Assistive Technology for students with Speech and Language Impairments

       Speech and Language impairments hinder those you have it by not being able to verbally communicate clearly or have difficulty communicating with others. As a result, they reframe from speaking to reduce embarrassment or rejection. The student  may not be able to articulate, may stutter which directly affects his/ her  educational performance. There are four main disorders that effect children, articulation,fluency, voice and language. The students may get frustrated because of the lack of communication.

 
   One type of assistive technology that help students  who have an speech or language impairment is augmentative or alternative communication(AAC). AAC uses symbols, visual aids, voice republication to help assist the student within the classroom and even through their everyday life. The basic form of AAC uses a message board with limited amount of pictures and symbols to help navigate and communicate with others. This type of assistive technology is mainly used by students who have oral motor impairment. This basic form is usually use to make choices between one or two items. These basic forms are non-electronic and are large and can be difficult to transport.        

                                                                                              Electronic AAC devices are downloadable programs used for tablets and iPads to help student  communicate. These electronic progress offer more images, symbols, and print to help enchants the communication process for the student. These programs range anywhere as low as $3.99-200.  These applications can be found in the App Store on your device. After you have selected and purchased  your desired application, the program will be loaded into your device. Once downloaded you will sign in and set up your account. Once those steps have been completed you and your student will have, depending on the application, access to  over  10,000 pictures and you have the ability to create and upload your own pictures to the application. The application will also be equipped with symbols and voice republication lot help re-establish language.

 
      ACC has already  made huge break throughs. Typically it was only an message board that only have one or two pictures of choices to decide usually for food or daily activities. Now with new technology a program can be downloaded to your phone or tablet and the student has access to it a portable device instead of a large message board with limited images children are now able to create and have access to tens of thousands of images.                               From the information I researched, the applications will continue to revolve and be available in more languages and devices that are hand-held and portable.

 

References                                                                                        http://www.parentcenterhub.org/repository/speechlanguage/ http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/Pages/specific-language-impairment.aspx http://www.projectidealonline.org/v/speech-language-impairments/