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Blind students exclusively use braille materials for teaching math. Teaching tools that assist blind students' motor and hearing nerves are essential for learning. This study was to describe learning mathematics outcomes for blind students after using teaching material for Android devices based on Newman's theory. This research was a case study of blind students. Blind junior high school students from special schools for visual impairment-- extraordinary schools in Bandar Lampung, extraordinary schools in Cimahi, and Madrasah Tsanawiyah with special education in Yogyakarta-- contributed to the study's subjects. The study employed questionnaires and test questions as research instruments for both teachers and students. The results of this study demonstrate that learning mathematics outcame blind students' after using teaching material with Android apps based on Newman's theory, specifically: i) reading errors: students can understand the information in the questions; ii) comprehension errors: students do not write down things that are known and asked; and iii) transformation errors: students write down the mathematical model (formula) used; iv) skill errors: students can do calculations correctly; and v) coding errors: students do not write conclusions. The average score of the blind students' results using braille was higher than that of the Android application.

This study explores the development of an eye-tracking solution for paralyzed students, enabling them to access and utilize personal computers for their education. It relies on eye-tracking technology, enabling computer control through eye movements. The study followed four phases: problem analysis, solution development, evaluation, and documentation. In the analysis phase, the problem for developing a solution was defined based on the interviews with the instructor, the paralyzed student, and his parents. The iterative and incremental development process was followed in the development phase with four development cycles. At the end of this phase, an eye-tracking-based computer control system and design principles were obtained to develop such a system. During the evaluation phase, paralyzed student used the system for two semesters. The final phase documented design principles for further eye-tracking systems to support paralyzed individuals' academic lives. By adhering to these design principles, there is a need to develop and adapt more solutions and systems for the benefit of paralyzed people, enabling them to access and maintain their academic lives. The study highlights the potential of eye-tracking technology for paralyzed students and promotes the development of similar solutions.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the role that technology plays in the education of students with hearing impairments. The paper delves into ambitious topics like assistive technologies and languages, access and inclusion, teacher education and practice, and the challenges encountered. The research employed a quantitative approach, selecting 172 teachers from Punjab's special education department as a study sample using a simple random technique. Primary data was collected using a self-developed questionnaire. The collected data was, therefore, analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Overall, the findings presented a positive outlook, demonstrating how technology enhances the learning experience, communication, and academic performance. The study clearly highlights several challenges, including insufficient specialized tools, inadequate teacher training, financial constraints, and more. The study highlights the significance of precision, aggregative processes, and teamwork in addressing the challenges of limited resources, teachers' preparedness, and accessibility. recommendations include incorporating specialized digital tools, focusing on continuous teacher professional learning, requesting funding, and creating awareness and/or cultural shifts. Such findings provide an understanding of the possible pros and cons of technology integration, which will help educators create an inclusive learning environment for students with hearing impairments.

Assistive technology (AT) supports engagement for individuals with disabilities by improving independence in daily living tasks, work and productive activities, learning activities, and societal participation. However, for many individuals, access to AT is limited due to high costs, device availability, and inability to be customized. The Maker Movement and hackathons provide an opportunity to educate health profession students, design students, and community members about AT while engaging these stakeholders in addressing unmet AT needs for individuals with disabilities. The current study examines outcomes from an Intercollegiate Assistive Technology Hackathon. Nine co-designers (community members with disabilities) and 36 students from three universities participated in a seven-day hybrid voluntary hackathon to develop a client-centered and contextually relevant custom solution for a daily living challenge. Students, co-designers, and stakeholders gathered virtually to review the ten project pitches. Student preferences were identified, and event co-chairs curated teams. Hack teams collaborated virtually and in person at university-sponsored maker spaces to further define the challenge, ideate possible solutions, develop a prototype, test the prototype, and, in some cases, create a final product. Each team developed a collaborative solution. Personal and professional growth was reported by 95.2% of the student respondents. Solutions and additional outcomes are discussed and recommendations for future hackathons are shared.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly evolving field that is influencing every aspect of life. Generative AI (GenAI) as a sub-branch of AI is used to create content in various formats such as text, images, video, and audio. This paper discusses the implications of GenAI for Open Educational Practices (OEP), highlighting the potential affordances and challenges. GenAI can address the challenges within the OEP by leveraging openness and ethical use. GenAI's "generative" nature and human-like language capability can provide resources such as course material, activities, examples, questions, assessment, and learning outcomes in the context of OEP. With machine learning and deep learning infrastructure, it can support the discoverability and accessibility of open resources by increasing the metadata quality. GenAI can automatically score student assignments, answer their questions, and provide instant feedback to address the lack of interaction and feedback that arises due to the large number of students, especially in massive open online courses (MOOC). On the other hand, GenAI brings challenges such as data privacy and security, copyright, biased outputs, and the generation of false information. The conclusions emphasize the importance of a nuanced approach that considers not only the advantages but also the risks associated with adopting GenAI in the OEP world. Researching and developing how to apply these technologies to education is important to shape the future of education.

