The inclusion of students who type to communicate has been researched and strategies to accommodate such students have been recommended, but little information has been gathered about the students' perspectives and daily school lives. This study utilises classroom observations and qualitative interviewing to explore the experiences of three high…

Projected employment reports indicate that most new jobs will involve occupations in which computer skills are essential, but surveys reveal that many people with a disability currently lack these computer skills. One way to address the gap is to prepare students while they are attending primary and secondary school. The National Business…

Describes a teacher's experience with a quadriplegic in a keyboarding class. Points out that teachers should inquire about a student's physical handicap before making assumptions about it and should ask a student how they might help. Suggests not giving an extensive amount of assistance unless requested. (JOW)

Speech recognition is an alternative to traditional methods of interacting with a computer, such as textual input through a keyboard. An effective system can replace or reduce the reliability on standard keyboard and mouse input. This can especially assist dyslexic students who have problems with character or word use and manipulation in a textual…

Physically and academically handicapped special needs students can often gain adequate keyboarding skills with only a few furniture and equipment modifications, performance adjustments, determination of the teacher to meet individual needs, and knowledge that anyone can master keyboarding. Includes strategies for working with various disabilities.…

Describes microcomputer-based hardware, software, and adaptive devices that are available to help disabled students based on experiences in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Highlights include speech synthesizers; devices for computer monitors that bypass the need to use a keyboard; switches sensitive to light, movement, and air; and word…

The practicum utilized four inservice training sessions to teach data entry clerks, staffing specialists, special educators, and gifted teachers to enter student data into the school system's data base management system on a more timely basis and with greater accuracy. The practicum also developed data input forms which could be used regardless of…

Information systems in public places such as community centers and libraries require some means to provide access to individuals with physical, visual, and, if sound is involved, hearing impairments. This paper proposes a seamless adaptable human interface protocol that would allow users to incrementally modify the command and presentation aspects…

One of nine brief guides for special educators on using computer technology, this guide focuses on the use of computers to improve skills and attitudes in writing instruction. Pre-writing tools such as group brainstorming, story webs, free-writing, journal entries, and prewriting guides help generate ideas and can be carried out either on or off…

This guide summarizes and evaluates 48 educational software packages for special educators working on the specific skill areas of keyboarding, language arts, math, personal/social skills, problem solving, readiness, and reading. Each review is written by a teacher and covers strengths and weaknesses of the software, suggested activities for its…

The versatility of the computer can be expanded considerably for young handicapped children by using input devices other than the typewriter-style keyboard. Input devices appropriate for young children can be classified into four categories: alternative keyboards, contact switches, speech input devices, and cursor control devices. Described are…

A microcomputer can be used in many different ways to assist people with disabilities. A computer's usefulness for a given individual is determined by the computer applications that are needed and by the specific problems the disability presents. In general, there are currently three ways that people with disabilities can use a microcomputer: (1)…

Three conference papers on rehabilitation technology, authored by staff members of the Trace Research and Development Center, form this collection. The first, "Keyboard Equivalent for Mouse Input" by Charles Lee and Gregg Vanderheiden, describes implementation of a keyboard mouse input device using the numeric keypad. The paper discusses…

This guide provides a collection of ideas for word processing activities that teachers have found to be useful in special education classes. The guide begins with a list of 41 computer skills, the grade levels at which the skills are usually introduced (from kindergarten to secondary levels), and provides names of commercial programs which may be…

This report discusses how technical and technological advances in alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) have outstripped the ability to assess their impact on actual communication and argues that this is due in part to the lack of a consistent and reliable method to measure long-term communicative efficacy. The report proposes a…