Thursday, June 30, 2016

Not all Crutches are Bad

Have you ever heard teachers (or parents) disparagingly call the use of assistive technology a crutch?

Can we still see the "crutch" as a negative when it allows a student to read TEN TIMES faster in HALF the amount of time? True story.

I worked with a high school student who "eye" read ten pages in four days on her own and then used text to speech (VoiceDream Reader) to "ear" read ONE HUNDRED pages in two days. Do the math. That's an impressive difference. And she was independent.

Not all crutches are bad. Let's embrace what works and give all students what they need.

photo attribution: http://fortyfiedbeauty.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/stock_crutches_guy_sm.jpg

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