, and other technology tools, it has become much easier for people to find useful and easier ways to become educated. Because of this, “technology has changed the way people with disabilities live, work, and learn.” (Winzer,98)

According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, students with disabilities should be placed in a “least restrictive environment.” One of the main ideas of this act was to improve the learning experiences of students with disabilities by giving them learning opportunities outside of a special education classroom. The number of students with disabilities being placed in their general education classrooms is increasing more and more each year. The U.S Department of Education’s 27th annual report to Congress on the implementation of The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2005) indicates that the number of students with disabilities in general education classrooms has risen to almost 50 percent. This is about a 17 percent increase from the 1997 U.S

Being a special educator, there are different roles and responsibilities separate from a general education teacher. As a special ed teacher, you need to be able to be more flexible and open-minded when it comes to teaching. These students, whether in a self-contained classroom or an ICT class, will have such differing needs than their counterparts. While they may still have some same needs, most of them will be different and individual. Even though we may have several students with the same disability in our class, that doesn’t mean that we can treat them the same; each student has differing abilities that we must figure out individually. This is one huge problem that I see prevailing in schools today. Teachers tend to think that if a child has autism, they have the same issues and needs as another child with autism but this is not the case. One child might need headphones for noise-canceling features while the other child might be ok with sound but need more social interactions skills. The ability to discern what a child needs based on their own performance is a crucial aspect to supporting every student equally. As a special educator, we need to not only look at their deficits but their capabilities as well. To define someone by what they can’t do is such a negative point of view. If we go into the classroom trying to find what is wrong with a child, we may never notice what exceptional skills they may have. For example, in class when Mark Sarabian came to talk about the

Educators face increasing concerns and challenges in providing equal opportunities for all students especially students with special needs. A classroom should be an environment that individually accepts, motivates, engages and challenges students, while the curriculum is presented in multiple ways to meet diverse students’ needs. Education authorities recognise special needs as a wide spectrum of special educational needs often inter-related in the areas of communication and interaction, cognitive and learning behaviour, emotional and social development and sensory and physical impairment (Florian 2004, 13). Barriers to inclusion such as teacher’s negative discriminatory attitudes and practices, lack of support to facilitate inclusion and adequate professional development result in failing children to realise their full potential. More importantly, educators are legally obligated to practice inclusive education and provide an education equal to any other student as reflected in the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and Disability Standards for Education 2005 (Forlin, et al. 2014, 20). Clearly, a shift in teacher’s attitude, instruction delivery and materials, assessment and evaluation, and accommodation are demands that need to be met to successfully implement inclusive education. The effective integration of technology provides teachers multiple ways to address the diverse demands students including students with special needs. Therefore, the application of technology

I love learning, which is probably one of the reasons why I get so excited to teach for my profession every day. The other part of teaching that I get so thrilled about is soaking in information from others, constantly reflecting, seeking answers, and watching students grow. The past two years as a educator as well as a masters’ student learning about technology integration has been beneficial for not only myself, but my students as well. Through my years teaching, I have realized that my inspiration has grown to better myself for my students, as my new knowledge impacts their excitement, curiosity, and achievement. As a special education teacher, my future goal is to have students continue to grow through my own inquiry for best practices of differentiation, connecting Common Core Standards to technology tools, and to advance literacy amongst my lowest learners.

To gain proper and effective research on how technology impacts the lives of children with disabilities in an academic setting using qualitative descriptive research methods. There are three different ways to conduct qualitative research. Participant observation is appropriate for collecting data on naturally occurring behaviors in their natural environment, such a school, work, or home setting. In depth interviews are best for collecting data on individuals’ personal histories, perspectives, and experiences for certain topics being researched. Lastly, focus groups are effective in collecting data on the cultural norms of a group and in generating broad overviews. Conducting a participant observation in a special education classroom gives the researcher the ability to inadept see the impact technology has a special needs child’s every day in an academic setting. It also gives the researcher the ability to observe, and interview the teacher for a long period of time in a close proximity. (Holosko, M. J. (n.d.).