One Thumb to Rule Them All

Revised lesson plans for students with disabilities are a vital part for their success and are only fair for them so they can do the schoolwork like every other student. The most important part a teacher should consider when making a revised lesson plan for a student with disabilities is the students disability and how does this impede him in any way to do any of the multiple tasks it takes to complete the objective. The teacher should start with the biggest obstacle and then proceed on to the next biggest.
Assistive technology can be used in a variety of ways in your revised lesson plan and not just for your disabled students. It changes your activities dramatically. You can use computers and the internet to access any information on any topic in the world or even to talk to different people around the world and find out about their cultures, beliefs and ways of life. You just have to be sure that the technology is not doing all the work for the student and giving him/her an unfair advantage. This is on the teacher to make sure every student is on task with their specific goals and standards.
It is very important that you can evaluate your student using AT. You have to make sure that whatever AT your using that the student still has to do the objective without the AT doing it for them. This is all subjective to what age group and grade you are teaching and to what the objectives of the lesson plan are. AT was made to help students and especially students with disabilities. You must be sure as a teacher that there is no unfair advantage. I know this is hard because the student with the disability is the one who is at a disadvantage before the AT device is used. The teacher should be very familiar with the devise that his/her students are using.
For students with disabilities, technology can mean the difference between functioning and frustration, between achievement and learned helplessness. With new developments in word prediction, text readers, and accessible hardware and software, students with disabilities are enabled to read and write in ways they could not have twenty years ago. These technologies help cut through impeding physical or cognitive challenges.