Ashley Taylor

One to One Access on the Road to Success

Being in a self-contained special education classroom means that my students get a 100% individualized education. Their curriculum is designed around who they are and what they can do, and my small class size means that I am able to devote one on one time to each of them daily. However, this also means there are times when I need to devote attention to the learning goals of one student, but I don’t want their peers off-task. My students all have Moderate to Severe Disabilities, so working independently can often be difficult for them, and navigating a computer can be confusing. They find using a tablet more user-friendly. Currently, we have one iPad and my students love to use it to play educational games or use skill-building websites. This is a great tool to teach technology skills, independent work skills, and build on academic skills at each student’s personal level. However, I often find myself with two or more students who could benefit from tablet time at the same time. While all students can benefit from 1:1 tablet access, my special needs students can benefit even more so, as they also have more complicated sensory and social needs. How might 1:1 tablet access help my students grow academically, as well as foster independent work habits and social skills? Having a larger set of tablets would mean that my students would be able to have 1:1 technology, and would always have a tablet available to them to help build these skills. In addition, a class set of tablets would allow for increased small group engagement, through the use of interactive group review assignments such as Kahoot! quizzes.