January 2007 — Features
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Assistive Technology :: Making the Impossible Possible
EASY NAVIGATION DAISY players such as
the Victor Reader Vibe shown here are outfitted
with special functionality for audio books.
RFB&D has reached out to schools as well, through its Learning Through Listening institutional memberships—consisting of a site license for its national library—playback equipment, and the AudioPlus textbooks themselves. To determine the audio books’ effectiveness, a 2004-2005 study conducted by Rutgers University (NJ) and RFB&D’s Educational Outreach Center involved 75 fourth- through eighth-grade students. The students in the experimental group showed statistically significant increases in reading rate and reading accuracy. Teachers said that the program had a positive impact on a variety of reading skills (including comprehension, decoding, and fluency), and they found that the program was easily implemented into their lesson plans. The study concluded that “using RFB&D’s AudioPlus textbooks is an assistive technology intervention that can make a positive contribution to literacy learning in the schools.”
links
Anyone with a documented print disability— including vision impairment, a learning disability, or another physical disability—is eligible to use RFB&D’s services. Individual memberships currently require a $65 registration fee and a yearly membership fee of $35, and are available to any school, college, or other educational agency. The effect of the AudioBooks on students is summarized by one supervisor of special education: “You see it in their report cards. They get A’s and B’s when they were used to failure.”
:: web extra :: For more on this topic, visit T.H.E. Journal. In the Browse by Topic menu, click on Special Needs Students.
Neal Starkman is a freelance writer based in Seattle.
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