Abstract:

In order to design instructional strategies for effective reading for students with low incidence disabilities, and to enhance outcomes in their reading performance, it is imperative to consider their unique needs (Ferrell, Bruce, & Luckner, 2014). When these students are exposed to information in a meaningful way, they are able to organize and classify that information for retrieval while reading.

Inclusion of children with sensory disabilities in general educational settings has been widely debated. The need for strategies, practices and instructional tools for teachers to provide opportunities in this collaborative environment have been identified in different studies (Manlin, 2012; Ferrell, Bruce, & Luckner, 2014).
Solution: Technology.

The web based platform DAD (Digitally Aided Descriptions) is expected to enhance vocabulary and literacy development, as well as cognition and general knowledge in an atmosphere of creative cooperation between students with sight and those with vision loss will be presented. Through the collaborative creation of descriptions of visual images, aided by vocabulary suggestions and other hints as to how to comprehensively describe an image, students with visual impairments will have an experience that will foster communication between students while increasing literacy for both students with and with out disabilities.

DAD allows students, as a team, to create descriptions for images which may either be selected by the teacher. Instead of the teacher needing to fully describe images for a blind or visually impaired child in his or her classroom, sighted children will work with the visually impaired child to develop comprehensive descriptions; both will be exposed to vocabulary suggestions that they may choose to include in the descriptions.

The intended user of this platform is an elementary school teacher in an inclusive classroom. The population the platform serves is children who are blind or visually impaired, and their peers without disabilities in grades 4 to 7.

The DAD intervention provides teachers an instructional resource with personalization features that allow for planning content vocabulary and concepts that will be reinforced during the image description experience, as well as an assessment methodology to follow up on students’ progress.

During the presentation, the Principal Investigator and the Technical Director of this project, funded by The National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), will share findings of the feasibility and usability testing of a prototype of the platform.

References:
[1] Ferrell, K. A., Bruce, S., & Luckner, J. L. (2014). Evidence-based practices for students with sensory impairments (Document No. IC-4). Retrieved from University of Florida, Collaboration for Effective Educator, Development, Accountability, and Reform Center website: http://ceedar.education.ufl.edu/tools/innovation-configurations/
[2] Manlin, N. (2012). Preparing Effective Special Education Teachers (What Works for Special-Needs Learners). New York: The Guilford Press.
[3] Stecker, P. M. (2007). Monitoring student progress in individualized educational programs using curriculum-based measurement. National Center on Student Progress Monitoring. Clemson University. Available: http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED502450

Keywords:

Audio Description, Sensory Disabilities, Digital Platforms.