Chapter+6+Reflections

Chapter 6 Reflections

Assistive Technology to Enhance Communication

The need to be able to communicate with another person is a basic human need. There are devices now available to bridge this need. Some medical conditions like autism and cerebral palsey even with assistive devices makes communication difficult. The inability to speak does not equate to the person not having the ability to think.

Advances in computers have enabled students who are deaf or hard of hearing to be able to communicate with others. Not being able to communicate with others was a barrier that was not able to be broken for many years. That is now in the past. The basic computer will allow access to the internet and have the ability to be able to communicate with anyone. and everyone.

Telephone amplifiers, alerting devices, and electronic hearing aids have been available for many years, but hearing aids do not help everyone. there are medical conditions that prevent hearing aids from working. Teacher/student communication links now are able to connect the student/students with a hearing impairment with the teacher and a microphone.

Improvements in Medical technology have also assisted the deaf and hard of hearing patients with the development of Cochlear implants. These are surgically inplanted miniture electronic devices that are positioned in the inner ear.

Resources:

Cochlear Implants: http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/hearing.coch.htm Alerting Devices: http://www.soundbytes.com/Visual_Alerting_Systems.html