Transitioning to College - Students can use Assistive Technology as a Reasonable Accomodation

 

When students with IEPs move from high school to college, they lose the protections of the IDEA.  Still there are legal protections like ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act that help make sure that colleges reasonably accommodate students with disabilities.  This blog will provide some examples as to why and how assistive technology can qualify as a reasonable accommodation for students with disabilities in the college setting.

1. If a student is hard of hearing, a FM listening system can be set up to help that student gain the information in a lecture.  This is cheaper than having a sign language interpreter in the class and would provide higher accuracy for the student.

2. For students who have trouble reading, the college could allow actual people to read the book (again pretty costly) or they could make available to the student text readers, audio books and/or scan and read systems.

3. For students who have difficulty writing, a college could hire a note taker.  However, a portable note take like Neo or a smart pen (that records lectures as well as captures information written down with the pen) may provide more useful, accurate and less costly accommodations for a student with a physical disability that impacts his/her writing.

Source: Dell, A; Newton, G and Petroff, J.  (2012).  Assistive Technology in the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experience of Students with Disabilities. Pearson Education.