Article Assessment #4

For my fourth article assessment I read "Assistive Technologies for Reading" by Ted S. Hasselbring and Margaret E. Bausch, which was about the beneficial role played on education by assistive technology- defined as essentially anything that helps a person with a disability function.

As a student-teacher now for eight months, I am well aware of the adverse effects a learning disability can have on a student's academic performance.  Although assistive technology is here to help, most schools have failed to (sufficiently) adopt it- a major reason for which is lack of room in the budget.  The government could- and should- remedy this by raising taxes and/or cutting spending on other things.  I strongly believe that every learning-disabled student in this country should enjoy the benefits of assistive technology.

One piece of assistive technology that I believe has enormous potential for benefitting all students- disabled or not- is the text-reading device.  Sadly but truly, many students don't read because they aren't good at it and/or because they hate its proactive nature.  I believe that using text-reading devices can result in better and more reading for two big reasons: they can make text more clear and, for better or worse, can make reading a more passive- and thus for many a more enjoyable and frequent- experience.

Assistive technologies can facilitate learning.  Thus, more schools and students should use them.