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) strategies benefit learners with complex communication needs (CCN) by allowing them to participate, interact and learn. AAC is realised in the South African Education policy; however, research indicates that many teachers still have limited AAC knowledge. With this study we aimed to describe the effect of a newly developed evidence-based AAC training programme on special school teachers' perceptions of their own abilities related to teaching learners with CCN as well as their perceptions of the general academic, communication, and classroom interaction skills of learners with CCN and finally the teachers' perceptions of the inclusion of learners with CCN. A quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test group design with a non-randomised control group was used, employing a standardised measuring instrument, with 5 subscales, namely the modified teachers attitude scale (MTAS). The sample size included 58 teachers who participated: 6 in the pilot, 34 in the experimental and 18 in the control group. The brief AAC training session of 4 hours had a positive, statistically significant effect on several items on the subscales measuring teachers' perceptions of their abilities related to teaching learners with CCN, as well as their perceptions of the communication of learners with CCN, classroom interaction skills, and teachers' perceptions on the inclusion of learners with CCN. AAC training is recommended for special school teachers to enhance their own knowledge and to enhance the academic and social skills of learners with CCN. Furthermore, future studies are recommended to determine the prevalence of learners with CCN to influence the planning of services for this population in this context.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand, from the perspective of students with disabilities, what special education leaders and their respective classroom educators should consider in the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) features and tools to support individualized instruction. This study utilized an immersive and interactive personalized learning environment, virtual reality, to engage students with disabilities as they consider AI tools, features, and supports that are currently needed to enhance their learning experience. The five primary themes for AI integration that building and instructional special education leaders should consider included: (1) response options; (2) content; (3) learning environment and virtual characters; (4) visuals; and (5) sound or auditory supports. As special education leaders seek to determine how best to navigate growing AI tools and how and when to implement, this study, coming from the voice of students with disabilities, offers some immediate and pertinent suggestions within the context of current personalized learning efforts.

Teacher professional vision as a concept is gaining importance in research on teaching, and recently models for studying teacher professional vision and student self-regulated learning (SRL) have been proposed. There are interview and video intervention studies investigating teacher professional vision for SRL, but no real-life classroom research so far. This study investigated the role of student SRL behaviour, as it was reported by students themselves and teachers, in teacher attention distribution as part of teacher professional vision. Ten teachers and their 158 students at high school level in Lithuania took part in the research. The first step of the study resulted in identifying four student SRL-profiles, which differed based on student level of SRL and the extent to which teacher and student assessments coincided: mixed lower-regulated, mixed higher-regulated, systematic lower-regulated, systematic higher-regulated. The profiles demonstrated only a partial overlap in teacher and student judgement of student SRL. The second step of the study explored whether scores of students' SRL from student and teacher reports were related to teachers' distribution of visual attention in one lesson. The results showed that only one teacher rating scale of student information-seeking behaviour had a slight correlation with teacher attention. The results imply rather bottom-up trends in teacher attention to students in the classroom when it comes to SRL. Besides, the study results highlight the not directly observable nature of SRL processes and imply a difficulty for teachers to assess student SRL.

This study explored early childhood education and care (ECEC) teachers' visual gaze and related reflections on pedagogical actions during pedagogical activities in groups of children under three years of age in Finland. The data were collected from play and teacher-guided activities using mobile eye-tracking glasses, the retrospective thinking aloud (RTA) method, and semi-structured interviews. The results showed that even though the teachers were surprised about some aspects of the visual gaze metrics, they reflected on and gave reasons for their visual gazes on children. When observing gaze data from play, teachers explained the high amount of gaze by citing children's particular needs. When observing gaze data from guided activities, teachers reflected on children's unpredictable behavior and noted that the children's need for support in concentration was linked to more gazes by the teacher. The findings showed that both during play and guided activities, children seeking a gaze and the position of children in the classroom influenced the number of teachers' gazes. In the teachers' explanations of their visual gaze and related pedagogical actions, five categories were identified: protection; physical and emotional availability, teaching and learning; facilitation; and initiatives. This explorative study showed that teachers utilize their knowledge concerning children's individuality, development, and learning when they explain their decisions concerning their visual gaze and pedagogical activities with toddlers. The use of mobile eye-tracking technology is relatively new; therefore, its applications to ECEC are pioneering for the development of the field in relation to the practices and research of toddlers' groups and groups with older children in ECEC.

The implementation of computer-assisted pronunciation training (CAPT) has been proven to be successful in improving learners' pronunciation abilities. Automatic speech recognition (ASR) software was used to provide mediated support to 103 pre-intermediate level students (62 males and 41 females). After experiencing a two-semester of CAPT instruction in their Freshman English course, students completed a questionnaire to assess their perceptions of and attitudes towards technology. This paper reports on the findings that examine the structural relationships using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The findings indicate that students, generally, were in favor of using ASR-based pronunciation training, and although no statistically significant gender difference was found, female students appeared to view its use more favorably than were their male counterparts. The perceived effectiveness of the system, and the attitudes of students towards using it, were shown to be significantly correlated, which encourages the ongoing use of ASR-based CAPT. Based on these responses, it was established that the ASR function enhanced students' awareness of their pronunciation errors. Furthermore, they willingly engaged in individual, repetitive pronunciation exercises, allowing them to build confidence in speaking practices without fearing embarrassment in front of their peers. Recommendations were provided for EFL educators interested in implementing CAPT in EFL settings.

