Spec-Ed Tech Seen as Potentially Beneficial for All Students

Assistive technologies for students with disabilities are highly customized and could potentially be used to tailor learning for all students, experts suggest

By Katie Ash

As technology evolves to customize education based on students’ strengths and weaknesses, assistive technologies typically used by students with special needs could also become powerful learning tools for the general student population, experts suggest.

But to put that technology into all students’ hands, general education teachers need to be more informed about the assistive technologies that are available and how they can be used in their classrooms.

“The technology right now that’s being used to support many kids with disabilities can definitely be generalized to support nondisabled students,” says Rebecca Hines, an associate professor of special education at the University of Central Florida’s Daytona Beach campus. “That’s what universal design is about—adding these layers of support that are necessary for a few people but can...