Just as writing involves both the mechanics of putting words on paper and the skill of composition, difficulties in math may be caused by a student's inability to write or manipulate numbers accurately, or difficulty in computation skills.  Many students cannot learn math facts by memory, yet with the assistance of a calculator, they are capable of working much closer to grade level content. Students with serious motor-control problems need a range of adaptations, such as raised lines to guide writing work on the paper, all the way to problems read aloud.

Some helpful technology includes:

• Calculators.
• Talking calculators with answer screens and built-in speech synthesizers that state a number or math symbol.
• Talking math worksheets that position the cursor and speak the numerals that are seen on the screen.

Check out the following sites for links about math assistive technology:

• Talking graphing calculator for algebra and geometry at upper levels of math.
• Multiple suppliers of products for the blind and visually handicapped.

What is assistive technology? An assistive technology is defined as “an item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capacities of children with disabilities” (Turbull, 2002). Assistive technologies exist on a continuum and can be low-, medium-, or high-tech devices. A high-tech device, like a talking word processor, revolves around electronics or computers (Turbull, 2002). The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1997 calls for regulatory action so that students with disabilities are provided with assistive technology to access curriculum (Wood, 2001).

The following is a continuum of considerations for assistive technology for math:

• Abacus/ Math Line
• Enlarged math worksheets
• Low-tech alternatives for answering
• Math “Smart Chart”
• Money calculator and Coinulator
• Tactile/voice output measuring devices
• Talking watches/clocks
• Calculator /calculator with print out
• Calculator with large keys and/or large display Talking calculator
• Calculator with special features (e.g. fraction translation)
• On-screen/scanning calculator
• Alternative keyboard programmed for math tasks
• Software with cueing for math computation (may use adapted input methods)
• Software for manipulation of objects
•  Voice recognition software

Let’s go over some low-tech solutions.  I recommend that you use the hyperlinks provided to familiarize yourself with the low tech devices. The activities and assignments that you will work on later in this lesson will require familiarity with these devices.