Why+Assistive+Technology?

Assistive Technology sometimes seems like a far-out fantasy. You may hear all kinds of reasons why it's unnecessary, a bad idea, or financially out of reach...

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But what if your child could use his pocket music player to //read// to him?

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(For more about ZoomReader, see [|the BDMTECH blog])

...or to type out what he says, and save it or send it?

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What if, at homework time, your child could...

Send her teacher a video showing her work? Look up a tutorial from his teacher if he forgets how to do a math problem? Watch and listen to this week's lessons, fast or slow or one-step-at-a-time, as many times as she wants?

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If your child has trouble reading or writing or remembering, wouldn't these kinds of supports help? Wouldn't they make it easier for you to help too? Wouldn't they make it easier for your child to keep trying?

These things are all possible, //right now// -- and they're happening, in some schools.

What about as your child gets older and there is so much more material to read and learn? Would a language disability make life as hard as it does now, if textbooks were more like...this?

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Assistive Technology. It might sound expensive -- and some of it is. But a lot can be done for little or no cost.

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<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">After all, the textbooks and materials we use NOW -- our "low-tech" assistive technology -- aren't //free//. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Do we absolutely know that these high-tech kinds of assistive technology cost more?

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%; text-align: right;">Or do we just have that reaction because they're new & different?

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">And if we DON'T use technology to support our struggling learners... <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%; text-align: right;">what's the cost of THAT choice -- to them, their families, and society? It's hard to say...

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%; text-align: left;">Yet when we listen to people who've struggled, and come out on top,

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<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">Or watch a young man get so interested in a "game" that he holds a pen by himself //for the first time//,

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<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">Uploaded by [|rizzobitz] on Jan 22, 2011 //<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">Please forgive the video quality. This was taken by me with my cell phone while I was rather overcome watching Daniel use a pen for the first time. // //<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">We purchased an iPad for Daniel (age 13) 2 weeks ago. He has shown mental and fine motor skills growth each time he uses his iPad. We bought the Targus iPad pen this evening and took this video of Daniel using a pen/pencil for the first time in his life without hand over hand assistance. //

<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%; text-align: center;">...doesn't assistive technology seem like something we just HAVE to try?

<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10.2333px; text-align: left;">Mehrzad Araghi, creator of this Wiki, is a special needs advocate in the Greater Boston/Metrowest areas of Massachusetts and an ADHD coach, by telephone, worldwide. <span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10.2333px; text-align: left;">You can reach her at mehrzad@alignedconnections.com or 508.259.466