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Celebrating National Special Education Day
December 2nd celebrates National Special Education Day! This awareness day celebrates the advances that have been achieved for special education and the importance of continued efforts for supporting students with disabilities to allow them to succeed in the classroom. Clear Touch aims to provide educators with tools that can help improve accessibility and learning in their classrooms. Special education is a very important part of our public school programs and deserves to be recognized as such. Learn how you can help support special education efforts in your area!
Why is Special Education Day Important?
National Special Education Day commemorates the anniversary that the first US special education act was signed into law. Signed by president Gerald Ford on November 29th, 1975, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA) – now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) – was announced the following Tuesday, December 2nd. The law guaranteed a free appropriate public education for all children with disabilities.
15% of students in public schools received special education services under the IDEA act in the 2020-2021 school year. While many advances have been made since the EHA was first signed into law, it is important to continue looking forward and bringing awareness to the challenges faced by students with disabilities and special education teachers in the classroom.
How Does Clear Touch Support Special Education Teachers and Students?
Clear Touch aims to make education as accessible and innovative for all users of our products. Clear Touch believes in the Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a framework that promotes making learning accessible as possible to all students. The UDL framework promotes the idea of making accessibility the default – not an afterthought.
All students can benefit from increased accessibility, from simply being able to fully discern what is presented, to being able to interact with their materials with ease. Some common issues in classrooms include students not being able to see the lesson due to distance or eyesight, issues with reading comprehension, and height or physical limitations that prevent them from interacting with their classroom’s interactive panel.
Clear Touch offers many solutions to help bridge the learning gap in classrooms, including: large screen sizes that assist with visibility; non-interactive displays that allow the main screen to be mirrored in another area of the room; text settings and color overlays to assist students with reading comprehension; and ADA-compliant, adjustable mobile stands that adjust to allow the panels to be accessible by any user – no matter their height.
The engagement and interactivity of Clear Touch panels is also a great feature to help students get involved in the lesson by interacting with the material and having a hands-on learning experience. Active and hands-on learning, opposed to passive learning, is an effective way to help students engage more with their learning material. With this type of learning, students are able to comprehend the lesson material and actually retain it within their long-term memory.
Ways To Celebrate Special Education Day
National Special Education Day is all about spreading awareness and celebrating advances in special education! There are many ways that you can help celebrate.
Take Some Time to Learn About Disabilities
What does it mean to have a disability? The answer to that question is very broad, and is different for almost every individual! From visible to invisible, there are many different factors that can be considered a disability. The Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA) offers resources to help learn about the different types of learning disabilities and how they typically affect each individual. By educating yourself on different types of disabilities, you can help advocate for positive changes and help end common disability misconceptions.
Learn How to Increase Accessibility in Your Day-to-Day
How accessible is your environment? There are many different ways to increase accessibility, from using the right language when communicating with and about people with disabilities, to providing ways to make sure everyone has access and ease of use.
Providing subtitles on videos and using live subtitles on Zoom are both simple ways to increase digital accessibility. The Web Accessibility Initiative provides an in-depth quick reference guide for many other ways to make sure that digital content is accessible as possible.
Thank a Special Education Teacher
Most importantly: say THANKS! Special education teachers face unique challenges in their classrooms every day, from meeting the needs of every learner, to lack of resources, and teacher shortages. Special education teachers deserve to be recognized for the hard work that they do for their students every day. Be sure to let your local special education teachers know how much they are appreciated, and see if there is anything that you can do to offer your support.
More about Clear Touch
Clear Touch, headquartered in Greenville, SC, is a leading US global manufacturer of interactive touch panels and accessories as well as digital signage displays and solutions for education, government, and business. Clear Digital is our affiliate brand that specializes in digital signage solutions. For more information, visit our websites: getcleartouch.com | getcleardigital.com | getclearpower.com
