Disparities in academic performance have been found in students from underserved districts. This is especially prevalent in students with disabilities. Technology use can help to narrow this divide. Mainstream software packages are readily available to most districts and increasingly include accessibility features (AF) to enable students to…

Multimedia computer programmes have been found to facilitate learning in children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD). However, the effectiveness of these resources is limited due to poor design or a lack of consideration of the ASD cognitive profile, particularly at the lower functioning end of the spectrum. This article attempts to tackle the…

Scholarship on instructive technologies in higher education has emphasized the use of high-tech facilitative technologies for long-term use, and low-tech props to illustrate single topics. This paper, on the contrary, discusses the use of a long-term, low-tech instructional technology: Llewelyn the Lynx was a soft animal used to assist with…

A list of iTunes apps was compiled for usage with early stage or mild dementia participants. The method in choosing these apps and determining salient features of the most successful apps was reported. The results will advance the knowledge base on innovative use of smart technology in clinical settings.

The research encapsulates the framework on potential contributions of OER practices for supporting the ICT competence for disabled adult learners in building equal opportunities within the society. The study underlined the developing OER policy and framework to focus on digital citizenship competency for disabled adult learners. OER practices can…

This study explored the levels of satisfaction children 8-18 years experienced with assistive technology items used to assist them in their schoolwork. Modified from the Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction (QUEST 2.0), the QUEST 2.1: Children's Version was developed to enable scoring by children with or without parent assistance. The QUEST 2.1:…

Deaf children have significant difficulties in comprehending written text. This is mainly due to the hearing loss that prevents them from being exposed to oral language when they were an infant. However, it is also due to the type of educational intervention they are faced with, which accustoms them to decoding single words and isolated sentences,…

Students with special education have difficulties to develop cognitive abilities and acquire new knowledge. They could also need to improve their behavior, communication and relationships with their environment. The development of customizable and adaptable applications tailored to them provides many benefits as it helps mold the learning process…

The inability to navigate independently and interact with the wider world is one of the most significant handicaps that can be caused by blindness, second only to the inability to communicate through reading and writing. Many difficulties are encountered when visually impaired people (VIP) need to visit new and unknown places. Current speech or…

The Australian Government's widening participation agenda--also referred to as the social inclusion agenda--considers equity through the triple focus of access, participation and outcomes. These foci are catalysts for re-examining teaching and learning approaches in formal education. This article considers this national refocus and the…

In this paper, data obtained from a university website accessibility and usability validation process are analyzed and used to demonstrate how the design process can affect the online experience for users with disabilities. Interviews, observations, and use data (e.g. where users clicked on a page or what path taken through a site) were collected.…

This investigation examined the effects of currently available word prediction software programs that support phonetic/inventive spelling on the quality of journal writing by six students with severe writing and/or spelling difficulties in grades three through six during a month-long summer writing program. A changing conditions single-subject…

The standard display of web pages is inadequate for users who are visually impaired. Most visually impaired people obtain information from a web page in a linear fashion via a screen reader, whereas sighted users can immediately obtain a bird's-eye view of a web page's organization and content by quickly scanning the page. AcceSS (which stands for…

The first part of this article describes the use of Computer-aided note taking (CAN) for a fifth-grade student with a profound hearing loss who has been mainstreamed in her local grade school since first grade. As such, this is a case study of how technology can directly and dramatically impact the educational experience of a student with a…

The proliferation of information in electronic format does not guarantee its accessibility. The fact that many Web sites are not accessible to large segments of the disabled community has created a digital divide. Web accessibility is especially important in University communities, since the Internet and the digitization of information have…