This week we had Tracey Humphries from BCEdAccess come to our zoom meeting to speak about technology and the use of technology in the special needs and alternate learning pieces of education. I found this a really important and engaging conversation as I personally see and agree with the implementation of technology to aid those who may need extra assistance in the classroom. My mom who is an Educational assistant at my former high school works with many students who use technology everyday as a means of helping them get through the school day. I have spent quite a lot of time down in our special education classroom and have had the opportunity to see some of these types of technology and how beneficial they are to the students using them. My mom works with one non-speaking boy, who uses an I pad to communicate his needs and wants to his EA. I think this is such an amazing tool for in the classroom because it allows for him to have the opportunity to communicate and speak without actually speaking. It is incredible to see how far technology has come, as we were discussing in my breakout room, there was no way this type of technology would be able to be used in the schools even 10 years ago, so it is so special that we are able to use it today. That being said I feel as though we need to provide these students with more equipment and technology resources for them to use at school. The budget for these types of programs and resources is usually minimal, but I believe that there needs to be more emphasis on how important this is and how useful it is to have technology available for these students to use on a daily basis at school.
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