Assistive technology: reasonable adjustments

Assistive technology is a device or system that can help people complete a task that is otherwise cumbersome or inaccessible. Assistive technology can help a student access material online if they have a disability or health condition. 

Accessibility Consultants in the Accessibility Service might recommend assistive technology for a student to assist them in their studies. Some students might be using assistive technology and not be registered with the Service. That is why it is important to be mindful of your students and their potential requirements. 

Assistive technology enables increased student independence and can be a cost-effective solution. 

• Provide additional time for tasks: as it might take students longer to complete tasks if they are using assistive technology.
• Be aware you might not know all students who use assistive technology: some students might not be registered with Accessibility Services.
• Send documents and presentations ahead of class: this enables students to access and adjust the documents for their specific requirements.
• Give access to all learning materials at the start of the session: or as early as possible, to allow students to manage their time alongside the impacts of their disability and assistive technology use with early preparation.
• Ensure documents and learning materials are accessible: by following the accessible content practices.

Screen readers are a keyboard operable voice application on the computer that conveys visual content and navigation in a non-visual way, for example speech or braille. Screen readers are most commonly used by students who are blind or have low vision . Screenreaders are also used by students with learning disabilities (eg. Dyslexia; ADHD) or conditions that impact on concentration and processing time, to assist with reading speed, accuracy and comprehension (by absorbing information both visually and verbally). 

Examples of screen readers 

• JAWS (Job Access with Speech) provides speech and Braille output. 
• NVDA (Nonvisual Desktop Access) screen reader is compatible with the Windows operating system and many third-party applications.  
• VoiceOver is an Apple Mac feature that describes content being viewed on the device.  
• Read and write has read aloud functionality. 

You can watch demonstration videos of how screen readers interact with content structure below:

Students demonstrate: Headings with NVDA

These videos are from our Students Explain Digital Accessibility resources, which you can read about on the Futures blog.

ZoomText

ZoomText is a type of assistive technology that students with low vision might use on their device to convert text into audio, magnify text and change the colour scheme. It is important to consider that low vision means students can partially see content when magnified, that’s why it is important to put clear versions of images and text that is easy to navigate and remains clear when magnifying, maintaining consistent formatting.  

Students demonstrate: Headings with ZoomText

Dragon Naturally Speaking is speech recognition technology that enables users to produce written text from speech. This is helpful for students who have writing, spelling and typing difficulties and/or find typing time consuming or painful. For example, students with mobility disabilities; those with arthritis, carpal tunnel, Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), and/or learning disabilities.   

Dragon Anywhere is a smartphone app version (Android and iOS) providing a mobile means of voice dictation designed for dictating notes and thoughts. 

Glean is an audio and visual software tool that breaks up recorded audio of a class into manageable parts. Glean assists students dealing with any kind of condition which affects their note taking ability, which may impact on processing speed, mobility, concentration and cognition. These impacts may be associated with autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, physical and mental health, acquired brain injury or any learning difficulty requiring classroom accommodation to independently build effective notetaking skills.  

The audio notes support students to organise and learn from information. The student can revise the information by adding their own notes, related PDFs, webpages or other files to the audio notes. The format provides extra time to edit and highlight what is useful after the class, allowing the student to fully focus on the class. Glean helps to develop study skills and cognitive processing of information in multifaceted ways. This helps with memory recall and concentration to stay on track with studies. Glean provides an independent option for notetaking rather than relying on a peer employed notetaker. 

Grammarly is a cross-platform cloud-based writing assistant that reviews spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity, engagement and delivery mistakes. This helps students who have dyslexia or any other language-learning disability as they can proofread their essay and assignments on Grammarly. It also allows users to customise their style, tone, and context-specific language. 

Read and Write is an assistive-technology software program that can read electronic text from e-books, websites, and documents created in word-processing programs. It has helpful functions for writers, including predictive spelling, word choice, dictionary, and thesaurus features. The program also includes read aloud functionality so students can listen to their written work to help identify errors and editing.  

All these features assist with concentration and processing for students who may have learning difficulties, dyslexia, acquired brain injuries, any cognitive impacts including mental health and those with a mild visual impairment.