As rehabilitation technologies rapidly develop, the lack of evidence-based training remains a barrier to technology adoption. Continuing education (CE) may provide training opportunities for new technologies, specifically 3D printing. Current models of CE course design rely on traditional, pedagogical methods, including didactic delivery, as opposed to applying adult learning models, which integrate experiential, self-directed learning to promote collaboration and problem-solving. This study sought to determine whether the active learning approach of peer-assisted learning (PAL) promoted collaboration and transference of knowledge between rehabilitation clinician peers when learning 3D printing. In this mixed methods study, 35 clinicians from occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech language pathology disciplines participated in two hours of CE, which integrated tenets of PAL to explore attitudes toward technology adoption perceptions as measured by the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Pretest and posttest results were analyzed using paired permutation tests. All TAM responses improved significantly (p < 0.05), suggesting that for rehabilitation clinicians, CE using an andragogical PAL approach contributed to improving technology acceptance of 3D printing. Content analysis of posttest open-ended questions further explored PAL implementation. The qualitative themes were: (1) Active opportunities supported learning, (2) group format facilitated problem-solving within a team, (3) technology was easier than expected, and (4) barriers remain for technology application in practice. In conclusion, the themes support the integration of PAL as a delivery method of CE to enhance technology adoption.

Despite occupational therapy's critical role on the rehabilitation team for individuals with upper limb loss or difference (ULL/D) and prosthetics, this population is not extensively covered in many occupational therapy (OT) program curricula. As such, many clinicians work with patients with ULL/D with little expertise or confidence for this complex population. The aim of this study was to evaluate the OT practitioner experience and practice related to ULL/D and prosthetics in their education and practice. Utilizing snowball sampling, 150 OT practitioners completed a 24-question survey, which assessed OT practitioners' experience with ULL/D, the prosthetic education in their OT program, and their confidence in working with this population. Participants reported they had limited education on this population and would have liked to have more education in school, specifically in the form of active learning opportunities such as hands-on experience with prosthetic devices, observations with clinicians, and discussions with individuals with ULL/D. Recommendations for OT programs include additional active learning opportunities including patient educators and prosthetic simulators, observation opportunities for students interested in working with this population, and continuing education opportunities for OT practitioners after graduation.

Despite being categorized as an activity of daily living since the first edition of the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework, no Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) standards exist to provide guidance on teaching occupational therapy students about sexual activity as an activity of daily living (ADL). When discussed, sexual activity is usually taught via didactic lecture, but is a subject that would benefit from a skills-based approach to teaching. This pilot pedagogical exercise in a two-credit assistive technology class taught occupational therapy students to address the ADL of sexual activity with clients by having students adapt a sexual toy using basic soldering techniques and adaptive switches for a mock client. By providing a hands-on adaptive project for students, students practiced applying occupational analysis to the adaptation of assistive technology, which can generalize to other assistive technologies (such as those for adaptive gaming) and occupations, while also providing students with experience discussing sexual activity as an ADL in practice. This project is an option for occupational therapy programs looking to integrate more education on sexual activity into their current curricula, while also satisfying the requirements of assistive technology ACOTE standards.

This research aims to ascertain the metaphorical perceptions of families with children with visual impairment regarding assistive technologies. The phenomenological pattern, a qualitative research approach, was utilized in this research. Fifty-four families with children with visual impairment participated in this research. The research employed a data collection tool comprising two sections. The first part captured the demographic information of the families, while the second part featured an open-ended questionnaire containing the prompt, "Assistive technologies are like/similar to… because..." The research data underwent content analysis. Ultimately, the researcher identified 47 distinct metaphors that families with children with visual impairment associated with assistive technologies. Overall, metaphors such as "eye," "family," "friend," "book," "light," "school," "compass," and "star" were prominent. Furthermore, the researcher categorized the metaphors devised by the families with children with visual impairment into six distinct themes: "support," "guidance," "education," "facilitating life," "entertainment," and "independence."

The difficulties faced by teachers at a Special Public School in teaching Balinese script literacy to visually impaired children have resulted in low literacy skills in Balinese script among these students. In order to maximize Balinese script learning, appropriate learning media tailored to the characteristics of visually impaired children are necessary. This study aims to determine the design, feasibility, and effectiveness of the Relief Balinese Script Media ("Reaksi") assisted by audio to improve the Balinese script literacy of visually impaired students at a Special Public School. The study utilizes the ADDIE development model with a quantitative research design. Data collection methods include written tests assessing Balinese script writing. The subjects of this study are 12 visually impaired students. The results of this development study are as follows: (1) the design of the audio media achieved a score of 93.15%, qualifying as excellent; (2) the "Reaksi" media was deemed feasible, scoring 91.44% and qualifying as excellent; (3) the obtained t-value was 77.97, while the t-table value at a significance level of 5% was 2.101. These results indicate that the t-value is greater than the t-table value, thus rejecting H0 and accepting H1. Therefore, it can be concluded that the Relief Balinese Script Media ("Reaksi") assisted by audio is effectively applied to improve the Balinese script literacy of visually impaired students at a Special Public School. This audio-assisted Relief Balinese Script Media ("Reaksi") helps visually impaired students recognize the actual forms of Balinese script, thereby enhancing the literacy skills of Balinese script reading and writing among visually impaired students.

Deaf-blindness is a type of dual disability wherein visual and auditory capabilities are significantly impaired. Special communication methods have been developed for the deaf-blind community. Yet, these methods require that both people involved have prior knowledge and training to successfully communicate, limiting deaf-blind people's social interactions, particularly in academic settings. This paper describes the development of a device that enables two-way communication between a severely deaf-blind user and a hearing person with no prior knowledge of Braille and no additional intermediaries. A Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) scheme for speech recognition was designed and implemented along with the development of an algorithm capable of developing both text-to-speech and Finger-Braille-to-text conversion. Lastly, a system integration via 3D modeling and additive manufacturing was carried out to deliver a functional prototype. The resulting device aims to allow deaf-blind students to send and receive information entirely in finger Braille, using buttons and vibrotactile feedback. In contrast, the hearing tutor receives auditory messages and speaks to reply, making the educational experience as familiar as possible for both parties. Users testing the device achieved an average typing accuracy of over 95% and demonstrated an understanding of commands transmitted through the device's components.

