Investment vs. Return: Outcomes of Special Education Technology Research in Literacy for Students with Mild Disabilities by Cindy L. Anderson, Kevin M. Anderson and Susan Cherup

 This article focuses on studies of the effectiveness of three different types of technology used by students with mild disabilities. It provides a summary of research of tools that promote reading development and those that promote development of written expression in students with mild disabilities. Fifty-nine percent of the special education population in 2003 was made up of individuals with learning disabilities, mild emotional disabilities and mild intellectual disabilities. These are the students most likely to be in the general education class. The three types of technology reviewed were: “technology productivity tools; information technology; and instructional technology”. The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) was reauthorized in 1997 by Congress requiring all students with disabilities to be considered for assistive technology. The government requires every student who is considered for special education to also be considered for assistive technology and assistive technology service. IDEA clearly defines both terms with the major difference being one is a device and the other is a type of service assisting a child with the device. 

There have been several other acts that provide technology support for those with disabilities. Two of these include the Tech Act, which enhanced opportunities for those with disabilities to benefit from technology, and the National Education Technology Plan which promotes the use of technology to help meet the goals of No Child Left Behind in terms of accountability. 

Strategies used for reading in the studies included (1) using multi-media to improve students’ reading, (2) using voice recognition, and (3) using text-to-speech synthesis to compensate for reading deficits. Results showed the use of multimedia texts to be effective in K-1 but not in later years. Multimedia inquiry projects were found to increase the engagement for students with reading disabilities. The group studied for voice recognition showed a great improvement over those receiving standard computer instructions. When used as supplementary reading technology, text-to-speech synthesis and digitized speech proved to have potential. SMART board technology combined with PowerPoint features has also shown to be effective in scaffolding to help increase reading skills in those with disabilities. 

For written instruction, the research looked at the use of graphic organizers, word prediction, and word processors. Graphic organizers showed some significance in helping students generate and organize ideas. Results showed that word prediction could result in the quality of writing improvement for students with mild disabilities. This includes improved spelling, legibility and grammar. There was also a positive effect on written expression assignments when students used ROBO Writer- a writing tool specially designed for students with learning disabilities. 

Although results were mixed on some of the outcomes, the overall theme shows that integrating technology with literacy based instruction does provide significant benefits for students with mild disabilities. Because of the widespread use of full inclusion in today’s schools, this body of research has implications for all teachers-not just special education teachers. NCLB requires all students to achieve a certain level of competency, therefore this information can prove beneficial across the board. The more detailed results of these studies will prove beneficial to teachers in that they can see specifically how each tool measures up against others. This review did not list every detail-just a brief overview of the findings overall. For example, it was found that if a teacher couples a word processor with instruction during the revision process in writing, the results prove to be very significant.  

I see all students and teachers benefiting from this research. With inclusion becoming more commonplace, teachers will be able to better assist students with disabilities when they enter the general education classrooms. In turn, more classroom time will be maximized and other students will benefit as a result. More learning will take place for all students and the teacher’s attention will not have to be so divided. Teachers can even pair tech-savvy students with those with mild disabilities to help assist the teacher. It would be beneficial to both sets of students. 

Before reading this article I was not aware of the technology acts I mentioned earlier. It is refreshing to see that technology is getting recognized as a useful tool in our educational system. Also, I didn’t realize that there were so many combinations of technology and literacy-based instruction. I tended to think of technology as a separate entity and not something that is coupled with so many different levels of the instruction process. This means that I have a lot to explore, but at the same time it makes for an exciting challenge to learn it all.