This article highlights the successful use of certain technologies with children of special needs and the various related stakeholders (family, teachers, etc.). In order to illustrate and evaluate whether or not technology has been successful with children with special needs, the paper presents many initiatives and studies, including the use of videotapes in the late 1970s to today with the use of the Internet.
The paper presents the discussion, that according to the information of other studies and initiatives, information and communications technology seems to benefit children with special needs living in rural and remote areas of Canada. It is the availability to the technology which seems to be more of the determinate on how successful these children will be.
The authors come from a variety of backgrounds.First, Judy Roberts, has twenty-five years experience working with learning technologies, particularly in telemedicine initiatives.Julia O’Sullivan was the Dean of the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University when this article was written.Her background is mainly in the areas of serving children of special needs.Her career has focused on the education and the development of government policies to improve the lives of special needs children.The third author, Joan Howard, is a research associate working with Judy Roberts.Joan has worked on a number of distance education and the application of learning technologies initiatives.
This article relates to the research I am conducting for my final paper, e-learning serving student of low socioeconomic status.Statistically speaking, children with special needs seem to be more prevalent within families of lower socioeconomic status.Hence, information in this article is providing me evidence that delivering curriculum to children of special needs via e-learning is viable.
The strength of the article is its method of research.The authors present a number of studies and initiatives that span over thirty years.The benefit to this is knowing, that despite the changes in technologies, children of special needs can still be served using e-learning.The limitations of the article are it did not present any initiatives that did not meet their goals or expectations.There is value in looking over programs that did not meet the expectations of the program.
The questions that I have now revolve around how are we servicing those students with special needs in remote communities today, seven years later?For instance, those children with special needs in a city can easily attain the proper resources and supports, but children in rural, underserviced communities do not have the same access.Another question I have is how are children with autism, which requires more intensive support, being serviced in rural, underserviced communities?
Roberts, J., O'Sullivan, J., & Howard, J. (2005) The Roles of Emerging and
Conventional Technologies in Serving Children and Adolescents with
Special Needs in Rural and Northern Communities.
Journal of Distance Education. VOL. 20, No 1, 84-103.
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This article highlights the successful use of certain technologies with children of special needs and the various related stakeholders (family, teachers, etc.). In order to illustrate and evaluate whether or not technology has been successful with children with special needs, the paper presents many initiatives and studies, including the use of videotapes in the late 1970s to today with the use of the Internet.
The paper presents the discussion, that according to the information of other studies and initiatives, information and communications technology seems to benefit children with special needs living in rural and remote areas of Canada. It is the availability to the technology which seems to be more of the determinate on how successful these children will be.
The authors come from a variety of backgrounds. First, Judy Roberts, has twenty-five years experience working with learning technologies, particularly in telemedicine initiatives. Julia O’Sullivan was the Dean of the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University when this article was written. Her background is mainly in the areas of serving children of special needs. Her career has focused on the education and the development of government policies to improve the lives of special needs children. The third author, Joan Howard, is a research associate working with Judy Roberts. Joan has worked on a number of distance education and the application of learning technologies initiatives.
This article relates to the research I am conducting for my final paper, e-learning serving student of low socioeconomic status. Statistically speaking, children with special needs seem to be more prevalent within families of lower socioeconomic status. Hence, information in this article is providing me evidence that delivering curriculum to children of special needs via e-learning is viable.
The strength of the article is its method of research. The authors present a number of studies and initiatives that span over thirty years. The benefit to this is knowing, that despite the changes in technologies, children of special needs can still be served using e-learning. The limitations of the article are it did not present any initiatives that did not meet their goals or expectations. There is value in looking over programs that did not meet the expectations of the program.
The questions that I have now revolve around how are we servicing those students with special needs in remote communities today, seven years later? For instance, those children with special needs in a city can easily attain the proper resources and supports, but children in rural, underserviced communities do not have the same access. Another question I have is how are children with autism, which requires more intensive support, being serviced in rural, underserviced communities?
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