Assisstive Technology

This unit on Assistive Technology has given me a new perspective on all the different programs there are available to our students.  As the article by Greer referred to online learning, as learning from your home and not in a regular classroom.  However, the student needs to be motivated to do the work.  The student can do the work at their own speed, but they need to reach deadlines.  This unit referred to students with disabilities and how virtual classrooms may be beneficial to their learning.  I felt like I had a disability when I first started this class.  I had never taken an online class before.  I wasn't sure if I could get motivated to complete the material on time.  I have found out this is not the case because I can get motivation from what my fellow peers have to say.  This was probably one of the best units, so far.  I have come away with so much information on how to help students, not only students with disabilities, but all of my students.
My son had a reading comprehension disability growing up.  I had gotten him a tape recorder that he could listen to all of his textbooks on.  Even though the device was pricy, the books were free to borrow.  It helped him to get through a lot of his classes, because if he could hear what was written he could answer all the questions.  But if he just sat down and read the material, he didn't comprehend a thing.  Perhaps this is one reason that I make adjustments for students with disabilities.  I guess I can relate to them.  My father-in-law was deaf and read lips.  I had learned to annunciate  my words, because when I was younger my girlfriend's sister was deaf. 
I really liked all of the ideas I got from the reflection last week where we had disabilities, what the challenge was, and tech support.  There were so many links for helping students with disabilities or without.  I have written a lot of them down, and plan on looking at them more closely over the summer.  I also plan on using some of them on my grandson this summer.