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Annotated Bibliography

The Role of Assistive Technology for Exceptional Children

Savannah Hahn Professor Malcolm Campbell English 1103 March 19th, 2013

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Annotated Bibliography Behrmann, Michael. "Assistive Technology for Young Children in Special Education: It Makes a Difference ." Edutopia. N.p., 01 May 1998. Web. 8 Mar 2013. This source is excerpted from Assistive Technology for Young Children in Special Education, by Michael Behrmann. Michael Behrmann is highly knowledgeable and serves as the director of the Helen A. Kellar Center for Human Disabilities at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. In addition, he is also a professor at George Mason University and his publishing activities include authoring and editing several books, and numerous articles in professional journals, as well as presentations made at a variety of international, national, state and local conferences. After researching the author, I believe the source I am using his highly credible. This article addresses the use of technology serving as an equalizer and how using it opens many educational doors for students with disabilities. He says in addition to the evident cases of students with mobility, hearing or vision impairments, technology is also extremely beneficial for an individual with limitations in cognition and perception. This is the only article I have found that directly speaks about the way education has changed due to technology, by saying how tools enable teachers to offer new and more effective means of learning while individualizing instruction to the broad range of student learning needs. I believe the intended audience is fellow educators like himself, because he encourages teachers to use assistive technology by acknowledging that technology can provide environments that accommodate learning. Coleman, Mari Beth. "SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF." 30.2 (2011): 2-22. Web. 24 Feb 2013.

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This source is a scholarly article that I found through the University of North Carolina at Charlotte library. It was written by Mari Beth Coleman from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The purpose was on how to successfully implement assistive technology to promote access to curriculum and instruction for students with physical disabilities. Despite the title of this article it spends a majority of its length discussing the different factors that lead to unsuccessful assistive technologies. The author is a part of the Special Education Instructional Program in the Department of Theory and Practice in Teacher Education as well as the past president of the Division for Physical, Health and Multiple Disabilities of the Council for Exceptional Children; therefor as a result of these credentials the article is extremely reliable. The intended audience is current educators, school employees, and guardians of children with physical disabilities who may use the help of assistive technologies. Compared to the other sources, while the author emphasizes the importance of assistive technology she addresses it in an alternative way by examining reasons of poor implementation. This shapes the understanding of my topic because instead of listing the benefits these technologies have in a school system, it gives the multiple reasons why they are not reaching their full potential and some even being abandoned. Hasselbring, Ted, and Candyce Williams Glaser. "Use of Computer Technology to help Students with Special Needs." THE FUTURE OF CHILDREN. (2000): 101-119. Web.6Mar.2013. This source is from a website that I determined to be reliable because it is run by Princeton University and hosts an enormous amount of publications that are all peer reviewed. The publication I used was written by Ted S. Hasselbring and Candyce Williams Glaser. Ted S. Hasselbring, Ed.D., is the Bryan Professor of Special Education

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Technology at the University of Kentucky and Candyce H. Williams Glaser, Ph.D., is a research associate at the Learning Technology Center, and a lecturer in special education at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University. Being that both authors both have such a current role in the field of special education, there research is both reliable and up to date. This article addresses a wide range of topics including the percentage of students by disability and then goes on to discuss different types of technologies that serve as aids. The list includes, but is not limited to, devices that can help with hearing impairments, speech and language disorders, mild learning disorders and behavior disorders. This source went in depth with listing specific devices broken down by disability categories which most other articles I have found do not do. This shapes the understanding of my topic because it is more detailed and provides me with examples of technology I can describe. Instead of continuously sharing statistics my paper can be strengthened by real devices and programs that are used by students in the classroom. Keilman, John. "Technology opening new doors for disabled." Chicago Tribune 11 01 2010, n. pag. Web. 7 Mar. 2013. The Chicago Tribune is the most read daily newspaper in the metropolitan area in Chicago, Illinois. A Tribune reporter, John Keilman, wrote an article back in 2010 describing how technology is opening new doors for disables individuals. John Keilman is the general assignment reporter in the Tribune's Schaumburg bureau. His work focused on adaptive assistive technology including devices that can be used for severe disabilities, rather than mild learning disabilities. It is the first source I have come across that addresses the future and a revolution towards appliances that automatically detect a person's needs and become more user-friendly, and a transformed Internet that welcomes

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the blind and developmentally disabled. The assistive technology that is used in this article will allow me to expand further on my topic by including an insight on the aid available for a vaster range of disabilities. Similarly to the article I found that addresses the reasons for unsuccessful implementation of assistive technology, this Chicago Tribune piece includes the dilemma of price in regards to limiting the number of people who can afford the resources available. This information reinforces the still present issues surrounding the outstanding advances technology have made.