Computer Technology, Special Needs Students, and the Inclusion Classroom

US Department of Education statistics indicate that there are an increasing number of students with special needs being educated in the regular education classroom. This places increased pressure on the classroom teacher who may not feel equipped to deal with students who have special needs. Technology can play an important role in providing services to these students. At the University of Wyoming Laboratory School there are classrooms where voice to text software is used to help students with learning disabilities in the area of written language. This program is a cooperative venture between the University Laboratory School, the College of Education, the Learning Resource Center, and the College of Education Technology Coordinator to provide assitive technology for students with disabilities in the regular education classroom. It is designed to be used by classroom teachers to enhance the work of students who have disabilities in speech and language.