2015 EDUCATION MAGAZINE LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com February 25, 2015 21
progress in a forty-five day window
towards communicating with other
students because of the iPads. This
student has proven capable of holding
an appropriate conversation with only
the help of the text-to-speech app on
his iPad. Parmenter said that such an
application has helped the student to
communicate appropriately through
non-verbal cues, whereas prior to the
experience he could not.
A number of the special education
students are non-verbal, which can lead
to frustration and diminishing interest for
the students. With the iPad use, “Social
interaction is enough of a reward [for
them],” said Parmenter. She said some
of these students have never been able to
effectively communicate with others.
The student noted above was seen to
stop and be understood talking via
his iPad with students outside of his
class, a previously unattainable social
interaction. The new social contact is
lending increased self-confidence and
the drive to learn more in the classroom.
This technology has led to a stunning
revelation that these students have “lots
of thoughts. Thoughts that nobody ever
knew,” she said. And, now the students
now have a more practical means to
communicate those thoughts.
As there are six students currently in
the department, six of the iPads go
home with each of those students during
the summer. “It wouldn’t make sense
to leave them here when the student
leaves,” said Parmenter. This way, the
students can continue to show others
what they have learned using the
machines. “I want this to benefit them in
their life,” said Parmenter. One student
graduated last May and took her iPad
with her for use in her adult life.
Keith said the school Tech Committee
will be working towards acquiring
another laptop cart or a set of iPads in
the near future. “Ideally, I’d want every
kid to have access to this technology,
whether it is here or from home,” said
Keith.
