Like most kids his age, Jamie - a child with multiple challenges including Downs Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy - wanted to fit in with his peers. He has a full-time classroom assistant and was recently given a computer to use in the classroom. In theory, this compensation should have made learning easier for Jamie, but in reality, he hated it. He was the only child in the classroom using the machine, and that made him different from everyone else. Consequently, Jamie spent a great deal of time outside the classroom, where he used the computer.
But when his school made an effort on his behalf to order HP Tablet personal computers for everyone in the classroom, using them to spend an hour a day reading in whatever way they chose, students not only learned in more meaningful ways, but Jamie was learning alongside them, choosing the method of learning, through the computer, that served him best. Additionally, another student, who was later revealed to have a learning disorder, took it upon himself to introduce his teacher to a Microsoft application allowing for access to e-books – a program that reads a book out loud as it highlights the text. The result was a classroom that was accessible to all learners, via the use of effective technology.
