Lesley Urquhart, Assistive Technologist – Assistive Technology Update
The use of Assistive Technology throughout college is increasing already there are success stories to tell you about. Here are just two as examples;
A mature part-time site carpentry student was experiencing great difficulties with his theory work. His tutor and I introduced him to using a reader pen to aid his comprehension of text. What followed was a remarkable increase in his self- confidence, attitude to work and increased independence. He had previously had failures on end tests, but since using the reader pen, he has now passed all of his end tests. He is currently saving up to buy his own reader pen as he uses one regularly in class and would like to use it onsite to read Site Specifications.
Another student in Employability was experiencing difficulties with tracking his reading, whilst he was using Internet resources. However, after using Assistive Technology to highlight his position on the page he was able to avoid the frustration of losing his place.
Emerging technologies always make Assistive Technology exciting as you never know what new developments are around the corner. I would like to thank the staff who have co-operated with me to date, and I welcome requests from anyone who would like further training.