This qualitative, descriptive study explored the experiences of college students with Deaf, deaf, and Hard of Hearing (D/d/HH) hearing difficulties within online learning environments (OLEs). This study used an inclusive and equitable theoretical framework of connectivism to address audism and the marginalization of college students with D/d/HH. The LIFE-R section's "After LIFE" semi-structured interview protocol collected data from 15 college students with hearing difficulties in OLEs recruited from the National Deaf Center-Listserve. The 12 themes highlighted that without extrinsic support, participants perceived inequitable accessibility of technology, hearing devices, or resources. In closing the research gap, the study's findings indicated that (1) college students with D/d/HH were underrepresented, had unique hearing differences, and needed consistent access to hearing assistance technology and resources; (2) connectivism extrinsic support: Provided equitable accessibility and a positive impact on self-advocacy and autonomy, engagement and emotions, and availability and effectiveness of technology-assisted hearing devices or resources, and (3) Audism: Provided inequitable accessibility and a negative impact on self-advocacy and autonomy to utilize technology hearing devices or resources, engagement, and emotions (i.e., frustration, anger, alienation, and isolation). The recommendations for improving accessible and effective technology hearing devices or resources utilizing a connectivism framework, implementing policies, best practices, professional development, and training. Future studies should explore students with difficulties hearing in OLEs without a medical diagnosis, intersectional identities, and larger sample sizes.

Students with disabilities are an increasing subpopulation in higher education. Recently, research has put an emphasis on students' voices to explore their academic learning experiences, as well as the learning strategies they use to overcome learning barriers. This study aimed to investigate the academic learning experiences of students with disabilities in college or graduate studies and the learning strategies they used when faced with insufficient or delayed support. This study used interpretative phenomenological analysis to gather data from three online focus groups, with a total of 10 participants. The results demonstrated three themes: experiences or issues related to university resources and accommodations, building influence through advocacy and education, and being an independent learner. Some participants continued to face academic learning challenges despite their active seeking of accommodations and support. Some participants utilized study strategies, especially when support was inadequate or not immediately provided. This study highlighted the urgent need for higher education institutions to establish support services and resources for all students. Related discussions and implications are presented.

Artificial intelligence can support increasingly complex conversational interactions and also has the potential to interpret meanings from free text input and make recommendations based on patterns in data. There are important opportunities to apply this to real-world problems faced in access to education. In this paper, we summarise existing research and trends linking disability support and technology, then report on a survey conducted with students with disclosed disabilities (n = 138) to explore what systems might need to do to effectively understand disabled students in their own words, and provide suggestions of technologies, strategies and resources that could be relevant to overcoming barriers to learning. Through thematic analysis, five approaches that students used to talk about their disabilities are identified(medical, functional, support, experiential and administrative), and three major types of suggestions they make around what supported them and may be useful to others are also identified (external tools, university support and practices, concerns and solutions). The survey approach and the findings of the analysis provide a potential foundation for the effective design of systems that could crowdsource a knowledgebase around disabilities, hold conversations to understand disabilities and barriers and make relevant recommendations to individuals as to how they could overcome these barriers.

The study examined the use of Assistive Technologies (AT) among pupils with hearing and visual impairment in selected primary schools in Zanzibar. The study involved 127 respondents. Data was collected using questionnaires, focus group discussions, and observation. Findings indicated that primary schools in Zanzibar had access to hearing aids, sign language interpreters, braille, and speech recognition software. However, the utilization of these technologies posed challenges for most pupils. While pupils with impairments perceived the positive impact of assistive technologies in learning and performance, they encountered several obstacles, including shortage of devices, insufficient training for both teachers and pupils, lack of qualified teachers for instructing pupils in their use, communication issues with hearing-impaired pupils, negative attitudes toward Assistive Technology, and inadequate quality of available devices. The study recommends that the government allocate substantial funds for the procurement and maintenance of assistive technologies and establish support systems and resource centers to enhance effective utilization of assistive technologies in primary schools. This will ultimately promote inclusivity and improve educational experiences of pupils with hearing and visual impairments in Zanzibar.

The goal of this study was to explore the use of assistive technology (AT) for students with disabilities in technical colleges in Ondo State. Three research questions guided the study. A cross-sectional survey design was adopted and the survey included 104 participants (38 university lecturers and 66 students with disabilities) drawn from the three technical colleges in Ondo State. A structured questionnaire consisting of 54 items was also adapted and used in data collection. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was 0.86. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS Version 26. The findings of the study revealed that while there are ATs available for students with disabilities in technical colleges in Ondo State, their utilization is limited. The study recommends that technical colleges in Ondo State increase access to ATs in classrooms and laboratories for students with disabilities. The government and school management should also provide adequate, modern instructional facilities and human resources to enable the implementation of ATs and make them accessible and available to all.

