UpDate - Vol. 15, No. 20, Page 1
February 15, 1996
$223,000 federal grant for students with disabilities
Delaware school children with disabilities may find new ways to
achieve their educational goals through assistive technology, thanks
to a $223,000 grant to the Applied Science and Engineering
Laboratories (ASEL).
University of Delaware President David P. Roselle announced the
grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Feb. 13, at a news
conference and demonstration of assistive technology, held at Buena
Vista.
Roselle said assistive technology would be of help to students
with such sensory problems as hearing and sight impairment, those with
physical limitations that may prevent them from using a conventional
computer or children with difficulties due to mental retardation or
learning disabilities.
The new Network for Education and Assistive Technology (NEAT)
project augments the work of the Delaware Assistive Technology
Initiative (DATI), a federally funded program established to increase
access to assistive technology for all Delawareans who need it.
DATI and NEAT are both part of ASEL, which is administered
jointly by the University and the Alfred I. duPont Institute of the
Nemours Foundation. ASEL is devoted to research, development and
dissemination of new technologies designed to help people with
disabilities.
"Technology is such an important and integral part of our
everyday lives," Roselle said. "That is why this grant is so special,
because it helps DATI expand upon its ongoing efforts to insure access
for persons with disabilities to the specialized technology that can
improve the quality of their educations and their lives and allow them
to participate fully in their schools and communities."
Calling the project "a good collaboration" with the University,
the Department of Public Instruction and the Office of Information
Systems in the state, Delaware Gov. Thomas R. Carper likened it to a
stand of sequoia trees. These trees, which live to be about a thousand
years old, have shallow roots. They survive the elements because each
sequoia's roots are intertwined with the roots of the neighboring
sequoias.
"In the end, sequoia trees are able to survive and thrive because
they hold one another up; they support one another," Carper said. "And
in the end, that's what we ought to be about, and because of this
program we are."
According to ASEL director Richard A. Foulds, "This new project
gives renewed meaning to the idea of a land-grant University: A
University in service to the public. Blending its resources in
advanced technology and public outreach, the University of Delaware is
demonstrating that the power of computing can reach beyond academic
laboratories and will improve the lives of our fellow citizens with
disabilities."
"Today's technology allows our children to explore information
and learn in ways that were inconceivable 10 years ago," NEAT project
co-director Beth A. Mineo said. "But, there's a danger here, too. The
very thing that is carrying the majority of our children into the
future may send a segment of our student population hurtling back into
the past-a past of segregation and limited opportunity-a past we've
worked very hard to eradicate here in Delaware," she said.
There are between 12,000 and 13,000 children with special
education needs identified in the state of Delaware, she said, and
there are even more who aren't identified but who could benefit from
assistive technology.
Under the grant, Mineo explained, NEAT will conduct training
seminars over a 16-month period for educators from each of the state's
school districts. Each district superintendent selected one or more
individuals to participate in the Assistive Technology Specialist
training. They will learn how to use assistive technology to help
children with any sort of disability, and, in turn, will train others
in their schools. The grant also provides funds so that district
designees will receive laptop computers.
The laptop computers, with Internet access, will mean that
program participants can maintain their connections with each other
across the state, as well as with the NEAT staff and others
nationally.
"The training and laptop computers are integral to the program,"
according to Mineo. "The grant lasts for 18 months. In that time, we
can jumpstart the initiative, but it is the teachers who will have to
sustain it. The laptops will keep the trainers working together and
serving as resources for one another.
"We also plan to put some accessible worksites in schools
throughout Delaware to help students with disabilities work right
alongside their peers who don't have disabilities," Mineo said.
"Several schools throughout the state will be selected to partner
with NEAT in offering living demonstrations of equal access to
computer-based experiences," she said. "One of the selection criteria
that will be used in making these awards will be the number of
students with disabilities who benefit directly from the
collaboration. We also want to showcase a range of computer uses, from
independent Internet exploration to networking in science, math and
literacy instruction."
Mineo noted that a DATI survey of educators throughout Delaware
revealed some disturbing findings. "For example, most of our
respondents knew very little about assistive technology... More than
half the respondents to the survey cited insufficient information as
the main reason that children were not getting access to the devices
and services that they needed...
"If you want to impact an entire system, in this case the
education system, you need to address the needs of all stakeholders,"
Mineo said. "In other words, to make meaningful changes that will
outlast the 18-month duration of this project, we need to make sure
that our activities involve educators, students and families. The NEAT
project will increase awareness within all these groups of the
powerful and positive impact that assistive technology can have on
educational opportunity."
In addressing the needs of the families of students with
disabilities, NEAT will work to have parents know just what is out
there for their kids and how to go about getting what's best for each
of them.
"We want them to be able to visit the DATI resource centers in
each county, try out our equipment, borrow some of it and learn what
is available," Mineo said.
"Fifty years ago, almost to the day," NEAT project co-director
Marcos Salganicoff said, "the information age was born with the
announcement of the first general-purpose digital computer, the ENIAC.
We hope that the NEAT project will continue to open up the educational
potential of this great invention to all students in the next 50
years."
This grant is part of the Telecommunications and Information
Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP), administered by the
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
TIIAP is a highly competitive, merit-based grant program that
provides seed money for innovative, practical technology projects
throughout the U.S. It provides matching grants to nonprofit
organizations to fund projects that improve the quality of and the
public's access to education, health care, government services and
economic development.
In addressing the 117 grant recipients, Vice President Al Gore
said: "I want to congratulate you all on the hard work, innovative
thinking and creative partnerships you have formed with your
communities to expand the National Information Infrastructure and
bring information and technology to more people across the country. In
partnership with the NTIA, you will bring forth new educational
opportunities, improved health-care services, high-tech job training
and other critical services to your communities nationwide."
For more information on the initiative, contact Mineo at 651-
6830.