iPod Helps Special-Needs Students Make the Grade

Profiles in Success: Louisa-Muscatine Elementary School

Teachers Now Free to Monitor Students’ Progress

Giving students the ability to visualize as well as hear the test materials via the video capabilities of iPod has offered Ryan and her colleagues a significant amount of freedom. No longer tethered to their tables during the exams, Ryan says the teachers can more accurately assess each learning-challenged student’s progress, and adjust the testing process accordingly.

“Using an iPod for testing frees us up to watch the students, and rotate around to make sure everyone understands the questions,” Ryan explains. “Plus, students can be doing various things: If I’m working one-on-one with a student, another can be taking the test. And, by listening to the questions via the headphones, that student isn’t distracting others. It works really well.”

Joining the Mainstream

L-M is scheduled to take delivery of 20 more iPod players during the 2006-2007 school year. Noting that L-M students in the traditional classes have been eyeing the first iPod players rather jealously, Grimes is confident that the devices’ use will spread rapidly throughout the school’s curriculum. In the meantime, he says each pocket-sized iPod has the potential to make an enormous difference in the learning possibilities for students with special needs. Now they have access to content that is familiar to them, content that is mobile and can be reviewed again and again for reinforcement, and content that helps all learners.

“With an iPod, our Special Ed students can take their tests in classrooms with their peers and be mainstreamed in, versus having to be pulled out to do so,” predicts Grimes. “That’s sure to work wonders for their self-esteem, and help them feel like they’re more a part of the group. Over time, we’re confident that using the iPod will speed up the gains that our Special Ed students will make.”