Basically the article I found called, "Effective use of technology with young children" describes the past fears of incorporating technology or even yet assistive technology with young children, as well as the new positive with it to. The article discusses how assistive technology has changed over the years, as they said, "In the past several years, however, changes have occurred which have made computer technology more accessible to early childhood educators, therapists, parents, and children. Equipment is now more affordable, a wide range of developmentally appropriate software is available, and a variety of response modes have been developed which allow almost any child to access a computer (Burkhart, 1980; Charlebois-Marois, 1985; Goossens & Crain, 1987)." This means that in the classroom especially teachers will be able to be more knowledgeable of what is available and the materials that are available to the children will be much more developmentally appropriate and effective without the problems of cost and availability. The article also desribes the benefits of using assistive technology and the skills that it helps to develop in young children as well. It covers so much concerning that of motor skills, visual and perceptual skills, cognitive and language skills, and even social and emotional skills. I found the article to be very interesting, because I think it is very helpful to show future teacher or even current teachers and parents that assistive technology can be used at a young age and that there is nothing to fear when a child is using it. I also liked the fact that is gives so many helpful points and actually tells you what areas technology actually helps a child in. Besides that it gives you tips on how to choose developmentally appropriate toys and how to apply to them to your child and basically how to start introducing technology to a child. I think this article is very helpful, because it gives you some ideas and pointers when working with children who are young and are in need of assistive technology, and I feel that that is an important issue in elementary schools today. I liked the article and think it would be good for others to read as well.
http://www.parentpals.com/gossamer/pages/Detailed/912.html
Sunday, November 4, 2007
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4 comments:
I think it is great that this article talks about assistive technology for early childhood, because often articles seem to focus on students who are older. I think it's great that there are so many assistive devices out there now, and more being developed everyday. Since each child who requires assistive technology is different, so many types of aids need to be available to best fit each one. I am glad that the cost of these are going down as well because children really do need these things to learn best. What was the most interesting part of the article for you?
Interesting article! I think it's really neat to learn about how assistive technologies are becoming more accessible and less expensive! As wonderful as they are, if they're too expensive, no one but the richest schools and parents are gonna be able to get them. So now that the costs are going down it really does make them more common and possible to have in the classroom. Some assistive technologies are so awesome, and can be used for 'normal' students along with those with special needs to improve their learning. It's a wonderful way to use the multiple intelligences for students to learn. For example, there's this assistive technology that reads out loud what a student types in. This is great for those that are vision impaired, but also wonderful for those students who are more auditory then visual to see how their writing sounds and flows.
I like that you looked up an article relating to the likes and dislikes of using technology in the classroom. Although all people will have different opinions about using it in the classroom, it is good to be open minded and willing to look at everyone's opinion.
Your article sounds like it had a lot of good information in it. Assistive technology is becoming huge in classrooms. Teachers will have to become more knowledgeable about it. At times I wish we had a required course here at BGSU to help us but at least we get a little bit in some classes. A little bit is better than none. There are many benefits for using assistive technology in our classrooms not just for the students but for us as well.
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