Media for Ability, not Disability

The purpose of this paper is to discuss media and aids that assist/allow Special Needs students to learn in accordance with their abilities. The media and aids discussed are categorized by the special areas in which they are most commonly found. It is hoped that this discussion will lead to a mutual sharing of ideas and a reminder that each of these aids may serve many purposes. The discussion will include various media used with hearing impaired—gifted program, in the mainstreaming process, and in general; severely and profoundly handicapped (two or more handicapping conditions); vision/hearing impaired; physically handicapped; teachers as a visual aid for learning; teacher-made materials; and teacher/parent devised machines.

Special Education and its population are ever changing and present new challenges daily to the ingenuity of a media staff. Media people and teachers should, therefore, be flexible and willing to try most anything before ruling it out as not workable. We have often been surprised at the success of ideas once thought to be silly. We, at the media center, believe that MEDIA means:

Media can Educate and Develop Innate Ability.