Barry Sunder, Central Regional Manager with Boxlight, recently spoke with Larry Jacobs from Equity and Access Pre K-12 (ace-ed.org) on how large interactive flat panel displays can improve engagement for students with special needs. Sunder who has experience working with students with special needs, as well as a wife and sister who are both Special Education teachers, shares that in special needs classrooms, the use of technology has “gone up another level.” Referencing an experience his sister had with a student, he says, “His attention span was about 15-20 seconds. He has seizures. When he got in front of that board, (his) time with seizures was reduced. He was up there focused on that activity.”

Clelian Heights School for Students with Exceptional Needs (Greensburg, PA) has long made efforts to incorporate more technology in their instructional practice to engage their students. Sunder explained that classrooms were outfitted with portable whiteboards but there were challenges, such as having students hold the pen. He also mentioned that there was no collaboration, so it was simply students “looking up at a screen.” After bringing in a ProColor interactive flat panel display, he says the Clelian Heights staff was “blown away” and added, “As of this last spring, all classrooms are equipped with a ProColor.”

When asked by Jacobs about how the ProColor interactive panel could be used with visually impaired students, Sunder shared an experience of a visually impaired student who was uncomfortable and embarrassed about always having to sit in the front of the classroom. Staff provided her with a larger-sized tablet and using the Unplug’d screen mirroring software, was able to see the lesson on the panel using her tablet – all while sitting comfortably in the back of the classroom. Sunder comments, “To see the smile on her face. She got teary-eyed, we all got teary-eyed. She was so happy.”

To listen to this amazing conversation and how interactive flat panel displays bring learning to another level for students with special needs, click here: The Evolution of Interactive Classroom Technology to Include Special Needs.

To read more about the Clelian Heights School experience, click here: Engaging Exceptional Students with Simple-to-Use Education Technology.