Assistive Technology

If a student struggles with reading and comprehending a question, then you are not completely assessing their knowledge of the subject. This is unfair to the student as well as the teacher, because your methods of teaching that lesson could be right on point and make sense to the student, but it is the exam question that is preventing them from choosing the correct answer. It is even worse for a student with a disability who might be able to comprehend the question if using assistive technology. Every student deserves a fair chance at answering exam questions. That includes students with disabilities or students in general who benefit from assistive technology. A student with an attention deficit disability needs the proper medication or tools to focus through the entire examination. Otherwise, the teacher is only measuring a fraction of his/her ability at that point when he/she is able to focus during the exam. Without the proper tools, these students are not only conquering the science content, but the disability they face as well. If they are being thrown more obstacles than their classmates, they have less time to focus on the science aspect of their exam or learning in general. It is extremely important to me to be able to measure everyone of my students' science content knowledge and to do that, every other obstacle must be overcome first. If this means using assistive technology then I fully support that method. If the student has trouble reading the word problem, then it is unreasonable for me to expect them to be able to answer the question. Chemistry is hard enough. These students do not need anymore obstacles. There are several symbols in chemistry word problems that are difficult to read with 20/20 vision so a student with vision problems is going to have an even more difficult time doing so. It is very possible that he/she will misinterpret the question. Assistive technology such as magnified print can greatly reduce this problem.