The present study examined students' perception of using Artificial intelligence-powered text-to-speech apps (AI TTS Apps) to learn aspects of English language pronunciation. This investigation was conducted considering the extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2). To ensure participants had prior experience using AI TTS for pronunciation, they engaged in five sessions focused on learning both segmental and suprasegmental aspects of pronunciation through a text-to-speech app. This research employed a mixed-method approach. A questionnaire was used to examine participants' perceptions of AI TTS Apps, while interviews were conducted to gain deeper insights into their experiences with AI TTS Apps. According to the results, participants positively perceived the use of AI TTS Apps in learning pronunciation. It is recommended to utilize AI Text-to-Speech Apps both within and outside pronunciation classes, due to their positive pedagogical effects.

Background: The integration of Text-to-Speech (TTS) and virtual reality (VR) technologies in K-12 education is an emerging trend. However, little is known about how students perceive these technologies and whether these technologies effectively facilitate learning. Objectives: This study aims to investigate the perception and effectiveness of TTS voices and VR agents in a K-12 classroom setting, with a focus on information recall. Methods: Using a recent TTS architecture, we developed four different synthetic voices based on 5, 10, 15 and 20 h of training materials. Two experiments were conducted involving students in a K-12 setting. The first experiment examined students' evaluations of TTS voices with varying hours of training material and the impact on information recall. The second experiment assessed the effect of pairing TTS voices with a VR agent on students' perception and recall performance. Results and Conclusions: Human voices received superior quality ratings over TTS voices within the classroom context. The integration of a VR agent was found to enhance the perception of TTS voices, aligning with existing literature on the positive impact of virtual agents on speech synthesis. However, this incorporation did not translate to improved recall, suggesting that the student focus may have been compromised by the VR agent's novelty and its design limitations.

This study tackles the question: how is literacy engagement enacted in the context of significant disability? We delve into the complex literacy practices of Kalika, a three-year-old child with Rett syndrome, a rare neurodevelopmental disorder, to elucidate how she engages with printed text. Rett syndrome leads to near total loss of verbal communication and limited functional hand use, making it particularly challenging to participate in traditionally recognized forms of literacy engagement. Using in-depth qualitative data from both in- and out-of-school settings, we conduct a micro-level analysis of Kalika's behaviours during story time rituals. In order to bring analytic coherence to the data, we classified her modalities of literacy engagement under two broad categories: 1) kinesics, which included a) corporal (entailing full body positioning and motion), b) oral (involving contact with mouth or expression), c) oculesics (relating to eye gaze), and d) haptic (relating to hands) elements as well as 2) vocalics (pertaining to vocal tone and vocalisation). Our analysis elucidates the sophisticated, complex multimodal practices that Kalika enacts to engage with texts. For far too long, students with significant disabilities have been viewed from deficit perspectives, neglected within the literature as well as in the classroom, and thought to require additional instruction to learn how to engage with texts. We suggest that perhaps it is a question, instead, of educators and scholars learning to expand their own frames of reference.

Since the passing of the Higher Education Opportunity Act in 2008, more students with intellectual disability are being admitted to inclusive postsecondary education programs at U.S. colleges and universities. One of the challenges many students with intellectual disability face when arriving on a college campus is learning to navigate their new surroundings independently. We share how postsecondary education programs can use an assistive technology, Google My Maps, to customize maps to address each student's unique needs in independently navigating the college campus and the surrounding community. Also discussed are ways to infuse person-centered planning into Google My Maps. Implications for practice and future research directions are discussed.

Assistive technology (AT) is a critical in providing students with visual impairments (VI) access to classroom information. However, little is known about how the fluid and diverse experiences across core-content classrooms that impact the nature of AT use among students with VI. We conducted three classroom observations of 10 secondary-age (i.e., 6th through 12th grade) students with VI in core-content classrooms (i.e., math, English, social studies, or science). Wide variations in AT use suggest that AT needs are individualized. Additionally, writing tasks, reading tasks, and independent instructional groupings were associated with the highest rates of AT usage. However, students receive little support for using their AT in classrooms. We offer implications and recommendations for research and practice aimed at increasing AT use in core-content classrooms.

This study investigated relationships among home reading practices, shared book reading (SBR) behaviors, and child literacy outcomes in young children with cochlear implants in Baltimore, Maryland. Parents (N=18) completed a home reading questionnaire and recorded themselves reading books with their children at home. Shared book reading sessions were coded for interactive reading behaviors. Children's early language skills and literacy skills were also assessed. We explored variability in these behaviors with regard to demographic characteristics and type of book; these exploratory analyses revealed that parents used more literacy teaching techniques when reading the wordless picture book and that parent interaction and engagement and literacy teaching techniques were more frequent with younger children than with older children. While many families frequently used interactive reading behaviors, our analysis did not find significant relationships between the parent behaviors and children's literacy scores. However, there was an interaction between the "amount" of reading and cochlear implant experience such that more cochlear implant experience was associated with better reading outcomes "only" for the group of children who received more reading time. In a sample of young children with cochlear implants, reading time, cochlear implant experience, and child language skills were better predictors of reading outcomes than parents' frequency of SBR behaviors alone.

"Augmentative and alternative communication" (AAC) refers to a wide variety of communication devices, systems, tools, and strategies that support or replace spoken language. Augmentative and alternative communication users represent a range of ages, abilities, and communication needs. Support for AAC often begins in the public school setting. Although the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates public schools to provide adequate assistive technology for communication and training to support implementation, researchers estimate that fewer than 40% of students with communication impairments using AAC are proficient communicators. Barriers to implementation include a lack of training opportunities, limited preparation time, unfamiliarity with AAC systems, and difficulty finding evidence-based strategies for AAC. To address these, we present evidence-based strategies that speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and special education teachers may use in collaboration to support students using AAC and practical tips for implementation. Strategies described include aided language modeling, core vocabulary, and communication partner support behaviors. Planning considerations for collaboration are discussed.

