Technology in Religious Education: Part 3 - High Tech

Now, we're on the high tech highway.  Much of what I review here will be brought into your program by children with disabilities.  However, you should be aware of what technology may be appearing in your program, and the opportunities this technology presents to you and the child with a disability.  If you are lucky to have an iPad in your RE program, there is some information here for you too.


Augmented and Alternative Communication (AAC)
Finally, we've reached the last tier of AAC options.  At this level, children use dedicated communication devices, such as Dynavox, or iPad's with AAC apps, such as Proloquo2go, to talk.  In short, the child selects a picture symbol from his screen (remember symbolstix) and the devices speaks for the child.  Some children and some applications are able to build complex sentences by combining various symbols.  Other's have sentences pre-programmed to correspond to a single symbol.  You'll need to get to know the child to learn where s/he is on the communication continuum.  If the child uses a high-tech communication device meet with the parents and see if 'church' words could be added to the child's vocabulary, such as: Chalice, Joys & Sorrows, DRE, minister, sanctuary, and 7 principles.  Fold in a speech pathologist if need be.

Dynavox is a dedicated communication devices
that uses picture symbols to communicate.

There are many communication apps for ios and
android devices.  In this picture is the most
popular communication app, Proloquo2go.

To learn more about AAC devices, visit the AAC Institute.


Social Story Applications
There are many, many applications for children with special needs.  I will highlight some of my favorites in a later post.  However, I just wanted to take a moment to uplift Social Story Apps.  Social Stories are a common and effective way of developing and praising social skills in children who are on the autism spectrum.  If you have a child with autism in your program, and s/he is already employing social stories (in app form, or otherwise), a social story about church could help them integrate into the social framework of their classroom and congregation.  It takes a lot of skill to develop a good social story and so I recommend you do plenty of research and employ the expertise of a special education teacher or behavioral therapist in your congregation (that is, of course, with the parents' consent).  The concept of social stories was developed and popularized by Carol Gray of The Gray Center, and so I recommend you start your research there.

Social story allow you to share appropriate social skills.
Social Story Apps now give you the option of putting the child in the story!

Text to Speech / Speech to Text
I don't really know what to say here.  Everyone that has a smart phone or tablet should already know about these capabilities.  Of course, there are some limitations.  It is difficult for a speech to text program to pick up when multiple people are talking.  And, text to speech programs can come off as very robotic and, at times, hard to follow.  But, this may still be a technology the Deaf or Hard of Hearing employ in your congregation.

Speech to text and text to speech programs are available
on all smart phones and tablets.  Though limited in their capabilities,
they are an option for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. 

On a related note, there are now automatic captioning programs for videos.  However, I hear these captions often turn out unintelligible, and at worst, profane.  In short, the technology just isn't quite 'there' yet, so be cautious when employing this kind of technology.


Accessibility Features
All tablets now have built in accessibility features that can be turned on and off.  You can invert colors, employ a screen reader, zoom, increase print size, change the touch sensitivities, lock into a program, and much more.

In ios devices, you can access the accessibility features by
going to 'settings' and clicking on 'general.'

If you use a tablet in your program, you can learn how to make it accessible by visiting the companies website.

• iPad
• Microsoft Surface
• Kindle
• Samsung Tab - Note that Samsung's accessibility features are dependent on the tablet provider and model of the tablet.  You'll need to know these two things about your tablet before learning more.

If you are a person with a disability, what high tech devices do you employ on a regular basis?  Tell us in the comments!

For the love of science,

- Meredith Plummer