In recent years, the use of iPads® and their applications (apps) in special education has increased with little empirical evidence to support their use by students with disabilities. Educators need a system to select appropriate apps for their students and to provide suggestions to parents who express interest in educational apps. This study sought to test the user friendliness of a prototype rubric designed for screening/evaluating iPad apps intended for educational use by students with disabilities. Eight school practitioners participated in a test to evaluate the usability of a prototype app rubric. A total of nine commercially available iPad apps designed for students with disabilities were evaluated. The usability test showed the rubric was a useful instrument in supporting app selection. Practitioner concerns and recommendations were taken into consideration for improving the functionality of the evaluation rubric for educational iPad apps.
Digital text is being used in elementary and secondary education for students with and without disabilities, but without much consideration as to its impact on student outcomes. This single-subject alternating treatment design sought to understand how the performance of three secondary students with visual impairments was impacted by accessing algebra via a digital textbook in comparison to accessing it via a traditional textbook. The main findings of this study suggested that (a) students tended to solve the algebra equations better when they were presented via their traditional textbook; (b) task completion was longer for all three students when using the digital textbook, although the amount of time differed across students; and (c) two of the three students preferred their traditional textbook and one preferred the digital textbook. The results hold implications for the implementation of digital text in mathematics for students with disabilities and suggest that continued research is needed.
Ms. Chandler is a middle school special education teacher working in a lowincidence classroom. She currently teaches 12 students with intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder in her classroom. Ms. Chandler feels that her students struggle to complete tasks independently and that they rely heavily on adult assistance across academic and functional tasks. At the beginning of the school year, Ms. Chandler received three iPads for her classroom to enhance instruction and learning. She heard wonderful things from colleagues about using iPads with students with disabilities, including the use of iPads for videobased instruction. Ms. Chandler thinks that video-based instruction would be great for her students and would promote less reliance on others for assistance. She is excited to use the technology in her classroom and wants to learn how to use the iPads to provide instruction to her students. The only caveat is that Ms. Chandler is a novice at creating video-based instruction, let alone creating instruction using a device with which she is unfamiliar.Video-based instruction is technologybased instruction delivered through video clips in which a human model demonstrates target behaviors (Rayner, Denholm, & Sigafoos, 2009). Videobased instruction can be used to teach a variety of skills, including social communication and behavioral and functional skills (Cihak & Schrader, 2008). Implementing video-based
Jacob is a 7-year-old with cerebral palsy who has just started using his speech-generating device (SGD), which he received at school after two years of evaluations and trials. Jacob doesn't have the fine-motor skills to use the SGD directly, so he uses two switches to operate his SGD-one to cycle through the SGD targets and the other to select the target he is looking for. Jacob's mom was pleased that he finally received an SGD and was able to use it at school. But she was concerned about his slow progress in controlling the switches. Jacob brought the device home during winter break to practice, and his mom was eager to increase his motivation and opportunities to use the switches beyond communication. For Jacob-and others with limited physical mobility who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devicesaccuracy and speed are key to successfully operating an SGD with switches. Practice using the switches increases accuracy and speed; however, in-person communication alone might not provide sufficient opportunities to practice the skill. What if, in addition to giving children time to practice in-person communication, we also connect the AAC with smart home devices, so users can participate in daily and favorite leisure activitiesturning lights off and on and taking pictures, for example (see "'Alexa, Call my SLP': Using Smart Tech to Boost AAC"). Engaging in these activities can increase not only practice opportunities but, more important, motivation (either from a sense of independence or from fun), which is critical for cognitive processes and attention during the learning process.
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