Journal that has been choose is Using Apple Technology to support learning for students with sensory and

learning disabilities written by Trisha OConnell, Geoff Freed, Madeleine Rothberg Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media WGBH Educational Foundation. Basically, this research found to improve teaching practices for all students and helping teacher to develop more effective approaches teaching children with sensory and learning disabilities. Thus, this journal provides an overview of educational technology policy and practice with concrete examples of how teachers, students, and parents can use Apple Technology to make a difference for students with sensory and learning disabilities. Firstly, the first topic discussed on this paper is the ground of policy background of Special Education. Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) details the requirements and resources for special education services in United States. There are 13 categories of disability listed in order to qualify a student for special education services such as autism, deafblindness, deafness, emotional disturbance, hearing impairment, mental retardation, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, other health impairment, specific learning disability, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury and visual impairment. After all, the IDEA requires Individualized Education Program (IEP) which includes parents to review and recommend assistive technologies (ATs) and determine required accommodations for an individual student including specialized technologies needed by students with sensory or learning disabilities in order to access for printed materials, interact with classroom content, or to communicate with their teachers and peers. Besides, technology use can be a key factor for some students in turning a learning disability into a learning difference as many more students can get benefit from more deliberate use of technology features nowadays. This paper proved that the largest number of students receiving special education services currently experiences specific learning disability category. In short, this population experiences difficulty in oral expression, written expression, listening comprehension, basic reading skills, reading fluency skills, reading comprehension, mathematics calculation, or mathematics problem solving. In addition, the 2002 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act also known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) stresses ongoing assessment to identify and remediate the academic performance of underachievers and

at-risk students before they fail and potentially become eligible for special education services. This NCLB gave rise to a new prototype for instructional practices embodied in the Response to Intervention (RTI) model which acts to identify struggling students and then deliver tiered interventions designed in order to improve academic performance as documented by progress monitoring. Next is about technology use at school and at home. In 2007, four to six percent of students in U.S public schools have been identified with a learning disability, totaling 2.7 million children. Technology resources that support students with disabilities are becoming more available. However, classroom uses are still falls behind. It is estimated that only between 25 to 35 percent of students with learning disabilities are being provided with assistive technology to support their instruction and learning, (Candace Cortiella, 2009). It is particularly important to determine effective uses of technology for learning in order to support students independent learning. This is because as students with disabilities get older, the desire to be independence in adolescence occurs and students daily routines become more complex, interactions expand with multiple teachers and peers and homework demands escalate. However, family involvement in homework is necessary for many students with disabilities. Thus, a research conducted by the Harvard Family Research Project suggests eight ways in which teachers and school staff can invite parents to involve in homework to help their children develop and strengthen learning skills. After all, parental expertise and parent-focused training and teacher support are suggested in order to get parents direct involvement in homework. This is important as to support their childs understanding and completion of assignments. Recommendations reflect studies show a positive impact from teacher- parent collaborations and parent-to-parent support groups in developing and supporting personalized homework strategies for all students. The National Center for Learning Disabilities defines a learning disability as a neurological disorder that affects the brains ability to receive, process, store and respond to information which such a disorder that can affect an individuals listening, speaking, reading (dyslexia), writing (dysgraphia) or mathematics (dyscalculia) abilities. Technologies that help address physical and time constraints can have a measurable impact on students engagement with learning, as can technologies that support reading, writing and organization. This is because many students with sensory disabilities must spend significantly more time just accessing

information whether through talking book, Braille, text, or sign language rather than their nondisabled peers. As example, students with attention disorders struggle with the organization of material, time and ideas and find it difficult to begin, sustain, and complete learning activities within a reasonable time frame. This paper also gives examples to illustrate how Apple technologies can help students with disabilities in special education. The universal design features within Apple technologies offer ready access to alternate methods of input and output and to compensatory and organizational tools that can support learning. Several technologies built into Apple products can benefit dyscalculic students. For instance, children who struggle with Mathematics can use an iPhone or iPod to record classroom lessons and instructions for later review. There are also the audio and visual features of the Calculator and Grapher applications which can help students to understand and remember equations. This will be very helpful as Dyscalculia students are usually understand the lessons in class, but tend to have trouble of remembering while doing the homework at home. Besides, this technology is also can lead to strengthen students knowledge in particular process as it also can allocate the same or variations question and help students to solve the questions. Moreover, the Calculator application can also help dyscalculia students to stay focused on their homework instead of reinforces the correct work process. Technology also makes it easier for teachers to further understanding for students who struggle writing difficulty (dysgraphia). Thus, Pages application on iMac would be helpful for them as this can help to save time and make it easier for their teachers to review their work and read their handwriting. This is because dyscalculia students often face problem of fine-motorproblem. This affects their ability to write quickly, unable to express ideas and also it is difficult for their teachers to read their handwriting. The speech recognition features built into Mac OS can help dysgraphia students to use this application more easily instead of using the mouse which are hard for them to control effects of fine-motor movements. In addition, Apple technology also provides accommodations for students who are deaf. They can use video iChat to communicate in sign language with friends and family. Students who are blind also can take advantage of Apples built - in screen-reading and Braille-output capabilities.

Therefore, based on this summary of this journal, I complimented the writers for writing out this journal and research. I totally agree with the involvement of Apple technologies in nowadays special education which can provide a lot of advantages for students with disabilities around the world. In other word, this would also be helpful for teachers who are teaching students with disabilities to improve their teaching skills. Technologies accommodations are very important for students with disabilities as technologies are helping them a lot in order to survive in their learning and life as a student as same as their nondisabled peers. As stated in Persons with Disabilities Act 2008, chapter 1 - Accessibility which described access to education for disabled person. It stated that Government and private educational providers shall take appropriate steps to enable persons and children with disabilities to learn life and social development skills in order to facilitate their full and equal participation in education. In this chapter, it described that Government and private educational providers are responsible to ensure that the education of persons and children who are blind, deaf or deaf-blind is delivered in the most appropriate languages and modes and means of communication for the individual and in environments which maximize academic and social development. Thus, it would be a pleasure if special education classes in Malaysia are able to be provided with these technologies for the disabled students in order to help them to learn more easily. However, we need to admit that to facilitate every class with these technologies would consume a lot of costs in money. To conclude, Apple technologies are very helpful and suitable to support disabled students learning and study either in school and home. iPod, iPhone, Mac OS are the examples of software which provide options to help focus attention, make content accessible and meaningful, and also diminish difficulties in communication, class work and homework. These technologies are also helpful which can provide teachers with new tools and techniques to help their students more effectively.