Math AT

I am taking a class at Illinois University that's focus is on Assistive Technology. Today in class we learned about some of the Assistive Technology devices that are available. We begun our class talking about what are the difficult skills/tasks for students when it comes to Math. I was never amazing at Math and some of the skills I had difficulty with were memorizing, and application problems. 

Some of the Difficulties with Math that our class discussed : memorizing, teachers have difficulty explaining the information because they are extremely knowledgeable in the subject, and information is presented too fast. 

We also brainstormed some Math Skills: Memorizing, computation, spatial organization, visual processing, interpretation of word problems, transcribing, and decoding. I could only imagine how difficult such a complex subject area for an individual with a disability that inhibits any one of these Math Skills. 

From this class, I have also learned that AT for Math is one of the most underdeveloped areas for AT. After listing all of the necessary skills, Math is one complex subject area. Although AT is limited in Math there are devices that can assist in several of the areas previously mentioned. Often, some might feel, that if a in student has difficulty in Math then to give them a calculator. If we focus on just the calculator, yes, this would help a student who primarily has trouble with computation. When considering to incorporate a calculator as an AT device into a students education there are several aspects that need to be reviewed. There are calculators of varying size, and the size of the buttons, does the student have the fine motor skills to isolate one finger to press the correct button. Also there are cognitive demands of using a calculator, does the student know what each of the buttons mean and how to use them. 

We talked about several different types of calculators in our class. We discussed that calculators come in varying sizes, colors, and complexity. Some calculators can read the numbers as the student puts them in the calculator and then they read the answer. There are some that read the answers, number by number, or ones that read the number as if it were an entire word such as 'one thousand' or 'one, zero, zero'. 

 See N Solve. This calculator lined the numbers in columns.

Image from Google 

We also discussed a Coin-U-Lator. This calculator has large buttons with each coin with regards to the coins actual appearance and it had a dollar bill. It also has sound when hitting each of the separate coins  dollars. 

Image from Google 

These are not the only types of calculators that can be used and definitely not the only form of AT for Math. Using calculators only addresses one very small area of AT consideration for Math. Calculators may not be the answer for all students Again, calculators primarily assist in computation and possibly visualization processes. Feel free to share any other Math AT you have used in your classroom! 

Thanks for reading! 

@Amber_Vorderer