The developmental, characteristics and educational competencies of students who need special education are developing slowly in compared to their agemates. This is because their expressive language is different. In order to overcome these challenges, assistive technologies can be used under the supervision of the teachers. In this paper, a person dependent speech verification approach is proposed for special education students. The system verifies the speech of special education students in various ways. Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is employed for the classification task. Audio signals that are collected as datasets are accomplished by collecting samples from the real education centers involving special education students. For each subject, a different CNN is trained. Obtained audio signals undergo a frequency domain transform, and then their spectrograms are computed. The spectrogram images of every audio sample are then processed as inputs to the CNN. In this way, better representations of the audio signals are achieved where the spectrogram images of the audio files of different subjects are discriminable. This is also the result of special education students' personal and unique speaking styles. The proposed approach is tested on the dataset that is constructed by real subject recordings. The system achieves promising results by performing comparable recognition accuracies of around 96%.

In this paper, we aim to provide readers with three critical concepts that can maximize inclusivity of learner experience (LX) and user experience (UX) design: accessibility, usability, and universal design for learning (UDL). Although recent K-12 and postsecondary education have experienced rapid change in its student population with the growing awareness of the equal opportunities for all, general design methods of addressing such diversity across formal and informal learning contexts are still prone to retrofitted changes to predefined instructions in favor of standardization. This is due in part to the limited interpretation of accessibility as the concept for the medical model of disabilities where learners with disabilities are not regarded as users or consumers, but as clients or patients. Moreover, LX and UX have been widely designed with the usability of dominant group in mind while trading off exclusion of those who cannot fit themselves into it. However, accessibility and usability are not mutually exclusive; rather, a truly inclusive learning design (i.e. UDL) comes from the interplay between them. Through the paper, we provide definition and description of each concept and provide practical examples of how UDL principles can be applied to inclusive learning design.

Multiple technological aids have been proposed to support the social interactions of people with autism. The literature is extensive, but in many of the works there is a lack of clear processes focused on improving social skills. In this paper, we analyse a selection of 57 technological supports from the last 10 years, whose main characteristic is the quality and clarity of the design and evaluation processes. The objective is to provide the research community with a complete and interdisciplinary mapping of the main technological supports applied to social interaction, identifying the existing relationships between different axes of analysis: the psychological theories that support each approach, the types of technology used and the therapeutic models applied.

Public transport plays a fundamental role in providing access to urban opportunities. People with mobility restrictions face greater obstacles than other members of society. This article seeks to explore the obstacles faced by wheelchair users in Montevideo, Uruguay. To do so, we designed a set of trips to actual destinations for five types of activities to compare time costs between wheelchair users and people without mobility restrictions. We estimated time costs for sidewalk segments, waiting time, onboard bus travel time, and coupling time (i.e., idle time due to the lack of bus provision closer to the activity starting times) and found that, relative to people without mobility restrictions, each of these transit components poses high costs for wheelchair users. From a policymaking perspective, our findings point out the importance of expanding universal design in public transport. They also call attention to other factors that explain travel time such as sidewalks segments and the temporal organization of urban activities that may turn into schedule mismatches.

Background: Implementation issues often hinder reaching the potential of care technology to improve daily lives of people with intellectual disabilities. We investigated barriers to and facilitators of implementing different technology modalities (app/social robot/sensor/domotics) in long-term care. Method: Care professionals (N = 83) from 12 Dutch disability care organisations completed a customised measurement instrument for determinants of innovations (MIDI) questionnaire. Results: Out of 27 determinants, 20 were identified as facilitators and 16 as barriers. We highlight common barriers: few colleagues who work with the technology; no (awareness of) formal ratification of technology use; no arrangements regarding turnover of staff using the technology; unsettling organisational changes; technological defects and limited IT preconditions. Conclusions: The results, which could be combined and compared across study sites, provide insight into which implementation determinants were already well addressed, and where there is ground to gain when implementing care technology in disability care organisations.

Assistive technology (AT) is critical for students with disabilities to access and engage in the general education curriculum, but research has consistently reported a lack of AT knowledge among general and special education teachers. This synthesis reviewed the literature on AT instruction in teacher preparation programs. A total of 14 studies were selected using specific selection criteria. Findings indicated that after receiving AT instruction, pre-service teachers showed positive gains in self-reported AT skills/knowledge, assessed AT skills/knowledge, and attitudes/perspectives toward AT, regardless of modality, incorporated instructional methods, or measurement. Despite the promising effects of AT instruction, this synthesis highlights the scarcity of research in the realm of such instruction within teacher preparation programs and emphasizes the need for more robust research methodologies in this area.

