Assistive Technology for Communication Disorders

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0:04 Communication Disorders
0:36 A.T. for Communication…
3:15 Importance of A.T.
4:42 Lesson Summary

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Instructor: Jennifer Moon

Students with communication disorders often have difficulty participating in classroom activities because of their inability to make simple needs and wants known. This article discusses tools and assistive technologies that can be used in the classroom for students with communication disorders.

Communication Disorders

Sarah is a kindergartner this year. Her speech is really hard to understand, and her parents and IEP team are worried that teachers won't be able to understand her. Jay has recently had an injury that has caused hearing loss in one ear. He's found that his grades have been dropping as a result. The reason both students are having issues in the classroom is because they have communication disorders. Communication disorders refer to problems in how a person understands, expresses, or interacts with verbal and non-verbal language.

A.T. for Communication Disorders

Assistive technology, also known as A.T., is any tool, whether high tech or low tech, that supplements a person's inability to perform tasks, such as communicate, through the application of technology. Assistive technology for people with communication disorders may include any object, be it paper and pen or a tablet that generates spoken words at the push of a button, that assists a person in participating more efficiently in communication. In this lesson, we'll take a closer look at some examples of how assistive technology might improve communication in a K-12 classroom.

As we saw before, Sarah is a student entering kindergarten this year. Her speech/articulation is so unintelligible (hard to understand) that her IEP team is concerned that her friends and teachers won't understand her when she speaks. The team also wants to be sure that she can demonstrate the knowledge she already has. She's been in daycare for a full year now and is prepared with some great pre-kindergarten skills. The IEP team meets and decides to compile a communication notebook for her, which contains laminated sheets in a three-ring binder, with a list of numbers (1-10), letters (A-Z), colors, days of the week and months of the year, and pictures to represent 'help,' 'yes,' 'no,' 'bathroom,' 'like,' and 'please.' This way, Sarah can point to different items in the book as needed, and have her basic wants and needs met, while her peers and teacher grow more familiar with and better understand, the way her speech sounds. This is an example of low-tech A.T. for a student with communication disorders.

Our other character, Jay, is a student in high school who suffered a sports injury and now has a hearing loss in one ear. He sometimes misses parts of the lesson that is spoken by the teacher. An amplification system was placed in the classroom, so that his teacher can speak into a microphone and her voice will be amplified throughout the classroom. This way, Jay can hear all of the message as well as his friends who have hearing in the normal range. This is an example of high tech A.T. for a student with a communication disorder.

Along with these two examples, there are a number of devices and A.T. available for use in the classroom:

A hearing aid to help students with minor hearing loss hear
A TTY machine that allows students and/or parents to have phone conversations with teachers or other students.
Vibrating pagers that let students know when they have been called in class
Apps for a tablet that can provide the same images as the three-ring binder or voice output software
Voice output communication aids that speak what is typed
Tape recorders for students to listen to lectures once again in a quiet area

Importance of A.T.

The examples we just took time to look at highlight two instances where the usage of A.T. to facilitate communication for people with communication disorders are greatly needed and easily implemented. Communication is of utmost importance throughout life. Humans share their wants, needs, and opinions through the use of communication. Infants communicate from the time they enter this world. Although it may start out simply as crying, communication is something we are all innately wired for. The ability to communicate is something we all need, and many of us may not realize how important our ability to communicate is, until it's taken from us. Luckily, the presence and availability of A.T. can lessen the impact of communication disorders at home and in the classroom.

It is important to remember, especially for teachers, that A.T. for communication disorders varies widely, depending on the individual needs of each person. Whether that need be low tech or high tech, A.T. provides several benefits:

Less frustration when communication becomes more efficient
Greater connection with other humans
Restoration of dignity that otherwise might feel lost

For these reasons, it's really important to find the communication needs caused by the disorder and tailor the A.T. to these needs. Anytime communication is impaired, whether at birth or acquired later in life, A.T. is there to provide a bridge to overcome difficulties caused by communication disorders.

Lesson Summary

Communication disorders are disorders that affect the way a person understands, expresses, or interacts with others. This can be particularly difficult in a classroom environment. That is why we can use assistive technology, or A.T., which is any tool used to aid someone who has trouble accomplishing something, to make learning easier for these students. This can be accomplished with low- or high-tech devices, such as:

A binder with letters and pictures
An amplification system
A hearing aid
A TTY machine
Vibrating pagers
Apps for a tablet
Voice output communication aids
Tape recorders

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