As early as 1988, the United States federal government mandated the creation of formal and informal programs to increase acquisition of assistive technology by persons with disabilities, with a special attention to underrepresented groups. This study compared the methods used by Hispanics with disabilities to learn about assistive technology with…

How do you go from being a successful mechanical engineer or the manager of an optical store to giving up the security of those positions and caring for man's best friend? Just ask the mother and daughter team of Diane Holstein and Lisa Ferrerio, co-owners of The Dog and I. Everyone has the dream of doing a job they love, but not everyone can make…

The law clearly states how assistive technology is to be used for children with learning disabilities. This article focuses upon the different types of technology that can be used for children with learning disabilities and provides an overview of the different types of technology available. (Contains 4 tables.)

Advances in technology have significantly influenced educational delivery options, particularly in the area of American Sign Language (ASL) instruction. As a result, ASL online courses are currently being explored in higher education. The review of literature remains relatively unexplored regarding the effectiveness of learning ASL online. In…

The rise of globalisation makes language competencies more valuable, both at individual and societal levels. This book examines the links between globalisation and the way we teach and learn languages. It begins by asking why some individuals are more successful than others at learning non-native languages, and why some education systems, or…

The overarching aim of this mixed methods study was to explore the online experiences of students with disabilities, with particular focus on students' use of assistive technologies, mobile media and self-efficacy. Using a multifaceted an integrative approach, this study considered a framework of universal design, Scherer's Matching Person and…

The robotics field represents the integration of multiple facets of computer science and engineering. Robotics-based activities have been shown to encourage K-12 students to consider careers in computing and have even been adopted as part of core computer-science curriculum at a number of universities. Unfortunately, for students with visual…

Current legal mandates require that students with disabilities in K-12 settings have access to assistive technology (AT) devices and services. Therefore, educational teams serving students with Individualized Educational Programs (IEPs) must consider various ATs and identify services to support their implementation in educational settings.…

Traditional classrooms are not being designed with deaf and hard of hearing learners in mind. Providing equal learning opportunities with the use of appropriate instructional design strategies to deaf and hard of hearing learners requires that instructional designers, faculty, and educational institutions understand what accommodations and…

Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing are just like other students except they do not hear as well. They come in all shapes and sizes and call themselves by many names such as: deaf, hard of hearing, or hearing impaired. Just remember the student is a person first--and should be treated the same as anyone else. The biggest issue a residence…

Children with severe to profound hearing loss in the United States are diverse in their racial-ethnic backgrounds, comorbid disabilities, socioeconomic levels, and communication modalities. The present article addresses demographic variables and communication outcomes of children with cochlear implants by means of a review of longitudinal studies…

Background: This study investigates the use of requests for clarification in conversations between teenagers with a cochlear implant (CI) and hearing peers. So far very few studies have focused on conversational abilities in children with CI. Aims: The aim was to explore co-construction of dialogue in a referential communication task and the…

Experiment 1 examined modality preferences in children and adults with normal hearing to combined auditory-visual stimuli. Experiment 2 compared modality preferences in children using cochlear implants participating in an auditory emphasized therapy approach to the children with normal hearing from Experiment 1. A second objective in both…

Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine if our previously developed muscle model could be used to predict forces of the quadriceps femoris and triceps surae muscles of children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy (CP). Method: Twenty-two children with CP (12 males, 10 females; mean age 10y, SD 2y, range 7-13y; Gross Motor Function…

This study investigated three questions: Is it realistic to expect age-appropriate spoken language skills in children with cochlear implants (CIs) who received auditory-oral intervention during the preschool years? What characteristics predict successful spoken language development in this population? Are children with CIs more proficient in some…