Purpose: The present study evaluated the applicability of the sentence-focused framework to Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants (CIs) by examining the relative contribution of receptive/expressive noun and verb lexicon sizes to later grammatical complexity. Method: Participants were 51 Mandarin-speaking children who received cochlear implantation before 30 months of age. At 12 months after CI activation, parents were asked to endorse words that their child could understand only or understand and say using the infant version of the Early Vocabulary Inventory. At 24 months after CI activation, parents were asked to endorse the grammatical structures that their children were able to say using the Grammatical Complexity subtest in the Mandarin Communicative Development Inventory--Taiwan. Children's receptive/expressive noun and verb lexicon sizes and grammatical complexity scores were computed from these parent checklists. Results: Correlational analyses showed that children's receptive/expressive noun and verb lexicon sizes at 12 months after CI activation were all highly correlated with their grammatical complexity scores at 24 months after CI activation ([rho]s = 0.52-0.63, ps < 0.001). Regression analyses further revealed that verb lexicon sizes at 12 months after CI activation outweighed noun lexicon sizes in accounting for grammatical complexity at 24 months after CI activation. Conclusions: Our findings supported the prediction of the sentence-focused framework. Emphasizing the role of verbs in early intervention has the potential to enhance grammatical outcomes in Mandarin-speaking children with CIs.

Many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are inequitably unemployed due to challenges associated with the social and communication demands of the traditional job interview process. Using a single-case multiple-baseline design replicated across participants, we evaluated the effects of eCoaching with online bug-in-ear (BIE) technology on responses to job interview questions in transition-age students with ASD. Results demonstrated a functional relation between the intervention and target behavior, and the acquired interview skills were maintained up to 6 weeks post-intervention. Social validity findings indicated all participants enjoyed receiving feedback through online BIE while participating in live-streamed mock job interviews and would recommend this intervention to others. This study extends the limited literature on promoting employment opportunities for job-seeking individuals with ASD.

Communicative competence for people who use augmentative and alternative communication consists of four interrelated domains: linguistic, strategic, social, and operational. Ongoing assessment and progress monitoring within these domains are crucial to (a) providing information to teach targeted skills in a manner contextualized within the curriculum; (b) determining measurable annual Individualized Education Program goals; and, ultimately, (c) ensuring maximal participation in the school environment. Currently, language sample analysis (LSA) is one of only three assessment techniques that provide information across each domain of communicative competence for children who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). As such, LSA is a valuable tool for assessing communication competence in children who use AAC in the school setting. This clinical forum describes information that may be obtained from an LSA as it relates to each domain of communicative competence and educational standards.

The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare the linguistic content of the Spanish HINT and the Spanish AzBio sentence tests. The results revealed that the Spanish AzBio is linguistically more complex as compared with the Spanish HINT in terms of sentence length, complexity, and grammatical structure.

Background: Despite the significant emphasis on self-determination in special education and the crucial role of mobile learning, there is a notable absence of path modelling studies that explore the effect of self-determination on the usage of mobile learning by students with special needs. Objectives: This study sought to investigate the intentions of mobile learning usage among students with special needs by proposing a model rooted in the technology acceptance model, complemented by extraneous constructs from self-determination theory (competence, autonomy and relatedness). Methods: The data of the study was obtained online from 1298 special needs university students with eight different types of disabilities. Data were analysed with descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling and bootstrapping. Results and Conclusions: The proposed model explained 78.4% of ease of use, 85.2% of usefulness, and 76.5% of intention. 11 of the 12 hypotheses tested within the scope of the model were supported. All hypotheses examining the impacts of self-determination theory constructs on ease of use, usefulness, and intention were validated (8 hypotheses), with the exception of the autonomy [right arrow] intention relationship. Substantial empirical evidence has been acquired to support the role of the self-determination theory in exploring the intention toward mobile learning among university students with special needs. Concurrently, a robust theoretical framework has been introduced to the field of special education to elucidate the acceptance and utilization of technology by university students with special needs.

Audio description (AD) plays a crucial role in making audiovisual media accessible to people with a visual impairment, enhancing their experience and understanding. This study employs an event segmentation task to examine how people without sight perceive and segment narrative events in films with AD, compared to sighted viewers without AD. Two AD versions were utilized, differing in the explicitness of conveyed event boundaries. Results reveal that the participants without sight generally perceived event boundaries similarly to their sighted peers, affirming AD's effectiveness in conveying event structures. However, when key event boundaries were more implicitly expressed, event boundary recognition diminished. Collectively, these findings offer valuable insights into event segmentation processes across sensory modalities. Additionally, they underscore the significance of how AD presents event boundaries, influencing the perception and interpretation of audiovisual media for people with a visual impairment and providing applied insights into event segmentation, multimodal processing, and audiovisual accessibility.

Purpose: This study investigated irony comprehension by Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants, focusing on how prosodic and visual cues contribute to their comprehension, and whether second-order Theory of Mind is required for using these cues. Method: We tested 52 Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants (aged 3-7 years) and 52 age- and gender-matched children with normal hearing. All children completed a Theory of Mind test and a story comprehension test. Ironic stories were presented in three conditions, each providing different cues: (a) context-only, (b) context and prosody, and (c) context, prosody, and visual cues. Comparisons were conducted on the accuracy of story understanding across the three conditions to examine the role of prosodic and visual cues. Results: The results showed that, compared to the context-only condition, the additional prosodic and visual cues both improved the accuracy of irony comprehension for children with cochlear implants, similar to their normal-hearing peers. Furthermore, such improvements were observed for all children, regardless of whether they passed the second-order Theory of Mind test or not. Conclusions: This study is the first to demonstrate the benefits of prosodic and visual cues in irony comprehension, without reliance on second-order Theory of Mind, for Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants. It implies potential insights for utilizing prosodic and visual cues in intervention strategies to promote irony comprehension.

