Journal 8- Adaptive Technology

Communication

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) strategies help individuals living with severe communication disabilities, such as, cerebral palsy, autism, brain injury, aphasia, and other conditions.  Different strategies help people successfully interact with others, express themselves, and learn about the world around them.


The BIGmack and LITTLEmack communicators can record up to 2 minutes of a single message, and can easily be played back by pressing on the activation surface.  The low-tech communication tool has 4 different colorful tops and requires a single 9 volt battery.  A student could use this communication tool in the classroom to communicate simple messages to the teacher, or a parent could easily record a message for the student to give to the teacher.

The DynaVox is a multimedia display device that was created to help those living with speech, language and learning disabilities.  The high-tech communication tool gives individuals the opportunity to speak their mind.  All the DynaVox devices use a language framework called InterAACT that allows the user to communicate, develop language skills, and express their feelings and ideas.  The concrete symbols make it easy to use by representing different ideas and objects.  It would be a great tool to help students with these disabilities in the classroom because it enables them to successfully communicate, and gives assists students with the development of their language skills.

Accessibility

An input device is used to translate information or data to a computer.  The most common types of input devices are keyboards, and a mouse.

TouchWindow is a hardware option that allows individuals with communication disabilities to interact with a computer monitor with the touch of their finger.  It is easy to attach, extremely durable, and the surface is scratch-resistant.  The user can select and move objects, operate drop-down menus, and draw by using their finger to point and touch the TouchWindow surface.  This is an excellent tool for students because it allows those with communication disabilities to participate in and complete the same assignments as their classmates.  Students are more engaged in the learning experience when they are physically involved, so interacting with the computer helps them learn the subject matter faster and have a better understanding.


CHIPSpeaking is an AAC desktop device that was created to assist vocally disabled individuals by storing up to 99 recordings.  The software records the users own voice and preserves commonly used phrases and sentences as is.  They are stored and easily recollected by the user's voice.  This is a great program for the classroom because students do not have a difficult time communicating and are able to ask questions if needed.