Use Assistive and Instructional Technologies

This chapter provides specific recommendations about how special education teachers can begin to incorporate both assistive and instructional technologies into their instruction. It begins with general guidelines for choosing assistive technologies. The chapter provides general recommendations that can be applied to a broad range of technologies. It focuses on suggestions for using instructional technologies within the context of content-area instruction to support access, engagement, and learning for students with disabilities. The chapter describes strategies for implementing both types of technologies to support students with disabilities as well as how the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework could be used to consider technology integration. It also describes the rationale for incorporating assistive and instructional technologies into teaching and learning for students with disabilities. The chapter provides a model for using UDL framework for integrating both instructional and assistive technologies into instruction. It ends with tips and resources for further exploration into assistive and instructional technologies.