Millions of students across the United States cannot benefit fully from a traditional
educational program because they have a disability that impairs their ability to partic-
ipate in a typical classroom environment. For these students, computer-based tech-
nologies can play an especially important role. Not only can computer technology
facilitate a broader range of educational activities to meet a variety of needs for stu-
dents with mild learning disorders, but adaptive technology now exists than can
enable even those students with severe disabilities to become active learners in the
classroom alongside their peers who do not have disabilities.
This article provides an overview of the role computer technology can play in pro-
moting the education of children with special needs within the regular classroom. For
example, use of computer technology for word processing, communication, research,
and multimedia projects can help the three million students with specific learning and
emotional disorders keep up with their nondisabled peers. Computer technology has
also enhanced the development of sophisticated devices that can assist the two million
students with more severe disabilities in overcoming a wide range of limitations that
hinder classroom participation––from speech and hearing impairments to blindness
and severe physical disabilities. However, many teachers are not adequately trained on
how to use technology effectively in their classrooms, and the cost of the technology is
a serious consideration for all schools. Thus, although computer technology has the
potential to act as an equalizer by freeing many students from their disabilities, the
barriers of inadequate training and cost must first be overcome before more wide-
spread use can become a reality.
T
oday’s children are the first generation of the “digital age.” They are
being raised in a society that is changing rapidly as a result of the
influx of new computer-based technologies that provide more per-
vasive and faster worldwide links to commerce, communication, and cul-
ture. The dramatic changes over the past decade have prompted the
The Future of Children CHILDREN AND COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY Vol. 10 • No. 2 – Fall/Winter 2000
103
http://www.futureofchildren.org
Presidential Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology,1 the U.S.
Office of Technology Assessment,2 and high-level government officials3 to
state that it is incumbent upon the public school system to prepare all stu-
dents to use technology in ways that will allow them to compete in the increas-
ingly complex technological workplace. Many people applaud the
integration of computer-based technologies into the classroom for typically
functioning students. Fewer individuals recognize the great number of ben-
efits that computer-based technologies may afford children with disabilities.
This article focuses on the role that computer technology can play in
promoting the education of children with special needs within the class-
room. It begins with an overview of children’s different types of disabilities
and special needs, and an introductory discussion of how technology can
help meet those needs. Several more detailed sections follow, describing
how particular computer applications and devices make it possible for stu-
dents with disabilities to be educated in a regular classroom alongside their
nondisabled peers. The final section provides a discussion of the barriers to
more widespread use of the promising technologies––barriers that must be
overcome if schools are to provide greater opportunities for students with
disabilities to learn more effectively in regular classroom settings.
Children with Special
Needs—Who Are They?
Over the past 20 years, the number of stu-
dents with disabilities has been steadily
increasing at a faster rate than both the gen-
eral population and school enrollment.4
Today, approximately one of six students in
schools across the United States cannot ben-
efit fully from a traditional educational pro-
gram because they have a disability that
impairs their ability to participate in class-
room activities.5 Federal law defines students
with special needs as those who, because of a
disability, require special education and
related services to achieve their fullest poten-
tial.6 According to the most recent govern-
ment statistics, more than 5 million students
ages 6 to 17 were receiving special education
services during the 1997–98 school year.7 As
shown in Figure 1, students’ disabilities
ranged from speech and language impair-
ments to mental retardation, and more than
half were described as having a specific
learning disability due to a psychological
disorder.8
Children with disabilities vary with
respect to the type and number of dis-
abilities they have, and their disabilities
vary in cause, degree, and the effect
they have on the child’s educational
progress. Although children with dis-
abilities are a very diverse group, data
describing the demographic characteris-
tics of students with disabilities suggest
the following:
More than half of all students receiving
special services are males.
Most are in elementary or middle school.
Most have no obvious disability; they have
problems that are primarily academic, emo-
tional, social, or behavioral.
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