While assistive technologies are crucial for students with special needs, the number of studies scrutinizing instructors' acceptance of assistive technologies within the scope of inclusive education remains quite limited. Furthermore, there is almost no comprehensive study in the existing body of literature focusing on the acceptance of assistive technology in inclusive education among teacher candidates. The aim of this study is, therefore, to investigate the factors influencing the intention to use assistive technologies among teacher candidates who have undergone training in special and inclusive education, through an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The data of the study were collected online from 311 teacher candidates studying in 6 different programs of a state university. For the analysis, factor analysis, structural equation modeling (partial least squares) and bootstrapping analysis is used. The findings revealed that the constructs with the greatest impact on the intention to use assistive technologies were social influence, enjoyment and innovativeness, respectively. The most robust relationship within the model was identified between self-efficacy and ease of use. The results provide a theoretical foundation regarding the role of both individual and institutional factors influencing teacher candidates' intentions to use assistive technology. Furthermore, a model that can be utilized for the implementation of assistive technologies in inclusive education was validated. Accordingly, theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and recommendations for future studies are highlighted.

Purpose: Self-reported listening-related fatigue in adolescents with hearing loss (HL) was investigated. Specifically, the extent to which listening-related fatigue is associated with school accommodations, audiologic characteristics, and listening breaks was examined. Method: Participants were 144 adolescents with HL ages 12-19 years. Data were collected online via Qualtrics. The Vanderbilt Fatigue Scale-Child was used to measure listening-related fatigue. Participants also reported on their use of listening breaks and school accommodations, including an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or 504 plan, remote microphone systems, closed captioning, preferential seating, sign language interpreters, live transcriptions, and notetakers. Results: After controlling for age, HL laterality, and self-perceived listening difficulty, adolescents with an IEP or a 504 plan reported lower listening-related fatigue compared to adolescents without an IEP or a 504 plan. Adolescents who more frequently used remote microphone systems or notetakers reported higher listening-related fatigue compared to adolescents who used these accommodations less frequently, whereas increased use of a sign language interpreter was associated with decreased listening-related fatigue. Among adolescents with unilateral HL, higher age was associated with lower listening-related fatigue; no effect of age was found among adolescents with bilateral HL. Listening-related fatigue did not differ based on hearing device configuration. Conclusions: Adolescents with HL should be considered at risk for listening-related fatigue regardless of the type of hearing devices used or the degree of HL. The individualized support provided by an IEP or 504 plan may help alleviate listening-related fatigue, especially by empowering adolescents with HL to be self-advocates in terms of their listening needs and accommodations in school. Additional research is needed to better understand the role of specific school accommodations and listening breaks in addressing listening-related fatigue.

Recent evidence suggests that deaf children with CIs exposed to nonnative sign language from hearing parents can attain age-appropriate vocabularies in both sign and spoken language. It remains to be explored whether deaf children with CIs who are exposed to early nonnative sign language, but only up to implantation, also benefit from this input and whether these benefits also extend to memory abilities, which are strongly linked to language development. The present study examined the impact of deaf children's early short-term exposure to nonnative sign input on their spoken language and their phonological memory abilities. Deaf children who had been exposed to nonnative sign input before and after cochlear implantation were compared to deaf children who never had any exposure to sign input as well as to children with typical hearing. The children were between 5;1 and 7;1 years of age at the time of testing and were matched on age, sex, and socioeconomic status. The results suggest that even short-term exposure to nonnative sign input has positive effects on general language and phonological memory abilities as well as on nonverbal working memory--with total length of exposure to sign input being the best predictor of deaf children's performance on these measures. The present data suggest that even access to early short-term nonnative visual language input is beneficial for the language and phonological memory abilities of deaf children with cochlear implants, suggesting also that parents should not be discouraged from learning and exposing their child to sign language.

Adaptive learning technologies are closely related to learners' self-regulatory processes in individual and collaborative learning. This study presents the outcomes of a systematic literature review of empirical evidence on adaptive learning environments to foster self-regulation and shared regulation of learning in collaborative settings. We provide an overview of what and how adaptive technologies have been used to understand and promote self-regulated learning in collaborative contexts. A search resulted in 38 papers being analysed. Specifically, we identified the seven main objectives (feedback and scaffolding, self-regulatory skills and strategies, learning trajectories, collaborative learning processes, adaptation and regulation, self-assessment, and help-seeking behaviour) that the adaptive technology research has been focusing on. We also summarize the implications derived from the reviewed papers and frame them within seven thematic areas. Finally, this review stresses that future research should consider developing a converging theoretical framework that would enable concrete monitoring and support for self-regulation and socially shared regulation of learning. Our findings set a baseline to support the adoption and proliferation of adaptive learning technology within self-regulated learning research and development.

This paper investigates the role of English in voice assistant (Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant) use from the perspective of language ideology. Major commercial companies in the voice assistant market use English as a training language for their speech technologies and offer the most optimised support for standardised varieties of English. This affects the experiences with voice assistants of speakers of non-European languages, i.e., one of the non-target audiences. Drawing on qualitative interview data from Turkish-speaking users who migrated to Germany, the present study reveals that the participants iconize English as the "standard" language in digital contexts, constructing it as the "original" language of speaking computers. By conducting an inductive analysis, the article demonstrates that not only the lack of technological support, but also specific discourses about Artificial Intelligence, impact perceptions of English. These developments have implications for our understandings of prestige and digital literacy in human-machine interactions.