As an teacher I have an concern with helping students develop as learners and as human beings from where they are to where they can be with my assistance. One of the key concerns that I have an educator working in a mainstream classroom lies in the challenge of empowering all of my students to achieve to their optimum potential. Technology can provide a variety of options for helping students to augment their abilities and, bypass or compensate against barriers that any given student's disabilities might create for them (Lewis, 1994 accessed online at: http://atto.buffalo.edu/registered/ATBasics/Foundation/intro/index.php)
Some examples with regard to using technology to provide a way for students with disabilities to better "access" classroom instructional materials provided as part of the general curriculum:
1. Soundfield systems to transmit a clearer, more audible projection of a teacher's voice using clear bluetooth or even more simple IR transceivers to ensure that students with hearing impairments can hear instructions and teacher explanations of learning points.
2. Alternate keyboards and pointing systems that change how a software program is used. For example pictorial keyboards or touchscreen input devices using programs like Clicker 5 that convert visual images to words.
3. Voice dictation systems that can convert spoken words to typed in instructions or computer navigation commands.
4. Text to speech systems such as the OS X Speech service that is built into the operating system, or the ability of software programs like Clicker 5 to actually read out words as you type them or as you select visual images or words that appear in a much larger font that a normal program interface would be organised around.
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