The A. Harry Moore School in New Jersey is unlike any typical school in the country. Its students are between the ages of 3 to 21, but each one has a disability. However, this hasn't stopped the kids from learning and excelling in their work. It's all because the school makes it a point to supplement the student's education and special needs with technology.
A. Harry Moore School is serving as a model for what it's like to invest in education technology for special needs and disabled students. All of the school's classrooms are equipped with devices and software that enable the students to work on school projects by themselves. Some can even study coding despite physical liabilities like blindness or muscular dystrophy.
The school's curriculum emphasizes on technology as tools for learning and it is adapted in every lesson or class. "So [the students] can have the same experiences as typically developing children," said A. Harry Moore's technology coordinator Stephanie Talalai, per Washington Post.
A. Harry Moore School students discussing importance of assistive tech @EdcampAccessNJ #edcampxsnj pic.twitter.com/KZ2SJ2EHVn
— Dr. Josue Falaise (@josuefalaise) March 5, 2016
A. Harry Moore was able to establish education technology because the school applied and received multiple grants. However, other schools can come up with the funds by taking advantage of the Smart Schools Bond Act, which was established in the state of New York in 2014.
The thrust of this act is to finance schools with education technology, which is critical to the learning of special needs and disabled students. Education commissioner Jhone Ebert said that funding applications for the Smart Schools Bond Act for the coming school year have already started. Over $2 billion funds is ready to be granted and 52 schools in New York will receive theirs from the first batch of allocations, per Local SYR.
Teachers and school officials take pride in what schools like A. Harry Moore can do for special needs and disabled kids when this used to be impossible to achieve years ago. However, experts note that more than technology, it's the willingness of teachers to help these kids that makes the curriculum successful.
"Nothing replaces that teacher that really is child-centered," said Dr. Kristie Patten Koenig told Washington Post. She has initiated school programs for autistic children. "Tech is a supplement not a replacement and that would be the danger," she adds.
