Whether teaching a homeroom class or rotary class, there are always some students who really need Assistive Technology to access the curriculum. Sometimes they may have a SEA computer that they bring to class in order to do their work, but if the other students aren't using the same tools, they can be reluctant. Over the years I've found that if I teach the whole class how to use Assistive Technology and treat it just like any other tool we use for learning in our classroom, it removes the stigma and the children who really need it aren't embarrassed to use it.
There has been another silver lining to this practice. Other students who were NOT identified as having special needs benefitted from it also. That's how universal design works. When you build a wheelchair ramp, people on rollerblades or people pushing strollers also benefit. Well when the whole class knows how to use Google Voice typing, students with spelling difficulties or graphomotor difficulties benefit, but so do students who have more ideas in their head than they could type in the time available. If you use online mind-mapping tools for students with executive function issues, their work is more organized, but so is the work of any student in the class who uses it. It is also a really attractive and effective way of communicating ideas and any student may prefer this alternative sometimes. If you use text-to-speech with students who can't read, students who are just a bit tired to read on a given day or whose eyes are bothering them due to seasonal allergies will also benefit. When I was trained in Read and Write Gold I learned that students who look at the screen while a program like Read and Write gold reads to them and highlights each word as it is read, will improve their sight word vocabulary and reading fluency. What student wouldn't benefit from that? That is why using Assistive Technology with the whole class is a good idea.
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