ENHANCING PERFORMANCE OF DISABILITY STUDENTS AND APPLICABILITY OF ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY IN NIGERIA PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL

Abstract

This study examined how Assistive Technology (AT) could be used to enhance the performance of students with disability in Nigeria. Three research question guided the study. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. The population of the study comprised public secondary school teachers in Ijebu-Ode local Government area of Ogun East Senatorial District of Ogun State, Nigeria. The sample size of the study was ninety-three (93) teachers in Adeola Odutola College, Ijebu-Ode. Researcher self-developed questionnaire titled: Assistive Technology and Performance of Students with Disability (ATPSDQ) was used for data collection with reliability coefficient of 0.87.  Descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation and bar-chart were used for answering and presenting data on research questions 1 and 2. Research question 3 was analysed using inferential statistics of PPMC. The findings revealed that unavailability and inaccessibility of assistive technology, lack of assistive technology skills on the part of teachers, anxiety on the use of assistive technology by the special need students were among the challenges facing applicability of Assistive Technology in enhancing the performance of students with disability. Assistive technology enhance independence learning for students, promotes social inclusion, allows disable students to be more engaged in learning, promotion of greater accessibility to academic materials, improves teacher-student communication flows, improves visual tracking among the students were among the benefits of using Assistive Technology in enhancing the performance of students with disability. There was relationship between Assistive Technology applicability and performance of students with disability in the order of (r = .257, p <.05). This implied that 25.7% increases in the performance of students with disability could be attributed towards the Assistive Technology applicability. Government at all levels, philanthropists, NGOs and other stakeholders in education should donate and provide funds for the acquisition of appropriate and adequate assistive technology devices for use by teachers in the classroom in order to enhance the academic performance of disable students.