AT Accommodations for Students with Disabilities in College

My blog has discussed the ways in which assistive technology can help students during their educational career.  I also talked about the IEP process, and what needs to be included in the IEP, as well as transition implementations that provide the student with the AT devices necessary to show academic achievement.  Once a student with disabilities gets to college, they come across another barrier. There are no IEPs in college, so a student needs to be pretty independent at this point to continue their education. 

Many of the accommodations they received in elementary and high school, can be used to help the student in college as well.  With added reading in college with textbooks, journal articles, and lecture notes, students are expected to complete more academically as well as organize their thoughts, express themselves, and demonstrate their knowledge on a given subject matter.

Computers can be used by students inside and outside of the college classroom.  The computer can offer a variety of AT services and tools, as well as having an adapted keyboard for easier note taking, depending on the student.  Section 504 and ADA state that colleges must provide (at no cost to the student) reasonable accommodations to make their programs accessible to students with disabilities.  Some examples of this are:

• students who struggle with reading and writing- providing text-to-speech programs for class assignments
• students who are hard of hearing- use of an assistive listening system for lectures (fm system)
• students who are blind- a Braille reader, printer, and translation applications so student can produce written assignments
• students who are in a wheel-chair- scheduling first in order to be on a first floor classroom
• students who are deaf- providing sign language interpreters

Below is a table from the book, Assistive Technology in the Classroom, by Dell, Newtown, and Petroff.  This table gives details about accommodations college students with disabilities can receive that are technology based, as well as non-technology accommodations. 

References:

Dell, A., Newton, D., & Petroff, J. (2012). Assistive Technology in the classroom: Enhancing the School Experiences of Students with Disabilities. Pearson.